The 64th Opici Annual Portfolio Tasting

The 64th Opici Annual Portfolio Tasting
Location: The Buddha Bar,NYC

As I walked into the venue, I was affected with great wonder. I encountered this huge event filled with rolls and rolls of tables filled with dozens of wine representatives presenting their brands and hundreds of buyers tasting the products in interest to purchase for their liquor stores, lounges, bars, restaurants, and etc. Also, being a lickerish woman that I am, I loved the great spread of buffets offered for the thirsty patrons!

I said to myself, "O boy this going to be a good one"! At that point, I had to construct a game plan to work my way through this herculean of an event. I then notice the spirits section and simply knew that was my starting point.

This portfolio tasting is for people of the industry to sample every brand that is to offer within the portfolio. For Opici, they have an extended collection of wines to offer. They have about 83 wines, and luxury spirits to choose from. My favorite of them all was Table 76 the Speyside, Scotland collection, which also includes Macallan, Glenlivet, Auchentoshan, and Caol Ila.

Table 63, U'Luvka was in the house, which is one of my favorite vodka's. The Bunnahabhain table, which was in the Cognac section of the tasting room, made a grand appearance. There, after I walked over to the buffet, had a lot of delicious food, coated my belly, and was ready to go back in.

I started to move along to the wines and discovered one of the best reds I tasted all afternoon. Can you guess what It was? Well without being obnoxious, it was the Carmenet 2007(car-men-ay). This is a great American Pinot Noir from the Sonoma county created by the winemaker John Albaugh. The vineyard has taken on a Burgundy style that traces back to the region of Bordeaux, France. This beautiful red has peppery, tobacco and a tinge of fruit on the palate and I absolutely recommend this wine to pair with a beautiful spicy beef dish and/or natural rinded cow's milk cheese.

I would also like to mentioned the Naked Earth Rouge 2008, which is 50% Merlot and 50% Grenache that has a dark and rich hue of crimson. On the nose, it has a cinnamon and smokiness to it that I love. On the palate, it had alot of strawberries and blueberries initially and then moved to a long spicy chocolate and espresso finish-YUM!


It was a great four hours of imbibing seeing my friends at their table, working for their brands, and learning about new products. After wards, I had to head back home, and rest up for the next libation day.

So long folks, and cheers!

Buddha Bar info:
http://www.buddhabarnyc.com/

U'Luvka info:
http://www.uluvka.com/

Naked Earth info:
http://www.cannonwines.com/

Glenlivet info:
http://glenlivet.com/

Islay whisky/ Coal Ila info:

http://www.islaywhiskysociety.com/caol_ila/oal ila

Macallan info:
http://www.themacallan.com/

Bunnahabhain info:
http://www.bunnahabhain.com/index.php

Auchentoshan info:
http://www.auchentoshan.co.uk/auth/