I recently went as a favor to a Mayoral fund raising affair, in a community that I have had a long history with, professionally, not politically.  I am not a political type of person.  I have been to some very over the top affairs, and some that have been very low key.  The one I will be talking about is in the latter group.

This was a classic political fund raiser, where the gentlemen promoted his Irish background for the affair a week or so before St. Patrick’s Day.  The decorations were abundantly green, and I must say that I did not see a speck of orange in the crowd.  There was a buffet set up for the attendees that started with a salad and went into corned beef, potatoes, carrots, cabbage and some of the best horseradish that I have had in some time.  There were also cupcakes with green shamrock decorations for dessert.

There was a bar off to the side and they were serving beer and wine.  The beer was on draught and there were three wines being offered.  This side room was quite lively and I was only able to photograph two of the three bottles of wine being offered.  The offered wines were a White Zinfandel, a Chardonnay and a Merlot.  I tried the Merlot and the Chardonnay and they were both fine for an occasion of this sort.  Neither paired with the corned beef that well, but I do not think that it mattered to the crowd.  The event was the focal point.   The two wines that I tried were both from California.  I had not heard of either wine, but all three wines were being poured from magnum size bottles.  The Nathanson Creek Chardonnay is from a winery in Lodi, California and it had a soft taste and finish.  The Liberty Creek Merlot was from Modesto, California and there was a little spice and fruit to the taste.  Now if they really wanted to celebrate St. Paddy properly they would have been serving Black Velvet, which carries a real kick to it, but what would you expect from a drink that is equal parts Champagne and Guinness Stout that are poured simultaneously into a tankard, and you are expected to finish the drink before the Champagne stops bubbling.  It would have been a long night though.