The wine tasting event that centered around J Vineyards & Winery was not only a tasting, but kind of class as well. If one has been to a winery, most of the wine tastings, unless you have booked an appointment, the wines are just poured without much fan-fare and one usually has to pry information out of the hosts, where the pouring becomes rather mechanical. It was not the case this evening, and there were plenty of questions and interruptions, but the evening still progressed very well. D.vine Fine Wines did a fine job, supplying all of the tasters two different glasses, a plate of assorted cheeses and even an assortment of dark chocolates to try.

The first still white wine that we tried was J Vineyards Pinot Gris 2016 with a California AVA. This wine we were told was very expensive to make as they required hand-picked clusters and smaller crates to carry the fruit. The fruit for this wine was from the Russian River Valley and also from Lodi, hence the California designation. They started making this wine in 1996 and it is made entirely in Stainless Steel. I took a white sheet of paper as a background to discern the color of the wine, and for one like me that has worked with color for ages, I could not come up with a color name as it was a soft pink with some orange tossed in. Not a strong nose, but heavy legs on the glass and a charming taste for this particular wine.

The second still white wine for the evening was the J Vineyards Estate Chardonnay 2014. The fruit was harvested from their Dutton Ranch in the Russian River Valley. There were thirty different lots of the fruit from two different clones that were all aged for nine months in French Oak, of which twenty-five percent was new and then the wine was blended in the end. I really enjoyed this glass of wine.