Courtesy of Tank Garage Winery, we had a dinner focused on four of their wines, I found myself surrounded by Insurance people, and thankfully I can speak “insurancese.”  With Tank Garage Winery furnishing the wines, for my honest review, my Bride and I decided on a menu that would pair with the wines.  The trick was getting a menu that would relatively time with the schedule of the tasting, and my Bride gave it her best shot and it worked out.  We had my Bride, Ms. Yoga, The Caller and the newest member, but a friend for ages The Euchre-Foodie (since everyone is a foodie, these days I had to append some other significant descriptor to his nom de plume).  The good thing is that even though I was surrounded by insurance people, no one sold life insurance.

We started in the living room having appetizers.  Our first course was Baked Brie with Caramelized Onion Jam, baked baguettes and Shrimp Cocktails with a medium-heat horseradish sauce.  We paired this with Tank Garage Winery “Boys Cry” El Dorado County 2020, their Carbonic White Wine.  Carbonic Maceration is a technique, used basically for red wines.  They take whole clusters of grapes in a covered tank and pump in carbon dioxide, which removes oxygen.  Slowly the grapes release an enzyme that converts the grape sugar in to alcohol, bursting the berries without the addition of yeast, then gravity starts removing the juice and then the clusters are pressed using a traditional press.  The wine is a blend of forty-three percent Roussanne, thirty-two percent Vermentino and twenty-five percent Petit Manseng.  Roussanne is mostly associated in the Rhone Valley, but there are a couple of wineries that have had great success with it, and it was often misidentified or assumed to be Viognier.  Vermentino is found to be successful in several countries and known by its local name, and is likened to Viognier as well.  Petit Manseng is most often found in southwest France, a thick-skinned berry that has high acidity and can handle a long growing season and the berries can actually become “raisin-like” on the vine creating intense sugar.  El Dorado County AVA was awarded in 1983 and is basically the foothills of the Sierras, and vineyards have been planted to face all four directions and many different wines are created here.  There were three-hundred-sixty-two cases made of this wine.  Several people at first thought the wine was a Vermouth, because of the floral and herb notes on the nose.  As they started to taste and dissect the wine, the common notes were apricot, peach, lemon and lime zest and acidity.  The wine was not a wine that anyone would go and buy for their own consumption.

The next course of appetizers for the evening was grilled Salmon with a Bourbon glaze.  We paired this with the Tank Garage “Little Secrets” El Dorado County, Barsotti Vineyard 2020, their Carbonic Gamay wine, and one of the few wines that they make that is not a blend.  Gamay is the fruit forward grape that has found its home in Beaujolais.  This wine was aged for three months in neutral oak and four-hundred-sixty case were produced.  Rose Petals and Cherries were the notes for the nose, and blood orange and peaches were the taste that most could agree on.  The wine reminded me of Beaujolais wines of the Sixties and Seventies, before they became a gimmick in the Fall.  It paired quite well with the Salmon and this wine was appreciated and accepted.  We were now getting ready to go into the Dining Room to finish off the meal and the other two wines.