Young Winos of LA

The LA Winos just spent a delightful evening putting back some tasty Aussie wine with real-life Aussie Kate Fuller, a representative of the Barossa-based Rob Gibson Wine Company.  From the Frontignac/Sémillon/Riesling blend to the spicy Bordeaux-style red to the multiple bottles of Shiraz, every wine she poured was trés delish.  But there was one bottle that Kate didn’t let us drink.  That’s because it’s still up for grabs!

Click here to enter the raffle for a magnum bottle (1.5 liters) of the 2004 Rob Gibson Wines “Australian Old Vine Collection” Shiraz from Eden Valley!  Although we didn’t get to taste this monster, the two bottles of Shiraz we did taste were really impressive, and this one is supposed to be the best of the bunch!  The bottle is valued at $250, and will be shipped directly to the winner (must be a US-based Wino to enter).  Best of all, it’s totally free to enter the raffle!

What’s the catch?  This catch is this: in order to enter, you need to provide your e-mail address, and in doing so, you agree to be included on the Rob Gibson Wine Company’s mailing list.  That’s it!  If you can handle getting the occasional e-mail from Rob here, then you’re good to go.  (Please note: you may only enter one e-mail address per Wino.  For verification purposes, it must be the e-mail address you used to sign up for youngwinos.com.  Whichever address the e-mail about the raffle came to is the one that you need to enter on the form.)

The drawing will be on Sunday, July 18th.  The winner will be notified by e-mail and will be announced on this website.  Any other questions, e-mail Jason at the LA chapter.  Click here to enter.  Good luck!

For nearly half a decade, the Young Winos have been edutoxicating the discerning twenty-somethings of Los Angeles and beyond through our weekly meetings, boozy events, written reviews, and online videos.  Now, as we approach our five year anniversary, the Winos are pleased to introduce wine2wino, our first ever wine shipment club!

Every two months, we’ll be offering up a package of unique and delicious wines, which have been carefully selected by the illustrious trio of LA honchos: Jordan, Jason and Jesse.  Each package will include two extremely interesting wines and will cost $40, shipping included.  This isn’t a traditional “wine club” where you sign up once and keep receiving the shipments whether you want them or not.  In the Young Winos version, you never have any obligation to buy — you simply check out what’s being offered in that month’s package, and then decide if you want to order or not.  No hassles, no obligations, no surprise shipments.

For our first package ever, we’re celebrating the impending arrival of summer with two dynamic French bottles that pair perfectly with sunny days, warm evenings, and decadent outdoor drinking. Included in this $40 package are two impressive bottles: the most refreshing rosé we’ve had in a while, and a medium-bodied red tasting of earth, dried fruit, and class.  (Click here to be taken to the secure wine2wino order page!)

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A representative of Barossa Valley’s Rob Gibson Wine Company is going to be pouring a lineup of Rob’s delicious Australian wines for the LA Winos on Wednesday evening. Rob Gibson’s portfolio includes both reds and whites from the Rob Gibson and the Loose End labels, including some of the big Shiraz-based wines that have put Barossa Valley on themap, with some Grenache and Cab and Petit Verdot thrown in there too. Check out more info about the Rob Gibson family of wines by clicking here.

Wednesday night’s tasting menu will feature:

–The 2007 Barossa FSR (Frontignac, Semilion, Riesling)
–The 2007 Loose End Barossa Grenache Rosé
–The 2004 Gibson BarossaVale Shiraz
–The 2005 Gibson “The Dirtman” Shiraz
–The 2006 Loose End Barossa GSM (Grenache, Shiraz, Merlot)
–The 2004 BarossaVale “Isabelle” Blend (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot)

Look at all those crazy blends! Grenache, Shiraz and Merlot? And wait — Semillon, Riesling and Frontignac?! (WTF is Frontignac? Are they just making up words now?) Needless to say, this is a tasting that any and all Australian fans won’t want to miss. (more…)

This week, we asked our stalwart enophiles to go out and find a bottle of Australian wine costing between $15 and $30.  By at least one account, the image of the Australian wine industry has been decimated by the flood of $10-and-under “critter bottles,” so the other rule of the night was no critters. However, a second rule apparently in effect that night was “no white wines” — although we’d mandated nothing of the sort, every bottle that showed up was red.  Facing a lineup of alcohol contents ranging roughly from 14 to 15.5%, we took a collective deep breath and dove right in.

Leading things off was the 2006 d’Arenberg “The Laughing Magpie” (McLaren Vale), a blend of 94% Shiraz and 6% Viognier.  The nose was floral — perhaps that Viognier coming through?  Sasha picked up cucumber lotion, Adam got steak and charcoal, and Jason picked up raspberry truffle chocolate. (more…)