08/12/08 – wines from “The Hills”
OMG, I know you’re all as excited as I am that season four of The Hills premieres next week. But, like, what wine should you drink while you’re watching? That’s such a tough question. Luckily, this week we’re going to taste a bunch of tasty white wines from various “hills” regions at a house in the hills so that you know what to drink while watching The Hills. Picking the wrong wine would be, like, so not cool.
Dylan and Myla are housesitting, so they’ve offered up their place for a tasting! Since it’s not their house, though, they have to be a little bit stain-conscious; therefore, we’ll only be tasting whites. Specifically, we’ll be tasting whites from the hills. Any hills will do. There are a number of AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) that have the word “hills” in them, so feel free to bring a white wine from any of them. They include:
Santa Rita Hills — part of the larger Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara, this region produces lots of cool-climate Chardonnay
Dunnigan Hills — located in Yolo County, this California appellation produces Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier
Eola-Amity Hills — a cool sub-region of the Willamette Valley, Oregon
Rattlesnake Hills — Washington State’s newest AVA
Dundee Hills — this Oregon appellation produces some great Pinot Gris
Horse Heavens Hills — a small but prestigious region in southern Washington
Red Hills (Lake County) — northern California goodness, home to many historic wineries
Adelaide Hills — this Australian region gets included due to its international prestige and overall tastiness
Chalk Hill — ok, so it’s only one hill, but this Russian River sub-region makes some tasty whites
Shawnee Hills — located in southern Illinois, Shawnee produces not only Riesling, but several obscure whites, including the Gewurztraminer spawn “Traminette” and the ever-popular “Chardonel” (a cross between Seyval Blanc and Chardonnay)
Happy hunting! As always, you can bring a ten-spot instead of a bottle if you’re so inclined.
We’ll be meeting at Dylan and Myla’s party pad in the Hollywood Hills. The RSVP situation is as follows: new members have eight spots reserved for them at each and every meeting, with preference within those spots given to newbies who were denied admittance due to space constraints in recent weeks. Please do not RSVP in the positive if you’re not sure you can make it, as this will deny someone else the opportunity of attending the meeting. If you do RSVP and then need to cancel, please inform me as soon as possible.
Once you’ve received your RSVP e-mail, go out in search of an awesome Hills-themed bottle, or simply stop off at the ATM and grab ten bucks. We’ll see you guys on, like, Tuesday at 9pm.