Wine and Cupcakes

This morning was spent with Danielle, who is awesome! She explained to Lindsay and I all the roles she has played at Jessup. Danielle has done a little bit of everything! It was great talking with her because she is such a savvy businesswoman and has a passion for what she does. She also explained the Jessup Cellars wine newsletter and how it has improved over the years. Danielle also gave us each three more books to read! Yikes! However, two of them are fun reads to learn more about wine.

In the afternoon, Lindsay and I did a tasting of Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel Port to write tasting notes for the wines. Tasting notes are the notes that you will see sometimes on the back of the bottle or on a menu at a restaurant. We used one of our new books from Danielle, titled What’s a Wine Lover to Do?, to help us learn how to write tasting notes. We learned the 6 ‘S’s, which are see, sniff, swirl, sniff, sip and savor. When writing tasting notes it is important to note about smell, color and what it feels like in your mouth.

Here are my tasting notes. I am not sure how good they are, but they are my first ones and my palate is still young. However, I have been assured that with wine there are no wrong answers! 

Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley, 2010

Lemon, lime, pear and melon are the fruity aromas that flutter out of this medium body wine. The residual sugars add a nice sweet flavor to the fruit to give it that perfect acidity, which will make your mouth water until you take another sip. This perfectly balanced, lightly butter-colored wine ends in the ideal finish.

Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, 2008

The lush flavors of dark cherry, black current, strawberry and mocha will fill your palate with a single sip. You may also get a hint of pepper to give it a well-balanced mix of fruit and spice. This medium, full-bodied red wine ends in a smooth finish and tastes great with a hardy dinner.

Zinfandel Port, Napa Valley, 2007

Its deep crimson color gives off aromas of dark cherry and plum, mocha and cigars. It has a nice balance with light tannin. Even though it leaves a hot, lingering finish, it drinks with ease.

After work, Danielle even took us to Napa to do some shopping. After a successful shopping trip, Danielle took us to Sift, which is a local cupcake shop that won Cupcake Wars!! Their cupcakes were soooooo good! I had a pink champaign cupcake and Lindsay had a stud miffin cupcake, which had bacon on it! Haha, but both were delicious!