Me and your Money are 30!

I turned 30 this week and instead of writing a big ranty post about time moving quickly and aspirations and such nonsense, I thought I'd share this infographic from MoneySupermarket.com, since they pointed out to me that the pound coin shares my birthday.

Happy 30th Birthday to The Quid!

(Click here to see the original infographic in larger size and interactive!)

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REVIEW: Storrs Winery

We visited the Storrs Winery tasting room in the Old Sash Mill on Potrero Street, Santa Cruz, CA. We took advantage of their $7 tasting (4.50 in pounds - where is the damn pound sign?). It is a small but neat tasting room, with some nice local art on the walls, as is de rigeur in Santa Cruz tasting rooms but do be warned they have no chairs so you will be stood throughout your tasting.

Our server was a friendly and welcoming young girl who had a friend in doing a tasting while we were there. She was knowledgeable about the wines on offer and made us feel welcome.

2011 Chardonnay
THe first wine was a creamy 2011 Chardonnay with the grapes being grown  in a series of vineyards in the Santa Cruz mountains. It was a lovely, extremely pale straw colour and had a floral and very sweet flavour. The 2010 retails for $24.00.

2010 Sauvignon blanc
Made from grapes grown at Monterey County, this wine retails for $18. We were both really taken aback by this wine because the overwhelming flavour is green pepper! That makes this a really crisp white, and I would imagine your guests would find it quite surprising. Lots of fun and something really different to anything I have tried before.

2009 Pinot Noir
 Made with a blend of 8 different Pinot grapes, this wine is really light on the nose with hints of vanilla. It is a medium bodied flavour with a touch of strawberry fruit and extremely light acidity.  There is also a element of black pepper in the flavour, but not particularly strong. This is quite a typical pinot of the Santa Cruz mountain region.

2009 Grenache
By far the most disappointing wine I have tasted recently, this grenache was light bodied to the point of being almost watery in flavour. THere was a hint of black pepper and possibly even raspberry fruit, but overall the flavour was disappointing and unremarkable. There was no real punch or direction. One to avoid - although I should say that The Boy liked it more than I did so I guess it depends on your palette.

2010 Merlot San Ysidro
Grown south of Santa Cruz in an area we actually drove through a couple of days ago, where the artichoke fields spread out as far as the eye can see (12 for $1 - bargain). It has a fruity nose and the flavour is quite bright, soft fruit. There is a little taste of red apple in the finish which is very pleasant. The tasting notes described it has having a hint of granite. I have no idea what that means and the server was a bit confused by it as well #wankywinedescriptionalert.

2009 Zinfandel
This $22 wine is pretty easy drinking. We don't get a lot of red Zinfandel at home, so this is not particularly a flavour I am used to, although it's definitely something I enjoy.Grown on the central coast, this wine has the typical jammy flavour of a Zin and is very full on the nose. It's a really full, sweet flavour, luscious to the point of almost being sticky with plum and a smidge of apple flavour. In fact I felt it was sweet to the point of tasting almost like fruit sweets - gummy bears anyone?

2008 Petite Sirah
This is quite a full bodied rich and slightly savoury flavoured wine, with a ripe blackberry flavour that is rich and quite full on the tannins but still smooth with a low acidity for easy drinking. It has several months of oak barrel aging which shows in the flavour. A great example of the sorts of sunshiney, fresh wines you can get from the Santa Cruz mountains.

So a fair tasting overall. The wines were enjoyable (except the grenache) but none of them really blew me away. This winery is in a very different district to the large cluster of tasting rooms on the West side and this shows. Their $7 tasting fee is too much, especially when you will pretty much have to make a special journey out just to taste at Storrs. Personally, I'd be inclined not to bother and just head to Ingalls Street. A pleasant but ultimately disappointing 6 out of 10 Extreme Points for Storrs.

We went to Sones Cellars for a tasting today so look out for the review of that coming soon!

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Dare to Pair

Not long to go now, and there aren't many tickets left, but I wanted to flag up this great little event around the wineries on the west side of Santa Cruz, CA this Sunday.

Eleven wineries are pairing up with a small group of culinary students to pair a food dish with a wine. For $60 advance tickets, you can pop along and try all 11 food and wine pairings, vote for your favourites and then attend a stonking after party. 

Now in its fourth year, this event is getting more and more popular and I can see why. It supports the students and participation makes up a significant part of their gradings for the term. Food, wine and other things to support the end have been donated by generous sponsors and there are even some amazing raffle prizes on offer that have been donated.

Sadly, I think we're going to be at Big Sur on Sunday so I won't be able to represent. I would love to go though and if any of you guys snap up some of the last tickets check back in and let me know how it goes!

Donated RAFFLE items:

Shadowbrook Gift card

Johnny's Gift card

Chaminade spa gift

SV Hilton one night stay + dinner

Sunrise Cleaning two certificates of 3 hours of cleaning

Tracy Taylor Kilauea Rainforest Retreat - 3 nights' stay

Buttery gift card

Boardwalk passes

Donated SILENT AUCTION items

Wine tasting tour for 12 at Silver Mountain Vineyards

Surf City Vintners - featured wines

Dinner for 8 at the Sesnon - prepared by the chef instructors

JUDGES

Josie Cowden Good Times

Anne Parker Sentinel

Sheri Moise Johnny's Harborside

Leslie Fellows, CSW, Sommelier Artesana Winery

Byron Gravell Cafe Carbonara

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