Falls River Wine & Beer Club's French wine tasting at Uncorked

The Falls River Wine & Beer Club at Uncorked in Raleigh.
Photo by Dathan Kazsuk

By Dathan Kazsuk | July 13, 2013

Twitter: @TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: @trianglearoundtown

Viva la France!

Well, that was never said once at the latest Falls River Wine & Beer Club event – but the tradition of France was in our hearts.

In honor of Bastille Day, the wine club had it’s latest event at the North Raleigh wine shop, Uncorked. Located in Falls River Town Center, Uncorked owner Tony Fox hand-picked a selection of 5 French wines for a tasting of generous portions.

And generous portions indeed. For a $10 tasting fee, guests at the store were able to indulge in 2 whites and 3 reds – each sample was at least a 3 oz. pour. It was a nice way to get people in the mood to chat.

Appetizers such as the hummus trio and pimento cheese spread
were courtesy of Uncorked.
Photo by Dathan Kazsuk

Around 25 people came in for the tasting, which was announced by the club through the  community website, Nextdoor, and by means of the wine clubs Facebook page. 

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The wine club, which is the second Thursday of each month, has a rotating theme of in-house and off-site locations. The club’s first in-home event featured wine and beer courtesy of Wine 101 out of Wake Forest.

Upcoming events are to feature a sparkling wine tasting;  the wines of Argentina; wines and beers for Oktoberfest and a chocolate and stout tasting.

As far as the French wines that kept the crowd entertained for the Bastille Day celebration, they included a 2011 La Craie Vouvray; 2011 Domaine des Trois Toits; 2011 La Cuvee du Chat Beaugolais; 2010 Les Parcelles Bordeaux and a 2011 Plateau des Chenes (which was by far the crowd favorite).

Uncorked's Owner Tony Fox gives details about the French wines
being poured that evening.
Photo by Dathan Kazsuk

Virtual wine tasting with Chuck Wagner of Caymus Vineyards

Caymus Vineyards' Chuck Wagner talked to the crowd of around
30 people at Total Wine on June 29.
Photo by Dathan Kazsuk

By Dathan Kazsuk | June 30, 2013

Twitter: @TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: @trianglearoundtown

All I need to say to you is – you missed out!

Yes, you! If you weren’t at the Wagner Family of Wines Virtual Tasting & Caymus 2011 Napa Cabernet Release, well, I don’t know what to say.

On June 29, we made our way to our local Total Wine store to experience this one-of-a-kind tasting event. For just $20 per person, we were introduced to 5 Wagner family wines, with a live feed from Caymus owner Chuck Wagner himself.

Each of the wines Wagner told the history about making the wine, the complexity of each wine, and what to pair the wines with – so now I feel like I’m there for you to explain each one of these great wines – if you ever need my assistance.

Be sure to Follow us on Twitter at @TriangleAT or @TriBizDesign for more of my personal and work blogs!

It wasn't only Wagner Family wines that were poured that night.
Others included Baldacci IV Sons Fraternity, Meyers Cabernet and
Pina Cabernet D'Adamo.
Photo by Dathan Kazsuk

Total Wine employees Alex and Michael poured generous portions of each Wagner family wine, which started with the infamous Caymus Conundrum.

At $19.99 a bottle, this unique blend of Viognier, Muscat, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay is a bottle that can never go wrong at a dinner party. Chuck told us the best pairings for Conundrum is with turkey, seafood or spicy dishes.

Next we tried the Mer Soleil Silver Chardonnay Ceramic. Retailing at $19.99 a bottle, the grapes for this wine were grown at the Santa Lucia Highlands in California, near the coast of Monterey – an incredible place if you haven’t been there. 

The Mer Soleil Silver Chardonnay is kept in concrete silos until bottled, and then bottled in nice ceramic bottles. Jen and I aren’t big fans of Chardonnay, but this one was good enough to buy a bottle.

Total Wine had twelve different cheeses available to
sample, which paired will with the wines that night.
Photo by Dathan Kazsuk

Next was the Belle Glos Pinot Noir Meiomi. Wow! That was my first reaction to the toasty taste of this Pinot Noir. Chuck told the crowd of around 30 that his son, Joseph, has become a master at creating Pinot Noir, so Chuck had his son come out and tell us about the process of making Belle Glos Pinot Noir. This bottle, for all it’s complexity, only cost $19.99 a bottle. We picked up two bottles of this fabulous wine.

Each person attending the Caymus tasting received this
free wine tote.  And we needed it that night to hold
the wines we purchased.
Photo by Dathan Kazsuk

We then started to get into their high priced wines, which included the Belle Glos Pinot Noir Las Alturas ($39.99) and the premier of the Caymus Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 ($64.99). Both wines were great, but I really enjoyed the flavor and classy balance of the Cabernet.

So, that was the end of the Caymus tasting. For the generous pours, seconds of a couple, and over a dozen different cheeses to snack on during the hour long event, I think $20 was worth it. But wait, there’s more. Total Wine’s wine manager, Alex, tells us all, “We’re Total Wine … and MORE … so we’re going to let you sample 4 other wines we selected that we feel fit in with the Wagner family wines.”

The group was excited about the news, and we delved into tasting 4 more great wines. We tried the Alouette Pinot Noir Sonoma County 2011 ($24.99); Baldacci IV Sons Fraternity Napa 2008 ($44.99); Meyer Cabernet Napa 2007 ($49.99) and the Pina Cabernet D’Adamo Napa 2007 ($79.99)

So in the end, I sampled 10 great wines for $20. So, putting it another way, I sampled a total of $364.91 in wine for $20. Not to mention the wonderful people at Total Wine gave us $15 off if we spent $100 or more. Which we did. So thanks for the discount, Total Wine.

New to our wine collection – a nice selection of Wagner family wines.
Photo by Dathan Kazsuk

Animazement Hits Downtown Raleigh

Animazement fan poses at the Raleigh Convention Center.

LOCAL FEATURE

By Dathan Kazsuk | June 3, 2013

Twitter: @TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: @trianglearoundtown

If someone asked me if I ever heard of Kyle Hebert, Sean Schemmel or Toshifumi Yoshida ... I’m afraid my answer would be “No.”

My first guess would be a couple of minor-league baseball players and some Japanese pitching phenom that the Los Angeles Dodgers will overpay for.

But I’d be wrong.

These are just three names of the many guests who will be at the Animazement festival held at the Raleigh Convention Center from May 24-26. I tried to get in to cover this event, but unfortunately, this is one of those “events” where credentials need to be sent a month in advance so they can pick-and-choose who gets to mingle with the patrons, and who sits outside the lobby snapping photos of fans getting ready to go inside.

The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. pose for a photo.

Now you are probably asking yourself, ‘Dathan, I don’t know what Animazement is suppose to be.’ If you think about it for just a couple minutes, it might finally come to you. Did I give you enough time? Well, time to move on. Animazement is a all-volunteer, fan-run anime convention here in Raleigh that celebrates Japanese visual culture.

And since I’ve never been to this before, I’m not sure what I’m about to accomplish by leaving work right after our weekly meeting and heading downtown with my friend, Dave. Whatever it is, it goes on all day, and all night. Friday and Saturday hours are from 9:00 am - 2:30 am! 

It was a little shocking to see that parts of downtown Raleigh around the Marriott and the convention center were filled with costume-clad fans. But I was thinking to myself while taking photos of a handful of Marvel characters – that half of these people dressed up aren’t dressed like “Japanese” animation characters like the name of the festival suggests. 

We saw dozens of Marvel Universe characters running amok in the likes of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Tony Stark and the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. There were a lot of people dresses up as comic/video characters that I had no idea who they were, but my friend Dave was like, “There is so-and-so.” and “Oh man, you should take a picture of them, they’re the blankety blank.”

It was fun, but odd seeing this many grown adults dressed up as a fictitious character, but then I thought about it – this is the only time other than halloween that adults can get dressed up and not get laughed at in public.

Warning! Riedel glassware may effect wines taste and smell ... in a GOOD way!

Enjoying the tasting at the Bedford Wine Club.

By Dathan Kazsuk | April 26, 2013

Twitter: @TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: @trianglearoundtown

If you’re presented the opportunity to do a select wine-tasting for $15, which includes 4 samples of wine and 2 Riedel glasses to take home with you  – you best jump on that chance!

I was given that chance on April 25 at Bedford’s monthly Wine Club meeting. Morrisville’s Triangle Wine Company was kind enough to come in to Bedford’s clubhouse and pour 2 different types of Sauvignon Blanc and 2 different types of Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines were poured into the individual Riedel glasses made specifically for each varietal.

Triangle Wine Company’s Glenn Hagedorn talked about the history behind the Riedel family, who’s been in the glass business for over 300 years. In that time, twelve generations of the Riedel family have been keeping the business intact.

Each wine we tried was great. However, in my humble opinion, these glasses didn’t make the wine taste any different, going back and forth from the Riedel glass to the joker glass. But, I will let it be known that the “smell” and "temperature" of the wine does change drastically between the joker and Riedel glasses – in favor of the Riedel. 

Did you know:

• The Riedel story began in 1678 in the Northern part of Bohemia – which is today the Czech Republic and part of Poland.

• The third generation of Riedel’s opened the first glass factory in 1756, for the purpose of making glass window panes.

• Walter Riedel, part of the 8th generation, signed a 5-year work contract with the Russian’s after their army conquered Berlin in 1945. He was then held in prison for 10 years.

It was nice getting a little history lesson while drinking wine. It would have made US History in high school go by a lot faster.

At the end of the night, we had 4 new glasses to add to our collection – which right now stands at about 60+ wine glasses. Honestly, I’m not a lush! Or am I?

World Beer Festival spotlights N.C. brews

Thousands enjoyed the World Beer Festival on April 13.

By Dathan Kazsuk | April 16, 2013

Twitter: @TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: @trianglearoundtown

This had to be one of my most memorable Saturdays of the year so far.

On April 13, I was able to cover the All About Beer's World Beer Festival in downtown Raleigh's Moore Square. Over 100 of your favorite brewers serving over 200+ different beers. All I can say is "WOW."

I was on the clock with work, so I actually had to conduct interviews with local North Carolina beer managers and brewers. But honestly, I can't see that as a bad thing. I met several great local peeps, like White Street Brewing Company's Dino Radosta, Raleigh Brewing Company's John Federal and Natty Greene's Thomas Vincent.

But here's what I want you to do ... click here ... and read about it from my work blog, where I have 18 awesome photos for you to view in my slideshow, which highlights over a dozen NC breweries. I also have a rare photo of the National Bohemian Beer's mascot. I heard he's as rare as spotting Bigfoot himself!!!!