The game: San Jose State vs. UC Davis (at San Jose State).  Game time is 1:00PM. You are responsible for lining up your own tickets.

The tailgate/party: This will be a “Chianti and Sangiovese” tasting. Wine tasting will start at 10:30-11:00am, lunch at 12:00noon, and game at 1:00pm (a number of folks may be coming just for the party).  It will be pot luck. 

What to bring:

• Everyone is responsible for what they want to drink (water, soft drinks, wine, beer, etc.) in addition to wine for tasting (don’t forget, if you want to drink wine and participate in the tasting, you’ll need two bottles).
• Bring something to sit on. Serving tables, plates, utensils, condiments, etc. will be provided. 
• Wine tasting glasses. We will have cups, but bring your own tasting glasses if you are into serious tasting.  We will have quite a number of fine Cabernets.

Cypress Corner Location/10th Sreet Lot: See map at this link). As this is a general public parking area, there shouldn’t be a problem getting in. Look for the Chateau Garage banner.

Tasting Details
Chianti and Sangiovese Tasting. No restriction on what each bottle should cost (but please keep it moderate).

Bring one bottle per couple, minimum.

Please bring an index card with the details about your wine (or index card sized piece of paper).   On the front of the card put details about the wine:  vintner, region, price, year, etc. When you turn your wine in to Marc or Sam, also give the card, face down, which will be marked with the same letter as your bottle.  This will help speed things up for tallying at the end.

Wine Restrictions: Wines should be no older than 2001 for the blind tasting, although if you want to bring an older example, it will be placed in a special grouping which will not be tasted blind.

Preparation: Each bottle should be obscured by aluminum foil (see example at this link).

What Else to Bring: A pen or pencil for taking notes and scoring. Again, bring a decent wine tasting glass, if you have one (the bigger the better), although plastic cups will be available if needed.

Time and Methodology: The tasting will start assembling at 10:30/11:00am.  Try to arrive no later than 11:30am. As each bottle arrives, it will be assigned to a flight and labeled with a unique letter. A flight is complete when it has eight bottles, and tasting of that flight will commence.  The next wines to arrive will be placed in the next flight, etc.

Size of Taste: Normally  ½ ounce is the quantity to pour (about ¼ inch at the bottom of your glass, or about three small sips).

What You Do: Taste one or more, or all flights, as desired/if applicable.  Each wine is to be compared to the wines within its own flight and ranked 1 (the best in your opinion) to 8 (the least desirable).  There will be tasting cards available for recording your rankings.  You then turn them in to the scorer after putting your name on the back of the card.  After the scores are recorded, the card will be returned so you can use the card when the wines are unveiled. Therefore, you also can record notes on the card since you will get it back.

Overall Winners: If you are tasting all flights, please rank the top 3 wines across all flights and indicate by circling or boxing these rankings so they stand out. You must taste all wines to do this.  We will determine overall the top three wines from these scores.