The game: USC vs. Stanford (at Stanford).   Game time is 4:00PM.  You are responsible for lining up your own tickets.

The tailgate/party: This will be a Zinfandel tasting.   Wine tasting will start at 12:00pm, lunch at 2:00pm, and game at 4:00pm (lots of folks are coming just for the party). It will be pot luck except for the main course, BBQ'ed tri-tip.

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).
• Bringing something to sit on is a good idea, too. 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 ZInfandels.
• Bring your own steak knife for the tri-tip if you want one.

Location: At Stanford Stadium, season ticket holder area (see map at this link). If you don’t have a parking pass, park where you can. With the new stadium, parking is a problem . . . only season ticket holders can get into the tailgate area.

Tasting Details
Zinfandel Wine Tasting (produced and orchestrated by Marc Cohen/Chateau Garage).  Wine should have been purchased for at least $10.00/bottle.

Wines can be from any country. 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, also give him 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 2000 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 Noon. Try to arrive no later than 12:30PM.  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: There may be as many as fifty people trying to taste each wine, so please be very conservative on your pours so that all will have a chance to taste.  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.  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.
 

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