This is a lazy day for Bob! I have two seminars at the Festival Center at noon and 2:00, so he plans to stay in the room and nap and read. After all, we know how much walking he has done this week!
I grabbed a Nutri-Grain bar and a cup of coffee and walked into Epcot through the International Gateway. I wish I could do this walk every morning. I cannot imagine that I would ever get tired of the views you get as you meander into Epcot in the morning.
Ahhh… finally!
The first seminar was for another Northwest American winery – Milbrandt. It is a small winery owned by Butch and Jerry Milbrandt and they make some fine wines!
We had a 2006 Riesling and two Merlots (one from 2006 and one from 2005)
The host for all the Wine Seminars I have attended:
The presenter, Daniel Bachilla
The wines were good. I won’t go out of my way to find any of them, with the exception of the last one. I am not certain it will be readily available as it was from their Legacy Series which is now called Estates. They only made 1000 cases so I don’t know how much could possibly be left out on the market.
The 2006 Riesling was from their Evergreen Vineyard. It was nice. Tasted like an American Riesling; it was crisp and fairly dry with a residual sugar of only 1 ½ % and an alcohol content of 12.5%
The 2006 Traditions Merlot received a 90 pt. rating from Wine Enthusiast and was a blend of 10% Cabernet, 7% Syrah, 4% Malbec and 3% Barbera.with an alcohol content of 13.5%. Some tannins here, but it would be good with fish, I think!
The 2005 Legacy Merlot was clearly the winner. It was full-bodied; a super blend that could cellar for another 5-10 years. The winemaker, Gordon Hill, had just moved over from Chateau Ste. Michelle. He was the winemaker there, and was involved in the creation of Northstar, the Bordeauxstyle Merlot he made in conjunction with renowned Lake County (California) winemaster Jed Steele. He was also involved in the development of Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay and has a standing non-compete type contract with K-J. I find this kind of info fascinating so you have to read it!
While I was sitting in this seminar the lady next to me asked if I had a ticket to the Culinary Presentation at 1:00. Since I did not she offered me hers! Seems she was leaving that day and ME was picking her up much earlier than she had anticipated. So I got to go right from this Wine Seminar to…
Our host for this presentation (he was not wearing a name tag and I didn’t catch it):
And, our wine was from King Estates, so I got to hear more from Randy Ford:
Once again, going solo to this seminar allowed me to take up a front row seat even though I was not at the beginning of the line. What a nice occurrence!
Chef Ben was not particularly entertaining, but I have to say that our host and Mr. Ford stepped right in and kept the conversation lively, discussing the techniques and fielding on-going questions from the audience. I found it to be very informative and an enjoyable hour.
The King Estates Riesling paired beautifully with the cheesecake we were offered:
The recipe for this was three pages long! I don’t think I will be trying it at home, but I would possibly make the Cranberry Compote to put over a cheesecake I either made or bought from a local bakery. The presentation was top-notch but Chef Ben also gave us tips on how to do everything a little more easily in the home kitchen. Thank you, kind lady who had to go home early!
There were flyers on the tables advertising PFTS. This pretty much confirms that they are not selling out.
I rushed from this presentation to the final seminar I had booked:
Everyone was still standing in line when I got over there. Our host asked for our patience while they located our presenter, Antonella Millarte. About 2:10 they let us in and about 2:15 our host from the Culinary Presentation came to tell us that they would be canceling the seminar. Apparently our presenter was “tied up” at the Italian pavilion in World Showcase and couldn’t be bothered to attend our seminar! Maybe because there are no Puglian wines left in the Cellar at the Festival Center they feel no need to present their wines to us.
We were offered either an exchange ticket for another presentation during our stay or a refund. But first we were asked to enjoy the wines and if we had any questions they were encouraged. What followed was kind of fun! Many of us had been in seminars together this week so as we tasted the wines we discussed them. One Italian gentleman in the group pronounced all the names of the wines and translated any meanings and told us the location of the vineyards. It was a fun 10 minutes or so.
We tasted out a Rosato (Luna) from Andria – I wrote OK on my tasting sheet. Then was a Rosso (Eclissi) from Murgis – I wrote “meh” because this was really the first red I have had that fit that rating! The Bianco (Sole) from Puglia was the best of the bunch because I have a smiley face beside the tasting notes.
I grabbed my refund and started back to the room. It was very hot and sticky and I was tired by the time I got back. But I had to stop and get a video of our favorite Men In Skirts. My phone camera is not great at this, but I took it anyway! The bagpiper, Jamie, was not there again today.
Continued on next post...
. I hope today is as great as the others have been for you and Bob.
What an idiot! Glad you didn't let him spoil your evening. Your tasting and drinking around the world is getting me very excited! Are you going to make a list of your favorites, or have I missed it? I've been trying to take notes.
Denise! Thanks for reading. 
But am chuckling a bit about his name. 
We missed our Kouzzina ADR. 
But that is better than missing our Flying Fish ADR tomorrow night!
said he had a tough time selling an Amercan Pinot Gris to the clientele. I loved it when I tasted it at the seminar yesterday so I was happy to take the last glass off his hands! 
Tacky. It's nice that you got a freebie from another festival go-er though. That cheesecake looks tasty.
