chris' tasting group 2024:
references & resources
Welcome to Chris’ Tasting Group!
Thank you for joining our tasting group! Below are references you might find useful.
Introduction to Wine Tasting PDF
Wine Tasting is not about liking the wine—it’s about exploring the wine and our perceptions of it...
...And this is best done in the company of people with whom we have shared experiences, shared memories, and shared vocabulary.
Using an Ah-So Cork Puller
The Ah-So is our favorite tool to open older bottles of wine. In this video our Wine-Grower Chris Howell will show you how to use it.
Chris' Tasting Group shipment 1:
First edition
Featured Wines:
2012 Cain Chardonnay
2022 Cain OTO Grenache
NV18 Cain Cuvée
Writing by Wine Grower Chris Howell
Wine Fact Sheets
Video from Point Reyes Cheese: How to Open and Enjoy Quinta
From Point Reyes Cheese’s Post, Quinta: A Love Story
Quinta is delicious at every stage, every age, and every event. Whether you choose to open your wheel when it makes it to your doorstep, or hang onto it in the fridge for a couple weeks – it is sure to be a crowd pleaser. Watch our Executive Chef and Culinary Director, Jennifer Luttrell, open a wheel in the video above. Pro tip: make sure you allow your wheel to come to room temperature before it’s served. This will ensure that you and your guests will enjoy Quinta at its best quality so you can really taste all it has to offer. You will find the “produced on” date on the back of your Quinta package. For wheels aged 40-50 days, the consistency will be thicker in texture with a buttermilk tang. For wheels 50-100 days, the consistency will be ribbon-y and smooth with a mustard, mushroomy, and herbaceous finish.
Read the whole blog post on the Point Reyes Cheese website here.
CTG 2024 1st Tasting: Wine and Cheese
Video of the First Tasting from Chris’ Tasting Group 2024:
Tasting Cain 2012 Chardonnay, 2022 OTO Grenache, and NV18 Cain Cuvée and Point Reyes Farmstead cheeses with Chris, Katie, and the Cain team, as well as Leigh Gardner-Gmeiner from Point Reyes Cheese.
Chris' Tasting Group shipment 2:
the complexity of the cain vineyard
Featured Wines:
2015 Cain Five
2015 Cain Concept
Writing by Wine Grower Chris Howell
Where the grapes grow: Map of the Napa Valley
The Cain Vineyard and the sources of the Cain Concept – The Benchlands PDF
CTG 2024 2nd Tasting: The Complexity of the Cain Vineyard
Video of the Second Tasting from Chris’ Tasting Group 2024:
Tasting 2015 Cain Five and 2015 Cain Concept with Chris, Katie, Matt, Ashley, and Brooke from Cain. Ashley gives a peek into the “grand period of growth” currently happening in the vineyard; Chris introduces the fundamentals of “Terroir” by comparing the differences between mountain and valley sites and exploring factors in geology and local climate that contribute to the complexity of wines from the Cain Vineyard.