Magnavino Black & White Soirée

In case you missed the Black & White Soirée wine club parties at Magnavino Cellars during the last two weekends, I've put together some Taste N Trip notes about the one on Saturday, March 29th. Everyone was asked to dress in black and/or white for this soirée, which is a party or reception held in the evening, but you already knew that, right?

Although there was a line in front of the winery, everyone was checked in while still in line and walked right in when the doors opened. Maybe the Eventbrite registration sped up the entry process from previous wine club parties.  In addition to making good wine, Maganvino Cellars has figured out how to put on well-orchestrated parties and special events!

First things first, of course! Robert Wagner has a taste of wine before the party gets going.  And then the whole Magnavino crew assembles for the black & white soirée... wait a second, who's that guy with the red tie on? Didn't he get the memo? Close enough.

Hosts Robert & Barbara Wagner posing with premier wine pouring assistants Debbie & Tim Gandy.

 Robert & Barbara drinking red & white while wearing black & white and looking classy as usual.

I think Robert & Barbara greeted every single wine club member!

Wine club members were able to taste two white wines, nine red wines and one desert wine (after dinner).  Four other wines were for sale, but not available for tasting.

Some of the wines being poured won medals in the 2014 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Those that had not won any medals yet were just released and missed the competition in February.  The red wine medal winners were: 
2011 Grenache Rosé – Bronze
2010 Petite Sirah – Platinum, Best of Class
2010 Cabernet Sauvignon – Gold
2010 Syrah – Silver
2010 Trifection – Silver
2011 Tuscan Romance – Silver
2012 Guilty Pleasures – Bronze
2011 Tre Gemme – Bronze
2010 Zinfandel – Bronze

The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition listed the category, price range, AVA, and designation for these wines also.

After a tour around the barrel room I headed to the tasting room to check out the wine.

I noticed a white and rosé on the tasting list, but I decided to focus on the red wines. 

White/Rosé
2012 Pinot Gris
2011 Grenache Rosé

Red
2010 Trifection
2011 Tre Gemmé Cuvée
2010 Zinfandel
2011 Old Vine Zinfandel
2011 Merlot
2010 Cabernet Sauvignon
2010 Syrah
2011 Magnatude
2010 Petite Sirah

Desert
2012 Guilty Pleasures (available for tasting with desert only).

My first taste was the 2010 Trifection, a blend of Grenache, Sangiovese and Petite Sirah, and it was poured in expert fashion by Tawnie. I had really liked the Trifection when I tasted it last year, but this time around it wasn’t exactly how I remembered it; still an interesting blend though. It was difficult to select a favorite red, but the 2011 Merlot, although a little young, struck me like the winner of this tasting. In a very close second place were the 2010 Zinfandel, 2011 Old Vine Zinfandel, 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2010 Syrah. And almost as good were the 2011 Tre Gemmé Cuvée (Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre or GSM), 2011 Magnatude, and 2010 Petite Sirah. Guess I really like the Magnavino red wines!

Black & White Appetizers

I was sorry to see that the 2010 Sangiovese and the 2011 Tuscan Romance were not available for tasting, but at least they were still available for purchase.  I've always thought these two reds were great!

Daniel Davies, a master of classical and jazz piano, session player, and vocalist that’s played around the world, was doing a fine job of sounding like Sinatra and keeping everyone entertained. 

The dinner buffet was prepared by Command Performance Catering Group and was very popular as soon it arrived.

My dinner plate with rosemary foccacia bread, assorted broiled vegetable salad with pine nuts, feta cheese and a white balsamic vinaigrette, a creamy risotto, and Beef Burgundy with pearl onions, mushrooms in a red wine sauce went very well with the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon.  Excellent food and wine!

And the wine got even better when I was surprised with a special glass of Tuscan Romance, courtesy of Rob and delivered by Tawnie.

Mark Delgado, Robert Wagner, Tawnie Jeanne, Scott Ballew

I was happy to finally taste the 2011 Tuscan Romance, a Super Tuscan blend, that has all of my favorite Magnavino wines: Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.  No wonder it was by far the best wine from Magnavino!  And if you can still buy it, it's drinkable now, but it could also age for a few years if you can wait that long.

Kate Wiegers of neighboring Strey Cellars was tagging and bagging wine orders for pick-up.

Black & white cupcakes from 'I'd Rather Be Baking Co.' went well with red or desert wines.

Master of the cupcake from 'I'd Rather Be Baking Co.' Mark Delgado and Jeralyn Negri toast... oops, time for a refill!

Kate Wiegers & Scott Ballew of the newly opened Strey Cellars, kind of like a Magnavino spin-off, and it's located in the same complex. Driving from wine tasting to wine tasting just got easier in Oxnard!

A great time was had by all...

Cheers!

Floral Design by Laurie of Unique Floral Design in Simi Valley.

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