THE STORY
The Monterey Chapter of the American Wine Society was seeking a place to celebrate the holidays – and I thought of LadySomm at the Barnyard Shopping Village in Carmel. They have interesting offerings in a great space. Fortunately, the date we were seeking just happened to be open on their calendar. They offered us some fun wine education aspects and a beautiful spread of cheeses and fruits paired with some delicious bread, making for a lovely evening. Roxanne and Tamara were great hostesses for our group that evening. Thank you, ladies! And we were very happy to meet some brand new members of our local wine group!
ABOUT LADYSOMM
From their website: “At the heart of Lady Somm are two sisters, Roxane Langer and Tamara Carver, whose passion for wine has blossomed into a mission to share it with the world. With backgrounds that span the globe and the wine spectrum, they invite you to join them on a journey of discovery, education, and enjoyment. Welcome to our world of wine.”
On their website, you can dive deeper into all of their wine education, tasting salon, travel and special events. I encourage you to take a peek! I am excited about their offerings – there is something for every budget. They host regular wine tasting and education events, running the spectrum from informal to fancy. It’s a fun place to explore!
THE EVENT
Our holiday celebration at LadySomm was a fun event. How lovely to enter their space, all decorated for the holidays with the beautiful charcuterie boards on display plus the 3 wine education stations:
- “Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles – Taste three different sparklers that evoke the holiday spirit: Are you a prosecco fan or a method Champenoise fan, OR do you even know which you prefer? Taste three of our favorites to confirm your preference.”
This was eye opening. The prosecco from Italy upon first taste was delicious, blowing my preconceived idea that all prosecco’s are sweet. Others thought it was a tad sweet, which I discovered to be true upon a revisit. Alas. The cava from Spain was extremely bubbly, crisp, and dry – the bubbles obfuscated the flavors for me, which is one of my pet peeves in overly bubbly wines. I probably didn’t give it a fair shake and will try another one again. The Champagne (obviously from France) had the finest bubbles, the most sophisticated of the three. I do enjoy a good Champagne! Those would have been fun to blind taste to see if we could guess which was which.
- “Beef or Fowl for your holiday table – which wine region has you covered? Taste a “perfect for your roast turkey” white wine, a big red for your prime rib and a wine that pairs well with both all from one European wine region.”
Here, we learned how different wines pair with turkey and beef. We tasted a Domaine de Cala, Coteaux Varois en Provence rosé with the turkey – an appropriate pairing.
Then we tried the 2021 Wrath Pinot Noir, Boekenoogen Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands AVA, Monterey County, 14.3 % ABV, $49 (#1484) (92 points – Wine Enthusiast) with both the turkey and the beef, showing its versatility in food pairing. This wine was fuller-bodied than the typical SLH Pinot Noir, possessing enough structure and tannins to please our palates and stand up to the beef.
Finally we tried a Tribe & Arrow Diamond Dão Proprietary Red Blend (50% Cabernet Franc, 50% Merlot), Diamond Mountain District, Napa Valley with the beef. I didn’t see the vintage, but this is a limited production bottling by Olette Wines with individually numbered bottles. Another great pairing!
- “Know What Your Nose Knows – Learning the Language of Wine: Learn to smell and identify common scents in three different wine varietals.”
Here they had on display a 2022 Corral Sauvignon Blanc, Arroyo Seco AVA, Monterey County, 13.4% ABV, $30 (#1088); a Val de Meigas Albariño from Spain; and a MAX Carménère Reserva from Chile. For this exercise, they put wine glasses upside down over Le Nez du Vin wine odor bottles. Oh, is that what you are supposed to do with them – who knew? Another fun excursion for a future wine event!
First we focused on the aroma chart or what one might smell by swirling one of the white wines in the glass. Then we could pick up each glass and try to discern the odor in each glass to the chart. I guessed all of these correctly. The green apple wasn’t so distinctive, but wet hay was the most memorable for me. Then we had a set of cards to use to identify the odor samples typical for a Carménère. I got green pepper off the bat, and found garlic a bit harder to discern. OK, I don’t consider myself to have a very good nose or palate for detecting the multitude of aromas and flavors in a wine, but I aced them all!
VISITING LADYSOMM
LadySomm is located at 3728 The Barnyard, G-23 on the upper level in Carmel. They are open 2-7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 2-5 p.m. on Sundays. Check out their website for upcoming events throughout this holiday period and beyond!
JOIN THE MONTEREY CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN WINE SOCIETY!
December is the perfect month to join the American Wine Society and select Monterey, CA as your local chapter! Please join today so you can participate in our 2025 local wine education activities!
© Decanting Monterey 2024
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