Thursday night I attended a wine tasting at Union Square Wines located at 140 Fourth Avenue. The evening consisted of tastings of the wines of Robert Foley. Mr. Foley who was in attendance this evening, bottles wines under his label and has a hand in a few other labels as well.  The tasting began with a sit-down tasting of six wines followed by a walk around tasting of about a dozen others.

At the sit-down tasting we started with the Red Hook Winery 2010 “Macari Vineyard” Chardonnay. Golden in color with a nose of honey with vicious fruit of pineapple and honey with nice acids on the finish. If I would have tasted it bling I would have picked Cali. I thought it was a big wine.  The next wine was the Engel Family Vineyard 2008 Napa Valley Merlot. It was dark red with a bright dark cherry cocoa nose, very tight with an astringent finish. The 2006 Shelter Wine Company “The Butcher” Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon was black with a nose of herbs and black cherry, juicy and chewy with nice balance on the long finish. A very fruit forward, big wine.

The 2009 Dos Lagos Vineyard “Atlas Peak” Cabernet Sauvignon was dark with a nose of black cherry,  slate and baked bread with tight velvety fruit with a dusty and long finish. Very tasty. The 2008 Robert Foley “Claret” Napa Valley was dark red to black with dried herbs, black cherry and mint on the nose with firm and silky tannins on the finish. And the last wine at the sit-down portion of the event was Switchback Ridge 2004 Petite Sirah. Black in color with a huge nose of slate and black licorice, chewy and dusty with a nice mouthful of tannin at the end. Very big wine.

After the sit-down tasting food was brought out. It was a fine spread, BBQ ribs, Mac & Cheese and mashed potatoes, all delicious, hearty food that went well with the big wines we were drinking.

For the walk around part of the event we got to sample wines from various wineries that Foley has a hand in. Red Hook Winery poured their 2009 Seneca Lake Riesling, their 2009 Petit Verdot (Long Island) and their 2008 Cabernet Franc “Split Rock (Long Island).

A couple of excellent reds from Switchback Ridge, the 2008 Peterson Family Vineyards Merlot was dark with spicy fruit with a touch of oak and great balance while the 2008 Peterson Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon  was dark red to black with a nose of dark chocolate with tight silky fruit with great balance on the long finish. Very nice.

Robert Foley poured his 2010 Carneros Pinot Noir which was very extracted, dark and chewy for a Pinot with lots of cola flavors. Not my style of Pinot. I did enjoy the 2010 “Griffin” red blend. Black with a nose of bright stewed fruit, tight and velvety with a long finish.

I did try one white this evening, Shelter Vineyards 2009 Roussanne which was crisp with notes of herbs and green apples with the 15% alcohol peeking through at the end.

Overall it was a nice tasting of some big wines.