Happy Housewarming Wine Tasting Birthday Party!

After having moved into their new place last July, Chris and Leslie invited folks over for a combo Housewarming/Wine Tasting/Birthday party (for Leslie). My friends, it seems, like to celebrate in sets of three.

Here’s how the wine tasting party works: everyone who showed brought over a bottle of their favorite wine. That bottle was then secretly wrapped in a bag and given a number. Then, throughout the night, everyone has a notecard and tastes every single bottle, jotting down their impressions, any notes, and a general score (1 to 10). At the end of the night, cards are collected, and prizes are given out for the wines that rank the highest.

A pretty cool concept, and a neat way to sample a ton of wine.

Todd, talking with Leslie and her sister.

There was this whole other wine area that I missed. Note the small statuette of Brain. This is, quite obviously, the fancy wine section.

Folks hanging out, comparing notes.

Ahh, here’s why folks were gathered around the table.

My god, the food was absolutely amazing. Those little tiny croissant-like things? Melted in my mouth. Like butta.

And I’m not quite sure what the leafy guy was, but I had at least two those. And I would have totally ganked more, had my sense of propriety not stayed my hand.

And! I liked these mushroom guys so much, I took this picture specifically because of them. The stuffing rose over the top of the mushroom, and had been crisped a little by the baking; as a result, the combination of textures (soft mushroom, crisp stuffing) was pretty darn terrific.

Liz and I had a ton of fun tonight, hanging out with friends and sipping wine. I got to see some of Chris and Leslie’s friends again (Donna, Todd, Stephanie) which was nice. I met several of them during Chris’ Birthday Party and during their move, and forgot how much I liked talking with them.

Unfortunately, due to a combo of Liz being sick (and being allergic to Chris and Leslie’s cats), we had to take an early leave. It’s unfortunate that she’s as sensitive as she is, as even being in the same apartment with cats (they were locked in the bedroom) caused her to have problems breathing.

We said our goodbyes, and left before tasting all the wine (and before any prizes were doled out). I’ll be curious to hear who ended up winning, and to learn what the actual names of the wines were that I liked.