Recap: Boston Blogger Wine Tasting

Last night, I was fortunate enough to attend a Boston Blogger Wine Tasting, put on by Michelle and Meghan. The tasting was held at Boston Wine Exchange in the Financial District.

I came a little late to the tasting, thanks to the inevitable Boston traffic, so I missed a few of the featured wines last evening. However, the sommelier shared several white and red wines with us that are great for summer sipping. The sommelier was extremely informative about each wine, and really knew his stuff when it came to vino - each bottle had its own story, which made the tasting that much more interesting and enjoyable.

One of my favorite wines that we tasted was actually the final selection: Trentadue Chocolate Amore. I've had plenty of wine with chocolate notes in the flavor, but this bottle was something else - intensely rich, full bodied, and with just a strong enough flavor of chocolate to make it go down smoothly, without being sickly sweet.

While tasting the wines, a PR Rep for Cabot Cheese was also on hand, and provided us with a spread of delicious cheeses, including horseradish cheese and cheddar with Omega-3 DHA.

After the tasting, we went to the back room of the Wine Exchange and tasted some homemade cupcakes from Mix Bakery. Mix Bakery is currently run out of a Boston-based home, and is pumping out some amazingly unique cupcakes and desserts (as well as savory muffins). The spread at last night's event shows just how innovative Mix Bakery's products are: Rhubarb Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream; Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes; and Mounds Cupcakes, which were chocolate cupcakes with a piece of a Mounds bar baked in the middle.

Oh, and double chocolate brownies.

Mix Bakery focuses on making high quality baked goods from real, simple ingredients - you won't see any shortening in these treats. The owner of the bakery said that she wouldn't put anything in her products that she wouldn't eat straight from a spoon. I tried (or rather, inhaled) a Mounds and rhubarb cupcake, and let me just say, that rhubarb belongs in cupcakes. The tartness from the rhubarb complemented the creamy, vanilla frosting beautifully - and the frosting was more like a cross between whipped cream and buttercream, rather than straight up, sickly sweet frosting. The Mounds cupcake was also delicious, with a sweeter, thicker frosting infused with fresh coconut flavor.

While we snacked on Mix Bakery's cupcakes, us bloggers also made use of this contraption:

This little invention is basically a wine "soda fountain." It lets you taste an assortment of wines by simply pressing a button, and receiving a tasting-size sample in your glass. One day, when I'm rich and famous, 18 of these will be installed throughout my home. I promise you that.

Overall, the Blogger Wine Tasting at Boston Wine Exchange was a fun, intimate gathering of some local food bloggers, and a great opportunity to try some great wines - and cupcakes. The best thing about Boston Wine Exchange is how affordable their wines and beers are (not to mention how unique their selection is). You can easily go there and pick up a nice bottle of wine for $10-20 - that's pretty unheard of in downtown Boston.

Before we all left, we were even given swag bags from Cabot, equipped with some Cabot cheddar cheese, a Cabot cow, a Cabot refrigerator magnet, a magnetic shopping list, a sweet Cabot wine and bottle opener, and a coupon for Cabot products.

Finally, I was very happy to get the chance to meet a lot of different bloggers that I read on a regular basis, including Richard, Elina, and Meghan, as well as some bloggers I've met along the way, including Lara, Michelle and Alicia. Another person I was grateful to meet is a local Twitter pal, @JustinCanCook.

Thanks again Michelle and Meghan for holding such a fun event!

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