Wines in the Valley

Last night I went down to the weekly races to participate in Wines in the Valley.  The way it works is that you can either buy a wine pass for $160 which gets you 6 wine tastings (50 mL), or you can buy wines by the glass.  50 mL, palease!  I'll take a glass.  There are four stations; USA, Italy, Australia, and France.  Last night's theme was France, but I'm not really sure what that meant as all the countries were represented.  Anyone have any insight into that!?

There was also some sort of game going on (see picture above), although I couldn't really get a handle on that either.  Basically, I just stuck to what I know and like; wine.  I had won three tastings from HK magazine (thank you HK mag!), my two guests and I each tried different wines.  Paul went with a Saint Emilion that was quite smooth although a little thin for my taste, Ashley had a California Pinot Noir which I did not try, but she seemed quite pleased with, and I went with a California Cab Sauv.  It was ok, but not as fruity and big as I had hoped.  Next round I went for an Austrialian Merlot.  Again, it was ok, but nothing that knocked my socks off.  For my last glass, I hit up the US again for a Zinfandel.  Oh, my good friend Zin, how I love thee!  This is exactly my kind of wine.  Big.  Bold.  Jammy.  I need to push Greg into some new investments....

A surprise for me during the evening was how much I enjoyed Tiger draft.  Maybe it's because I don't drink beer often, or maybe it's because I haven't had Tiger in a while, but man, stuff was smooth, frothy and delicious.  What's your favorite game race day brew?