Introduction

Second Sunday Slurpers (S3) is a private, monthly, wine-tasting group that started in 1981. It is based in San Francisco, and it currently also has members from Oakland and from northern Napa Valley. The notes of each tasting have been passed along to the "administrator" since 1981! Roxie (rox) and Leslie (les) of our CT name "roxles" have been in the club since early 1997.

We decide on the curator for each month and usually on the wines about six months at a time. The curator researches and gathers the six wines, writes up something about the varietal, region, geography, vintage, and the noses and palates to expect, in general, and garners notes about each specific wine, and sometimes winery. Thus, we almost always have an educational introduction by the curator. We have baguette slices and three cheeses that one of us has selected to go with the wines we are tasting so we can compare each wine without and with food. That person tells us about the cheeses.

We blindly taste six wines every month. We each bring six glasses and pour a measured 2 ounces of each wine. The wines are related in some way, e.g. same varietal, a vertical. We each write our own notes without discussion, and we each privately rank our preferences from 1st place to 6th place. Sometimes the person curating the tasting will bring samples of the components others have described for us to smell, e.g. various fruits, spices.... We can't tell you what lychee or passion fruit smell like!

Political, movie or restaurant discussions fly around while we taste and some of us, who have a hard time choosing our favorites, have to be reminded to quit talking and to rank our wines. We must vote one through six! I wish we only tasted four instead of six wines. Then we tally the vote. We raise our hands for each of the wines labeled A through F for each place. Those give us the numbers, e.g. 3,0,2,1,2,1, meaning 3 firsts, 0 seconds, 2 thirds, 1 fourth, 2 fifths, 1 sixth. for this month's Wine "A" which ended up being the Navarro.

We multiply the number of each rank by the number of votes, (1 for 1st place x 3 votes = 3 points) + (2 for 2nd x 0 = 0) + (3 for 3rd x 2 = 6) + (4 for 4th x 1 = 4) + (5 for 5th x 2 = 10) + (6 for 6th x 1 = 6) = 29 points for Wine "A". We used to do it by hand, and now someone wrote a program for it; we don't like ties. For fun, the current administrator gathers our names with our votes to try to identify a style each of us likes. We continue for all 6 wines. The wine with the MOST points is our SIXTH place, least favored wine. The wine with the FEWEST points is our FIRST place, most favored wine.

We start with the sixth place and ask those who rated it highly to say what they liked about it and everyone chimes in with what they noticed - appearance, nose, palate, mouth feel. I try to take notes as people talk. Then one who rated it most highly pulls the bottle from its paper bag and reveals the wine. We continue until all wines' point totals, ranks and identities have been revealed with our group favorite revealed last. Votes are usually all over the place based upon style preferences, tasting quirks, allergies and nose function, Some of us are better at noticing certain scents or flavors - sulphur, forest floor, florals, vanilla; some of us are better at connecting what we notice with their word descriptors! Of course, we hope that our favorite wines are the least expensive!

Closing

In August, we meet in the "roxles" Oakland backyard to escape the SF fog or the Outside Lands Fete which impacts parking all over SF, for a ZINFANDEL tasting and BBQ. Everyone brings food to share. Hence, this year's, 2023, group notes on the six 2017, CA, ZINS!

In December, we have a wonderful, pot-luck party! We start with a bubbly, usually Champagne. Each member brings something "RED & INTERESTING" to share. It is a great way to share a cellared wine since one knows it will be tasted by people who truly love wine! It doesn't have to be old, though. We don't rank them that night; we drink wine, eat and talk! Partners and dates are welcome that night, too. We usually always have flank steak and a dark chocolate cake to eat with that red wine.

BTW, we each pay an amount set by the administrator, currently $150 2x/year, to reimburse for the wine, bread and cheese, Champagne, and meat purchases.