Chardonnay Challenge by Ruinart!

Okay, it's not Ruinart, but the closest thing I had on hand: 2000 Dom Perignon.  and, on a side note, I tried one of the reserve Brut's at Frank Family Vineyards and it tasted strikingly similar to the 1999 Dom Perignon vintage.   Go Cali!

on www.guildsomm.com I found out about The Ruinart Chardonnay Challenge.  Ultimately, if you win the challenge, you win a trip to Champagne.  I entered by taking an online quiz about chardonnay and got an email 3 days ago that I got accepted to attend!  It's tomorrow in San Francisco!  Aeeiii!

I'm hoping to make some good contacts, invitees include Gillian Ballance who is the head Sommelier at PlumpJack Restaurants, Jess Altieri who heads up a wine-related webvideo site called http://winechanneltv.tv/ and Michael Ireland at Quince Restaurant.  Unfortunately, if they googled my name, like I did to all of them, they'd see that I'm an electro-pop producer, which is a world or two away from being a certified wino.   Bygones.

It feels like Ruinart is trying to reinvigorate the chardonnay varietal for connoisseurs, by celebrating it as a major component in Champagne.  I'm not opposed to this, mainly because I'm part of the school that is convinced that France makes better white wine than red.  So let's do this!  Tasting is tomorrow.  Wish me luck..