Wine Tasting at Pug Wine

On Sunday, Oct 3rd, my friend Daniella and I spent a wonderful afternoon in Mill Valley (CUTE little town!) at the beautiful home of Peggy Bennington, who IS Pug Wine. As they do not have a tasting room YET (hopefully they will have one open next year in San Francisco), Peggy was gracious enough to offer us a private tasting, and we certainly felt honored to have been invited for such a special and generous treat. Pug Wine is, of course, so named because Peggy is another pug devotee, and has 3 of her own, who were all happy to welcome us into their space. Peggy had an amazing spread on the kitchen island all ready for us - along with bottles of wine adorned with exquisite labels that are tiny works of art on their own (all Pugs of course), she offered a tasty array of cheeses, breads and fruit. We started with Pug Rose, then followed with Pug Blanc, Pug Pinot and finally Pug Cab. We really liked ALL of them! We purchased a bottle of the 2007 Pug Blanc each, a "vibrant" Rhone-style white blend of Marsanne and Roussane grapes from the Russian River Valley - with the aromas and flavors of grapefruit and apple, finishing with pineapple and vanilla. Our second favorite (but, as I said, we felt they were all very good) was the 2007 Pug Cab, which is made of grapes from Hoopes Vineyard in Napa - it was exceptionally balanced, rich with bright fruit flavors (I thought, plum and cherry), and had a gorgeous, dark color. I will definitely be purchasing this one in the future for a special occasion! Thanks again to Peggy, and I hope everyone who reads this will go to the website and try a bottle - I promise you will not be disappointed! www.pugwine.com