When wine tasting and social media meet, it’s called TasteLive. The Swirl Girls call it a sweet match.

The four of us have been a part of multiple TasteLive tastings www.TasteLive.com for about a year now. Here’s how it works: The organizers of this “real-time, event-based social network…for presenting products with taste” ask for participants to pair with certain wineries. If we accept, then we’re sent a number of wines the day before, or the day of, the live Twitter tasting.

At 9 p.m., we gather and uncork the wines, pass out glasses, rev up the computer and begin. On the TasteLive web site, we are one of several spots in the country all tasting the same wines at the same moment. It works pretty darn well. The TasteLive organizers are energetic, fun and totally professional about the groups they gather together.

The wineries are on Twitter during the tastings, too, and answer questions about wine composition, wine price, bottling or anything else we ask them. It’s a good chance for interaction with winemakers; their stories are fascinating and the wines are usually pretty terrific.

So it was a couple of weeks ago, when we lined up with Sonoma’s Benziger wines at a TasteLive event. There was a real-time video interview with Mike Benziger, along with the real-time Tweeting. We had six different wines to taste, including two vertical tastings (same wine, different year). There were eight tastings going on all over the country.

I visited the biodynamic Benziger winery in 2009, on a trip to Sonoma and Napa. The winery is in a gorgeous hillside setting, with oak barrels stacked in caves, and offers a nice tram tour and tasting in the pretty white compound of buildings. I was impressed with the whole tour and definitely the tastings – Benziger turns out some fantastic wine.
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It’s not your everyday Moet. Not that you have Moet every day, mind you. But here’s a bright, white-foil-wrapped, gold-lettered bottle of Moet & Chandon Ice Imperial Champagne. The bottle looks cool to the touch. Then, all around the bottle are words you don’t usually see on Champagnes: Drink on ice.

Really?

Yes, this is the sunnier, lighter, fizzy side of Moet. At about $60 a bottle.

It’s a new product from the famous French company, meant to be served over ice. Because Champagne flutes aren’t meant to have any ice in them at all, I served this Moet in smaller wine glasses, with a couple of ice cubes per glass.

Joining me in the holiday weekend tasting (if it’s a holiday, it means Moet!) were my husband, my brother (a restaurateur) and my sister-in-law. This sparkler is a pretty, pale peach and light orangeade-colored blend of pinot noir (40-50 percent), pinot meunier (30-40 percent) and chardonnay (10 to 20 percent), which makes it a bit off-dry.

On the nose, it’s light and smells faintly of peaches, too. It’s got a slight tropical hint to it, and reminded us of a Champagne spritzer with a little oomph to it.
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Wine Spectator has just handed out its 30th year of wine program awards, listing the world’s “3,734 restaurants wine lovers need to know.” As you might expect, Florida and California have huge lists in the U.S. We are very lucky, indeed – we have 35 restaurants in Palm Beach County (34) and Stuart (1) on the list.

There are three tiers of awards: Grand Awards, Best of Award of Excellence and Award of Excellence. The Grand Awards were given to only 74 restaurants in the world. Two are in Florida; both are also on the list of only four that have been given Grand Awards every year since 1981: Bern’s in Tampa, and L’Escalier at the Breakers. Unfortunately, The Breakers announced earlier this year that L’Escalier was closing, to reopen in another capacity at some point.
To enter the 2012 Wine Spectator Restaurant Wine List Awards program, restaurants need to send copies of currents wine lists, menus and wine programs. There’s a processing fee of $250, and award winners are required to renew their awards each year.
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As we head into summer, the Swirl Girls dove into our wine cabinets and tasted our little tastebuds off trying these wines for you. These bottles were all sent to us for review. Enjoy!

From Bold:

2009 Flip Flop Riesling, Washington ($5.49, Total Wine)
This is a nice, inexpensive wine with a nose of melon and pineapple. It tastes on first sip as if it has a slight carbonation to it, though there are no bubbles. Also on taste is some peach and a little apple. It’s a sweeter riesling, though not the sweetest I’ve had by far. It went well with a seafood dish, and was still enjoyable the next day, too. For the price, this is a nice, medium-bodied wine.

2009 Kim Crawford Marlborough Pinot Noir ($15.99 ABC; $17.99 Total Wine)
This pinot noir, aged in a mixture of oak barrels and tanks for 7 months, started with a quiet, pretty nose of light sour cherries and a faint hint of earth. As it opened, it became a bigger pretty nose with a lot more dark fruit than I expected. It’s a beautiful ruby color (I think I’d like this color on my walls!) and tastes of dark cherries, with a hint of clove. It has a smooth mouthfeel and went on my good-sipping-wine list. But I have to say it’s terrific with food, so buy a bottle of this as a gift for the next dinner party you’re invited to – just make sure they open your gift for the dinner, so you can enjoy it, too.

2008 Vale do Bomfim Douro D.O.C., Portugal ($12 online)
On the nose, this dark, garnet-colored wine was very berry, big and promising. It followed up in taste with black cherry, a slight spice and some zing. I paired it with sausage in red sauce over linguine and it was a beautiful pairing. This is a good everyday wine, and I’d definitely buy it again.
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If you heard from friends who went to last year’s Legacy Place Food and Wine Experience, you probably thought, “That sounds great, wish I’d been there!” Here’s your chance.

The huge success of the first two events has happily led to a third, and you’ll be able to join all of us on April 21 to try some of the Swirl Girls’ favorite wines. Another plus is that you’ll be helping the American Lung Association, which is benefiting from this yummy evening.

Come and try dishes from Café Chardonnay, Ironwood Grille, Kona Grill, McCormick & Schmick’s, Capital Grille, Tijuana Flats, Saito’s Japanese Steakhouse, Cod & Capers, Figs by Todd English, and more. The wine is being supplied by Total Wine (someplace you may have seen us mention, oh, about a gazillion times), so you’re guaranteed a good sipping experience.

The doors open at 6:30 p.m. for VIP ticketholders, and at 7 p.m. for everyone else. Tickets are $50 for regular admission, $75 for VIP (VIP admission includes valet parking). There will be music, wine, food and a spring night under the stars. Sounds like a perfect formula to us! We hope to see you there. For more info, call (561) 659-7644.

What are we pouring? We thought you’d never ask.

2009 Clos St Michel Chateauneuf-du-pape blanc: We originally tried this wine when the Winettes had a Rhone tasting, and it was Sweet’s favorite wine of the night. Hailing from southern France, this has a lovely aroma of tropical fruits, citrus and vanilla. It is a full-bodied, sophisticated wine that will have you eschewing chardonnays for at least a week.
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It’s time for another roundup of wine reviews. These wines were sent to us, so we got busy:

2009 Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet, Calif. ($10 online): This wine with the luscious name (who doesn’t love red velvet cake?) is a pale red-pink. On the nose it’s light cherry, and the color and nose give away the fact that it’s a light-bodied wine. On taste, there are cherries and bit of raspberry, with a little vanilla. It’s a drinkable wine, certainly, and on the inexpensive side. This would be a good wine for someone who wasn’t sure about drinking red wine – it’s a good beginner bottle. It’s a little light for my taste, but that’s probably not a surprise.

2008 Sobon Estate Zinfandel, Amador County, Calif. ($12.99 Total Wine; $18 online): This deep red wine proved one of my favorites and I’ll definitely buy it in the future. It’s very cherry on the nose with some licorice and currants. The nose, like the taste, opened up in layers. One sniff wasn’t the total story; it has a really wonderful fragrance. The taste was warm, layers of black cherry and blackberries, a slight smokiness and a long finish.

2008 6th Sense Syrah, Lodi Appellation, Calif. ($15 online): On the nose, this pretty ruby wine had a slight spice to it. It tasted of cocoa, a smooth light cherry, with some spice and pepper. It’s a very easy-drinking wine that went well with pepper steak and onions. This wine takes at least three of your senses and does justice to them. Read the full story

Sonoma is an onomatopoeia. It sounds like what it means: A beautiful terroir with rolling hills and a high percentage of restful experiences, such as wine tastings.

Yes, wine tastings can be restful – it’s a time to slow down and concentrate on one thing, the wine in your glass. Swirl Girl Sweet (Libby Volgyes) and I combined both recently at the “Sensational Sonoma Selections” tasting at Total Wine.

As with all the wine tastings there, we learned a lot about the entire Sonoma County and Sonoma Coast regions (this is just to the west of the famed Napa Valley), from the area’s history to what makes those wines unique. We traveled from a sparkling to a cabernet, with superb appetizer pairings from caterer Epicurean Bliss. Here are our notes – swirl, taste and enjoy!

River Road Sonoma Coast Brut ($19.99): A pale sparkling wine with a nose of apple and strawberries, this is a dry, light-bodied wine. It has a nice balance, and we thought it was good, but didn’t knock our socks off.

Kinneybrook Sauvignon Blanc 2009 ($14.99): From the Kunde folks, this had tons of wonderful smells, flowers, melon and lemon, grapefruit. And gooseberries, according to Sweet. It’s a really nice wine for the price, and reminded us of a New Zealand sauv blanc, which is high praise. Says Sweet: “This crisp, clean and extremely well-balanced wine reminded me of sunshine and spring. I would immediately reach for this wine for friends, family or a fancy dinner party.” From my friend, Noelle, who is not a white wine drinker: “This is the white for those who don’t drink white.”
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Here’s a round-up of some recent wines we were sent for review:

2009 Amancaya Malbec Cabernet Sauvignon – Mendoza, Argentina ($14.99 online)
A garnet-colored wine, this red blend has a rich nose with some dark cherry and slight currants. I opened it and used an aerator and it was great to drink right away. On taste, I caught some spice with a little clove. It was full of cherries, with a dry, smooth finish. It’s a nice, young wine for the value, and I’d be glad to have it again.

From Dry:

2008 Domaine Barons de Rothschild Los Vascos Reserve Cabernet – Colchagua Valley, Chile ($23 online)
This wine has a deep ruby color and a fresh, fruity nose with aromas of black cherry, currant, cranberry and raspberry. I also got secondary aromas of raw tobacco, bitter espresso, cinnamon and unsweetened chocolate. On the palate, the wine is medium-bodied with well-integrated tannins and a nice acidity. It’s an elegant and smooth wine that I think is nicely done.

2009 Bodegas Osborne Tempra Tantrum Tempranillo/Shiraz – Vino de la tierra de Castilla, Spain ($12 online)
This wine has a bright magenta color and a nose full of candied fruit. It was some cross between a fruit rollup and a Jolly Rancher, with aromas of cherry, raspberry, plum, toasted nuts and a hint of minerality. It’s a fresh, light-bodied wine that’s a very easy drinker. It’s simple, fruity and slightly sweet. It would probably be a good party wine when everyone is more interested in having a good time than drinking a complex and unique wine; 60 percent Tempranillo, 40 percent Shiraz.

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Making money with wine. That phrase has a nice ring to it. Of course, my favorite word pairing would be wine-drink, but wine-money is a close second.

Money magazine agrees in its November issue, with the cover story, “What to do with $1,000 now.” One of the answers is, you guessed it, invest in wine.

Specifically, 2006 California cabernets. If you follow wine news (or the Swirl Girls, because we mention this a lot), you know that the 2005 California Napa cabs are terrific; it was a wonderful year for the vineyards. The 2006 year was incredibly good, too, and the 2007 vintage has proven pretty powerful.

Thing is, there are so many good 2007 wines on the market now that there’s a glut of 2006 cabs out there – and that means we can pick up some really yummy wines marked down as much as 30 percent.
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It being Puglia, Italy, wine week (really!), now is a good time to review the 2008 Tormaresca Puglia Neprica. The Swirl Girls were sent this wine for review, and I’m glad that happened. It’s a nice, well-rounded, good-value wine, and that’s a bunch of welcome news.

You can find this for between $9-$12 (online all over the place), and it’s a pretty red blend of Negroamaro, Primitivo, and Cabernet Sauvignon with a light cherry nose. The Negroamaro grape is not grown much outside the Puglia region.

It’s a light-bodied wine, not too fruit-forward, with licorice on the aftertaste. It’s like a good friend who drops over on a Saturday afternoon just to chat – it’s dependable, easy to drink, affordable, and you’re happy to see it.
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