Many thanks for coming to the first Hogwash. A larger turn out than expected but I guess that just shows you can't separate a serious hasher from his/her booze.

Miho kindly did the write up and it is attached as a Word document and copied below in case you can't open it. If anyone has e mail addresses for Andy and Karin could you forward this please.

I'll let you know soon about Hogwash 2. I am currently researching options. It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it. If anyone has suggestions for possible locations let me know.

Meanwhile an announcement about Hogwash Japanes Speakers' Special Interest Group. If you want an alternative to a noisy bar on St. Paddy's day the Japan Society is holding a wine tasting and lecture (in Japanese). Contact Ewa for details (she works there).

Oen Oen

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1st HOGWASH

Date: Tuesday, February 16, 1999
Time: 7:00 - until we had approx. 2/3 of a bottle (spent about $30) per person
Place: I Trulli, 122 East 27th Street (between Lexington Ave. & Park Ave. South)

It was a cold day, a kind of the day you would rather stay home and warm... In spite of the whether and the fact that there was no beer but wine, by the time when Roy tried to close the session, we were almost 20.

After this boring introduction, I try to be at least accurate and hopefully interesting from here, because I'm going to talk about the main thing - the wine. As you can easily imagine from the name of the bar (good choice of bar, Roy!), all the wines we had were Italian. As my knowledge of Italian wine is limited to Chianti, I was really looking to it. Altogether, we tasted six different wines (three of each color).

Starting from White, our first wine was Gavi di Gavi: La Meirana (1997, $31), the best of the three white wines we selected according to one of the waiters. It has a very light color, fruity perfume, and short taste. If you had enough of the creamy Californian Chardonnay, this is something that you may want to try to change. If you love a sweet white wine like Sancerre, this may be too dry, in spite of the fruitiness.

The second wine which is called Lacrima Christi (Tears of Christ) (1996, $26) had an unusual perfume: you might say wild - definitely, but this has more complex, almost indescribable perfume. I forgot the story of why this wine is called Tears of Christ, but it has indeed a special and rare taste. This is the kind of thing either you like or you don't.

The third wine before switching to red was Ceretto Blange (1997, $29). By this time, the number of participants doubled and the original tasting ambiance became drinking, more like regular on-in atmosphere, except we were in business attire. This semi-dry wine has a slight after-taste; maybe little bit of tannin, and that of a white wine has been opened during couple of days.

If you are amateur of Bordeaux red, don't expect the deep, rich, mature, and long taste from the wines listed below. You've got to understand that Italy is situated southern than France, thus it's hotter and it can't produce the same quality of wine. Indeed, only few parts of Italy (northern than Rome) can produce wine, such as Tuscany and Piedmonte. What you taste here is more like Burgundy type of wines, such as Beaujolais Nouveau.

Speaking of Beaujolais Nouveau, the first red wine Dolcetto di Doglianni: C Neuva (1997, $25) has lots of similarities with it: the pinkish red color, not too sweet, young but round taste.

This single grape wine is followed by a red wine composed of 20% of Cabernet-Sauvignon and 80% of Sangiovese: La Volte (1996, $31). For me who is not a fan of Cabernet-Sauvignon, the rusty Cabernet-Sauvignon taste was obvious. Very dry and short.

After a couple of hours of drinking and mixing different wines without eating anything substantial (complimentary bread and home-made fresh ricotta cheese was served during the first half of the gathering, and Roy ordered some cold antipasti), our tasting capacity might not be as accurate as at the very beginning. For this, the last wine Castelgreve: Chianti Classico (1990, $45) was a good choice with its distinguished taste. This aged Chianti Classico has a clear brownish-red color with its strong flavor and a touch of cocked taste that you find in port. While we were enjoying our red wines, one of the servers told me that we should have some cheese to taste them, but for this particular Chianti, I don't know if I want to have cheese or the Castilla sponge cake that accompanies port.

I guess that*s it for the first commemorable HOGWASH (which stands for Hash Oenological Group, Wine Appreciation for Superior Hashers, did you know?), and this is something we should keep happening. For those of you who didn't come because you thought you were late, don't worry, you are never late for the HOGWASH: we don't move.

Looking forward the second HOGWASH in a month or so, and meanwhile, drink well everybody!

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