I'll Toast to That!

Like Ms.Gloss, the Joeys also held a little wine tasting last weekend. We had 10 random friends over to try the 7 bottles of white and 3 bottles of bubbly we managed to gather the weekend before. I wish we had pictures of the night. It was a lot of fun. I also wish I had pictures of the tasting sheets. We numbered the bottles 1 to 10 and then gave everyone a sheet of paper with the numbers 1 though 10 on it. We asked everyone to comment on each wine they tasted. Some did the simple Yay or Nay, while other were really descriptive of what they tasted and liked about it. It worked really well.

Despite everyone's palettes, we have an overwhelming winner for the White and the Cava. We initially were looking for a $7 bottle of white and $10 bottle of Cava. When our Red selection came in super cheap ($5.91 including tax), we decided we could look at $9 Whites too.
And the winners? Everyone loved the 2008 Barnard Griffin Fume Blanc. It was the most expensive wine in the lot, but it was really good. We were told that we would get a 15% discount if we paid in cash or by debit card, so that brought the bottle down to $8.28 including tax.

The Cava we selected was a 2000 Freixenet Cava Brut (sorry, I don't know how to list it's name).

It was a $12-15 bottle of Cava that local wine wholesaler, the Wine Outlet, was selling for $9 a bottle. It was totally doable. When we purchased our sample bottle of the Freixenet, the salesman told us that if we were buying, we'd have to purchase by June 14th because it was going on sale that day. They had quite a few cases in stock since December and the bottles were not moving. We think it's because not too many people have something to celebrate in this economy. We'd actually had this Cava at New Years and really liked it. I almost bought our wedding bottles then but then changed my mind. Where would we put it?

I'm so glad I changed my mind and this turned out to be the favorite Cava of our 3 samples, plus we got a steal of a deal during the sale. The $9 bottle went down to $5. Yes, FIVE DOLLARS!! Seriously! We ended up buying 33 bottles and it only cost us $180.84 including tax!

Why 33? We bought bought 2 cases for the wedding. I had originally budgeted for 1.5 cases at $10 a bottle. I figure we'd just use the Cava for the toast and not give guest full glasses but at $5 a bottle, we could get 24 bottles at $120, and still be under the $180 I budgeted for 18 $10 bottles. We also got 6 bottles for the rehearsal dinner and 3 extra bottles for us; 1 to celebrate getting our building permit (if that ever happens), 1 for our 1st anniversary and 1 just cause. You never know when you should pop open a bottle of bubbly.

In addition to the great deal on Cava, we also picked out 9 bottles of Magnificent Wine's 2007 Chardonnay. It wasn't the winner at the tasting, but it was in the top 3. Why did we pick up 9 bottles? Because they were selling them for $3 a bottle. Yup! Including tax, it came to under $30. We figure we'll either use it at the rehearsal dinner, shower or bachelorette dinner.

Right now, I think we'll be right at budget or under for our beverages.

Budget: $720
4 bottles of Pimm's - $74.25
24 bottles of Cava - $131.52
18 bottles of Red - $106.53
18 bottles of White - $150.91

Total left - $256.79

Left to buy (these are estimates):
4 bottle of Gin or Rum - $80 (buy at PX - no tax)
4 cases of beer - $22-26 each plus tax
Assorted sodas and mixers (lemonade) - $30

I can't believe the deal we got. Seriously, I almost feel guilty. What wedding steal are you most proud of?

P.S. This is our Red option