Saturday night I attended a “Mom’s Night Out” event, a fundraiser to raise money for my daughter’s second grade class. The fellow mom who hosted the party invited all the moms from the second grade to come for a wine tasting and essential oils demonstration. While the oils were mildly interesting to me, I was really most curious about the wine. The company that was presenting the tasting was called ONEHOPE Wine.
Just more than a year old, the company was founded to help support various not for profit causes, in addition to sharing fine wine. Its vineyards are mostly located in Napa Valley and Sonoma County, and the “Cause Entrepreneur” who was hosting the tasting said the wines we were tasting were a result of a collaboration with Robert Mondavi, Jr.
Each wine we tasted had a specific cause for which proceeds from its sale would support – everything from fighting cancer, to planting trees in the rainforest to supporting the music and arts culture. According to the organizers, the way this fundraiser worked, 50 percent of the proceeds would go to the cause related to the particular wine while 10 percent would go to my child’s second grade.
I was pleasantly surprised that roughly half the wines we tried were actually very good! Usually these types of mass-produced wines are less than stellar and/or you can’t trace them to their real source. While you don’t know the exact origin of the wine in terms of the actual estate ONEHOPE is at least transparent about where the grapes are grown, listing the source, but not so open about where they are actually made and by whom. It lists Mr. Mondavi as the consultant/winemaker but nothing more is revealed (the exception is the Iconic wines, which are estate grown and bottled, according to ONEHOPE Wine’s catalog).
And herein lies the rub for me with these things. Sure, it’s fun to taste some wines that you may or may not enjoy. But the tasting is only part of it for me. I enjoy learning about where the wine is made and how and by whom. It also helps me extend my learning about wine. So, I was a little disappointed not to have the full story.
As far as the wines go, we mostly tasted whites, which were OK. I enjoyed the Brut Sparkling Wine very much, as well as the Sauvignon Blanc. Two others were too sweet for my tastes and the Chardonnay was too much of a departure from the usual qualities of that grape for me to enjoy it. Plus, it had a strong hint of coconut and I don’t like coconut at all! LOL!
The reds were amazing. My favorite was the Pinot Noir, followed by the Zinfandel, which like the Chardonnay was a bit of a departure from the usual. It wasn’t as black pepper spicey as Zins normally are and I really enjoyed the complexity of it that blended through as it hit your tongue. The Cabernet Sauvignon was nice, as well.
The tasting had different foods to accompany the wines. Most were well-paired but a few were unusual for me, such as the cheddar with the Pinot Noir. Another mom was ready to dump her wine; luckily I caught her just in time with a piece of chocolate, which turned out to be a much better pairing!
All in all, it was an enjoyable evening and the hostess was fabulous. It was a nice idea to have the wine tasting and the essential oils, a little something for everyone. While I think the ONEHOPE Wine concept is a good one, I hope in the future the company considers a bit more transparency in how its wine is made and by whom. I think it could represent a boon for the wineries that are participating; they could promote their goodwill in supporting all these fantastic causes. Now, I must go figure out what I’m putting in my case that I’ll be ordering. After all, it’s for a lot of good causes, including my daughter’s well-rounded education! Cheers!