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Wine tasting at Riverside Red X: what a riot!
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Free monthly wine tastings at Riverside Red X
Wine tasting at Riverside Red X is quite an experience, in fact, it just may be one of those 1,000 things you need to do before you die. It's something you may only want to experience once, like climbing Mt. Everest or finishing a marathon, but then you can cross it off of your bucket list.
If you're not familiar with Red X, a little history might be in order. E.H. Young was a truck driver when he decided to settle down in 1948 and open up a gas station with a small store, kind of the forerunner of Quik-Trip or 7-11. It was a convenience store where you could get your daily essentials. The prices were rock bottom at Red X because there were no taxes. In fact, when Kansas City tried to put a move on the area, via annexation, Young and his neighbors got the area incorporated as Riverside. Today the sales tax is still lower than anywhere in the metro area.
Being so close to the Missouri River, the place has flooded 3 times, the most recent in 1993 when the water was 11 feet high for 11 days. Every time, Young rebuilt Red X and made it bigger and better. That includes his wine and liquor department which is one of the most varied of its kind, rivaling any warehouse or superstore.
And the wine tastings are something else! The Red X wine vendors set up tasting tables throughout the store and, since it's free, the tasters sometimes queue up 10 deep to get a one ounce pour. It's like somehow a wine tasting broke out in the middle of a riot. But if you just go with the flow and get into the spirit of things, you'll have fun and probably discover some new wines, most of them inexpensive.
At the September tasting, you could get hooked up with a couple of great sparkling wines, Schramsberg Mirabelle Brut Rose and Banfi Vintners Rosa Regale. The very tasty white wines included Sauvignon Blancs from Errazuriz and Pomelo, Viognier from McMannis, Rieslings from Kiona and Pacific Rim, as well as a really nice sweet Moscato from Lodali. Lovely Cabernets were offered from Vina Robles and Mercedes Eguren though the best deals were on Argentinian Malbecs from E. Catena and Los Cardos, plus a stellar blend of Cabernet and Carmenere from Chile's Apaltagua called Envero.
The wines being poured change every month so you'll always find something new. This month, the free wine tasting is October 15, from 5 PM - 7 PM (2401 West Platte Rd., Riverside, Mo.) and mark your calendar for subsequent tastings on November 12 and December 10.
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