New Wine Fellowship

     The Stay at Home Winos had a wonderful time Saturday afternoon kicking off the new Rotarian District 6510 Wine Fellowship with a blind wine tasting. What a great group of hard working people who give back so much to the community. We feel honored to have been a part of the first event of this new fellowship.

Plenty of good food to enjoy with the tasting

     The group sampled two white varietals to begin the event - Martin Codax 2011 Albariño and Kung Fu Girl 2012 Riesling. 

     For the reds we tried the Artezin 2012 Mendocino Zinfandel and Montecillo 2007 Rioja Reserva.

Cheers,
Beth, Lisa, Mary Jo, and Kim

P.S. Thank you to Harry Henderson for sharing his photos and Greg and Catherine Yank for hosting the event.

Wine School, Torrontes, April 1, 2014

Theme:   

With spring here and summer right around the corner, I thought it would be nice to check out some harder to find Torrontes wines.  I had forgotten how distinctive these wines can be!  I had it in my head that they were closer to a Sauvignon Blanc, when, in fact, I felt they were closer to a Chardonnay.  While these wines are not plentiful in stores, they are worth looking for and you will likely get a great wine for not a lot of money!   

The Wines:

Trivento Reserve 2011 Reserve Torrontes

• Color:  Pale, yellow green
• Nose:  Aromas of citrus with mineral notes and a hint of floral-the mineral aromas really stand out to us.
• Mouth:  A creamy mouth feel with a bright acidity at the end.
• Price:  $10.99

Crios 2012 Torrontes

• Color:  Pale, yellow green-lightest color of the wines
• Nose:  Gardenia and white floral aromas hit you in the nose at first sniff.
• Mouth:  Creamy with a bit more bright acidity in this wine.
• Price:  $17.99

Aylla 2012 Torrontes

• Color:  Light yellow gold with a green tint
• Nose:  Peach, grapefruit and strong rose notes
• Mouth:  Driest of the three wines, the acidity is up front with creaminess coming through on the finish.
• Price:  $9.99

Overall Conclusion:  We enjoyed all three of these wines. So interesting how the same grape can make such different styles in wine. The Crios is our favorite, but we would recommend all three of these wines. If you prefer your whites bone dry-go for the Aylla! Definitely these wines would be perfect for a summer party, by the pool, or the next time you order Thai food.

The Pairings:

Goat Cheddar:  Excellent cheese that paired well with all three wines.
Goat with Lemon Poppy Seed: Great cheese, and it paired well with the wines-a winner! 
Goat - Four Pepper:  Paired well with the Aylla, with the Trivento coming in second.




Chicken Satay:  A wonderful dish that paired well with all three of the wines. Our favorite pairing was with the Trivento.
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups:  Very interesting pairing. If you are a fan of Reese's-you should give it a try. We recommend pairing it with the Trivento or Aylla.
Sea Salt Chocolate:  Another nice pairing. We liked it best with the Trivento and Crios.
Dark Chocolate:  Dark chocolate was a bit too bitter for these luscious wines. Save the dark chocolate for a lovely red!

Conclusion:

Beth:  Another great class that has me ready for some warmer weather after sampling these Torrontes wines! The creaminess of these wines is a real treat. The characteristic that stands out the most to me is the aromas. It is amazing the floral undertones-you almost feel like you've just walked into a florist shop when you get a big whiff! I would have to say my favorite wine of the evening was the Crios. The bright acidity and yet still creamy palate makes this wine stand out from the others. All of the wines paired well with the dishes. This is a perfect wine the next time you are having Thai or some other spicy dish. 
Lisa:  It's definitely time for warm weather whites!  Come on Spring!  I have to agree that this grape comes in many flavors.  I've always enjoyed the Crios and will continue. I've had other Torrontes and again thought they were more toward the crispness of the Sauvignon Blanc, but tonight they gave me a big surprise. I definitly found the floral and mineral qualities on the nose, especially the rose petal and gardenia in the Aylla.  As for the mouth, they tended to be more buttery like a Chardonnay.  A little more chill on the wine may have brought out some more citric flavors.  As for the cheese pairings, the goat cheddar and goat with the lemon poppyseed only got better with each wine. The chicken satay was the best with the Trivento!  As for the chocolates, the sea salt won hands down for me.  All in all they were all different and very good but may lean toward the Crios.
Mary Jo:  While I have had Torrontes in the past, I guess I had forgotten the true style of this wine.  The colors of all three were pale yellow green, with the Crios being the lightest of the three.  All three wines were delicious with aromas of citrus, peach, minerals and grass.  However, on the mouth, they had a heavier mouth feel than I expected with a creaminess that I found wonderful!  It was interesting how the Crios was creamy initially with the moderate acidity found in the finish, while the Aylla had its acidity up front, finishing up with delightful creaminess. The Crios with the goat cheddar was delicious, while the Aylla was the best with the four pepper goat cheese and the lemon poppyseed goat cheese.  The Trivento paired very well with the chicken sate.  Finally, the sea salt was best with the Trivento and the Reese's peanut butter cups.  I'm not sure I had a "wow" moment with any of the wines and the dark chocolate.  Ultimately, three really great wines that were all very moderately priced.  These wines need to be chillier than a Chardonnay, but not as cold as a Sauvignon Blanc.  I will definitely stock up for summer!  

Tuscany in Texas! Grape Creek Vineyards

As you may have read in one of Beth's previous blogs, she and I, along with our husbands took a trip to the Texas Hill Country back in February.  Though we visited several wineries and loved them all, one of my favorites was Grape Creek Vineyards.

They ARE a little Tuscany in Texas!  With it's limestone bell tower at the entrance and the beautiful Tuscan-style Villa tasting room, the ambiance was the perfect setting to taste some award-winning wines.

Grape Creek Vineyards is located just 10 miles east of Fredericksburg (which is about 70 miles west of Austin on Hwy 290).  Since we were there visiting on a Saturday afternoon, the place was hopping!  It was actually a Texas Wine Trail tasting weekend too.  With live music playing outside on the patio we mosied on inside to taste the wines.  They have their Black Label wines which include Bellissimo, a Super Tuscan style red wine which is a blend of Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Mosaic is a full-bodied blend of traditional Bordeaux grape varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and a splash of Syrah.  The Black Label also includes a Port and a Petite Sirah. The 2010 Epiphany Estate is a combination of Estate Montepulciano and Aglianico.  The 2010 and 2011 Serendipity blend wines complete the Black Label line.

The list doesn't stop there.  Grape Creek also includes more dry red wines, a variety of white wines and even a couple of sweet wines.  Check out their website at www.grapecreek.com for more details.





 As you can see, the grapes weren't really in season while we were there but the warm sunshine did wonders for us wearied from the long winter!

Enjoying a bottle outside while listening to the music was such a good time. The winery also has a wonderful shop filled with all kinds of fun wine related items.  One thing we didn't get to experience was the Bed & Breakfast.  The 2 bed/2 bath villa sits atop the Ambassador Tasting Room and has wonderful views of the vineyard, the banks of Grape Creek, the rolling hills and natural landscape of the area.  I think we will have to check it out on our trip back!!

 

 

 

All in all, we had a great time on our Texas Wine Trail wine tasting and I'm ready to return!

 

 

Cheers!

Lisa





Pork, Pinot Noir & Port Night

The Wine Line Up

     Last Friday evening I joined my fellow wino, Lisa, along with my husband Mike and friends Jackie and Phil in attending a fabulous wine pairing dinner entitled "Pork, Pinot Noir & Port Night" at Fezziwig's Marketplace in Lebanon, IL.  I must say the food and wine delighted all of our senses.

Gorgeous table ready for the diners

     Our evening began with a lovely appetizer of Brie cheese and  pomegranate-jalapeno compote on top of a crostini. This delightful treat was enjoyed with the first two Pinot Noirs of the evening, Mossback Pinot Noir from the Central Coast  and Brassfield High Valley Appellation Pinot Noir. Both wines paired wonderfully with our appetizer, and also highlighted how different appellations and terroir affect the Pinot Noir. The Mossback, from the Central Coast of California, was an earthy Pinot Noir with the distinctive cherry flavors of the Pinot grape. This wine has a touch of Syrah and Tannat blended with it that added to the spiciness of the finish. The Brassfield Pinot was an elegant, estate grown Pinot from a mixture of Dijon and Pommard Clones. A nicely balanced wine, with black cherry and an earthiness of a forest floor.

     After having our fill of our first course, we were invited into the newly renovated Culinary Experience Room. This room is separated from the store by French doors and houses wine pairing events, cooking demonstrations, and other culinary events. The setting is beautiful! Once we were all settled in we were ready for our second course-Wild Rice and Sherried Mushroom soup. All I can say about the soup is it is fantastic! The earthy mushrooms in this soup paired perfectly with both the Brassfield and Mossback Pinot Noirs. 

Fezziwig's own Wild Rice & Sherried Mushroom Soup

Stopped just short of licking this bowl clean!

       Now we were ready for the main course and our next two wines, Fess Parker Sta. Rita Hills 2010 Pinot Noir and Hahn Santa Lucia Highlands 2011 Pinot Noir. The Fess Parker had lovely black cherry and raspberry on the nose with a hint of vanilla. Medium bodied with a lovely spiciness. The Hahn was a little lighter bodied, a bit tarter than the Fess with brighter fruit on the nose and palate and a nice finish. Both wines paired very nicely with the pork tenderloin, truffle potatoes, and hericot verts (sautéed in bacon infused olive oil-delish-sold at Fezziwig's). After sampling these two wines, I have to say my favorite Pinot of the evening was the Hahn, with Fess Parker a close second!

     
      At this point I was feeling fat and happy, but the evening wasn't over just yet! Dessert was Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake with Caramel Sauce served with RL Buller and Sons Fine Tawny. Let's just say it was a perfectly rich, decadent way to finish a wonderful meal.

RL Buller Fine Tawny

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake

     Fun was had by all this evening. The meal, prepared by Ellen Leaf-Moore and Julia Jensen was such a treat. As always, Tim entertained us with his knowledge of wine and witty conversation. If you enjoy wine, good company, and wonderful food, I suggest you make it a point to attend an upcoming wine pairing dinner at Fezziwig's. Check out all their upcoming events at www.fezziwigsmarket.com. Also, I want to thank Jackie for sharing some of her wonderful photos for this blog. Check out this talented lady at www.wind-inspired.com. 

Cheers,

Beth

  



Wine and Comfort Foods

A wine drinking friend recently asked, "what wine do you pair with comfort foods?"  I thought this was a great question and decided to do some investigating into this issue.  Obviously, any true Wino knows that wine goes with virtually anything.!

What I thought I would do, would be to offer a few of my favorite recipes and locate the wine pairings.  Normally, this would be a good topic for the fall season,  however, many people eat comfort foods year round.  So, here we go!

1.  BEEF STEW

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-beef-stew-i/detail.aspx

WINE:  Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot
Obviously, with a red meat dish such as beef stew, a red wine would be your best choice!  This dish needs a fuller-bodied wine that will stand up to the flavored in the stew.  A fruity, we'll-balanced wine like one of those suggested above would pair well and would not overpower the stew.

2.  CHILI

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Boilermaker-Tailgate-Chili/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=boilermaker%20chili&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i1

WINE:  Red blend (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre) is recommended by Somm Cara Patricia.  She believes the chilies require the fruit, the meat and fat needs the tannins and he wine needs to be fuller-bodied.
Somm Carlin Karr suggests a Rioja, made from the Tempranillo grape.

3.  CHICKEN POT PIE

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-pot-pie-ix/detail.aspx

WINE:  This dish would be amazing with a buttery Chardonnay.  This style of Chardonnay can be found right here in the US, out of California.  The malolactic fermentation and oak aging of this wine would be a delightful complement to this meal!

4.  TUNA CASSEROLE

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tuna-Noodle-Casserole-109434

WINE:  Several sites suggested an unoaked Chardonnay, and stated an oaked would be off-putting.  However, I think this depends, significantly, on the recipe you use.  There are a large number of different types of tuna casserole recipes out there, it really just depends.  It may be that one could split the difference and get a mildly oaked Chardonnay.

Girls Night Out Wine School!

When the three of us have Wine School every 2 to 3 weeks you can see from our posts we really do study the three wines we are tasting and do a little research before hand about where the grapes come from and the history behind the wineries.  Of course the best part is actually just enjoying the wines and experiencing them each other.  We decided it was time to let some of our closest "wine drinking friends" join in the fun.  And oh did we have fun!

We thought we would taste two white wines and two red wines.  But which ones?  Well we decided for the white wines we would experience two different varietals-some that may be out of the norm.  Instead of the usual Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc, we would try wines from countries other than our California standbys-an Albarino from Spain and a Torrontes from Argentina.

The Martin Codax 2011 Albarino was the first of the two whites we tasted.  We walked all ten ladies through the steps we take when we hold our own classes.  We look at the color (light straw) and then smell the nose (hints of herbs and green apple) and then taste/mouth (rounded and full-bodied).





 The  Elsa Bianchi 2012 Torrontes was the other white wine we tasted.  Starting with the color (very light). The nose was a complex blend of fruit and floral.  The mouth was crisp and clean with a bright finish.

Both wines were a hit!  We paired them with various cheeses (listed below) but they were a great surprise for everyone with the Guacamole.





From here we went on to the reds.  For this tasting we chose two wines with the same grape- Cabernet Sauvignon- but from two different regions--continents, actually--one from Sonoma, California and the other from Chili.


The Louis M Martini 2011 Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon is one of our favorite everyday wines.  The color was a ruby red with the nose of dark berries.  The mouth had dark berries with a hint of oak and spice.  It's a very easy drinking Cab.

The Montes Classic Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 is from the Colchagua Valley of Chili and was our final wine of the class.  Again the color was almost identical to the other Cab and the nose has hints of carmel and cinnamon with a prevalence of fruit over oak.  The mouth was full bodied with rich red fruit and a touch  of vanilla, mocha and  firm tannins.  We talked about the difference in the terrior of the two regions that gave the distinct differences between the two Cabernets.

The pairings we offered for the wines were various cheeses and chocolates:

Cheeses:
    Manchego, Mahon, Camembert, Prairie Breeze, San Simon and Little Darling.
I think the San Simon was the new hit of the night with it's creaminess that paired well with just about all the wines.

Chocolates:
    Lindt Chili Chocolate, Godiva 72% Dark Chocolate and Godiva Milk Chocolate Salt Carmels.
The Chili Chocolate was a surprise pairing for the ladies with the reds but the milk chocolate was a hit with the whites.

I as mentioned earlier, with the whites the Guacamole was a wonderful pairing with the whites!

All the ladies took away with them a new sense of wine appreciation!

Of course the night was perfect with the friendship of all!

Cheers!

Lisa

 

 

Texas Wine Country-Pedernales Cellars

      

     This past Valentine’s weekend fellow wino Lisa, myself and our husbands escaped this cold, snowy winter for a quick trip to the Hill Country of Texas. The sun was shining with temperatures in the 70s! It was perfect weather for exploring Texas wineries. One of my favorites was Pedernales Cellars in Stonewall, Texas-the heart of Texas Hill Country.

The view from Pedernales

     Pedernales Cellars is just an hour drive from both Austin and San Antonio and only 15 miles from Fredericksburg. It is situated on a sprawling property that overlooks the beautiful countryside. Pedernales owns and operates vineyards in both the Hill Country and the High Texas Plains. They  specialize in Tempranillos and Viogniers.  They proudly produce 100% Texan wines and pride themselves on developing wines from grapes that can survive the hot Texas summers like Tempranillos and Rhone blends.


     As beautiful as the property at Pedernales is, the tasting room is also a thing of beauty. It is airy, well lit with plenty of space to enjoy a tasting. We loved all the natural light that our winter weary souls were desperately seeking. The tasting itself was relaxing, led by a knowledgeable young man who not only knew his Pedernales wines, but had great knowledge to share on the Texas wine industry. Our favorite wines were the Tempranillos, that Texas is becoming known for producing, and Block Two Tempranillo blend. Of course a wine trip would not be complete if we didn’t purchase a few bottles to take home with us (we did bring our wonderful Wine Check bag). We purchased Block Two Red Blend and Texas High Plains Tempranillo to enjoy at home. 

     And then there is the outdoor space! A huge deck shaded by old oak trees with plenty of seating to enjoy a bottle of their delicious wine. We took advantage of the beautiful weather and shared good company and a Tempranillo after our tasting inside. It was a wonderful, relaxing way to spend an afternoon with our sweeties on Valentine’s Day!

Enjoying some wine from the deck at Pedernales

       I would say our first adventure to Texas wine country was a success. The people were fantastic, we enjoyed some wonderful wines, and it will be interesting to see how the region takes off in the next few years.

Cheers,
Beth