2023 in review: more than four empty bottles! These are from Tuscany’s La Maliosa which I visited in June 2023

Sue Hill and Domaine Bousquet

Check out Sue’s Year in Review!

3 red wines of Sicily with traditional dishes

Sue’s January 2023 Favorite

• January 7th An Intro to Five of Sicily’s Native Grapes and Its Unique Cuisine Inspires Island Dreams: “This post had a range of beautiful wines that were paired with a complex menu of delicious foods which created a memorable experience.”

Susanna Vasquez

Sue’s February 2023 Favorite

• February 12th Feeding the Worms with Winemaker Susana Vasquez Plus Pairing Peltier Wines With Smoked Meatloaf: “Marshall and I cooked such an incredible meatloaf. It was so darn good, and made me think that we need to do it again sometime. The visit to Peltier was such a special visit, and the wines were perfect with the amazing meatloaf.” Update: Susana Vasquez has moved on to Lodi’s Lange Twins.

Campania’s Key Grapes: Aglianico and Falanghina

• March 4th Campanias’s Key Grapes: Aglianico and Falanghia: “I loved how well the foods played with the unusual grapes in this post.”
• March 16th Wine Women Working Sustainability in Alsace Trimbach Daughters and Pierre Sparr’s Corine Perez Plus Unusual Pairings: “This was a winner because of the wonderfully memorable Alcase wines and how well they went with the delicious Thai takeout. It was an easy evening for me, but oh so delicious and memorable.”

Biodynamic and Organic Waterford Whisky

• April 29th A Toast to Earth Day Everywhere and Earth Activists Everywhere With Biodynamic and Organic Waterford Whiskey + Bread Pudding: “We don’t often write about spirits exclusively, the Irish Whiskey Bread Pudding was a delicious dish and paired perfectly with these wonderful spirits.”
•  Robert Hall and a Deep Dive Into Differences in Farming Bears Successful Fruit : Sparkling, GSM, Cabernet Sauvignon + Pairings:. “I love doing coursed meals. The wines and the menu were perfect together making for a memorable experience.”
• April 2nd Que Syrah Syrah Syrah: 3 From Santa Barbara for a Local Wine Food Invitation to Earth month: “I love Syrah and these 3 had a lot to love paired with our simple polenta bowls. The complex flavors in this simple dish paired with these lovely wines was a hit.”

Cerasuolo from Organic Famiglia Febo and Biodynamic Lunaria with an Abruzzo Inspired Menu

• May 20th Celebrating Chardonnay: Chard White Lasagna With Bourgogne’s Paul Pernot Czech’s, Thaya, Oregon’s Nysa: “I don’t usually care for Chardonnay, but the menu shined with the wines in this post.”
• May 6th Cerasuelo from Organic Famiglia Febo and Biodynamic Lunaria With Abruzzo Inspired Saffron Mussels With Pecorino and Pasta: “My introduction to this unusual Italian varietal was not a disappointment. I loved the wine and the Abruzzo inspired menu.”

2020 Etienne Dupont Cidre Bouche Brut de Normandie with pork loin

• June 16th Organic Normandy Cider with Calvados Cream Pork Loin and Ancient Map: “This was a challenging prompt for us. When I was researching Normandy apples kept popping up. Without a wine sample to guide us we didn’t know where to go until I stumbled on to the organic cider from Normandy that I found at our local liquor store here in Ojai. In the end everything came together and worked well.”

2 Prosecco DOC Wines, Italian Inspired Small Bites

• July 18th 2 Prosecco DOC wines, Italian Inspired Small Bites Summery Spritzers With Ventura Spirits: “I loved the light menu, the lovely Prosecco and the great cocktails using spirits from Ventura Spirits.”

2 Red Pet Nats by Women Winemakers Paired with Pasta Bolognese and Fennel Flower Salad

• August 11th Yes Sparkling Whites From Mendocino’s Scharffenberger and Marche’s La Staffa Pair With Pizza: “Pizza and sparkling? Yes!!!”
• August 5th  A Visit to Bologna After Devastating Floods Plus 2 Emilia Romagna Red Pet Nats by Women Winemakers Paired With Pasta Bolognese: “This was a very meaningful post informing people of the devastating floods that hit the region. As well as the information, we experienced wonderful wines of the region as well as a perfectly paired Bolognese.”

4 Organic Cab Sauvignon

• September 9th “4 Organic CA Cab Sauvignon From Unusual Places Mendocino and El Dorado With Apple Salad and Dessert: “It is not always easy to pair wine and dessert which is how we came up with the idea of unusual pairings with wines from unusual places and it worked!”

Champagne Tarlant “Zero” Brut Nature

• October 13th Vegetarian Italian Fall Fare: Squash Foccia Wins With Ettore’s Organic Mendocino Merlot: “I loved how well the foccia worked with the fabulous wine.”
• October 27th Celebrating Women in Wine on Champagne Day With Tarlant Zero Brut Nature: “This wine was so fantastic on its own and even better with our simple small bites menu.”
• October 26th For Carignan Day Consider Bommery Absolutely Carignan and Tian, a Provencial Vegan Casserole: “I wasn’t prepared to love this dish as much as I did. With Gwen’s vine riped tomatoes the dish was divine and paired perfectly with the wine.”

Selva capuzzo

 

• November 30th Visiting Lombardy’s Lugana DOC: Selva Capuzza and Ca’ dei Frati Wines Plus Pumpkin Ravioli: “These incredible wines paired with the regional made for an outstanding evening.” 
• November 11 th Celebrating Sao Martinho Day and Amphora Wine Day 2023 In Portugal’s Alentejo With 3 Georgian Amber Amphora Wine + Traditional Dishes: “Whenever I am pushed to create an adventurous and unknown to me cuisine, and then when both the wines and food come together harmoniously is why I continue to work so hard on this blog.”

Domaine Bousquet

• December 15th Considering Cremant: 3 Bottles of Bubbly From France for Winophile Wintry Wonders With Latkes + Caviar Duck Puff Sausages: “These French Bubbles were so wonderful and enjoyable on their own and were really able to shine with our simple yet elegant appetizer menu. “
• December 21st A Toast to Holidays and 25 years of Domaine Bousquet Organic Wine with 3 Sparkling and Argentine Christmas Specialties Like Pinono Ham Roll: “Once again whenever I am pushed to research and explore new cuisine, I am usually satisfied with how well the interesting and authentic cuisine dances in harmony with the wines. This post was also surprising to both of us. Knowing Gwen’s likes and dislikes, I was convinced she was going to hate it. In the end, we were both surprised at how well the wine and cusine seemed to be made for each other. While this was the first of a two part post, I really enjoyed the Argentine sparklers over the reds. I imagine one would prefer a cold sparkling wine over a red wine in the summer heat in Argentina.”

Cheers! And happy New Year! 

Stay tuned for Mezcal cocktails and non and low alcohol cocktails!