photo by Gwendolyn Alley
Depending on who you ask, Portugal is blessed with somewhere between 250 to 500 native grapes — a number right up there with Italy, Georgia (the country not the state!), and Spain. With such a wealth of indigenous varietals, no wonder they haven’t bothered to make more wine more familiar to Americans like Cabernet Sauvignon. (Although they do make Cabernet and Syrah too!) Continue reading
a few of the Portuguese wines and foods we enjoyed for September’s #WinePW ‘s focus on Portugal
Food and travel are always a part of the chat, so join us for all the doors that Portuguese wine can open. And we’d love to have participation from people who live in Portugal too!
August is Washington Wine Month, and to honor the wonderful wines made in Washington, as well as to celebrate National Red Wine Day (which is purported to be today August 28) and because we were dining with special friends, we opened a lovely red wine blend which we paired with charcuterie and then gourmet burgers with gorgonzola. The is a super enjoyable wine and a real crowd pleaser! Continue reading
4 French Wine Finds $20 and under paired with Croque Monsieur and Monte Cristo Grilled Cheese and a simple summer salad
Many of us think of French wine and food as fussy and difficult and expensive. But that is definitely not true as you can tell from a visit to your nearby Trader Joe’s, Costco, and Bevmo where you can find a number of French wines under $20 as well as heat and eat food. However, with a little effort, you can have an amazing gourmet yet causal meal without spending a great deal on food or wine.
So! What do you get for $5 or $10 or $20 for a bottle of French wine?
Recently we tasted four wines in four glasses — all at $20 or under and we paired them with grilled cheese — French style two ways. Continue reading
Two on the right from Chile for today’s International Rose Day; 2 on the left from the Central Coast which I wrote about on August 12
Yes! We do need an International Rose Day! And today, August 14 is it! If that’s not a #MondayMotivation I don’t know what is!
P.S. I do know that there’s a NATIONAL Rose Day — and it’s second Saturday of June. And here’s what we did for National Rose Day in 2017 and what we did in 2016.
But we love rose so much we will celebrate it every chance we get!
So last week, when we tasted central coast rose wines for our wine pairing weekend post which we paired with thes scrumptious shrimp and corn fritters, we also popped the cork on two wines from Chile — one with bubbles from Valdevisio and one without bubbles from Casillero del Diablo. Continue reading
Happy National Prosecco Day! Continue reading
Have you caught the rose’ train yet?
With the current wild proliferation and profusion of rose wine on today’s market, many people have discovered that the rose you find today is not at all like the sweet characterless wine you found in grandma’s glass a few years ago.
Even Brangelina and Drew Barrymore are on the rose train. In the video below, Drew explains how to taste wine and then…
So if you don’t have rose in your glass yet, you will soon: according to data from Nielsen Co., “rosé has been one of the fastest-growing segments of the market for two years running.” And Bloomberg reports that rosé outsells red wine AND white wine in France while in Australia rosé is the fastest growing wine style.
But it’s not white zin that’s caught our fancy because white zin’s market share is dropping rapidly: instead we are in the pink with ones more similar to the rosé wines of Provence: while more expensive, these pink wines are sophisticated, dry, and crisp, they cut the heat to leave us refreshed, and they pair well with food.
To help you sort through the proliferation, we’ve tasted four from the Central Coast and paired them with SHRIMP CORN FRITTERS (OMG so good!) and have some ideas for you when this month the #WinePW crew once again say HOORAY for Rose with our theme for August Wine Pairing Weekend Chat is Rosé and… because there are so many ways to pair food with a Rosé. And because there is so much to say on the subject, we have two from Chile that I will be publishing about on Monday which is International Rose Day! (Not to be confused with NATIONAL Rose Day which is in June and we wrote about here and more about rose from France and Lodi here.)
courtesy of: http://www.wineland.co.za
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 