July! You have slipped by so fast we almost missed out on our monthly edition of Taco Tuesday!
This month we are inspired by a fresh strawberries, lime, and shrimp recipe from the current issue of Edible Ventura County paired with three crisp, bright white Viura wines from Spain.
This simple menu let the wines shine– and brought out all of the various flavors in the food! MAGIC!
The crunch of the jicama with the bit of strawberry makes this taco a unique combination of flavor explosions. I loved the strawberry notes with these wines. This wine and food pairing for this evening was over the top, the food the wine, it all went perfectly. Bright acidity in wine, and bright acidity in the food.
Appetizer
Mexican shrimp cocktail with chips
Oysters from the Baja’s Jolly Oyster and Vons
Main course
Strawberry shrimp tacos with strawberry jicama salsa
WINES from Spain
All three wines wowed us — so good with the food! So refreshing for the price! All three $12 or under.
— Gwendolyn Alley, Art and Wine Predator (@ArtPredator) July 12, 2017
Sue and I learned the secret of “wine, cheese, wine” and more during a tasting of three wines from Niven Family along with a selection of cheese and pâté from Fromagerie Sophie, a lovely little cheese shop nestled in delightful downtown San Luis Obispo on tiny Garden Street that carries cheeses, meats, pâté, and other incredible imported goodies from around the globe. We love our cheese and wines so what a perfect stop on our recent SLO county adventure!
Sue and I creekside in San Luis Obispo NOT drinking wine but a signature whiskey cocktail from SLO Brew using their own whiskey which you can get in a drink OR you can buy if you stay in the Loft!
When Sue and I drove north on the 101 through a smoky Santa Barbara for our summer San Luis Obispo County getaway, we had appointments at wineries and a cheese shop plus one place to stay lined up for our three nights away. Little did we know what adventures awaited — including BEER and whiskey! In fact, we had a bit of a BEER-CATION!
Because it just so happened that SLO Brew Lofts had space for us to stay there our first night on the road!
We had visited SLO Brew when they first opened in their new creek side location and we knew we had to come back when it was more established– and to check out the Lofts which opened a few months later, and the Distillery which has its grand opening tomorrow, Sat. July 22.
A year later, the new SLO Brew location is a rockin’ spacious, hip, happening, and happy spot along the creek pedestrian path with live music most evenings until 2am. The new luxurious Lofts located above will make you feel like a rock star! And the Distillery? Well it literally ROCKS as you will see as you keep reading! And, being creekside, it’s a little bit country too! Continue reading →
This month’s French #Winophiles challenge is to find, taste, and write about wine from the Southwest region of France — or in French, Sud-Ouest. Like the name suggests, the region is located in the southwest of France: south of the more famous Bordeaux and west of the lesser known Languedoc.
We found several yummy cheeses from South West France at Fromagerie Sophie! Pictured: owners, educators, cheesemongers Paul and Sophie
According to Wikipedia, Romans cultivated wine grapes there long before Bordeaux!
As we wrote about on Lambrusco Day June 21, Lambrusco has gotten a bad rap. Just like any other varietal, there’s the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Although technically Lambrusco isn’t so much a specific varietal as it is a family of 60 some wines that gather under the banner of Lambrusco much like moscato has a number of distinct wines all called moscato.
Unfortunately for Lambrusco, there’s been too much ugly. Fortunately for us all, there’s a movement afoot to help us discover REAL Lambrusco — a delightful, fizzy fun beverage that — and this really surprised us– pairs really well with Italian food!
In our on-going series on wine from Idaho, today, the final day of June’s Idaho Wine Month, we’re featuring two wines from Koenig which Sue visited last summer. While Sue is typically a red wine gal, this is the second Viognier she bought on her trip there (see our notes about Williamson’s Viognier here). The 2014 Koenig late harvest riesling was sent as part of a case of twelve wines from 12 wineries.
While Idaho is a region where wine grapes have been grown since the 1860s, Prohibition along with other agricultural opportunities led to that industry’s demise but today it is an up and coming region where vinters are exploring and experimenting to see what works best where. Read more about the climate and terroir here.
