Exclusiv Rose Moscato & St Germain: The perfect summer cocktail

Kick off your Father’s Day or Summer Celebrations with the PERFECT cocktail: Exclusiv Moscato Sparkling Rose with St Germain Liquer “La Rosette”!

The Sparkling Rose by itself is wonderfully lively, refreshing, and it dances on your tongue.  Invite all your friends over for brunch or take it to a summer outdoor picnic concert; it will go with cheese blintzes with fresh fruit or jam or with grilled fruit and smoked trout salad. Bacchus Schmaccus thinks he’d like it with lox and bagels while Ima Zinner wants this wine with waffles and blueberries.

According to the Exclusiv Vodca website:

Rose Moscato wine is cultivated from the Muscat grape, the only grape to produce wine with the same sweet aroma as the grape itself.  The Muscat grape gives Rose Moscato wine a sweet and rich aroma of dried fruits, raisins and oranges.

Exclusiv is made in Moldova, a country which gained independence from Russia in 1991. Read our review of Exclusiv Vodca here (as well as a super tasty drink with creme de cacao and fresh mint!)

We all agree this is a great inexpensive sparkler for Father’s Day brunch. Continue reading

Kunde Family Estate Wine: Sustainable, Affordable, Wonderful

Thursday June 7  we–Annie AnyDay, Bachuus Schmacchus, Ima Zinner, Que Syrah Sue, Marshall MoneyBags and I, The Wine Predator— had the pleasure of participating in the KundeLive twitter tasting of three estate wines: Magnolia Lane Sauvignon Blanc, Red Dirt Red, and Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.

This twitter tasting was a lot of fun–and really wild trying to keep up with the live video feed, everyone’s comments, and tweeting and taking notes ourselves! Here’s the link to the video if you want to watch it: http://youtu.be/YNnqbxpfrjs. And yes, they mention the Art Predator aka Wine Predator!

We were impressed with the Kunde Estate Wines to put it lightly. And not just because most of the movie Bottle Shock was filmed on site–including the Paris scenes! Continue reading

Join KundeLive Tasting Thurs June 7

There’s nothing like feeling special.

When I opened the box of these three Kunde Estate wines for  the KundeLive! twitter tasting Thursday, June 7th 5:30-6:30pm PacificTime, and slipped the seal apart on the folder to reveal a letter and materials, it made the wine seem super special–and me excited about the tasting. I eagerly read through to learn about the wines we’d be tasting.I already was looking forward to it.

The last one in fall was a blast, and once again Continue reading

Two SoCal Wine Festivals To Prowl This Weekend!

Wine Predator plans to prowl this weekend at two Southern California wine festivals this weekend: LA WineFest which runs  June 9 and 10, and the 26th Annual Ojai Wine Fest Sunday June 10 from 1-5pm on the shores of Lake Casitas near Ojai, CA. Continue reading

WBW #77: Bad Day? Good Wine!

Where do you turn after a bad day at work? Specifically, May’s Wine Blogging Wednesday prompt from host Alleigh from A Glass After Work asks: what glass of wine do you turn to?

Fortunately, I more often than not come home exhilarated after a day –or a night–at work because my “day” job is usually at night: I teach writing at a community college and day after day, night after night, my students amaze me. I have a job where I make a difference in my students lives, and I get to see them learn and grown over the course of the semester, to discover themselves as writers, as thinkers.  A single mom of 3 told me that our class activities had shown her, reminded her that she’s more than just a mom, but a person with ideas, and that she still “exists.”

But there are definitely THOSE DAYS. Continue reading

For the Non-ABCer: #ChardDay 5/24

Have you heard anyone use the term “ABC” when asked what he or she would like to drink?

ABC means Anything But Chardonnay. Really! Continue reading

Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc Report

Wednesday night’s Thirsty Girl Twitter Tasting, as usual, was a blast. We honestly enjoyed both Villa Maria Sauvigon Blancs very much, our food pairs were divine, the company was vivacious, and keeping up with all the action on twitter as well as with my fellow Wine Predators (including new Predator Que Syrah Sue!) was an adrenaline rush!

We tasted the wines with bread, goat cheese with and without sundried tomatoes, olive oil, two kinds of pesto (kale as well as the arugala, rosemary, basil), and raw oysters with or without pesto garnish. We loved them both and found them inspiring; Continue reading