Wedding Wines 6 and 7: The Sparklers

For the occasion of New Years Eve, I am skipping ahead to the sparkling wines of the wedding. I absolutely love the Paringa Sparkling Shiraz (2004) from Australia. It is dark purple and bubbly, featuring the rich dark fruit of blackberry and blueberry. This wine is made for dark chocolate and winter festivities! Plus, it is fun and different if you want to impress friends who have never seen a sparkling Shiraz before. I tried this wine for the first time at my friend's graduation party at the Elusive Grape in downtown Deland, FL. This is a wine that is always around at this ever-changing wine store (and sells for around $14.99)--a definite keeper!

The other sparkling wine sampled was the Francois Montand Blanc de Blanc. This delicious and very affordable white-blend sparkling wine retails for around $10. It has an unusual blend of Airen and Ugni Blanc grapes. It's complex and toasty with flavors of crisp apple and lemon. Enjoy!

Christmas Wine

Have you ever, on a special occasion, wanted to perfectly pair a favorite food with a favorite wine, and then realized that neither one of them really matched, so you said, "oh well, screw it," and had your yummy food with a favorite wine which really didn't go together? That's what we did this Christmas (and we had most of the wine consumed before the food). We have a new "tradition" (going on 2 consecutive years when we don't fly out of state to visit relatives) of having a Mexican feast on Christmas. We don't have a particularly favorite wine (yet) that goes well with this type of food (although dark Mexican beer seems to work quite well), and we have been wanting to find a special time to drink a very special wine, La Colombaia Valpolicella Ripasso (2003). We discovered this wine at a tasting about 3 years ago, and although it was less than $20, we realized that this is a very delicious Italian wine meant to be cherished. This red is well-balanced with dark fruit and nuances of vanilla and spice. Muy bien or molto bene!

Wedding Wines 5: A by Acacia Pinot Noir

Typically, under-$20-Pinot-Noirs and I don't get along. I've had a few "okay/drinkable" ones and many more where I'm thinking, "is there any fruit underneath all this alcohol smell, oh yes, there it is, a touch of blueberry, no, it's gone now," and even one that tasted like dirt, which strangely my friend-of-a-friend who bought the bottle really liked. So, needless to say, the first time I had the A by Acacia Pinot Noir, I was Surprised! We were at a steakhouse and my husband and I opted for seafood with a heavy sauce, but were not in a white wine mood. My father in law ordered this wine for us. I was skeptical at first, and almost stopped him, this wine was the most reasonably priced on the menu and a Pinot, but he has good taste in wine, so I sat back for the adventure. We were very impressed! This Pinot is silky and elegant with dark fruit, vanilla, florals and a hint of oak. Perfectly balanced. Sadly, we don't get to have this wine much because the price is toward the $20 end (you can find it at big wine warehouses for $19.99 if you are lucky), but it is worth every penny plus some.

Delicious and Purple

I have a new wine love, it is Pasa Robles Red4 2006. It is a deep purple--beautiful when held up to the light. This delicious blend is 53% Petite Sirah, 38% Sirah, 7% Tannat, and 7% Touriga. It's ripe and fruity (plum and cherry), but not overpowering, and well-balanced with some spice and oak. I had this exquisite wine for the second time at the Elusive Grape in Deland, FL tonight. It was the last coveted bottle in stock, hopefully he will get more in!

Temperature matters!

Some advice that I've found helpful and informative is that people often serve their red wines too warm and their white wines too cold. I definitely agree with this and am now quite bothered when a red wine is served straight from the shelf at "room temperature." We have our wine fridge set at 59 degrees, just perfect so as the wine warms in our glasses, the bouquet and complexity becomes more pronounced. Red wines are best served between 54 and 65 degrees F. Serving reds at this temperature makes them taste more refined and less "hot" or acidic. Pinot Noir can be served toward the cooler side of the range while Cabs flourish toward the warmer end. If you don't have a wine fridge, put your reds in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes before you plan on serving them. It is better for a wine to be too cold at first than too warm as it can easily warm up.

White wines should be served at a lower temperature, between 41 and 50 degrees, which is warmer than if they are taken straight out of the refrigerator. If you serve them too cold, the subtle nuances of of the bouquet and the complexity of the wine will be difficult to decipher. Rieslings and sparklers are best at the cooler end of the spectrum and Chardonnays do well a little warmer. If you don't have a wine fridge, take your whites out of the refrigerator about 20 minutes before you serve them to reach the ideal temperature.

Wedding Wines 4: Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells, Chardonnay

The '04 and '05 vintages of the Chateau St. Michelle, Indian Wells, Chardonnay received 90 points from Wine Spectator, and the 2006 does not disappoint. It is an excellent Chardonnay which I immensely enjoyed at the wedding paired with fresh shrimp. The winemaker described it so perfectly, I feel compelled to quote him:

“The warmth of the Wahluke Slope consistently produces Chardonnays with an appealing tropical fruit character. The 2006 bottling delivers pineapple, butterscotch, and vanilla aromas with notes of brown sugar and spice. The Indian Wells Chardonnay is soft and rich yet maintains a beautiful elegance. I like this wine with scallops, scampi or pasta with slightly richer sauces.”
-Bob Bertheau, Head Winemaker

Yum!

Napanook and a Yellowtail surprise

I'm only a few entries in to this blogging adventure, and already I'm diverging from it's premise. However, it is winter, and with winter comes the urge for heavy foods, like a big, juicy steak per say. And sometimes with big juicy steaks, one needs a big juicy Cab whose price tag may exceed $20 (especially when your favorite father in law is buying). We indulged in the Napanook 2005 for $28 at Costco. I've read many descriptions of wine on the back of the bottle that claim to be "silky," and this one actually lives up to its claim. It's full-bodied with dark cherry and a lovely long, lush finish that complemented the steak perfectly. With a Wine Advocate rating of 91, the extra few bucks are totally worth it!

To offset the price of the Napanook, I have to tell about a pleasantly surprising wine that I had previously underestimated. I've always liked Yellowtail Shiraz, but have never been a huge advocate. Our house guest bought the 1.5L, so we didn't drink the whole bottle on the first night. The next night when we opened it, it had changed significantly for the better! Vanilla was strong on the nose but very pleasant, and the bold, dark fruit was slightly sweeter and more complex on the palate. It amazes me how wine can change and grow from one day to the next, and I was most impressed with this one!