white wine

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One of my favorite things about going out to dinner is allowing a knowledgeable server to choose our wine for us. It’s always a fun surprise and nice to see what someone else picks, how it is similar or different than what I would pick for myself. It’s also a great way to go out of one’s wine comfort zone. I often choose a California wine, so when a server chooses something else, it gives me the opportunity to try something new and unexpected.

On Friday we returned to Sycamore in Newton, a really fantastic restaurant with delicious, always changing dishes, and a great staff. When a few of us decided on white wine with dinner, our server brought out this Valentin Zusslin Pinot D’Alsace.

Pinot D'Alsace

I often expect wines from Alsace to be sweet,  which I am not a fan of. This wine is made of Auxerrois, and it was nice and dry, exhibiting notes of honeysuckle and and peach, with a good body and some toasty undertones. It went so well with my potato soufflé, which had some buttery and earthy flavors in it. While the three of us sharing the bottle all had dramatically different dishes, we all agreed the wine was an excellent match.

I am hoping to discover a few more “Wines of the Week” this weekend when I visit the North Fork of Long Island again for some wine tasting!

Enjoy your Wine Wednesday!

Tags: Alsace, white wine, wine, wine of the week, Wine Wednesday

It might only be Tuesday, but this time of year, even more than usual, the weekend is always top-of-mind. Whether you are headed to a barbecue, the beach, dinner with friends, or just staying home and taking in some sunshine, a summery wine can add to the festive, relaxed spirit. I love light, fresh, summer wines, and while I have many favorites, I thought I would share a few I have been loving over the past few months.

 

Meinklang Burgenland White

Meinklang Burgeland White – Austrian white wines are always great summer options. This blend of Gruener and Muscat is light, fresh, and crisp with tart notes of lime and lemon.

Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare Bonny Doon Vin Gris De Cigare – This wine wraps up the best of summer fruit favorites,  like strawberries, nectarines, and peaches into a beautifully colored summer sipper that goes great with food, especially grilled fish and shellfish.

 

Anna de Codorniu Brut

                                                              {Source}

Summer is all about food-friendly, affordable bubbly you can share with friends. At just around $12 per bottle, this Anna de Codorniu Brut is a delicious choice with an abundance of bubbles, nice acidity, and delicious hints of apple and lemon.

 

Blason Cremant De Bourgogne

Blason Cremant De Bourgogne – At $10 a bottle at Trader Joe’s, this wine is a real steal. Candied lemon, pear, and grapefruit are all balanced with some notes of buttery toast. We absolutely love this wine on the boat or at any outdoor occasion that calls for sun and bubbles.

croteaux rose

Croteaux 181 – I discovered on a wine tasting trip to Long Island how great Long Island wines are, and as I stated in that post, Croteaux 181, with its salinity, is summer in a glass. One sip, and you can almost feel the sun and salt on your skin after a day at the beach.

Travessia wine

Travessia Pinot Noir Rose – Delightfully pink, dry, with notes of strawberry and even banana, this wine keeps popping up in my glass, from Wine Riot, to events, to tastings at the winery.

Tapeña Wines

Tapeña Verdejo – This is another wallet-friendly wine, and it is as bright as the summer sun. Lots of acidity and fruit give way to minerals and a long finish. This wine is juicy, mouthwatering, and absolutely perfect for sipping in the sun.

 

Masciarelli Trebbiano d'Abruzzo

Masciarelli Trebbiano d’Abbruzzo – I have enjoyed this wine many times, including on our magical visit to Masciarelli in Abbruzzo. It offers floral notes as well as a touch of marzipan and is a fixture in our wine rack.

 

Truett Hurst Salmon Run Rosé – We had the perfect summer day in April when we visited Truett Hurst, and we absolutely love their wines. This one has bright strawberry and passion fruit notes. Truett Hurst Sauvignon Blanc is another perfect summer wine, especially with some oysters and shrimp.

Gloria Ferrer

Gloria Ferrer sparkling wine – You can’t go wrong, whether it’s Sonoma Brut, Blanc de Noirs, or Va de Vi. Gloria Ferrer makes fun, delicious sparklers, and they always end up a part of our celebrations.

There are so many more wines to share that I could write a top 30 summer wines post and probably not cover them all, but this is certainly a good start. Luckily, summer hasn’t officially even started yet!  It’s lovely to think of all of those sunny months stretching out in front of us.

What are your favorite summer wines? Favorite wine and food pairings?

Tags: sauvignon blanc, sparkling wine, summer, Summer wine, white wine, wine

Happy Wine Wednesday! Today we travel to the Loire Valley for a little Vouvray tasting, courtesy of last week’s TasteLive wine event, Hooray for Vouvray.

The tasting lineup:

Didier Champalou Vouvray Sec, 2010
Domaine Bourillon Dorleans Vouvray Sec ‘’Coulée d’Argent’’ 2011
Domaine des Aubuisieres Vouvray Sec ‘’Cuvée Silex’’ 2011
François Chidaine Vouvray Sec ‘’Argiles’’ 2010
Marc Bredif Vouvray Sec 2010

Marc Bredif Vouvray

{Marc Bredif Vouvray Sec 2010 the first thing we noticed was a little “funk” on the nose, not a bad thing at all. Flavorful, crisp, lemony with a little of that funkiness on the palate as well}

Champalou Vouvray

{Didier Champalou Vouvray Sec, 2010Very aromatic, slightly floral nose, fresh and citrusy with nice acidity, reminded me of candied lemon peel}

Les Angiles Vouvray

{François Chidaine Vouvray Sec ‘’Argiles’’ 2010 notes of pear and nectarine, white pepper, with a nice minerality}

Bourillon Dorleans

{Domaine Bourillon Dorleans Vouvray Sec ‘’Coulée d’Argent’’ 2011another very aromatic wine with floral notes, tart lemon, as well as sweet almond}

I really didn’t know much about Vouvray going into the tasting, but by tasting these five side-by-side, we learned how diverse these wines, made with Chenin Blanc really are. They range from dry to sweet and include just about everything in between. From the TasteLive blog:

On average, 60% of each vintage is made into still wine and 40% is made sparkling. Sweet Vouvray is usually made from grapes that have been allowed to remain on the vine until overripe and shriveled by the sun and wind, so the percentage of dry to sweet wine depends on each year’s growing conditions.  In a cool year, only dryer wines are made but in years where warm weather continues into fall, harvest for sweet wines is delayed until well into November (the latest harvest in France) and there may be several pickings in order to harvest the grapes at their moment of optimum ripeness.

What do you eat with Vouvray? Well, as we learned, since the wines did vary, there are a bunch of options, and that Chenin Blanc goes really well with all sorts of cheeses. We went with goat cheese and crackers because I was under-the-weather and didn’t feel like prepping much more, but I could see the sweeter wines pairing nicely with a blue cheese and any of them pairing well with a stinky, delicious Le Tur.

But we found ourselves wishing we had oysters, knowing that the briny bivalves would be perfect with the crispness and minerality of the Vouvray.

A dry Vouvray would also liven up a turkey dinner very nicely and would be a fun choice for Thanksgiving.

If you have the time and interest, I definitely recommend picking up a bottle (or 5) of Vouvray for your very own tasting at home. I can’t think of anything better, especially as the weather declines and going out seems less appealing.

Tonight I am participating in another TasteLive event, this time with Chateau Tanunda Estate from the Barossa Valley in Australia. If you feel like following along on Twitter, the hashtag is #Tanunda.

Are you loving any new-to-you wines lately?

Tags: TasteLive, Vouvray, white wine, wine, wine and food pairing, wine tasting

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