wine of the week

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Wine of the Week: Azienda Agricola Martilde

April 30, 2014 in wine by traveleatlove | 1 comment

The cat lady in me loves the bottle, and the wine lover swooned when I sipped and swirled a glass of this Azienda Agricola Martilde Bonarda. It was a housewarming gift from a friend, and it was enjoyed on yet another chilly day. When will this cold weather end? I have so many rosé wine recommendations, yet they seem so off when I am huddling in my winter coat on the walk from the train.

Bonarda

While I patiently wait for rosé season,  I’ll enjoy wines like this Bonarda, which is easy drinking with lots of strawberry, currant, and raspberry notes. It’s simple and smooth, fruit-forward, and has a delightful finish that lingers. This Bonarda is fine for drinking alone but would also be really good with pulled pork, turkey chili, or other spicy or spicy-sweet meats. I think it would also be excellent in my Salmon and Zinfandel with Cherries as a replacement for the Zinfandel.

I hope you are keeping warm if you are stuck with miserable weather. Happy Wine Wednesday!

Tags: Bonarda, Italian wine, wine, wine of the week, wine tasting

Wine of the Week : Valentin Zusslin Pinot D’Alsace

April 23, 2014 in wine by traveleatlove | 2 comments

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

Wine of the Week: Fess Parker Viognier

April 16, 2014 in wine by traveleatlove | 4 comments

What a heavy week. The anniversary of the Boston Marathon brought a lot of heavy heartedness to the city, and another suspicious backpack brought flashbacks and nerves. I hope the rest of the week brings peace and cheers and at worst sore muscles as we look forward to welcoming the Boston Marathon back.

Before the week began, I got away to enjoy some seriously warm temperatures (80 degrees!) and belated birthday celebrations with my family in NJ. Originally we planned on going out to dinner, but when the weather turned out to be perfect, we decided to grill at my sister’s.

I knew I wanted a luscious white for sipping on the backyard swing while my brother-in-law kindly cooked dinner, and I was pretty sure it had to be a Viognier. Luckily the Wine Chateau, a store near my mom, offered a good selection, including my choice, this 2010 Fess Parker Viognier from Santa Barbara County.

Fess Parker Viognier

Just as you would expect from a Viognier, this wine was full of stone fruit flavor like ripe peaches. The mouth feel on a Viognier is such a huge part of its beauty, and this one certainly had weight, along with slight oak and vanilla notes. This Viognier goes perfectly with sunshine. I also highly recommend pairing it with a grilled dinner.  We had a serious feast of grilled shrimp, chicken sausage, lobster, mushrooms, asparagus, corn, and salad, followed by homemade chocolate ice cream. It was pretty much the best birthday dinner I could have asked for, and it was a nice preview of summer.

grilled lobster

Tags: Summer wine, Viognier, wine, wine and food, wine and food pairings, wine of the week, wine pairing, wine tasting

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