I definitely love a good Zinfandel, especially with a nice, saucy pizza. ( I learned that pairing from a wine maker friend in California) However, pizza was not what I had in mind when I picked up a bottle of this awesome Zin from Dry Creek Vineyard. Bill Smart had asked me to visit dry Creek Vineyard on my next trip to California, so I paid him a visit. After tasting through a number of their reds my heart was set on this one. A dry fruity zin with a nice balance of spice. That being said, I brought it home and had it with a parmesan, feta, and tomato pizza on wheat crust.

This 2005 zin is a nice ruby, almost amethyst in the glass, and is 14.9% alcohol by volume. On the nose there is heavy black cherry, less pronounced blackberry and a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon. On the palate once again black cherry holds the big gun and hits you first, followed by a mixture of blackberry, some spice on the back end, and a bit of acidity on the mid palate. It has a peppery, velvety finish which is nice for such a deep red. A friend commented how she enjoyed the finish the most because she is used to reds giving her “cotton mouth.”

I also enjoyed the rest of my glasses of this wine with the help of my new BFF: the winesoiree. I got to know the creator of the wine soiree via Twitter (which is where I meet all the best, and the worst people) and he sent me a coupon to pick myself up one of these. You see, I fell in love with it after I had a glass poured through one belonging to my friend Thea Dwelle (lusciouslushes.com) and was floored by the difference. I tried and reviewed a glass of the zin after simply letting it breathe for an hour, then tried it through the soiree. The difference truly is astounding. All of the subtle nuances of the wine came bursting to life; there were flavors and smells I hadn’t noticed before. Overall this is a great little gadget, and at $25 it’s well worth the money http://www.winesoiree.com

This wine is the dream of all  who have not yet mastered the ability to enjoy dry red wine. I’ve been asked “isn’t there a red wine that tastes good?” While I can’t find myself recommending this wine with a meal, it is sweet and it is red. Well, at least that’s what the bottle says.

This dessert red wine seemed to take on a much more amber hue while in my glass.It looked more like caramel sauce in color, but was pleasant. It had a very interesting nose bursting with plum and brown sugar. Hints of ginger and raisin danced around too.  It’s very sweet on the palate, even more raisiny, with high acidity on the back end.  Surprisingly full bodied for a dessert wine, it’s quite good.  I’m never surprised that Greek wine treats me to a whole level of tastes that I’m not used to.  The first wine I ever had was a Greek Retsina that tasted as if I had just sipped a glass full of pine needles.

The best pairing I can guess at for this wine is nothing other than dark chocolate. Even a bitter dark chocolate would be offset nicely by the sweetness of this wine.

I’m aware this post is a bit overdue, but better late than never right? First of all, the only wine I was planning on drinking this new year was the bottles of champagne that were to be popped in New York City where I was supposed to spend 4 days ringing in the New Year. As all perfect plans tend to do, my plans fell through, on the day I was supposed to leave. What’s a girl to do two days before NYE with no plans? Well, visit localwineevents.com of course. I found a few parties, but the one that stood out was a six course wine dinner coupled with hotel stay in Jeffersonville Indiana.  Why Indiana? I thought the same thing until I saw that the Bristol Bar and Grille was home to a Master Sommelier named Scott Harper.

Master Sommelier, Scott Harper

Scott was very pleased to hear that I was a wine writer and was extremely knowledgeable and straight forward with the dinner guests. I only received a few questions from dinner patrons regarding the wine and I was very impressed. The dinner consisted of a nice mix of white a red wines including a couple of very sweet wines.Harper wanted to include wines from all the wine regions he has traveled to around the world, the wines he chose were expertly paired with very diverse courses created by Chef Richard Doreing. We sampled everything from jumbo shrimp corn dogs to petit beef wellington to a dessert of a chocolate flight complete with a Pouderoux truffle and chocolate mousse in an edible chocolate espresso cup.

the menu

My favorite pairing of the evening was tempura fried goat cheese with quince preserves coupled with a Gewurztraminer from Andrew Rich in Columbia Valley, Washington. This was our last wine poured as it needed to be chilled. It came in a small bottle which brought to mind an ice wine, and I was expecting the same flavor profile. I’m  used to Ohio Gewurtztraminers, and  I was pleased with the subtle differences in this particular Gewurtz. It’s bouquet was heavy on honey, and almost smelled thick like honey. The mouth feel of Rich’s creation was almost carbonated in the way it popped with my food, much lighter on the palate than I had expected, and not as much like an ice wine. Overall the wine was rich and sweet on the finish, the sweetness was offset by the goat cheese and preserves. A very impressive pairing.

Thinking the Gewurtztraminer pairing could not be topped, I was even more surprised with Domaine Pouderoux from France’s Maury region. This wine, paired with dark chocolate creations was made from 100% grenache grapes on 100 year old vines. Looking at the wine list I was wary as to how this grenache would fare against chocolate. Once again I was surprised by the depth and flavors of the wine. It’s nose was heavy with dark chocolate, it reminded me of something I had tasted before but I still cannot put my finger on it. The richness of this wine rounded out our dinner pefectly. We finished up around 11:30 and went back to our suite to ring in the New Year with a bottle of bubbly. Gloria Ferrer, blanc de noirs, and you better believe I wore the same dress I had planned on wearing to the MTV New Year’s party.

A.B.S. dress and Steve Madden Stilettos

Here’s to many great wines in 2010!

I had been wondering about what wine to have at my Halloween get together when my friend Katie emailed and invited me to a “Hallowine” tasting she was holding at her house. I thought this was an awesome idea and was very excited to attend. The event was very well organized and the theme was flawless as per Katie’s style and we had eight wines to taste with various candies.

Whites were paired with sweet and fruity candies such as chardonnay with candy corn and savignon blanc with apples and caramel candy apple dip. That dip was delicious and paired well with all the whites. It consisted of cream cheese with brown sugar, caramel sauce, and crushed heath bars.

The reds were paired with chocolates; shiraz with Kit Kats, cab with dark chocolate, etc. and the dessert wines like moscato were paired with nutty candies like a Snickers bar. The moscato and Snickers was my favorite pairing. The nuttiness of the candy and chocolate played well upon the sweetness of the moscato leaving the wonderful bubbles on the palate. I normally can’t enjoy too much moscato because of its sweetness, but this candy and wine pairing was the perfect sweetness. All of the wines served are sold exclusively through The Traveling Vineyard. If you would like to find any here is the link to Katie’s site: http://www.myttv.com/Katie9301

I followed this pairing list at my own Halloween get together, however, my friends aren’t avid wine connoisseurs like me, so I only opened two bottles: a moscato and a pinot noir. We paired them with Snickers, Heath bars, caramel apple dip, and a pepperoni pizza. This gives me a toothache to read, but we had a great time. Thanks to my friend Katie Corrigan-Seeman, who is also a wine consultant for The Traveling Vineyard– for coming up with this idea and allowing me to use it. Happy Hallo-Wine!!

caramel candy apple dip in ghost trays!