Barolo Chinato: Dark Chocolate Partner
How would you feel about a dessert wine described as “traditionally drunk for medicinal purposes to guard against fevers and stomach upsets”? How about one described as bitter and sweet, infused with quinine bark and cardamom? Via twitter, Stefano Poggio (@Batasiolo_US) suggested the winter weather in Minnesota might be a perfect opportunity to try Barolo … Continue reading
Holiday Oysters & Champagne
Do you have a Christmas Day tradition? After all the pre-Christmas family events, our usual Christmas day is easy and unstructured. During a visit to the Walrus and the Carpenter in Seattle over Thanksgiving, we found our young adult children both liked oysters on the half shell. A new Christmas tradition is born: Oysters and … Continue reading
Shrimp Masala & Viognier
Viognier with Spicy Indian Food After some early success in this Viognier series with spicy foods, I decided to take the spice level up a notch. Today, we’ll try a couple of nice Viogniers with Shrimp Masala. Whenever I’m looking for an Indian recipe, my first stop is My Fancy Pantry. Shari is a food … Continue reading
Roast Chicken Pairing: Viognier or Pinot Noir?
Viognier Exploration #3: Wine Pairing with Roast Chicken Our next Viognier experiment will test two very nice wines with a locally sourced roast chicken dinner. For roast chicken, I would often pick out a nice Pinot Noir. If I’m really open, would a Viognier be a better match? Going Local in Late Fall All summer … Continue reading
3 Rules for Wine Pairing with Turducken
Recently, I was contacted by Echelon Foods with a request to provide wine pairings for their Original Turducken. Never having prepared or eaten a Turducken before, I thought it sounded like fun! Julie and I prepared an early mini-holiday Turducken dinner. The question was: how does a Turducken differ from a traditional turkey dinner … Continue reading
#TempranilloDay
#TempranilloDay Oh No! Another wine day. I don’t know why, but I just can’t resist. November 14 is Tempranillo Day, and we’re encouraged to open a bottle of wine made from the Tempranillo grape, then share the experience on social media. If you’re curious, just enter #TempranilloDay on Twitter. We don’t drink Tempranillo all that … Continue reading
Viognier & Spicy Food? – Shrimp Tacos
Viognier pairs with a number of interesting foods: Indian cuisine, curries, pork, chicken, anything in a cream sauce, moderately spicy foods. Today we’re testing Viognier with spicy foods. We’re also trying inexpensive examples from California and France. Let’s go! Our spicy food test dish is shrimp tacos. Our basic tacos are barbecue-rub spicy, which is … Continue reading
Viognier Exploration: Curry Chicken, Sweet Potato & Cauliflower
Getting to Know Viognier It’s time to explore a varietal that is surprisingly easy to find, but a little less known: Viognier. Wines made from the Viognier grape tend to have a bigger body: perfect for colder weather. I purchased wines from a variety of different places: California, Washington, Oregon, Australia and France. The samples I … Continue reading
#ChampagneDay 2013
We have fun celebrating these internet based theme days for various wines. One of our favorites is #ChampagneDay because it’s a great excuse to make the day an occasion. It appears that #ChampagneDay is the last Friday in October, because it was also on a Friday last year. Wow, just like Thanksgiving and Easter! Anyway, … Continue reading
Our Piemonte Wine Dinner
Barbaresco, Barolo and Much More Just back from a wine touring week in the Piemonte (Piedmont) region of Italy, Julie and I were eager to share a glimpse of that area with our wine dinner group. We prepared a Piemonte menu we hoped would be both authentic and tasty. How did we do? The White … Continue reading
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