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

#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

Movie: A Year in Burgundy

A Year in Burgundy is a new documentary movie, available right now for pre-order on Amazon, iTunes, and several other VOD sources.  If you’re reading this blog, you will enjoy this film! The movie chronicles a year in the life of several winegrowers in Burgundy through the lens of Martine Saunier, a long time Burgundy … 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

Oops!

Make Sure You Have Plenty of OOPS! OK, you spill an expensive bottle of wine, you break glasses.  Those “oops” moments are no fun at all.  The OOPS moments I’m talking about are failures, but they show you are still trying new things, experimenting, learning. FoodBeerClick Chili (original post here) I wanted to modify a … Continue reading

Quick Visit & Lunch in Tain L’Hermitage

If you’re a Northern Rhone fan, a visit to Tain L’Hermitage is well worth your time.  Seeing the land for yourself will show you things you will never learn from a book or an article.  After our morning visit at Jean-Louis Chave, we had a little time to explore before we caught the train back … Continue reading