Rabbit & Rhône #WinePW

rabbit and white chateauneuf-du-pape

Spring in the Southern Rhône Our Wine Pairing Weekend group (#WinePW on twitter) is celebrating spring by creating and sharing wine pairing recipes featuring wines from the Southern Rhône. Lapin = Rabbit, Good Luck Finding One One of the things I envy about cooks in Europe is the wider variety of fresh products. They may … Continue reading

Northern Rhone Shootout

Pinch Me, a Flight of Classic Northern Rhone Reds Do you have a shop in your town that runs serious tastings? We’re lucky to have several venues in Minneapolis, one of which is Sunfish Cellars. In addition to basic classes, Sunfish regularly offers deep explorations into serious wines.  Tonight we sampled wines from a number … Continue reading

Wines for a Sweet & Savory Fall Harvest Meal: #WinePW 5

Wine Pairing Weekend #5: Fall Fruits and Wine Wine Pairing weekend is a monthly collaborative event for wine/food bloggers. This month’s theme is “Fall Fruits and Wine”.  If you’d like to see what others in our group are doing, scroll to the bottom of the post for links. Join the #winePW conversation: Follow the #winePW … Continue reading

Châteauneuf-du-Pape of Course

No trip to the Southern Rhone would be complete without a visit to Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Note this town doesn’t have the variety of shops found in some of the other Rhone wine villages.  We had a fun time and would certainly recommend spending a day, just know that the town is about the wine and not … Continue reading

Touring Gigondas

When you’re wine touring in the Southern Rhone, you should plan a day in Gigondas.  The village is charming, the surrounding area is beautiful and then there are the wines! Gigondas is one of the Rhone Cru villages, the second tier in Southern Rhone wines. The Cru Villages name their wines for the village, and … Continue reading

Southern Rhone & Domaine Rouge-Bleu

If you’re thinking of visiting the Southern Rhone, you should consider a stay at Domaine Rouge-Bleu.  The estate is in the Cotes du Rhone and is close to all the towns you might want to visit: Rasteau, Cairanne, Gigondas, and of course, Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  They have three beautiful B&B rooms overlooking the vineyards.  Thomas and Caroline … 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

Minnesota Visits Domaine Jean-Louis Chave – St. Joseph & Cellars

On a visit with Erin Cannon Chave, we crossed the Rhone from Tain L’Hermitage to Mauves, in the St. Joseph appellation. The difficulty of farming on the hillside (cliffside?) of St. Joseph is clear as as soon as you see the steep slopes and terraces.  Cultivated for centuries, many of these hillsides were abandoned after … Continue reading

Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Visit to Minnesota

When I attended the Domaine Jean-Louis Chave visit & tasting at Sunfish Cellars in August, I had no idea it would lead to something more. The lucky folks who attended enjoyed an evening with Erin Cannon Chave. Erin is married to Jean-Louis, the current head of this historic family of winegrowers from the Northern Rhone … Continue reading

Whatever’s in the ‘Fridge Flatbread

We love flatbreads and pizza for weekend lunches.  Sometimes we have a plan and sometimes we just root around in the refrigerator and see what we have.  You might like trying your own version with whatever you have in your ‘fridge.  Flatbreads seem to taste great with a wide variety of wines, we usually just … Continue reading