Taste Test: Wines for Spicy Food #WinePW

wine choices for spicy food

Wine Pairing Weekend Group Tackles Enchiladas Our Wine Pairing Weekend group is nothing if not brave.  As we have gotten comfortable with our wine pairing explorations, we have started taking on tougher challenges and this month is one of our better ones: enchiladas. With wine as a daily occurrence at our dinner table, I have … Continue reading

Are You Kidding Me? Rosé for OTBN? #WinePW

iOTA Cellars "phyllis" rosé

Wine Pairing Weekend and OTBN16 This year, our Wine Pairing Weekend group is getting together to share our individual experiences with #OTBN 2016. Please take a look further down in this post to jump to links for all our posts! Quiet Start to OTBN 2016 Are you familiar with “Open That Bottle Night“? OTBN is … Continue reading

Shake Up Your Brat Routine With Tomato, Red Onion, Gruyère Salad

Shake Up Your Routine As we enter our last few weeks of summer, you might be ready to shake up your normal burger or brat routine.  How about ditching the bun and enjoying your meal with a different take on a summer salad? Emmi USA Cave Aged Kaltbach Le Gruyère Cheese The folks at Emmi USA … Continue reading

Moules & Provençal Rosé

Always Time for Mussels The workweek seems so hectic; by Friday we just want something easy and quick for dinner.  In the summer, mussels are a perfect fit for easy, quick, and good.  There are as many variations as you can imagine, and you are likely to come up with some new versions of your … Continue reading

Spring Hopes: Asparagus and Rosé #WinePW

The Flavors of Spring Our Wine Pairing Weekend April assignment is to share our favorite flavors of spring.  At our house, this definitely means fresh asparagus and rosé. At the bottom of this post, you can link to a dozen other great ideas from my partners in our #WinePW group. Spring Into Being Truth be … Continue reading

Pairing Friends, Ribs & Wine

Wine Dinner Group Time The four-mutual-schedule gods finally approved and we had a date for our semi-regular wine dinner group.  Summertime calls for the grill, and Bruce offered to make his favorite ribs from an Emeril Approved recipe. Sounded great! As the wine guy for our group, I have the challenge of finding a selection … Continue reading

Under the Radar: Analemma Wines

The Columbia Gorge AVA was granted AVA status in 2004, but it still seems to be an “under the radar” vineyard area.  The AVA includes land close to the Columbia River right at the spine of the Cascade mountains, including vineyards in both Oregon and Washington. Even within the Columbia Gorge AVA, Analemma is a … Continue reading

Piemonte Training

In just a few days, Julie and I will be spending a whole week touring the Langhe, a district within the larger region of the Piedmont (or Piemonte) in Italy!  I had the opportunity to do some on-site “research” earlier this summer during a weekend stop mid-way through a business trip.  Over the last few … Continue reading

Watermelon Radish Salad & Lioco Rosé

A refreshing glass of rosé and a nice salad are just right on a hot summer night.  Continuing on our local theme, much of this salad is built from a our CSA box and local farmer’s market produce.  The combination of peppery crunch from the radishes, the sweet fruit and the salty feta provide satisfying … Continue reading

Eat Local – CSA Veggies, Lamb & a Summer Syrah

Bossy Acres CSAWe received our first Bossy Acres CSA box this week!  It’s a little like opening the mystery box in those cooking shows on TV, but that’s part of the fun. Radishes – Summer Salad Stars 1st challenge: We would be getting radishes in this delivery.  Radishes aren’t one of our everyday vegetable choices, … Continue reading