Showing posts with label wine tasting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wine tasting. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

VA Wine Expo 2017



I can't believe that I'm writing this already but - the VA Wine Expo has already happened. Everything that I was looking forward to for so long all came true this past Saturday.




For a wine lover, there really isn't a more amazing place to be than this event. I mean, there are over 650 different wines available to taste during this expo - that is insane! Obviously, it's impossible to taste all 650 wines but you sure can try to get close.

For me, this year was especially exciting because the International guest region for the expo was Spain and Portugal. Some of my most absolute favorite varietals come from Spain and I literally COULD NOT WAIT to try to some new ones.



Of course, the main event is all of the amazing Virginia wineries that come to the event and showcase their delicious wines. One of my favorite things about the expo is that there are often some Virginia wineries that we haven't gotten a chance to try either in person or at another festival. It's also a great opportunity to purchase some bottles from some of those wineries that don't distribute and are a little bit of a drive from home.

There were a few Virginia wineries on my list for this year that I had never tried such as Notaviva, 90+ Cellars, Whitebarrel, Gabriele Rausse, Castle Glen and Cunningham Creek. Don't worry - I'll be featuring some of these wineries in future posts so you can learn all about them. I have to admit that I did not make it to all of these tables - it was a long day y'all. And, it became glaringly obvious that I am not as young as I used to be. Day drinking is ROUGH.



Before you feel too bad for me that I didn't make it to all the wineries I wanted to, let me explain. First of all - we got the VIP tickets which got us in at 10am. You guys...we were drinking at 10am. That is craziness. Also, as I mentioned, I was SUPER excited for all the Spanish wines that were going to be at the expo this year. To me, these tables really were the shining star of our day.

We could not stop visiting all of the tables with the wonderful Spanish flags hanging behind them. We just kept tasting amazing wine after amazing wine. There was such a great variety and SO MANY BUBBLES. We had some delicious sparkling Rose's and Cavas. There was Garnacha, Tempranillo and Monastrell. It was just glorious.



If you get the chance to come to Virginia and attend the VA Wine Expo - do it. It's a day you (probably) won't forget.




Monday, March 6, 2017

The Wine Expo Is Coming!



One of my favorite days of the year is almost here and I’m so excited. The Virginia Wine Expo is happening THIS WEEKEND!




Last year was the first time I had been and let’s just say – I was hooked. You’ve never seen so many wineries all in one place. It’s fabulous. It’s mostly Virginia wineries but each year they have a special “featured region” that they celebrate. When I saw what the region would be for this year’s expo, I could barely contain myself.

They are featuring Spain!

Spain is my absolute most favorite wine region around and they produce some of the tastiest varietals. Needless to say I am really looking forward to tasting some delicious new Spanish wines.

In preparation of our visit to the expo this year, I went onto their website to peruse the list of Virginia wineries that would be in attendance. While the tasting is an all-day event, there’s still always too many wineries to hit all of them. So, it’s important to prioritize.



I tend to gravitate towards wineries that I have never heard of, been to or seen at other festivals around Virginia. This year, there are 7 wineries that have made the top of my list as “must tastes” this year.


Castle Glen
Cunningham Creek
Gabriele Rausse
Notaviva
Stanburn
Whitebarrel

90+ Cellars


Of course we will make it to more than these 7 booths but these are at the top of my priority list!

Another fun thing that I’m debating for the expo this year is something that I saw some people with at the event last year. Pretzel necklaces! I thought this was the coolest idea. When you are wine tasting ALL DAY, sustenance is so important if you are actually going to still be standing when the day is over. This might be just the ticket to keep us going in between food vendors!



I can’t wait to share all of my adventures at the expo with all of you so stay tuned!




Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Love at First Bite - Wine and Chocolate


If you love chocolate and wine individually, why not enjoy them together! There are a lot of differing opinions on whether the bold tannins of both make a happy palette. Our friends over at ProFlowers have a few wine and chocolate pairing suggestions we love! They created this handy guide with 13 popular chocolates, including favorites like peanut butter cups and fruity truffles, to help you pick the perfect match. 

They also offer a few tips to help in case your favorite chocolate didn't make the list. 


Wine and Chocolate Pairing GuidePlease include attribution to Proflower.com with this graphic.


Basic wine and chocolate pairing rules:
1.     The wine should be as sweet as the chocolate.
2.     Begin pairing by color. The darker the chocolate, the darker the wine.
3.     When possible, opt for a high quality chocolate bar.
4.     Consider texture as well as taste.

I’ve done a few wine and candy pairings with my friends and it is always such a good time! It doesn’t have to be fancy, just grab some wine and some chocolate and see what works. Sometimes, it makes it even more fun if the pairings don’t end up tasting very good. The reactions are usually pretty priceless!
One of my favorite pairings (not on this list) is chocolate covered blueberries paired with a brandy infused port wine, like the Bin 21 from Pippin Hill. It makes for a perfect after dinner dessert.

Comment below and let me know what your favorite is!


Wednesday, October 19, 2016

S'Mores and Wine - A Fall Match Made in Heaven




Fall weather is finally here and with it came the perfect excuse to break in our new fire pit. We’ve had this fire pit since last year but our deck had not yet been completed, so we couldn’t use it. Needless to say, I’ve been waiting on this moment!

We had the most amazingly cool night for our first fire. I was all bundled up in a jacket and scarf – it was perfect. We had some friends over for dinner then gathered around the fire pit for drinks and of course – S’Mores!




I knew we were going to do S’Mores over the fire so obviously, I had to do some research to find out which sort of wine would go well with this sweet treat. Unless you are drinking port, I find it difficult to pair up a nice red, sipping wine with something super sweet.

I found it though – the perfect S’Mores wine!

Ménage a Trois Silk Red Blend



This wine paired up perfectly with everything we had that night from a heavy brat stew, to apple crisp and S’Mores. It is an incredibly smooth, bright wine that while full of flavor, doesn’t weigh you down. Silk is a blend of Pinot Noir, Malbec and Petit Sirah grapes. There are wonderful tones of cherry and raspberry that shine through.


I cannot wait for our next fire and I know that I’ll definitely have to have this wine on hand again!


Friday, October 7, 2016

Wine and Donuts




As y’all have seen on my blog previously, I love getting my friends together for crazy, fun wine and food pairings like Halloween candy and Girl Scout cookies. Recently, a local winery held a Wine and Donut pairing event. I immediately said I was going to attend on Facebook before realizing that I would be out of town. I was so distraught and thought about cancelling my plans so that I could attend. Then I realized that I could hold my own wine and donut night and OF COURSE my friends would come!

Let me tell you, friends – it was glorious.

We had a dozen delicious, gourmet donuts from Sugar Shack including Samoa, strawberry lemon, blueberry, salted caramel and double chocolate chip. If you are in Richmond, I’m sure you’ve had these donuts. If you are in Richmond and you haven’t – stop what you are doing (no wait, finish reading first) then go visit Sugar Shack immediately.



There were some suggestions that we found on Google on what sort of wine to pair with the donuts but we mostly made it up as we went along.

The first thing I want to brag on a bit is my table set up. It was ADORABLE. And really very simple too! A simple tablecloth and table runner sprinkled with some wine corks and a cute mason jar filled with flowers and PRESTO. The perfect table!



I knew that mostly sweeter wines were going to pair well with the donuts so we tried to stick to that theme for the most part. We had these cute little cans of Flip Flop fizzy white wine and they were so surprisingly good! The Moscato, Rosé and chocolate infused wine (along with the fizzy white) were the favorites of the evening.

Some of the chocolate flavored, heavier donuts were a bit trickier to pair with a wine. We had a Sangiovese that held up pretty well but the lighter, white wines were a better match.

The winning pairing was the strawberry and lemon donut paired with the fizzy white or the Moscato – so good!




I highly recommend using this as a great excuse to get your friends together, drink some wine and eat donuts – totally guilt free!



Friday, September 30, 2016

Frugal Fall Fun With My Favorite Hobby - Wine!




You know what’s really scary? There’s only 87 days left until Christmas. I don’t know about y’all but this is the exact time of year where I get SUPER excited for all of the fun social events coming up - wine festivals, apple picking, winery visits, Thanksgiving…did I mention wineries? But at the same exact time, I can literally feel my wallet running for cover.

During this time of year this is what I’m hoping my bank account looks like:



Here’s the reality of the situation:



There is good news here though! You can still maintain your social life and all that is wonderful about Fall without spending a fortune.

My first piece of advice – start tracking your expenses. We do this in my household and it really helps you see exactly where your money goes. There are awesome, free tools out there you can use like this one from Personal Capital. I know it’s hard to adult sometimes – but just do it.

One of my absolute favorite things to do is throw wine parties with my neighborhood friends. And you know what? You can totally do this on a budget! The first tip is to share the expense between everyone who shows up. Have each person (or couple) bring one bottle of wine and some sort of food to share. You’ll end up with an awesome spread and a ton of wine – without all the cost.

Since we are really focused on being frugal here though, put a rule in place that each bottle of wine must cost less than $10. I’m imagining many of you saying “TEN DOLLARS!? You must be crazy!” Trust me, when it comes to wine, I never lie. I spend many hours wandering up and down the aisles of wine at various stores and trust me – there are plenty of bottles of wine out there for under ten bucks.

First of all, I feel like this goes without saying but I’m going to put it out there. PLEASE do not bring any sort of Arbor Mist or Franzia to this party. Unless you are a legit, broke ass college student, this wine is unacceptable. You can do better. Here’s how:

Garnacha de Fuego



Rex Goliath Zinfandel



The Naked Grape Pinot Grigio




La Promenade Provence Rosé



Now that you’ve got the wine, here are a few ideas of delicious fall inspired recipes that won’t break the bank. You should easily be able to snag a bottle of vino plus food to share for less than $20 total!


Apple nachos



Pumpkin pie cheesecake dip



Pumpkin Pecan Baked Brie









Saturday, July 9, 2016

SkinnyPop and Wine - Love at First Bite


Wine. Seriously. Goes. With. Everything. 

I love doing crazy wine and food pairings with my wine loving friends like Wine and Girl Scout Cookies or Wine and Halloween Candy.

When I heard my friends over at SkinnyPop had a new graphic about wine and popcorn pairings, I knew I had to get in on this. I LOVE SkinnyPop popcorn and pretty much always have a bag of the original flavor on hand. At just under 40 calories per cup you can binge on an entire bag and not feel guilty - really! 

What I did not know however, was how many other popcorn flavors they had. I immediately went on a search for the dark chocolate dusted flavor. I found it at Kroger and a small light shone down from heaven.



Typically, I would get all my friends together and really do this tasting up right. But honestly, my couch was calling my name and I couldn't say no. Somehow the couch seems most fitting for a pairing like this.




After finding the dark chocolate, I had 3 varieties on hand - original, white cheddar and dark chocolate. Since this was literally going to just be my husband and I eating and drinking, I felt like 2 bottles was a good amount (we wouldn't drink ALL of that ourselves...never). I went with Green Fin, a white table wine and Alamos, my go-to Malbec.




The Green Fin is chardonnay-like so it paired really well with the original flavor. I didn't hate it with the white cheddar, but preferred the Malbec (duh, thanks graphic!). It could be that I just really love Alamos Malbec but I personally thought that this wine was the perfect companion to all 3 flavors! 




So go out, grab yourself a bag (or 3) of SkinnyPop, your favorite bottle of wine and settle in for a wonderful evening of delicious binging! 

Do you love popcorn and wine together too? What are your favorites? Let me know!


Friday, June 10, 2016

Wine & Sliders at Pippin Hill


We've been doing a ton of renovations to our house this year, so my husband and I decided that there wouldn't be a big vacation trip anywhere. Instead, I'm going to make the most of my PTO days and make day trips out to wineries. I got an awesome deal on this thing called the Virginia Wine Pass. Basically, it's a membership card good for one calendar year that gets you a ton of awesome deals (like free tastings) at wineries around Virginia. Um, yes please!




The first day trip we made was to my favorite place (of course) - Pippin Hill. We decided to bring my Mother-in-law and her best friend with us. I was so excited to share this place with them and it did not disappoint!

We started off with a wine tasting at the bar inside then planted ourselves on their amazing patio for lunch. It was super hot the day we went so we got a bottle of their Red Pump to drink with our lunch. It's one of those great red wines that tastes good chilled and it really hit the spot!


For an appetizer, we started off with their cheese plate. It was so delicious and I was so hungry that I forgot to snap a pic BEFORE we at all of it. The thing I love about Pippin's Hill menu is that it always changes with the seasons. So, there are always different cheeses and jams to try. This one had a blue cheese, a cheddar and a type of goat cheese, dried fruits, jam, crostini and candied walnuts. Yummy!


Every time we go to Pippin Hill for lunch, I pretty much can never say no to their sliders. These babies are local grass-fed beef with mcclure cheese, caramelized shallots and grapevine smoked ketchup served with amazing parmigiano frites. You cannot go wrong here people!


If you haven't been out to visit this place yet - put it on your summer to-do list. You won't regret it. Beautiful views, delicious food and amazing wine makes for the perfect afternoon!





Friday, May 20, 2016

Wine Festival Fun!


As I mentioned in my previous post - it's wine festival season! Last Saturday, we went to one of our favorite festivals, the Central Virginia Wine Festival.

This was our 3rd year in a row attending and we always have a great time. There's always a manageable number of wineries to visit, never too many people and it's always very well organized. This festival is sponsored by the Virginia Chapter of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association so each year we attend with our Hokie friends!  

If you live anywhere on the East Coast, you know how miserable May has been weather-wise so far. We were really hoping Mother Nature would be on our side - and she was! We ended up having a good solid 4 hours of beautiful weather before it poured rain.




There was a great mix of wineries this year with some of our favorites alongside a few that we had never tried before. Trying new wineries is my favorite part of wine festivals. The lineup this year included Byrd Cellars, Delfosse Vineyards, Hunt's Vineyard, Rebec Vineyards, Horton Vineyards and Elk Island Winery. 





We ended up bringing home just 2 bottles with us this time. It might be a new record. I have so much wine at my house - I really need to do a better job of consuming it so I can buy more! We brought home a bottle a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from Elk Island and the Deer Rock Farm Red Blend from Delfosse. It's rare to find a good Cab Sauv in VA so we were excited to find this one! It's smooth and bold but not too dry or heavy. My husband is way more of a fan of Cabs than I am but even I liked it!



In addition to wine, there are always so many fun vendors at festivals like this. Our favorite VA peanut company - Plantation Peanuts of Wakefield was there and we of course had to buy a 3-pack of peanuts. They are so delicious and have tons of varieties to choose from. We got cashews, roasted redskin and sweet & spicy. Caramel apple are also favorites that we've gotten in the past. You can't beat 'em!


I have to look at the calendar to see what our next festival is but, we do have a fun trip planned to my favorite VA winery next Friday - Pippin Hill. I can't wait to share it with you!