Ten great reasons to stay inside where it’s cozy and warm!
Happy New Year all!
Wine and cheese!
This year we were lucky enough to snag one of these wine advent calendars from Lidl. They fly off the shelf just as soon as then become available. At around $60.00 for the box, we hoped for the best. So far, so good.
Also a Lidl best seller is the clever Ilchester cheese advent calendar and what better to go with wine? The cheese advent calendar (in the refrigerator section of course) costs around $14.00.
December 1st:
Tonight’s pairing was a mini bottle of Chardonnay (equal to one large glass or two small ones for sharing) and a lovely English sharp cheddar. I would really like to know more about this wine and the cheese because both were terrific and fabulous together! The wine was just as the mini label stated, buttery, pear, Meyer lemon and vanilla.
Cheers to twenty-three more days of wonderful surprises to come!
Happy Advent all!
Looking for a great bottle to pair with the bird? Really anything goes, but for this very American meal, I like European wine best.
The traditional rich flavors of the Thanksgiving feast need a high acidity wine for balance. Try French, German, or Italian white wines or even lighter reds for a better pairing. This makes perfect sense if you think about the liberal use of butter and cream in French, German and Northern Italian food.
If you’re undecided, sparkling is an excellent choice and the bubbles will help aid with digestion.
We began the day with a Cremant De Bourgogne, or what I like to call affordable French champagne.
For more options, let me take you to the cellar!
German Riesling is fruity and often sweet but not always. Look for a dry variety if you prefer less sweetness. Riesling also has a little fizz, and is an excellent option for guests who are not big wine drinkers but like to have a glass on special occasions.
In my house we serve the turkey with a sausage stuffing, so light reds, or rose also pair well.
If you are strictly a red wine drinker, I can’t think of a better meal to enjoy with Pinot Noir. I usually prefer rich reds like an Old Vine Zinfandel or a Merlot, just not today. The wine should not compete with the main event: turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin, or pecan pie, and all of the fixings.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving all, and I hope you are enjoying yours with family and friends this year!
Funny story…well only if you’re not me!
Soooo in the early 2000’s I left my executive position in manufacturing firm to raise a family.
I had this 401(k) money to rollover. I did some research and I asked my husband for some advice. I decide to invest some of the money in mutual funds and I picked a few stocks that I thought were interesting…this was 2004…and I picked Starbucks and Google.
At the time I had a fair amount to invest. I wasn’t planning to invest all of the money in one stock, but I planned on investing about $5,000 in one of these stocks.
My husband said “this Google seems very risky, Starbucks seems to more reliable”.
I bought $5,000 worth of Starbucks shares. It was under $20 per share and is valued today at $113 per share.
Starbucks did okay. The stock split. The earnings were good. Solid. Reliable. My husband was right about that.
Now let’s just pretend I put the money in Google. In 2004 it was valued at $85 a a share. The stock had just gone public. Google is currently valued at around $3k per share, then there are stock splits and incremental gains to consider. But just doing basic math, I would have purchased about 59 shares. Those shares would be worth around $177K today.
I guess the moral of this post is…listen to your gut! If there is one thing that has always been true and has never steered me wrong it is this.
Now maybe being wealthy is simply not my fate. I’ve had many a ‘brush’ with wealth and fame only to land smack on the other side broke and without recognition. So I think this is true. It simply was not in the cards for me.
But Google has brought me some karmic gifts. I write these wine posts and miraculously Google loves my top ten wine posts!
Google Buttery Chardonnay under $20 and my post from 2014 is still well ranked.
In the Google search “Buttery Chardonnay under $15” the same post pops up!
My new post “Buttery Chardonnay for under $10” is making Google headway.
In these Google searches my ‘top ten’ wine posts are often top ten in the search engine so that’s something isn’t it? Who needs $180K, right???
Finally, I was getting ready to update my wine bottle photos from the 2014 Buttery Chardonnay under $20 post because the current photo quality with the new phones is far superior, but Google images searches show these photos are ranking so now I don’t dare!
How do you measure success? This remains the eternal question. Whatsoever your definition, I hope you find it!
Enjoying a pleasant Saturday lunch at Vino Bistro
Last Saturday my husband and I discovered a new place which is always fun. New to us, I mean. It’s called Vino Bistro which is located in Leesburg, VA. If you live in Northern Virginia you should check it out. It has extensive outdoor space complete with a fire pit and festive lighting. If you are far, far away from Virginia, I highly recommend finding a wine bar or vineyard near you for a short weekend escape. You deserve it!
It was extremely quiet for a Saturday, partly due to the residual effects of COVID19 which have left this fairly new shopping center with several empty retail spaces. We have also had some recent bomb threats in Northern Virginia targeted at shopping and strip malls in the area.
So what were we doing out? My post COVID attitude is that life is for living, and that means not living in fear. We had the whole place to ourselves and felt like celebrities! When my number is called, I hope I have a glass of wine in my hand!
I was particularly impressed by this expansive wall of wine!
Our server recommend a few wines based on our taste and we selected Qupe (pronounced kyoo-pay) 2018 from Santa Barbara County at $45.00. I did some quick research and you can purchase this wine at various wine wholesale or retail outlets for between $18.00 and $28.00.
It has a pale, golden color, and is light, with medium body, and a clean finish. I tasted oak, lemon, almond, and crisp green apple. It paired well with the fabulous cheese plate we ordered.
If you try Qupe please share your thoughts. Happy weekend all and I hope you live life fearlessly!
Bogle Chardonnay is one of my all time favorite wines, so when the makers of Bogle introduced Phantom I just had to try it. If you are a Bogle fan I think you will enjoy it. It has all of the wonderful richness and flavors of Bogle, the butter, caramel, vanilla and ripe melon and it may be a slight cut above Bogle Chardonnay.
The cost of Phantom is almost double that of Bogle at $12.00-$20.00 depending on where you shop. Although I did enjoy it, I am not sure I would regularly make the leap to Phantom when Bogle is just so amazing at under $8.00-12.00 on average. Try it, I think you’ll like it, but call me old fashioned, I’ll stick with the original!
We found this wine at Total Wine priced at around $19.99.
I recommend allowing the wine to breathe. The color is black as night. The nose is heavy with oak. It tastes of dark cherry, rich plum, and a walk in the woods on an Autumn evening. It’s as dry as the desert, so have a glass of water handy.
This wine tasting took me back to the week my husband and I spent touring vineyards in the French countryside on our honeymoon many moons ago. French wine is always an adventurous pleasure!
Dinner was steak cooked medium rare, steamed green beans with garden herbs and olive oil and garlic smashed red bliss with sour cream, light cream and butter.
I like to taste a wine before reading the back label, preferring not to be influenced. I’m considering total blind tastings – even having a friend pick the wine, cover the label, and pour going forward to see if I can determine whats what in a wine.
I was intrigued by this claim of 100% Chardonnay and the Robert Mondavi brand is a favorite of mine.
What I tasted was oak, vanilla, apple, lemon and honey back with a clean finish and slight sense of carbonation.
While some chards are fine for drinking on their own, this one is better paired with food to bring out the flavor. It’s a heavy, sturdy wine so it stands up well to aged cheeses or chicken or pasta dishes with rich white sauces.
Here’s what they say about it on the back label…
I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve tried it!
Great buttery Chardonnay is such a popular subject that I have been working diligently to bring you a new Top Ten list with a fresh challenge: ten buttery chardonnays for under $10!!!
Does price really dictate quality and taste? Heck no! You don’t have to break the bank to drink good wine. Although challenging, you can find quality chards for under $20, $15 and even under $10!
A quick note on price, if you shop for wine at the major supermarket chains, the prices are sometimes as much as $5 higher per bottle than at designated wine outlets like Total Wine, or Costco, but with a member card, sale price discounts, and the 6 bottle discount most supermarkets offer, you can pay much less, you just may just need to buy more wine! I also find great prices and good selection at World Market, Aldi and Trader Joe’s.
There are some amazing, highly drinkable chards of the buttery, creamy variety with some other flavors that make my palate sing like oak, caramel, pear, almond, vanilla, baked apple, pineapple and honeysuckle. If all of these sound heavenly to you, read on my friends.
Sadly, butter has become a trend, and with any trend, you have posers trying to sell you something that their product is not! Shameful! So first I want to address what’s in a name and in a label? Just like a book cover, the wine label and well written back label copy tell us in a snapshot everything about the wine we are about to purchase, it is the second most important piece of the puzzle. Still, I cannot tell you how many lost souls I have witnessed, and often rescued, adrift in the wine aisle!
Labels matter and they only have precious seconds to impress! If you are currently aimlessly wandering the aisles of your favorite wine store, my goal is to help you find some great weekend wines minus the pain!
As always, I had to taste some frogs to compile this list. Nothing is more disappointing than bringing home a wine with high hopes of greatness, only to find that the taste does not even begin to measure up to the name and label narrative. One that I found not as buttery as promised was Butter Knife.
Here are a few that do measure up on the butter scale!
Ménage a Trios from California, is liquid gold indeed. I have to say the name is a tad off-putting, and in the past I had hesitated to purchase it because I am a respectable wine drinker! Still, the wine is really good, and if this gimmicky thing that the marketers have going on works for them, great. However, they may want to consider a sister wine under a classier label for an uptick in sales and broader wine audience. Label aside, I give this one three butter sticks!!! It is sooo buttery!
I first discovered Cloud Break at Aldi, but have since seen it on the shelves of other stores like Total Wine.
I selected Bend simply based on the label. I wanted to be on this windy road on a gorgeous autumn day in a convertible with someone special! I imagined a picnic basket in the back seat filled with gourmet cheese, a French baguette, and of course chilled buttery chard! The best label award goes to…Bend!
The Cupcake brand is pure marketing genius! I especially love that they added Butterkissed for an extra burst of butter for all butter lovers!
This wine label crosses over into what I call life style wine that sells a story with the 3 A’s: “Anytime, Anyplace, Anyone”.
With such a sophisticated label, you can bring Proverb Chardonnay to your next gathering and impress for less.
Big, grand applause for all of these wines and their fabulous labels! However, I just realized most of my picks are from California, ugh! I shall try to invent a list from around the globe or at least find more from some other states like Washington, Oregon, or Virginia next time! Until then…sip, relax and enjoy!
Please share your thoughts and favorites too! As always thanks for reading and keep drinking great wine!
If you have not tried it yet, get some Clos du Bois Lightly Bubbled Chardonnay today because the Clos wine folks have struck gold with this combination of what they already had right in their chard- a reliable, affordable, buttery winner – now with a splash of pizzazz! They added just a hint of bubbles and well, my darlings, you need this in your wine cabinet before everyone else becomes wise to it! This fizzy fun is a must have for entertaining, as an aperitif, or serve to guests at your next Sunday Bruch!
Writing & Wining 