More "Happy Hearts Day" cocktails

Here are two cocktails created by mixologist Jim Hewes, and currently featured in the Round Robin bar of the Willard InterContinental hotel in Washington, DC:

The Chocolate Cherry Kiss is made with Stoli Vanilla, Godiva Chocolate, Cherry liquor and is garnished with chocolate covered cherry.

The Passion Flower is made with Champagne, Triple Sec, a hint of mint and a splash of Parfait Armor, a super secret love potion created by Jim.

Both drinks are priced at $12.00. I think the Passion Flower sounds especially intriguing...

Have a great weekend!

Virginia Wine Showcase

The Virginia Wine Showcase will be held February 9 and 10 at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly. I'll be doing a Wine Appreciation Basics seminar on Sunday, February 10 at 11:30 AM. Tickets for the show are $25 online and $35 at the door, and tickets for the seminar are $10. We'll be tasting and discussing six of Virginia's most popular varietals (Chardonnay, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc for the whites, and Cabernet Franc, Norton and Merlot for the reds.)

For more information, go to their website. Looking forward to seeing you at the seminar!

Keepin' it Cool

Amazingly, I've only recently gotten a wine refrigerator. I have always wanted one, but I though it better to wait until we redid our basement so I had a decent place to put it. Since my husband and I do enjoy our reds chilled just a bit, we have relied on either 20 minutes in the fridge, or the Vacuvin Wine Chiller sleeve, to get our reds the temperature that we like to drink them. We had been perfectly happy doing that, though if we forget to chill a bottle ahead of time, and just grab it off the rack before dinner, it's just not. as. tasty.

Drinking wine at true cellar temperature (my wine fridge has 2 zones, and I keep the "red zone" at 58 degrees) does make such a difference. Big reds don't have that alcoholic burn, and lighter reds taste darn refreshing.

Just like my Vinturi aerator, I don't know how I lived without one for so long.

Drink on fire

I'm a sucker for dishes or drinks served en flambe. Whether it's bananas foster, crepes suzette, or even the Bob Marley shots my husband and I enjoyed while on vacation in Negril, Jamaica a few years ago (which, incidentally, are made with creme de menthe, banana liqueur, 151 rum and grenadine, layered to look like the Jamaican flag, and consumed while on fire. Here is a recipe.)

DC's Morrison Clark Hotel is currently featuring a Valentine's Day-themed cocktail called the Flaming Passion. Visit the restaurant to give it a try, or concoct it at home. I feel warm and tingly just thinking about it.


Flaming Passion
Simple syrup
A dash of Angostura
Splash of Brandy
Splash of Grand Marnier
Sparkling Wine
Orange peel to garnish
151 Rum (splash, just to light it up)

Beat the winter wine blahs

This is a tough time of year. The holidays are over, and those of us who live in a temperate climate have to deal with cold, snow and overall dreary weather (though you wouldn't know it the past few days here in DC...), without a foodie holiday in sight until spring brings us Easter and Passover.

It's very easy to get into a wine rut anytime of the year, but especially in the dead of winter, when it can be a bit more difficult to get inspired in the kitchen, and familiarity and comfort make us fall back onto the same old tried and true dishes and bottles. Check out page 20 of the February issue of Wine Enthusiast for some tips on beating bottle boredom. You can also see a link to the article on my website.

360 heads to Sundance

I just got a press release that 360 Vodka, which I reviewed in this blog a few months ago, has been named the official spirit of this year's Sundance Film Festival.

Anything green and eco-friendly is all the rage right now, so I'm not surprised that it has received this honor. You can feel good about drinking this vodka, since it's made in an eco-friendly way, right down to the postage-paid envelope that's include that allows you to return the closure. The company will give money to environmental causes for every closure returned. Pretty classy.

However it's made, 360 Vodka makes a mean martini. Almost gin-like in it's aromatics, it still finishes very cleanly.

For more info, go to http://www.vodka360.com/.

Addicted to Vinturi...

An update on my Vinturi wine aerator...

I am addicted to it. Plain and simple. We enjoyed a bottle of 2004 Clos du Bois Merlot that was sent to me a few weeks ago as a sample bottle. It tasted OK without being aerated, but much softer and quaffable after using the Vinturi...

For our second glass, I forgot to aerate it and poured it directly from the bottle into our glasses. For shame. When I tasted the difference, I had to pour the wine out into a water glass, then aerate it, before putting it back into my wine glass. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. I mean, I love the fact that it makes a difference in my wine enjoyment, but I'm pretty sure that dinner hosts and servers at most restaurants won't be pleased if I pull it out before sipping a glass of wine...

Santa was good to me this year...

And brought me the Vinturi aerator that I mentioned on my blog a few months ago. I couldn't wait to try it out and see if it lives up to the hype...and I wasn't disappointed.

The first bottle we used it with was an Angeline Russian River Valley Pinot Noir from California that we were serving with seared duck breast with a fig reduction. Perhaps not the best example to test aeration, since it's already soft and pretty fruity. I had my husband aerate one glass of wine using the Vinturi. The other was just poured into the glass straight from the bottle. He waited until the bubbles dissipated until he handed me the glasses. One glass smelled "tight" to me, and when I tasted it, it just wasn't as soft or easy-drinking as the other one. I correctly surmised that the one I preferred had been aerated. We were impressed.

Last night, we tried it with a bottle of Clos du Bois reserve Merlot, with the same results. It's amazing to me that I could tell, without even tasting it, which wine had been aerated. The proof was right there.

I am looking forward to trying it with a young Bordeaux that really needs ageing. That will be a true test, in my opinion--to see if the Vinturi can simulate in just a few seconds the years of ageing often needed for Bordeaux.

This cool new gadget was sold out nearly all over before Christmas--my husband had a really hard time finding one, but wine.com came through for him. I'm sure the inventories have been replenished by now.

A tip if you plan on purchasing the Vinturi--be sure to rinse it out with warm water right after using it. There really it no good way to get in there to clean it, and once the wine turns to sticky residue, I can't even imagine how difficult it would be to get it clean.

Flutes of Fancy

Just in time for New Year's Eve...some alternative options for breaking out the bubbly.

Happy New Year!

Here's to a festive and happy New Year's Eve. Whatever you are eating and drinking, may it be fun.

Bonne annee! A votre sante!

The Art of the Aperitif

Looking for some cocktail ideas for your holiday party? Check out my recent article about aperitifs...

A light red that's just right

Here in Virginia, a lot of winemakers are fond of making reds with Cabernet Franc--not using it for blending, as it done in Bordeaux, but all by itself, as is done in the Loire. Unfortunately, for me, many of the resulting wines don't taste like a true expression of Cabernet Franc, but as an unripe Cabernet Sauvignon.

Head to the Loire Valley, though, and there are some beautiful examples of what the grape can do on its own. The other evening, I made a ham that had a glaze of ground cloves, brown sugar, hot pepper jelly and apricot preserves. I would typically open up a bottle of Gewurz with this dish, but I didn't happen to have any on hand. I opted instead for a lighter red, selecting a 2006 Les Gravieres Chinon from Couly Dutheil. It turned out to be a perfect match.

The wine is soft and supple, with a nice amount of red berry fruit flavor. It had a light to medium body, but could definitely hold its own against the ham's strong glaze. It came highly recommended to me by King Farm Wine Shop in Gaithersburg. You can purchase it there for about $17 a bottle.

Wheel in the Bubbly

I enjoyed many things about my dinner at Proof in DC last evening. Perhaps my favorite part, however, was the cart that was wheeled to my table at the beginning of the meal. It didn't hold cheeses (though I would have been quite happy if it had...), and thank God it didn't have raw, wrapped pieces of beef like a certain steakhouse chain who will remain nameless (honestly, if I wanted to pick out my own piece of beef, I would go to the supermarket. I came to a steakhouse because I trust the chef to pick out the best cuts.)

No, this particular cart contained shaved ice, and about eight different kinds of Champagne and sparkling wine. In short, for a bubbly-phile like me, it was a dream come true. Wine director Sebastian Zutant described each of the bottles, before we made our decision (and it was very, very difficult to do.)

In my mind, there is just no better way to start a meal than with a sparkler. Kudos to Proof for a classy beginning to a meal there.

*Almost* Champagne

I think Cremant de Bourgogne is an absolute steal when it comes to sparkling wine. After all, it's made in Burgundy, where the two major permitted grapes are Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. And Chardonnay and Pinot also just happen to be two of the three grapes (along with Pinot Meunier) that are permitted in true French Champagne.

But the similarities don't end there. Cremant de Bourgogne is bottle fermented in the traditional method, so it has small bubbles and complex notes. All at a fraction of the price of the stuff from a bit up north. Yet, it's still French, so a Champagneophile needn't feel too much like a traitor.

If you have not yet tried a Cremant de Bourgogne, a good producer with which to start is Louis Bouillot. His Perle de Nuit Blanc de Noirs is a beautiful bottle. It's made with Pinot Noir and some Gamay (the grape of Beaujolais). The color is light gold, with just a tinge of pink or salmon, depending on the light. It's fermented for 24 months, which is 15 months longer than what the law requires. This adds to its full mouth feel and complexity. But it still finishes cleanly.

Try it with scallops with beurre blanc for an intimate New Year's Eve dinner. At less than $20 a bottle, you can also serve it during larger parties.

"Playin' With the Queen of Hearts"

Ahhh...Juice Newton. I'm showing my age, but I remember that song when I was a kid of about seven. And I couldn't help but hum it when sipping the 2005 Queen of Hearts Santa Barbara County Sauvignon Blanc from Lucas and Lewellen Vineyards. It had a lot of attractive honeysuckle floral notes on the nose, but for me, that was as far as it went.

The tasting notes say the wine was done in partial oak. But I'm partial to SBs done in stainless steel and only stainless steel. (That's probably why I don't drink many from California. To borrow a page from the script of Forrest Gump, "you never know what you're gonna get".) It's not always evident from the label. And one wine maker's "subtle" use of oak in SB may be too much for some drinkers, myself included.

OK, so it tastes to me like a California "Chardonnay-light." That wouldn't be so bad, but the wine also tasted a bit "hot" to me. So it just didn't end as crisp as I would have liked it too.

However, if you prefer this style of Sauvignon Blanc, the retail price is $10. You can get more info from L&L's website.

Great Wine Escape Weekend

Here is a recap of the Great Wine Escape Weekend held in Monterey last month. It was a phenomenal weekend of great food and wine, and the scenery was breathtaking too. It's a yearly event, so plan ahead for next year...you won't be disappointed.

Hahn Estates 2005 Central Coast Vent de Lucia Dry Rose

I usually think of dry roses as something to enjoy during warmer weather, maybe during a picnic or casual dinner on the deck. But at a winemaker dinner during my recent trip to Monterey for the Great Wine Escape Weekend, I sipped a dry rose that would be delish anytime of the year. There are only two words to describe the Hahn Estates 2005 Central Coast Vent de Lucia Dry Rose: "spicy strawberries." There are gobs of them, both on the nose and on the palate. The wine is made in the saignee style, and it's very similar to a Bandol. The grape breakdown is Syrah/Mourvedre/Pinot Noir, in almost equal amounts, and the color is a bit more intense than some other roses out there.

Try it with some seared duck breast or roasted pork tenderloin this season. But get your hands on it while it lasts--it's almost gone.

(Thanks so much to Hahn winemaker Adam Lazarre, and Hospitality Coordinator Angie Newton for sending me a few bottles by which to remember my trip. Salute! :-) )

Tote your wine in a green bag

I recently received a sample in the mail of the E-bottle wine bag. Touted as a green way to transport your wine, the bag can hold up to six bottles of wine, beer or soda (each compartment is separate, so bottles won't clang around). It definitely beats using paper or plastic bags, and it would be handy to keep one in your car for trips to the wine store. You could also use it for picnics.

It's pretty user-friendly, though I wish the handles were longer so I could carry it on my shoulder. And if it were truly a green bag, it would be made out of hemp, jute or cotton rather than polyester (though I know those aren't as easy to wipe clean.)

You can buy the E-bottle wine bag at DC area wine events and festivals, or on Winemania's website. They are $13, or 2 for $21.

A Corked Bottle on Turkey Day

Hope you all enjoyed a happy Thanksgiving!

While enjoying one of the bottles of wine I got to go with dinner yesterday, we came across one that was corked. It was a wine we've had several times before, but this one just tasted musty. It was the 2003 Montecillo Rioja Crianza, and it wasn't pleasant to drink. It's definitely going back to the wine store for a replacement...

On the upside, we enjoyed sparkling wine cocktails with 2/3 Segura Viudas Aria Cava and 1/3 POM Pomegranate juice (which adds gorgeous color and just a bit of tart berry flavor); Washington Hills Gewurztraminer, and Camelot Pinot Noir (a bargain bottle, to be sure, but one we have always enjoyed. The grapes are no longer sourced from California, but from the value area of France's Pays d'Oc.)

Those of you who braved the crowds and traffic today for Black Friday sales definitely enjoy a nice glass of wine. I was only out there for a little bit and it was madness.

Have a great weekend!

Wines for Oysters..the results are in

The "best wines for oysters" competition was recently held at the Old Ebbitt Grill in Washington, DC (note to organizers: I'm available to be a judge next year. :-) ) The results are in, and one of the most consistent, zingy, minerally, oyster-friendly wines took first prize. (It also just so happens to be one of my favorite wines)

2007 GOLD MEDAL WINNERS

Grand Champion: Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc 2007, Marlborough, New Zealand $25

First Runner-Up: Korbel Champagne Cellars “Natural” NV, Russian River Valley, California $15

Second Runner-Up: Seifried Sauvignon Blanc 2007, Nelson, New Zealand $18


Congratulations, Kim Crawford! I couldn't agree more that you are about the most oyster-friendly wine out there. The citrus flavors in the wine are akin to squirting a lemon wedge on the oyster, while the lingering mineral finish matches that in the delicate flesh. Mmmm...

I'd be happy with any of those choices, though.