Last night I enjoyed a wonderful dinner with La Joya Wine Maker Johanna Pereira (Blog post to come) but I got taste all of the wines that will be in this weeks’ free wine tastings around Cincinnati and Louisville. These are simple wonderful wines that let the grape speak for itself. The La Joya wines: Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Carmenere, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. Enjoy!

Cincinnati area: Tuesday, November 6th
The Fresh Market – Kenwood, La Joya wine tasting and meet the Wine Maker, Johanna Pereira in store event 4-7 PM

Cincinnati area: Wednesday, November 7th
The Fresh Market – Oakley, La Joya wine tasting and meet the Wine Maker, Johanna Pereira in store event 4-7 PM

For our Louisville readers: Thursday, November 8th
Liquor Barn Louisville - La Joya wine tasting and meet the Wine Maker, Johanna Pereira in store event 4-7 PM

Cincinnati area: Friday, November 9th
The Fresh Market – West Chester, La Joya wine tasting and meet the Wine Maker, Johanna Pereira in store event 4-7 PM

- Cheers Angela

Looking for something to do this Saturday night in the greater Cincinnati Area? Why not come down to the Purple People Bridge on the Newport, KY side and come to the Wine Over Water wine tasting on the bridge with Hors D’oeuvres and live music. Wineries include: Stonebrook Winery, Horseshoe Bend Winery, Redman’s Farm Winery, Smith-Berry Winery, and Little KY River Winery. See ya down there!

Details:

• Saturday, September 15th 7 – 10 PM
• Tickets $25 from website or $30 at door
• Website to buy tickets at: http://www.newportwow.com/Buy_Tickets.html
• Causal attire
• Free music and Hors D’oeuvres

Cheers!

Last fall I came across one of the best red’s I ever tasted. I had the Pennywise Petite Sirah, and it was bold and built like the way a Petite Sirah should be. To my curiosity, I wanted to find out about more wines from this label. I asked my local wine store Liquor City  to let me know when their Petite Sirah and other wines from Pennywise came in.

This week they came in…finally, I bought the Pennywise Cabernet Sauvignon and the Pinot Noir. Since it’s summer I cracked open the Pinot Noir. Wow, was I amazed to have tasted such a vibrant, yummy, jammy wine!

As soon as the cork comes out, there’s a hint of Root Beer. I let the wine breathe for about an hour and I could smell the hints of strawberries and cherries. This vibrant wine had tastes of cherries, plums, and strawberries right off the bat. You let it sit on your tongue and small traces of anise and some sandalwood com out.

A great summer red wine that needs to breath for about 30 – 50 minutes to taste all of it’s luscious jammy flavors. I would recommend this with a light pasta vodka creme fish dish or a pork dish of any kind. Check out their wines, the Petite Sirah and Pinot Noir are wonderful.  My suggestion, is pick up a few bottles for your collection, my advice these wines will get better with age.

**Spoiler alert: Next Blog posting from me will be on the Pennywise Cabernet Sauvignon.

Recently, I celebrated my birthday at La Poste Eatery and Wine Room and it was one of the best wine and food experiences ever. We decided to have wine pairings with dinner.

Our first course was the Foie Gras on Banana Bread with a sliced Banana with caramelized sugar on top that had a maple carmel syrup finished with cracked sea salt. We had a glass of Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Champagne. The hint of sweetness from the Champagne complimented the syrup and the Banana Bread and the driness of the brut matched perfectly with the salt. The Foie Gras melted in your mouth and had this creamy after taste.

The second course was an order of Ravioli with a field blend of mushrooms, fresh sage, cream, and parmesan reggiano. It was paired with Styring Estate Pinot Noir ’06, this was one of the best comfort combinations that I ever had. The Ravioli had a parmesan sage cream sauce with crispy pieces of sage on top that added a slight crispiness to the cream. The Styring Estate Pinot Noir was the perfect pairing. It was a very soft tasting with berries and finish with tannins. This is one of the best well balanced Pinot Noir that I have ever tasted.

The third course was fresh catch of John Dory, a nice crispy white fish with a wonderful red wine reduction with sliced carrots and sliced parsnips. A sweet and savory taste intertwined with the light fish was perfect and it was paired with Domaine Aubissieres Cuvee Silex Vouvray ’09.  It wasn’t tart at all, a slightly sweet taste of melon and fruits. I loved it because it didn’t have that sour taste that Sauvignon Blancs have. A wonderful summer wine that you can drink all summer long and for $16.99 a bottle with a 90 point rating from Robert Parker who wouldn’t want to.

The last course was a white chocolate bread pudding with dried cherries and a butter cream carmel sauce. It was paired with La Tour Vielle Banyuls dessert wine. First of all anything with white chocolate and bread pudding is exquisite. The taste that carried me into bliss was the port-style wine that in France they chill and drink it as an aperitif. This nutty, fruity dessert paired perfectly with the chocolate dessert.

I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who loves wines, food and wonderful ambiance.

Here are a few wines that would be the perfect pairing for the for upcoming holiday brunch. Usually I suggest white wine or champagne but I have french rose and an Italian prosecco that will go perfect with any Sunday brunch.

The first wine is rose wine from La Vieille Ferme in the Rhone Valley nestled on the Mount Ventoux in France. Blended from  Cinsault, Grenache, and Syrah grapes and the Cinsault grape really brings a softness to this rose. The floral aroma really brings this wine to life but the tastes of cherry, fruit, and sugar are what makes it stands out. A crisp medium acidic wine that will pair with melons, strawberries, or a breakfast casserole. And who can beat a French rose for around $7.99 a bottle.

My new favorite sparkling wine is Lamarca prosecco, a great wine that is pale, golden straw in color. Citrus, florals, and honey bring a sweet fresh smell to the nose. The flavor is fresh and clean, with ripe citrus, lemon, green apple, and touches of grapefruit. A light tasting sparkling that doesn’t have the dryness like a Brut or the over sweetness of an Asti its perfect for any sparkling wine drinker. La Marca Prosecco is made in the Trevisio area of Northern Italy from the Glera grape. This is a low alcohol sparkling wine that you can share at brunch with family or friends. A great wine with eggs benedict, fruit, or any sweet brunch entree. Lamarca costs around $11 a bottle so pick up a few for the Sunday brunch.

I recently hosted a wine tasting for a liquor store and I noticed a champagne bottle in the beer section. I asked about it and the beer distributor told me that it was the Sam Adams Infinium Ale. It’s a premium beer that was collaborated between Sam Adams Boston Beer Company and the Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan (world’s oldest Brewery).

When you peel back the wrapper you’ll notice that it has a champagne cork that you open very carefully like a champagne cork. A crisp champagne-like beer with tiny bubbles and a fruity aroma tastes more like a champagne or wine. It has a hint of citrus, pear, and apple taste with a subtle dry taste of hops. The golden amber color has tiny bubbles that makes you want to stare at it for hours. Malt, hops, alcohol, and acidity are a perfect balance, there’s nothing that I would change about this perfect champagne beer.

Infinium is a drink that beer drinkers and wine drinkers can enjoy together. But there’s only one catch, drink it while it’s still on the shelves and it’s only drinkable till July of this year.

I’ve found my new favorite summer wine, it’s Somerston’s Highflyer Grenache Blanc. Somerston only produced 28 barrels; 90% was aged in stainless steel tanks and 10% used in French oak barrels for 6 months.

The buttery colored wine is 100% Grenache Blanc that has hints of citrus and floral smells.  Tastes of grapefruit, orange, and melon burst in your mouth while there is a hint of spice and vanilla that finishes the taste. It’s a crisp clean mild palate wine that would go great with a night of friends or light fish dish.  And for about $19.99 a bottle it doesn’t hurt to pick up a few bottles for the summer.

Last week I had the privilege meeting Craig Becker the General Manager/Director of Winemaking and Viticulture for Somerston Wines. Craig is one of the founding members of Somerston and his education is in plant physiology, hydrologic science, enology, and viticulture. He oversees all aspects of the business from viticulture, winemaking, sales and marketing, and finance and business development (basically a very busy man and I feel privileged that he took time to meet with me). After speaking with him I could only imagine a beautiful winery with lush vineyards and exquisite lands that I wanted to visit.

 (How beautiful!)

To start off with, Somerston has over 1600+ acres of land and over 200 acres in vineyards. The fruit from Somerston has been purchased by some of Napa Valleys most renowned winemakers including David Ramey, Heidi Barrett, David Phinny, and etc.

Their winemaking facility has many high-tech attributes including new proven technologies like CO2 heat pumps, non-glycol based refrigerants, the first process waste anaerobic bio-filter in Napa County, that delivers clean, pH adjusted processed waster with over 90% BOD (biological oxygen demand) removed, and solar power. The carbon neutral cooling/ heating and hot water system is one of the first of its kind in use at a winery in the United States.

One thing that you can experience is the off-road vineyard experience. Your tour begins with a wine specialists that guides you through the vineyard property visiting the vineyard blocks where the estate wines are grown. After the tour, you will enjoy a tasting of limited production estate wines paired with artisan cheeses from the patio that overlooks the vineyards. (This is on my list of things to do this summer.)

STAY TUNED FOR MY NEXT BLOG WHEN I TALK ABOUT THEIR WINES…

Last April Tony and I went to a Cabernet Sauvignon wine tasting and we decided to purchase one of the high end cabs after tasting them. The 2007 Oakville East Exposure Cabernet Sauvignon was our big purchase. It was cost about $65 a bottle and we decided to open it sometime in 2012 and for an occasion. Last night we opened it on Valentines day to celebrate my new job (a great way to celebrate).

Oakville East Exposure Winery sits on the land slide from the Vaca mountain range and it borders the eastern side of  Napa Valley. It receives the perfect amount of morning sun that continues through out the day that gives the perfect ripening and maturing conditions for Cabernet Sauvignon. It is the blend of grapes comes from 6 different micro vineyards that are planted on the side of the mountain. The rich iron soils, the organic green farming methods, and the sun exposure are the perfect base for this Cabernet Sauvignon. Of course the Cab is filled into 80% new French Oak Barrels and aged in natural cool caves formed in the mountain. Seriously you couldn’t ask for better conditions for a wine.

The 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petite Verdot give the perfect blended wine. This wine you want to decant for at least an hour or two before drinking. The smell of cedar and oak fills the glass as you pour. Then after swirling to release the alcohol vapors you can smell the rich fruit of plums, strawberries, blueberries. I could taste a hint of coffee and cream. It was the perfect blend of fruit, oak, cream, and smoke. For the price I believe that I will splurge and pick up a couple more bottles and save them. Oakville East Exposure 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the best wines I have ever tasted.

Growing up under a successful watercolor artist (my mom) I was constantly surrounded by all types of artist and art. I love the fact that when wine comes together with art it makes me all giddy inside. That’s what I thought about when I tried Ed Hardy wines for the first time…now I know a lot of you out there are saying oh yeah the guy that makes the loud t-shirts.

I must admit I’ve always loved his color choices and his tattoo art. When I heard about his wines I didn’t want to try them, I thought they were probably over done and they’re just out there for the name. But recently I hosted a wine tasting and one of the wines was the Ed Hardy Moscato. I really enjoyed it, it was a drier moscato not a typical sugary sweet Californian Moscato. It had tastes of peach and melon and it was refreshing. I looked at the label and saw that the grapes were grown and bottled in France. The price was right too: $7.99 a bottle.

After trying that I bought a different wine, the demi-sec Diamond Sparkling Rose`. Great wine it wasn’t bitter and it wasn’t sweet it was a blend of dry with a hint of sweet. The blend of Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, and Pinot Noir tasted perfect, this was light with a hint of cream, berries, and a little yeast after taste.

Now with this being said, I haven’t tried any of the other wines. I believe I like these 2 wines because they are inexpensive, light, and you do not have to over think them. Plus they are pretty bottles to look at after you’re finished with them. Great wines for a night with friends. What’s your thoughts on Ed Hardy Wine please give me some feed back on the other wines.