A couple of weeks ago Cresta shared with us that Aldi Grocery stores sell wines. I thought I would check it out, and what I found was a pretty great deal. I purchased 4 different bottles of wines from Aldi all priced under $7; none of the other wines were over $9. Here’s my reviews of the 4 wines I purchased.

• Landshut Riesling $5.99 – Had a wonderful floral bouquet with tastes of honey and sweet melon. I would have to agree with Cresta that this is a very sweet Riesling but this would be perfect if your having asian spicy foods. This wine would pair with spicy Thai foods, hearty seafood stew, or served as a great desert wine.
• Villa Malizia Pinot Grigio $5.99 – A very light and crisp Pinot Grigio that had tastes of citrus and pear. It actually tasted better after it warmed up a little. (I decided stop chilling and drink it at room temperature.) This is a great summer wine that you can pair with salads, fish dishes, and light pasta dishes. I really enjoyed this Pinot Grigio.
• Gonfalone Chianti $6.79 – This is not your typical Chianti, it was very light but with some tannins and had tastes of smoke and leather. It was light like a Pinot Noir but had some characteristics of a Syrah. I personally didn’t enjoy it BUT if you are into a light Pinot Noir then this is your bottle to buy.
• Toca Diamonte Malbec $5.99 – This by far was my favorite one. The bouquet was black cherry and a hint of floral and tastes of clove, oak, berry, and black cherry. I really enjoyed this wine, I wanted to grill a steak after having a few sips of the wine. This would definitely compliment a great steak, hearty pasta dishes, or just drank alone with friends. If you’re into big hearty wines this is a great one for the price.

I can’t wait to go back and try other wines that Aldi has to offer. If you have an Aldi Grocery store in your neighborhood just remember you can pick up some wine for dinner while you’re grocery shopping.

I’m happy to share that the Northern Kentucky Wine Festival is on October 15 from 3 – 10 p.m. at MainStrasse Village. The Sixth Street Promenade will feature over 15 Kentucky wineries. Local restaurants will be also offering delicious food items to complement the wines that will be available for sampling.  You will also enjoy visiting with local artists who will be showcasing their works during the event. The $10 Admission includes a souvenir wine glass and 4 sample tickets. Additional sample tickets may be purchased for $1 each or 6 for $5. If an attendee wishes to purchase a full glass of wine, special tickets can be purchased for $5 each. Wines may also be purchased by the bottle or case. You must be 21 to attend.

This year, the Northern Kentucky Wine Festival at MainStrasse Village is partnering with  Full Spectrum 2011. During October, the City of Covington celebrates the Full Spectrum Arts Festival to emphasize the celebration of artists and crafters.

MainStrasse Village is an historic neighborhood comprised of shops, restaurants, taverns and homes, located just off I-75/71.  Take the Covington, 5th Street Exit (Exit 192).  Free parking is available in the 5th Street Parking Lot, located between Philadelphia Street and Main Street.  For more information please call 859-491-0458 or visit www.mainstrasse.org.

I’m very excited to see MainStrasse Village host the Northern Kentucky Wine Festival, please join me for the wine, art, and fun!

Raise a glass to fine Australian wines this fall at the Mollydooker Blending and Wine Tasting Celebration! Held on Tuesday, Sept. 13 at Morton’s The Steakhouse Cincinnati, the event will feature Sparky Marquis, the award-winning winemaker and owner of Mollydooker Wines.

During the event, Marquis will lead guests through a tasting of several 2010 Mollydooker Leftys, named playfully after the fact that both Marquis and his wife Sarah are left handed. He will also invite patrons to participate in a fun wine blending session, where they will create and vote on their favorite blends.

Guests will also be treated to a three-course dinner and both Marquis and wine expert Michael Brown from Vintner Select will be available throughout the event to answer guests’ wine-related questions. The evening starts at 6:30 p.m. and the cost is $100 per person, including the tasting, blending, dinner, wine pairings, tax and gratuity. Space is limited. For more information or to make a reservation, visit www.mollydookerwines.com.

The Mollydooker Blending and Wine Tasting Celebration Dinner Menu:

Appetizer
Miniature Crab Cakes
Blue Cheese Tenderloin Crostini

Entrée
Beef Filet with broccoli and mashed potatoes

Dessert
Double Chocolate Mousse

Churchill Downs Entertainment Group is hosting Fork, Cork & Style this Sunday from 1-9 pm at the racetrack. The festival is bringing in celebrity chefs and party specialists, and Bringing to life its theme of “Fork, Cork & Style” the festival will present signature foods from around the country, celebrity chef cooking demonstrations, a wine tasting featuring 150 elite brands and innovative ways to dress up your next tailgating party.

There will be cooking demonstrations by Emeril Lagasse, “Top Chef” finalists (Brian Malarkey, Eli Kirshtein, & Betty Fraser) and local Louisville chefs.  There is a grand wine tasting with over 150 brands (via Southern Wine & Spirits) from 2-5 pm and 6-9 pm. Restaurants from Louisville and across the nation will also be serving tasty bites. According to the web site, notable restaurants participating include:

Chicago area’s Albano’s Pizzeria, #8 on Travel Channel’s “101 Tastiest Places to Chow Down” for their football-sized pizza puff ; Buffalo’s Anchor Bar, home of the original Buffalo Chicken Wings and #17 on the “101 Best Places to Chow Down” list; Memphis hot spot Central BBQ, rated #1 BBQ joint in Tennessee, which will prepare delicious ribs and pulled pork; West Virginia’s Hillbilly Hot Dogs, which placed #15 on the Travel Channel’s “101 Best Places to Chow Down” list and is best known for their 15-inch Home Wrecker hot dog topped with a pile of tasty condiments; Chicago’s world Famous Billy Goat Tavern and Grill, which brings their highly publicized cheeseburger adored by the cast of Saturday Night Live who performed the sketch “Cheezborger, Cheezborger”; Tony Luke’s in South Philly, home of the ultimate cheesesteak featured on Travel Channel’s “Man v. Food”.

So there you go. Come for the wine and food and enjoy some live music while you’re there. Between Beer Fest on Friday, a wedding on Saturday, and this event on Sunday … well, this weekend is most definitely the Last Bash of Summer for Kevin & myself. We’re staying the night in Louisville, an option I highly recommend.

Tickets are $29 for all music performances, cooking demos and one portion of food from the restaurant of your choice. For $64, you can get all of the above plus access to the Grand Wine Tasting inside Millionaires Row 4. For $200, you can do all of the above and meet Emeril while you’re at it.

Can’t make it to Louisville? Drive three more hours and you can attend the next Fork, Cork, & Style, held in Chicago on Oct 2.

Full Disclosure: While I was interested in this event anyway, Kevin & I were given free tickets to attend the event, although I have no idea if we have access to the Grand Tasting.

We here at Wine-Girl are collaborating with our good friends the Hoperatives to bring you a beer-wine-cheese tasting at Dilly Cafè on Tuesday, July 27th at 6:30 pm. The tasting will be led by the Goose Girl herself, Lindsey Shafer of Goose Island Brewery. The cost is only $20.00 and the number of participants is limited to 30. There will be a waiting list if necessary. Call Dilly to make your reservations (513.561.5233).  We were planning today and already people were calling – so give a call to Dilly ASAP.

Working with Chuck and Chef Eric at Dilly and Lindsay from Goose Island, we’ve managed to put together a tentative list of pairings, although keep in mind that it is subject to a little bit of change.

1. Welcome drink: Sparkling wine
2. Cheese: Chevre  Beer: Goose Island 312 Wine Type: Sancerre
3. Cheese: Triple Creme Brie Beer: Goose Island Sofie Wine Type: Champagne
4. Cheese: Feta Beer: Goose Island Demolition Wine Type: Alsatian Reisling
5. Cheese: Washed Rind  Beer: Goose Island Matilda Wine Type: Grenache Rosè
6. Chocolate: Bitter, dark (80-85% cacao)  Beer: Goose Island Pere Jacques Wine: Southern Bell Shiraz

Just to recap:

Tuesday, July 27th
6:30 pm
Dilly Cafè, 6818 Wooster Pike, Mariemont, OH 45227
only $20.00
RSVP (please!) ASAP at 513.561.5233

Photo by Ryan Kurtz for The Party Source / Goddesses of the Harvest Ads

The dinner will take place at the newly renovated Krohn Conservatory on Friday, August 28. Cost is $75 and you can register online via The Party Source.

This is a great opportunity to enjoy samplings from some of our area's fantastic chefs, all in one gorgeous location.

Here's the menu:

Before we leave, I want to tell everyone about a new tasting that Party Town has added. It's on Tuesday evenings from 6-8 6-7 pm. This is in addition to their popular Saturday/Sunday tastings and their Friday night beer events.

I was told that soon, these Tuesday night tastings will become wine and food pairing events. They're starting off small, gauging interest. Since I know we all want these to evolve into pairing events, please go!

As always, wine tastings at Party Town are free!

Party Town is located at 6823 Burlington Pike, Florence, KY‎, right off Turfway Road. I'll see you there!

Image Credit

Anytime you need to pair some food and wine (or beer), just head to our Wine & Food Pairing page and click either Wine or Food. The widget will walk you through the pairing, giving you all the information you need.

Author and friend Natalie MacLean has always offered a neat online wine and food pairing engine. This widget is courtesy of Natalie. 

Enjoy!

Usually when we host a party, we shell out at least $500 in food and alcohol. Then we kill ourselves trying to make everything from appetizers through to dessert. Kevin often spends about half of the party in the kitchen and sometimes the food goes awry. This time we tossed that entire model out the window.

I did two things differently. First, I asked everyone to bring an appetizer or a bottle of Spanish wine. This worked beautifully, as we ended up with a gorgeous cheese plate and several dips. Kevin also prepared some mini quiches, baked cheese sticks, and mini herbed goat cheese balls. Good Spanish wine can be found for under $15 – in many cases under $10 – so we weren't asking our guests for too great of an expense.

Everyone brought a bottle or two of wine, which was fantastic. In fact, we emptied 10 bottles plus a magnum. I kept the wine out on our bar and just let everyone serve themselves.

Wine and appetizers. So far, an easy party with very little expense to us. But what about dinner? Well, for dinner we brought in Hector Esteve of Paella at Your Place. Hector arrives with his burner, a giant paella pan, all the ingredients and a great personality, and then he whips up some paella. I was worried about the small size of our kitchen, but Hector requires only a stovetop and a small countertop. Alternatively he can use a garage, or in the warmer months, your deck or patio.

We had a sausage and chicken paella, but he made a portion of it meat
free for our two vegetarian diners. He offers other paella combinations
of various meats and seafoods as well. Hector also arrives with a great salad and bread that starts off your meal. Once the paella is ready, he brings it to the table and sprinkles it with sherry. Alcohol makes everything better, yes?  Then he serves the paella to your guests.

Hector left our kitchen even cleaner than it was when we arrived. Outside of the appetizers, Kevin and I had no need to even be in the kitchen. It was the easiest party I've ever put together and because of that, one of the most fun. I could actually enjoy my guests instead of worrying about feeding them. In fact, we wouldn't have been in the kitchen at all except that everyone was fascinated with the paella process. Hector will tell you about it, step by step, if you wish, with all the patience in the world.

Hector requires a minimum of 10 people (those pans are big you see) and starts at $10 per person. We fed 15 people, although he can feed a party of up to 150. At those prices, feeding 15 people paella is a cheaper option for us than what we would normally shell out to host a dinner party. Kevin just mentioned that by using Hector, we saved about $200 in party
hosting and more than that in time and stress, therefore this is a
Recession Tip! Host a party with your own chef and save money – who
knew?

I know I'll be bringing Hector back for future parties at this house and once we move in about a year. I recommend Hector and his paella (and apparently his tailgating options as well). In fact, I'm trying to figure out how to get him to the pre-Jimmy Buffett parties out at Riverbend. How perfect would that be?

Not sure how you feel about paella? That's okay. Hector will be dishing up his excellent paella at several local stores in the next few months. You can find him at The Party Source on Jan 31 and March 26. I think, although I'm not positive on this one, that he'll also be grilling up some paella at each Liquor Direct for a Jorge Ordonez tasting on February 27 and 28.

I'm embedding a slideshow or you can view our photos on Flickr.

Contact Hector at PaellaAtYourPlace.com or via email (hfesteve [at] fuse [dot] net) or phone: 513.528.5241.

Course 1: Woodford Reserve with Gravlax

Course 2: Woodford Reserve Lemonade with Tomato Watermelon Salad

Course 3: Woodford Reserve Corn Pudding and the Best Roast Chicken

Course 4: Cold Lemon Souffle and Bourbon Flavored Coffee

The evening started with a Gravlax, composed of bourbon treated
salmon. This was a better fit for the type of food that I enjoy instead
of Michelle with the salty salmon and Dijon mustard combining to
provide a very nice appetizer that apparently lasts up to 2 months on
the freezer after preparation is completed.

Watermelon and tomato salad was the next course, and was introduced
to me several weeks earlier at the Gourmet Sensation event. It was one
of the few taste combinations that had eluded lad me so far in my life,
but I was amazed that it had taken so long for me to try what turn out
to be fantastic. As a late
summer dish, when tomatoes are becoming ripe and juicy across the
country, adding a little bit of watermelon provides a side that had
both the amazing tartness of the tomato with the juicy sweetness of the
watermelon balancing out the acidity. This is now a staple of any
summer/early fall dinner menu at my house and I appreciate anyone who
brings any attention to this amazing combo.

The main course was a roast chicken and corn pudding both featuring
an accent of Woodford as the brine for the chicken and a small accent
(1tbsp) in the corn pudding. Both items were a very well thought  out
example of what can be done by using a small amount of bourbon as an
accent to cooking and Michelle was thoroughly enchanted by the bread
pudding.

Desert was a cold lemon souffle that used Woodford new spirit, which
most of us are not able to easily find. New spirit is bourbon before it
has been moved to the barrels, so it’s pretty potent stuff. David
recommended a silver rum as an alternative and made what was very
similar to a lemon pie filling with the meringue mixed into it.

Woodford Reserve Distillery, right outside of Lexington, offers
regular meals during the holiday season. Weather permitting, I
encourage everyone to travel down and try one of their standard or
special meals.

Overall a night of