Wine Wednesday

In addition to good rosés, this time of year always makes me want to throw a bunch of whites in the fridge so they're nice and cold for a warm spring afternoon.  

Up until just a few years ago, we rarely drank white wines.  Even in the summer.  But it just kind of hit me one day - a big red wine while sitting on the deck when it's 80 or 90* outside just doesn't work!  So, the trek to find some good, crisp, and inexpensive whites began.

Based in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, this wine is in the King Estate 'Signature' collection.  According to their website, these wines are "based on a core of organically grown estate fruit with additional fruit sourced from sustainably grown vineyards throughout the Willamette Valley."  The King Estate winery has been open since 1991, growing grapes on about 470 acres of the 1,033 acres of certified organic land.  

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King Estate Pinot Gris is one of our absolute summer go to's.  A little more medium body than most Pinot Gris', it has a nice crisp finish.  It's not too sweet, but does have good citrus, peach and pineapple flavors.  

This wine can be found just about anywhere - they produce about 100,000 cases of it each year.  In our area, at Costco right now it's $12.49, and at Total Wine it's $12.99.  It's also found on numerous restaurant wine lists, and is always a great choice.  It's also great to serve at parties.

Pick up a bottle next time you see it - you will enjoy it! Cheers!

Wine Wednesday - Rosé!

With spring time comes one of my favorite types of wine - rosé!  There's not too much better than sitting on the back deck on a beautifully sunny day with a nice, chilled bottle of rosé.  


Rosé has gotten a bad rap over the years with the creation of white zinfandel.  People see pink and they think it's going to be sweet and low quality.  This is such a misconception!  Typically rosé wines are made from red grape varietals such as Syrah, Grenache and Pinot Noir.  The pink color comes because the juice of the grapes, which is white or more clear in color, is left on the skins, which are red, for a short period of time.  Depending on how a particular winemaker does it, this can be just a few hours to a couple of days.  This is where the pink color comes from.

We have already had a couple wonderful bottles of rosé this spring.  The tricky part about telling you which ones we love is that usually they aren't available on the east coast...or really, anywhere other than the tasting room or winery's club.  Some winemakers will make a rosé just for fun, to see how it turns out, and will make a very small amount.  Whenever we're traveling and find that someone we're visiting makes one, we ask beg to try it, usually love it, and buy some to bring home.  So this summer, we're on a mission to find some good, cheap bottles of rosé that you can pick up at the grocery store or big wine store.

The first one that we tried is going to look familiar if you've read other Wine Wednesday posts - I talked about their Rhone blend a couple of months ago - Chateau L'Ermitage.

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The Rhone Valley has lots rosés, and ones you can find here!  I have a few on the list to try this season.  

For $10, we picked this bottle up at Total Wine.  It's a screw cap, too, which makes it perfect for picnics, Gold Cup, or other activities where you wouldn't necessarily have a corkscrew handy.  It wasn't in the regular Rhone section of Total Wine, you have to look for it a bit in the rosé section.  I definitely recommend it - and for $10 you can't beat it!

Don't be scared of (good) pink wines - they are wonderful, especially with warm sunny days!  Cheers!

Wine Wednesday - Paradise Springs Winery

One of the benefits to living in the northern VA area is all of the wonderful local wineries that we have so close to us.  Unfortunately, we don't take advantage of these enough.  So when my friend Kathy called and wanted to meet me at Paradise Springs for Friday Happy Hour, I jumped on it!  

They have a huge beautiful, new facility with barrel room, tasting bar, tables and huge covered patio.  The place was pretty crowded, and only got fuller as the evening went on.  K and I did a tasting when I first arrived since I'd never been before.  Since they were so crowded, the tasting took forever - the poor girl behind the bar was by herself most of the time and was totally overwhelmed! 

They taste 8 different wines for $7 - 4 whites, a rose, and 3 reds.  My favorite was the Cabernet Franc, but it was a little too warm for me to want a glass of that to sit outside with! 

After the tasting, we decided to get a bottle of their sparkling wine, Apres, to share on the back patio.  As the most expensive wine on their list, it's $43.  Most of their others fall into the $20-30 range.  

It was delicious, and perfect for the 80+ Friday afternoon!

Every Friday they have 'happy hour' where they have live music on the back patio from 5pm-9pm.  The acoustic music this week was provided by Natalie York, and she was awesome.  

While the Apres, music, and atmosphere was all good, the highlight of happy hour was this little giggly bundle of adorableness - K's little girl, Caroline :) 

What a fun afternoon!  I always am reminded how lucky we are to have great wineries so close when I visit one - and can't wait to go back!

Wine Wednesday

After the $25 bottle last week, I'm coming back down to a great value wine, another French winner that we've discovered.

I grabbed a bottle of La Vieille Ferme a couple of weeks ago on the way to girls night because I've been wanting to try it.  I kept seeing it in the Cotes du Rhone sections in the stores when looking for wines that we had in Provence.  For right around $6, it was a great price and I couldn't resist.

Owned by Perrin and Fils, La Vieille Ferme is their lower end, value wine.  They're connected with several very well know and high end brands throughout the Rhone region, as well as own a delicious restaurant in Gigondas.

La Vieille Ferme makes 3 wines - a red, a white, and a rose.  Keeping it simple!  This post is about the red - I haven't had the others, but am looking forward to trying them...especially the rose!

The red is a Rhone blend consisting of Carignan, Cinsault, Grenache and Syrah.  It is from the AOC Ventoux and the grapes are grown at the base of Mont Ventoux in Provence.  

You can also find this wine in magnum size, which is much more common in France than it is here.  Magnums, when you can find them, are great for parties and definitely a conversation piece!  


For $6, you can't go wrong with this Rhone red.  Pick on up next time you're looking for a good, cheap bottle! 

Cheers!

Wine Wednesday

Owen Roe winery has become one of the top wineries in the Pacific Northwest of the US.  They primarily harvest grapes from small vineyards in Willamette Valley of Oregon and in Washington the Mid-Columbia, Yakima and Walla Walla Valleys.  Their first vintage was in 1999, and they've been making great wine ever since.  The make mostly reds - Pinot, Merlot, Cab, Syrah and some delicious blends - but also make a Chardonnay and are releasing a Pinot Gris this spring.

I've had (and loved) several of their wines, but today is all about Ex Umbris!

According to the Owen Roe website, 'Ex Umbris' is Latin for 'out of the shadows'. It was originally made as a one-off due to a wildfire that resulted in tremendously smoky grapes.  In more recent years, this wine has become a Northwest signature Syrah. 

The 2009 was rated 93 points by Wine Spectator and listed as #25 on their Top 100 list in 2011.

Usually around $25, this is one of my favorite Syrahs.  The 2009 vintage is the one most easily found in stores right now.  I know Whole Foods carries it, and you can also find it at Total Wine and maybe Wegmans.

Cheers!

Wine Wednesday

For Wine Wednesday this week we're heading to the Dundee Hills of Oregon's Willamette Valley.

Erath Winery is one of my favorites, and I have really been seeing it on lots of restaurant lists these days.  They have been growing and farming grapes on their land outside of Portland for over 40 years.  Dick Erath is one of the pioneers of Oregon winemaking.

They make a few different styles of Pinot.  First, their Oregon style wines are the most affordable, ready to drink wines.  Then is the more refined Estate and Single Vineyard selections and finally the limited Les Magique.

The Oregon collection is the focus of today's post.  This is a great wine, and we've been drinking it a lot over the last few months.  At Costco and Wegmans it's about $14.60 and it's $16 at Total Wine.  This is a great bottle for a nice dinner or to take to parties - and it's also a screwcap!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention their estate line.  If I remember correctly, this is one of the first bottles of Erath I had.  It's definitely a bit pricier, up around $28.  It's listed on their website for $34. Keep it on your list for next time you need a nice bottle of Pinot.

According to the Erath website, in 2010 "10 out of 10 Erath single vineyard Pinot Noirs from the 2006 vintage received ratings of 90 points or higher from the industry’s top publications including theWine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast and Wine Advocate."  

They also make some whites - Pinot Gris (which I've found at Costco, it was delicious!), Pinot Blanc and Gewürztraminer, but they might be harder to find.

Next time you see Erath on a wine list or in the store, grab a bottle!  Cheers!

Wine Wednesday

Dave Matthews is one of my favorite musicians, and now he's making some pretty good wine too.

Dave's first experience with wine was in Virginia, where he purchased a property in Charlottesville to farm.  A couple of years later, he met Steve Reedy of Simi Winery in Healdsburg, CA, and that lead him to the other side of the country and Sonoma County.

The Dreaming Tree winery was created.  Their first 3 wines were just released this year, and they have been a big hit.  They produce a chardonnay, a cabernet sauvignon, and a red blend called “Crush,” all from California grapes.

Crush is the highlight of today's Wine Wednesday.  It is a 2/1 Merlot and Zinfandel blend.  It was originally introduced to me by a friend who's a big DMB fan.  I had tried both Crush and the Cab in the fall, and enjoyed both of them.  This past Sunday while checking out the wine section of Costco, we were surprised to see that they had Crush and decided we should pick up a bottle.

At Costco and Wegmans, a bottle of Crush is $11, on their website it's $15 and at Total Wine it's $16.  At $11, this wine is a great value...for $16, there are some other wines I might buy first.    

They're wine making philosophy is to make wines to enjoy now rather than having to save them.  This one has a bit of a 'smokey berry' flavor with 'raspberry jam' notes.  Great with food, or on it's own on the back deck!

Previous Wine Wednesday posts here and here.

Photos from The Dreaming Tree Facebook Page

Wine Wednesday

I've had so many people comment to me about the new Wine Wednesday series!  I'm so glad y'all like it :)

Today's wine is one that I enjoyed earlier this week!  It's a great 'Tuesday night wine' or party wine.  Since our adventures in French wine last fall, we've been more adventurous in trying all French Cotes du Rhone wines (lets not get ahead of ourselves here).  We found this at Total Wine shortly after our trip, and have really enjoyed it since then.  We have served it for a couple of get togethers at our house, and it goes quick - always a good sign!

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This wine is from the Costieres de Nimes appellation in the Rhone Valley, France.  It is a blend of three Rhone varietals - 50% Syrah, 30% Mourvedre and 20% Grenache.  It's very dark in color, almost purple, and has lots of red fruit flavors.  It's know as their Cuvée Tradition and has been listed on the European Values Guide from Wine Spectator.

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You can find this wine at Total Wine in the Cotes du Rhone section of the French wines for about $10. There's also a rosé with the same blend that I can't wait to try when it gets a little warmer!  

And one of the best parts about this wine - it has a screw cap...can you say picnic?  Cheers!

Wine Wednesday

With the start of the New Year, I have a new series starting here on the blog...

Heeeelloooo Wine Wednesday!

I might have mentioned before that we like wine. (did you catch that?)  I love finding new producers and vineyards to explore and try.  And I always have friends and coworkers asking me for good, reasonably priced bottles of wine that they can find easily.  Besides the wine clubs we're members of, most of the wine we purchase is from Wegmans Costco and Total Wine.  It's very easy to find and affordable.

When trying to decide what wine to do for my first Wine Wednesday, I had a tough time choosing!  There are so many...where do you begin?  When one of my girlfriends brought a bottle of this to girls night over the weekend, I knew it was a great first wine.

Bogle is a family owned winery located just outside of Sacramento, California.  They produce a large selection of value wines.  I think their most popular is probably their Petite Sirah.  It has been rated for years by Wine Spectator as a 'Best Buy.'  Typically you can find this wine for about $8-9 at your local wine or grocery stores. 

The Pinot Noir that they produce is another one of my favorites.  A couple of dollars more, you can usually find this one for around $10-11.  It was rated as a Top Value wine by Wine Enthusiast in 2009.  

They also produce a Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Reisling, Merlot (which you can find often at Costco), Cabernet Sauvignon, Old Vine Zinfandel (which made the Top 100 Value list from Wine Spectator a couple of times), Phantom, and Petite Sirah Port.  

Bogle has something for everyone!  If you're looking for a good, inexpensive bottle - check 'em out!