Visited Two Virginia Vineyards Today

Posted on January 15, 2007 by Sonadora

I went with our original plan and we stopped by Swedenburg Winery and Chrysalis Vineyards. I was going to check out Dezel from Virginia Vinespot‘s suggestions, but only one of them was open today. So we will have to save that trip for a weekend! We had a very nice day, though I’m exhausted since we started early with a trip to see some more houses with our real estate agent (I think we found one!!). The weather here is unseasonably warm, high 60s to low 70s, but sadly not too sunny. Here’s a picture from Chrysalis, I’ll post reviews tomorrow!

Filed under: Chrysalis, Swedenburg, Virginia Vine Spot, Virginia Vineyards | Comments Off on Visited Two Virginia Vineyards Today

Wine with Dinner Challenge Results.

Posted on January 15, 2007 by Sonadora

First, the soup was excellent! I ended up subbing fresh bacon for the bacon bits, adding some chicken stock and putting in more cream so that I had a bigger batch! Much thanks to Roz for the recipe! Secondly, I took Farley from Wine Outlook‘s advice and paired it with a Rose because it was the “fruitiest” wine I had on hand and it seemed the recommendations were leaning toward that (both Cooking Chat and El Jefe from El Bloggo Torcido suggested fruity reds). We have plenty of leftovers though so I will try it with some of the other suggestions, I just need to get to the wine store. My picture doesn’t look as pretty as Roz’s, but you’ll have to excuse me since our light went out in the kitchen and we were working by candlelight.

The bottle I chose was a 2004 Wilson Winery Merlot Blushing Flamingo. We picked this up at Wilson Winery on our trip this summer. The bottom picture was taken overlooking their vineyard. This was a sharp, dry rose, quite different from many of the sweet ones I am used to and much different from the one we consumed a little later last night.

At 14% alcohol, this is no small wine; it also had a real cork closure. It paired really well with the creamy soup and the spicy sausage, thanks Farley! Strawberries on the nose and in the mouth, with melon and oddly enough a hint of lime. An interesting rose, we have a bottle or two more hanging around. I’m sure it makes a great summer wine (though it may as well have been summer here with temps nearly in the 70s!

Filed under: Cooking Chat, El Bloggo Torcido, Recipes, Rose, Wilson Winery, Wine Outlook | 5 Comments »

A Second Look at a Second Rose

Posted on January 15, 2007 by Sonadora

I’ve reviewed this one before, here. It’s a Rose from Lost Creek Vineyards in Virginia, where we visited earlier this year. This one weighs in at 12.5% alcohol by volume and had a real cork closure. We drank it extremely cold today and it was a pretty darn tasty bottle of wine. Lots of strawberries in the mouth and on the nose. We’ve had this one hanging around for a few months now, and I think the complete chilling of this one helped a lot. A nice little summer sipper and since it felt like summer again this weekend it was a pretty tasty treat.

Filed under: Rose, Virginia Wines | Comments Off on A Second Look at a Second Rose

Melted Cheese and Chocolate

Posted on January 15, 2007 by Sonadora

Plus great company, what more could you ask for? Some tasty bubbly perhaps?

We went out last night to the Melting Pot for dinner with our friends Danielle and Tom. Always excellent to see them, especially over a fun meal. Restaurant week is now over until August, but we took advantage of it again last night.

For dinner we had a melted cheese fondue of swiss cheeses served with various bread, veggies and green apples for dinner. The second course was meat fondue in a vegetable broth, served with terrikayi steak, chicken, shrimp, gorganzola and shrimp ravioli and assorted vegetables. Finally, we had a dark chocolate fondue with marshmellow cream and Oreo crumbles. Yum. Excellent food!!

The meal was pretty much fixed, we could change the cheese and chocolate, but that was about it. So I figured with the mix of food and flavors I would pick a sparkling wine. I haven’t had a Cava in a while, so that’s what I went with. A Segura Viudas Aria Estate Brut. The restaurant price was $28, 11.5% alcohol by volume and a traditional champagne closure. I see that it’s available around $10 online, so not a terrible markup for a restaurant.

In the mouth, there were apples, pears and spices, with a hint of either a nectarine or a peach. There were nice little bubbles in the mouth and a good finish. I liked it, and would get it again if I could find it again for $10!

Filed under: Cava, Restaurant Week, Sparkling wine | 3 Comments »