While I’m busy chopping and prepping items for tomorrow’s big Thanksgiving celebration (I’m making my turkey-shaped appetizer platters from 2013 AND 2014), I’ll leave you with this chart on Thanksgiving pie wine pairings from VinePair. (They’re the best!)
VinePair also posted wine, beer and booze Thanksgiving pairings in 2014, which might come in handy for your celebrations!
Photos of my spreads to come tomorrow! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving eve!
VinePair always has the best wine pairing ideas and infographics! (See Halloween candy, Thanksgiving, and Christmas cookies.)
They scored once again with these football foods and wine pairings. I’m sure these would all be great with beer, but that’s not my thing, so this is especially poignant for me. Especially since I’ll be spending the bulk of my sportsball-watching at home, in front of the TV with my little guy. Don’t nachos and malbec sound delightful right now?!
Over the weekend we celebrated Brandon’s birthday by going wine tasting. I only stole very small sips of some of my favorite reds, but enjoyed spending time with our friends and family. Brandon, on the other hand, enjoyed all of his favorites from Pondera Winery, Robert Ramsay Cellars, Davenport Cellars and Pomum.
My cousin Mike was in town from Florida, experiencing the Woodinville Warehouse District for the first time
We skipped Efeste because they refused to accommodate a group of our size (10) at the time we were planning on stopping by– or even a nearby time. Too bad for them because our group bought many bottles on our afternoon of tasting! It’s also likely the final straw and this next release will likely be our last as club members.
We’ve been club members at Efeste longer than we’ve been married (we joined in October 2010) and over the years their wines and customer service have been going downhill, in my opinion, and getting more expensive.
The service and wines at Pondera were very good. If I were drinking, we’d likely join their club. We’ll see what happens come September and Baby Mo’s birth.
We also greatly enjoyed our time at Robert Ramsay Cellars and Pomum, enjoying both the wine and the company. However, the highlight was probably our stop at Davenport Cellars. They were kind enough to let us bring in a birthday cake for Brandon, which he loved. The group not only really enjoyed their wines but their kitchen too, the only reliable place to eat in the warehouse district, a big hit to a hungry group.
Bakery Nouveau classic chocolate cake pairs VERY nicely with Davenport’s Orange Muscat!
Anyway, if you are interested in checking out Davenport’s wines, you can stop by and see them and a variety of other local winemakers at these upcoming events. Drink local. Cheers!
TOMORROW, Thursday, April 23rd: The annual STEM event at the Pacific Science Center. This is a fundraiser for the PSC and includes a souvenir wine glass, unlimited wine tastings and appetizers. For more information please visit STEM:Science Uncorked.
May 2nd from 1 to 5pm: Join Davenport Cellars, Des Voigne Cellars and Pondera Winery for their annual Vino de Mayo event. You will receive 10 tasting tickets good for tastes from any of the wineries, a gourmet taco plate by Chef Anne Marie, mixed case discounts and some fun in the sun. Cost is $25 and totally worth it! Additional tasting and food tickets will be available for purchase. Please RSVP with your name and the number in your group before end of day Tuesday, April 28th to Jeff at Davenport Cellars: jeff@davenportcellars.com.
May 8th: The Downtown Kent Wine Walk. For more information please visit Downtown Kent Wine Walk.
Tomorrow is a big day! In addition to Wine Wednesday and April Fool’s Day (prank ideas here!), it’s National Walking Day!
I’m a big proponent of walking and you know I’m going to celebrate this national holiday by tying up my shoes and strolling.
I’ve been a diligent FitBit wearer for nearly three years (I’m on my third iteration. The design keeps improving!) and I recently earned the Nile Badge for walking 4,132 total miles, the length of longest river in the world.
My much-deserved Nile badge for my thousands of steps
If you’re in downtown Seattle tomorrow, you should join me at the Union Bank on 5th and University from noon – 1 p.m. for a big, fun walk. KING5 is one of the event sponsors, so you might be able to get your 15 minutes of fame in at the same time as your physical fitness!
Date: Wednesday, April 1
Location: Union Bank on 5th & University, Downtown Seattle
Time: 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Happy walking!!
This Wine Wednesday I have a secret that I must confess: I miss wine. I haven’t had booze of any sort this year and won’t for awhile. Why you ask? Well, we’ve got an announcement for you…
Brandon is still drinking and I can still read tasting notes and attend winery release parties, even if I don’t drink anything, so this isn’t farewell for too long. More wine news and information coming soon!
Are you interested in learning more about Washington wine?
My friend Zach at Vine Trainings is starting a new set of wine courses, targeting different wine growing regions and varietals. For the low cost of $45 per class, you’ll get to taste some great wines, talk about the most exciting growing regions, and even discuss the history of the industry.
When: Monday, Jan. 26, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Grub on Queen Anne, 7 Boston St, 98109
Why: Everything is better with wine, especially learning about wine while drinking it!
Read more about my experience with Vine Trainings on the Island!
Last week, I asked you to save your bottles for this very post and the great ideas I am about to share. These ideas are for all-things wine and while I haven’t actually done any of them, I plan to before Dec. 25! All of my wine-related crafts can be found on my “Respect the Grape” Pinterest board.
Without further ado, here are the ideas:
Cork crafts:
Santa corks
Gingerbread cork man
Wine cork tree
Snowman corks
Snowman wine tag
Glass crafts:
Mr. & Mrs. Claus wine glasses
Gingerbread wine glasses
Christmas light glasses
Naughty or nice? Pour accordingly with these glasses
Snowman wine glasses
Bottle decor:
Gnome bottle covers
Christmas wine tags
Happy crafting and happy wine Wednesday!
Lucky us: Vine Pair came through again (Halloween candy-booze pairings) and created this infographic pairing wine, beer and booze with almost every Thanksgiving dish option:
If your Thanksgiving drinking plans call for wine, keep the corks and bottles! I’m working on some fun holiday wine bottle and cork crafts that I’ll showcase next week! Three cheers for Thanksgiving!
Brandon and I had a few open hours last weekend, so we cruised up to Woodinville and did some wine tasting! We stopped by our favorites (Davenport Cellars and Robert Ramsay Cellars) where they were hard at work finishing the last of this year’s de-stemming, fermenting, and barreling. As we know firsthand (well, Brandon, but you know… royal “we”) wine making is hard work!
Our glasses are raised to you, winemakers and everyone who helps support the process. Thank you for your great work and making Wine Wednesdays possible!
Here are some fun photos I shot at Pomum Cellars and Stevens Winery, some of our new favorite spots to frequent:
Brandon sneaking a peak at the Pomum process
The warm grapes at Stevens — the fermenting actually creates heat!
Working the grapes at Stevens Winery
Happy Wine Wednesday! Cheers!
Halloween is just around the corner and if you’re like us, you’re buying candy {and booze} for yourself and not so much for the trick-or-treaters. We maybe get one or two trick-or-treaters each year, so it’s only worth it to buy what we like.
Vinepair (my new favorite wine blog) sent out their wine-booze-beer pairing guide earlier this week and it was so good that I had to share it with you:
We opted for the 2012 Vampire Merlot for Friday’s festivities — watching Grimm on the couch, dressed as a blogger and a PhD student (so creative, I know!) — so I’ll also need to stock up on KitKats (the orange ones!!!), as dictated by the above chart.
I bought this wine for two reasons: 1) It had a very cool, fitting name for Halloween drinking, and 2) It was on sale at QFC. Sometimes that’s all it takes. Upon further investigation, I’m totally stoked about drinking this wine!
Here’s what I found out:
Much mystery surrounds the Vampire line of wines.
As an example, the identities of the winemakers engaged for the project remain a well-guarded secret. That’s because they’re employed by other wineries, and it’s important that the brands they represent be protected in the marketplace. We can tell you that one of the vintners has garnered an almost unheard-of score of 96 for one of his bottlings from Wine Spectator.
What is not a mystery is why Vampire wines are so good. It’s a combination of professional winemakers having access to exceptional winegrapes and knowing exactly what to do with them. Several of California’s top growing areas contributed grapes for the 2012 Vampire Merlot.
The finished product is a medium-bodied, smooth wine that shows off the fruit flavors of the grapes, herbal notes from the terroir, and spice, vanilla and toast impressions from oak barrel aging. Why this wine is so sublime is no mystery at all.
Happy Halloween and CHEERS!
(We made some really fun Halloween cocktails last year! Read all about them here!)
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