Happy Monday!  Oh my goodness, new favorite wine alert!  Last week I discovered Lulu B., a series of wines produced from the makers of Cupcake.  First of all, how adorable is the label?  When Monique told me that she liked the wine I knew I had to try it – especially at 3 for $25!  We grabbed the Pinot Grigio, the Cab and the Malbec.  Each wine is from a different country, Pinot Grigio from Italy, Malbec from Chile, Pinot Noir from France, and the Can and Chard from California.  Quite a tour de force!  They are all simple, easy to drink varietal wines.  My favorite so far is the Malbec, it is light and bright and perfect for sipping on the patio with cheese and my Kindle.  You should definitely try these out folks, great summer time wines!  Let me know what you think, cheers!

(photo credit:  LuluB.com)

So, I told you all about the cheese tasting part, now let me tell you about the preceding dinner we enjoyed as part of Cheese Tuesday at L’Espalier…

Our first course was a salad of asparagus, pickled beets, AFS mizuna, and Shy Brothers’ Hannahbell cheese (you know, the little ones that look like thimble?  LOVE!).  It was paired with a delightful 2009 Simonnet-Febvre Brut Cremant de Bourgogne.  (Side note – Any time you see “Cremant” in a wine title you know that it is a French sparkling wine made in the methode champenoise but not of grapes grown in the region of Champagne.  Some sparkling wines just have air injected into them like a soda, can you believe it?  Guess it’s cheaper that way than letting the bubbles develop naturally in the bottle over the course of a year, but I digress…)  The wine is a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and was buttery yet crisp with light acidity and a nice citrus finish.  I truly believe that one should enjoy sparkling wine every day.  It is just such a treat.  This particular bubbly was a great pairing with the salad.

The second course was housemade gnocci with radish puress and spring peas, topped with truffled pecorino.   Truffled Pecorino, um, yes please…  It was paired with a 2009 Maison Champy from Saint-Romain, Burgundy.  The wine is produced exclusively from Chardonnay grapes (white Burgundy = Chard, red Burgundy = Pinot Noir) and has a subtle oak nose that reflects its barrel aging before bottling.  The palate is a combination of  honeysuckle, the hallmark of the region, and toasted popcorn.  So delicious.  The perfect Chard for people who don’t think they like Chards.  No one could dislike this little beauty.

The main course was an absolutely outstanding Chartreuse of Painted Hills beef with Parmesan and root vegetable puree.  I can’t believe that I STILL cannot spell chartreuse without looking it up, even after writing it a million times as it was the accent color at my sister’s amazing wedding…  It was paired with a 2006 Domaine Les Aphillanthes, “Le Cros” Cotes-Du-Rhone Villages.  This bad boy was GOOD.  In general Cotes-Du-Rhone produces red grenache wines in this part of the valley but this Les Cros is actually 100% Syrah.  It was meaty, full, had some great vegetal flavors like beet and black olive, it was really amazing.

All in all, this was an amazing meal!  I still cannot believe they gave us all that cheese after this three-course meal.  I feel like we got away with something, like we pulled the wool over their eyes, almost guilty!  It was just THAT good and really affordable for L’Espalier!  So check it out, try to find the wines, and have a fabulous Thursday  :)

(photos via here, here & here)

This is totally one of those wines that you see all the time and think, “Really?  TRUCK?  That does not make me want to drink this wine.  It makes me think of dirt.”  So in hopes of discovering something new and fabulous I grabbed a bottle as part of a 3 for $25 deal.  And you know what?  It was pretty decent!  It was light but had a substantial amount of fruit.  If I hadn’t known better I may have thought I was drinking a merlot, that’s how much ripe berry I found.  I brought it to temperature with my wine chill drops and I think that made a big difference in taking the edge off, I would recommend you try this wine a little on the cooler side as well…  Great for a casual mid week dinner when I didn’t really know what I was going to pair with it.  At 3 for $25 I think Red Truck is right priced and I would definitely get this again if I wanted an easy drinking red for just hanging around the house.  A very pleasant surprise from a wine I affiliated with dirt, I must say!  :)

(Image via)

Wow, what a week.  I think the Jinx Fairy read my post from last Monday and decided that I had experienced far too much happiness in 2 days and accordingly made the subsequent 5 just miserable.  Only work wise, mind you, but a bad week at work always carries over into your personal life no matter how hard to try to separate the two.  So how does one cheer oneself up from the ensuing funk?  Well, with the help of a deposit from the US Treasury (owning a home and getting married are expensive, but at least we get a nice little tax return) I cheered myself up buy buying a TON of wine.  Two full cases plus a bunch of individual bottles (including a bottle of this ChocoVine that has been popping up all over the place, have you seen it?  I will review soon and give you the deets…).  After much deliberating we decided upon Liberty School Cab and Angeline Pinot Noir.  You may recall Angeline from my last post, we had a bottle of the reserve at L’Espalier and it was fabulous.  After finding the reserve for $15.99 I found the traditional for $9.99!  A little less rich but still mild tannins and nice fruit, a great wine for under $10.  And we got a great deal on the case at an cool $100 even.  Liberty School Cab is my new obsession.  We have seen it everywhere from $15.99-$10.99 a bottle but in my opinion it tastes like a $20 bottle.  Amazing blackberry and chocolate aromas, balanced tannins, smooth finish, this is one of the better Cabs I’ve tasted in a while.

We found it for $10.99 a bottle and grabbed a case for just $120.  California is really stepping up to the plate with these two, after many years of favoring imports I am starting to really come around to these bright, fresh styles.  I’ll still NEVER like the Lakers though, let’s not get crazy…  So if you can track down these wines I highly recommend them!

PS – It’s almost sangria season.  That.  Just.  Happened…

(Photo credits: Wine.com, Martin Ray Winery)

What a lovely weekend!  I’m not even upset that it’s Monday and that my window is being pelleted with sheets of freezing rain right now, THAT’S how great my past two days were.  We started off with a stroll through the European wing at the MFA and then had lunch at one of our all-time favorites, L’Espalier.  We got engaged at L’Espalier last year and as a wedding present we received a gift certificate (as well as an incredible custom silhouette made from a picture taken at our wedding) from a pair of our fabulous friends.  Can I just tell you what an incredible gift idea this was?  Visiting the restaurant for the first time since our engagement brought back so many memories.  I am still smiling from ear to ear just thinking about it.  And the best part is that we had a table directly across from the table where we sat on our last visit, so it was like we were observing the moment from a different perspective.  So wonderful.  Oh yes, and the food wasn’t half bad either  :)  We started out with a squash soup with seared sea scallops for me and sauteed whole body calamari for the mister.  Then we enjoyed a lobster BLT and a lamb tenderloin with beet puree and roasted winter vegetables.  Oh my goodness.  And of course, to finish things off, a cheese plate presented by the house Fromager, Louis Risoli.  I could listen to Mr. Risoli talk about cheese all day long.  We loved them all, but I think the favorite was the Fourme D’Ambert AOC from Auvergne, France.  It is actually aged in caves alongside loaves of Rye bread in the classic style.  It was incredible.  We loved the cheese so much that we actually registered for an upcoming Cheese Tuesday entitled, “Chesse 101: The Hows, Whys, Whats and Yummy Yums of cheese.”  I know, I love my life…

We also discovered a great new wine that we paid only…  wait for it… $40 for!  At L’Espalier!  The wine was 2009 Angeline Reserve Pinot Noir and it was delightful.  Plus we found it the next day at Whole Foods for only $15.99 a bottle, very good to know.  A young Pinot, it was light and fruity and paired well with our diverse dishes (finding something to pair with roasted lamb and chilled lobster is no easy feat my friends).  I kind of don’t want to stop writing about this amazing day because that would mean I’d need to return to the reality that is Monday, but I really should eat lunch as I am now starving after recalling the food and wine from this fantastic place.  So thank you Kristin & Steve for being the most creative wedding gift-givers ever, thank you L’Espalier for being so great, and thank you that it is almost 1pm which means my Monday is more than half done with!  :)

(photo credit : Martin Ray Winery)

Just in time for Valentines, a delightful new pink bubbly!  This weekend Monique was serving up samples of Jacob’s Creek sparkling rose wine, a delightful little bubbly from Australia.  A non vintage Pinot Noir-Chardonnay blend with a balanced palate and a sweet finish.  For 2 for $20 this is the perfect, inexpensive bottle to pick up for your sweetheart tonight!  So Happy Valentines and happy sipping!

This weekend I tried a great new wine from Chilensis.  I sampled the Pinot Noir Reserva and was very pleasantly surprised!  This Chilean wine set me back $10.99 and delivered a great berry flavor with a smooth finish.  There was a hint of spice, but not what you would expect.  Instead of a “baking spice” taste there was a strong herbal spice taste, it kind of reminded me of Herbs de Provence.  Sounds odd, but it really worked with the wine.   We paired the wine with an incredibly nutty goat cheese and apple slices, divine!  PS – it was a screw top bottle so I could easily tote it around with me from room to room while finishing up little wedding projects that have somehow taken over my entire house.  The cat is going nuts with all the purple and silver ribbons hanging around, we’ve lost a couple of bag tags to his claws already…  Only 12 more days!!

Pecan Pie Truffles.  Can you even believe how incredible these look?  It’s, like, not even fair.  Match that with a lovely Pinot Noir, or something sweet perhaps?  I am stock piling recipes that I want to try after the wedding and this is going to be first on my list.  This will be a happy New Years indeed, finally eating what I’ve been restraining myself from for over a year!!

(photo via)

Happy Friday, everyone!  I am SO excited for this weekend – it is the wedding weekend of my darling friends and it is going to be just the most perfect day, hurrah!  I very much look forward to the drive from Maine, finally free of weekend “camp” goers and long lines at the NH State Liquor Store.  It truly is a beautiful state, the ideal setting for a fall wedding, or even a summer, winter or spring wedding really!!  And the wedding itself, what can I say?  I’ve been anticipating it all year, perhaps even longer, for I was relatively sure even before these two got engaged that they were so beyond perfect for each other that they were destined to tie the knot eventually.  I am SO lucky this year, I get to see my sister, my cousin and so many friends marry their perfect other halves - and of course we’re rounding out the wedding season with our own little wedding celebration!  So much fun, I just adore it.

But anyway, I digress…  So last night was a mini-celebration in it’s own – REAL FOOD!  Yes, that’s right, I had solid food for the first time since getting my wisdom teeth pulled last week and it was divine.  Well, to be honest it was a kind of mediocre pizza that we ordered from a place that we used to like but has recently been taken over by new owners who changed the recipes, but I still loved it.  I purchased this fabulous Pinot Nero, an Italian Pinto Noir (Noir=Black in French, Nero=Black in Italy, same grape just grown in different regions).  It was only $9.99, had a fabulous blackberry flavor, adorable little artsy bottle, and for the life of me I can’t remember what it was called.  I know I bought it at fresh market, and I even took a picture of the wine section of the store because it is so adorable, but no picture of the actual bottle, no website, nothing.  So why do I bother writing about the wine that shall not be named?  I guess to emphasis the point that good wine comes from everywhere!  If you like Pinot Noir, try Pinot Nero!  Same grape, same basic flavor profile, but with some fun, subtle differences imparted from unique terriors.  So go ahead, try something new!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, we’ll be traveling back from Maine on Monday so if you don’t hear from me I promise I’ll tell you all about the fabulous wedding later in the week…  Cheers!!

Ok, down to business!  So this past weekend, as you probably know since I’ve talked about it incessantly, my lovely sister and brother in law came to town for my cousin’s wedding.  Since my parents were at the rehearsal dinner Friday night, I kidnapped my sister and BIL for a little wine tasting action.  To finish off “Six Ways to Sideways – The Merlot Project,” I selected three different bottles of Merlot from around the world.  I looked up some notes online to clue me in to the strength of each wine so that I could order them from softest to most potent, as I feel this is important when tasting multiple wines in a row.  Luckily, my ordering was right on!  So here we go with the first selection:

The Wine:  ”Encore” Merlot by Christian Moueix, 2005.

The Region:  Bordeaux, right bank (Right bank = mostly Merlot, left bank = mostly Cab)

The Results:  This bottle ran us a bit more than usual at $13.99, but it  it was important to me that we incorporated 100% varietal wines from different areas so we could compare and contrast.  And let me tell you, this wine was well worth it!  The few extra years of aging definitely show in the soft fruit and super smooth texture of this wine.   Bright cherry and subtile vanilla with soft tannins, a perfect sipping wine for a summer evening on the terrace.  The wine did not pack too much of a punch overall, so I would not pair it with stronger dishes like a normal Merlot.  This would be great for a mild brie cheese plate, a salad course, or with simple chicken or pork dishes.  I guess I would really pair this wine more as a light Pinot Noir than a Merlot.  So if you’re a big Pinot person looking for something different, you should check this wine out for sure!  How did this rank against the other wines of the evening?  Sorry, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow  :)

PS – You will also have to wait until tomorrow for some pictures, as I tried uploading this morning and the program timed out  :(  My sister looked beautiful, I swear!