Monthly Archives: March 2022

I have a new crush. It’s crushed grapes, but still. I’m also crushing on these two wonderful people, who I am very blessed to call friends. Friends that are like family.

Regular readers have met my friends Shane and Angie in previous blogs. Last night we all got together at my place for dinner. What a great night, friends that are like family, some good food and some great wines.

I was given this gorgeous bottle of Sartori Ripasso by the great group at Univin Wines and my friend Nancy. It was amazing.

I’ve had this wine previously with my one of my favoite meals. I love baby back ribs, and I really love them when they’re accompanied by crispy hot wings and some chicken fried rice that I made myself. An epic meal like this deserves an epic wine. The Sartori Ripasso is that wine. The 2015 vintage, which we had, is perfectly aged and full of complex notes and flavours. It’s a treat at around $35, but who doesn’t love a good treat.

We consumed a few bottles last night, including this one my friend Shane bought.

When I first see a Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese blend, I think of a Super Tuscan wine from Italy. However this wine hails from Australia. When I was doing some research on this wine today, I discovered that the 2014 vintage is the highest rated vintage in this wine, and it was fantastic. my friend Shane, when he retired from the banking industry, found he was a little bored so worked part time at the NSLC for 3 years. He says we don’t carry this wine anymore here, and it’s too bad because it was really really good. This red wine goes through a very unique process of being made, I won’t get into all of it here, but you can read about it by clicking here.

I didn’t take any pictures of the food last night. I was busy consuming some great wine. LOL. I served glazed carrots, rice, a salad and my caprese chicken. Easy and elegant. Here’s the recipe.

I started with chicken cutlets. I buy them, and I love how they are pounded out and the same thickness. It makes cooking them so much easier. I browned them in butter and olive oil in a cast iron frying pan till they were brown on both sides. Then I added mozzarella cheese and grape tomatoes that were soaking in balsamic vinegar and some salt. Put the cast iron frying pan in the oven for 10 minutes. Sprinkled with fresh basil leaves and a balsamic glaze once it came out of the oven. Easy and delicious.

And last but not least, I would like to feature a gift that Shane bought me.

Anyone who has been at one of my wine tastings has probably tried this wine. This is my favorite example of a delicious sparkling wine at a fantastic price point. It’s from Spain and it’s bright and vibrant with nutty and citrus notes. It’s nice and dry and not at all sweet.

That’s it for me for this week. Till next week, Cheers

I’m not sure if you know this but when I got my Certified Sommelier Certification in 2017, I celebrated by taking a trip to Italy. It was amazing. I went with amazing people, the food was spectacular and the wine… well, the wine was out of this world. A lot of it was consumed.

We stayed in the Villa at the Carpazo winery in Montalcino, in the province of Sienna in Tuscany. The views were spectacular and we enjoyed amazing wine every night.

Well, I would like to introduce you to a special lady, and I’m very blessed to call her a friend. This is Nancy, who is a wine rep with the company Univins.

This past week Nancy gave me some Italian wines to try. Oh My God, I’ve only had two of them so far, but they were amazing. I’ve never had them before, and I love trying new wines. I am so grateful for her sharing these wines with me, because so far, they’ve been unbelievably good.

When we met up on Tuesday, I had planned to make pasta that evening. I love trying new wines, and regular readers of this blog know how much I love Ripasso. Nancy gave me 2 Ripasso wines and an Amarone, the king of Italian wines. I’ll tell you about that one in a bit.

The story of Sartori dates back 120 years. They are located in Valpolicella, a region known for wine, olive and cherry trees. This wine, a spectacular value at $25, is made with 4 Italian grape varietals, Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, and Croatina. Ripasso means ‘to pass again’ and is a technique that’s been used for centuries in Valpollicella. The grape juice is ‘passed over’ Amarone must and skins to give it a more complex flavor. Sometimes called ‘Baby Amarone’ or ‘Poor Man’s Amarone’, I absolutely loved this wine. It was complex and interesting, with gorgeous flavours of dried fruits and spice. Which is why I had to enjoy it with my pasta mid week, but everyone deserves a treat mid week, right?

I always save really special wines to enjoy with special friends, and the Amarone Univins provided me was no exception.

Regular readers of this wine blog know my friend Angie. We both share a love of red wine, so I wanted to share the special Amarone with her. It was her first time ever having Amarone, so what a treat that evening turned out to be. We enjoyed the 2016 vintage, and this wine still had lots of room for aging, if you wanted to keep it for a while.

Look at that gorgeous color. Amarone has been called the King of Italian wines for good reason. It gets its richness from the drying process, which lasts 3-4 months. This process is called appassimento or rasinate (to dry and shrivel) in Italian. This really accentuates flavor. Once the Amarone is pressed, the remaining pomace is used in the production of Ripasso Valpolicellas.

Amarone is a treat wine, but well worth the treat. It’s also a great wine for food. My co-worker Rick asked me this past week what would be a great wine to go with game meat, and this is perfect. It would have also been perfect with my meal from last Sunday.

As a person who lives alone, I love it when grocery stores sell smaller pork tenderloins. Last Sunday I stuffed one and grilled to sear. Then finished it by using the BBQ as an oven. It turned out perfect, for me, I like my pork medium, so it’s perfect when I see pink. I sauteed onions, celery, carrots and apples in butter for a few minutes on the stove and then added it to bread crumbs with a bit of parmesan cheese. Yum!

With the price of gas all over Canada, it’s true, wine is cheaper than fuel. Even the treat wines. Also, restrictions here in Nova Scotia are lifting on Monday, and I’m hoping to get back to doing some wine tastings. Reach out if you are looking at a wine tasting this upcoming year and live in the Halifax area.

That’s it for me for this week. Till next week, Cheers

Darlene

I do not like time changes. It messes with my sleep, with Gabriel’s feedings, and I just don’t get it. But if we are going to have time changes, why do they happen 2 a.m. on a Sunday morning? Who decided this? 4 p.m. on a Friday, now that’s something I can get behind.

So we lose an hour of our weekend, but on a very bright note, the evenings are getting longer. People tend to think of sitting on their patios, enjoying a glass of wine. Not this weekend, however. We are in for this

You know the weekend is here when they are calling for another storm. For us here it’s rain and strong winds. For my friends in parts of Newfoundland they are calling for blizzard like conditions with high winds and snow. Either way it’s a great day to stay inside and drink some wine.

I would love to hear what’s on your wine menu and food menu this weekend. You know how some people don’t like seeing food pictures on social media. I’m the exact opposite. I love seeing food pictures on Facebook and Twitter. And I’m always curious on how they made it and how it turned out. Keep the food and wine pictures coming!

First, I want to share a food picture. I don’t eat much steak because the prices of groceries has gotten atrocious and red meat has become a treat.

But I did get a steak on sale this past week and because the weather was bad, decided to do it in the cast iron frying pan. I love that method. I also decided to try a red wine reduction for my steak for the first time. Decided to go simple for my first time and used this recipe here.

I didn’t have shallots so I used onions. Shallots are a milder form of onion and really delicious. But I simmered the red wine and beef broth till it reduced and then added butter and herbs.

It turned out delicious and I will be doing that again. I didn’t have fresh rosemary, so I used the spice. Fresh herbs are not the easiest to get in winter months here in Eastern Canada. It still worked for me. And I made these baby potatoes with maple butter seasoning, added some bacon and fresh parsley and some balsamic glazed mushrooms. Yum

This kind of meal calls for a big bold red. And this fit the bill.

I know most people would go for a Cabernet Sauvignon, but I do love me a good full-bodied Merlot. This is a great deal when it’s not on sale, and last week it was on sale here $2 off, making it a spectacular deal. Casillero del Diablo translates to ‘The Devil’s Cellar’. And Concha Y Tor’s Don Melchor spread the rumor that the devil lived in the cellar to protect his top quality wine. To my readers and friends in Newfoundland, you can get it there as well.

For my white wine loving friends, it comes in two white varietals.

They make a Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot Grigio, and they are just great wines at fantastic prices.

And now for my new wine of the week…

Last night for dinner I did a stuffed pork tenderloin. With it, I had a great new Cabernet Sauvignon. Longshot Cabernet Sauvignon originates from Modesto California and is a bold red wine with notes of plum, nutmeg and chocolate.

This wine is on sale right now here, priced under $16, and is a great wine to try, especially with the weather starting to warm and more people are grilling. To my friends in Newfoundland, you can get this wine there, and you can also get the Longshot Red Blend. It’s a blend of Shiraz, Tempranillo, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. Doesn’t that sound interesting? I can guarantee that red blend is a must on my list, the next time I go home to Newfoundland for a visit. (psst, it’s on sale for $14 there now)

Well, that’s it for me for this week. Have a great weekend. Stay safe, and enjoy the wine

Darlene

We had a wacky week of weather here in Halifax this past week. I saw a chart the other day that said we had over 400 mm of rain and over 100 cm of snow. Not exact numbers, but it seems we have had at least one storm per week since January came in. Whether it was a rain, wind or snowstorm, we’ve had a challenging winter to say the least. This week we had 10 on Wednesday, and they called for 10 cms on Thursday, but we got 15.

The sun did come out yesterday but the temperature plummeted to -16 with a windchill of -24. So let’s stay inside and get cozy with some wine and comfort food.

Remember the blue cheese I told you about last week? It’s Bleu D’Auvergne, and I not only used it in a cheese sauce for pasta, I also made blue cheese burgers this week. Twice!

The cheese is that good. It’s named for its place of origin in Auvergne, in Southeastern France. It has less salt than most blue cheese, and is creamier, which makes it excellent for cooking.

Here are the burgers I made, with blue cheese right in meat, along with salt, pepper, garlic powder and worcestershire sauce. I realize it looks like a lot of blue cheese, but it melts, and it’s very mild, so it didn’t overpower the burger. Then I carmelized some onions with butter, brown sugar and a bit of balsamic glaze. And then added bacon (duh!) and smoked gouda.

It not only looks tasty, it was delicious . Top with your favorite toppings.

A great wine to go with that? I’m glad you asked!

This is the wine I enjoyed with my burger last night. Sterling Vintners Collection Merlot from 2018. This full bodied supple Merlot with fresh fruit jam notes is on sale here in Nova Scotia right now for $15.99, which is a fabulous price. it’s normally around the $18 mark, which is what this wine costs for my friends in Newfoundland. Some wine critics have given this wine 90 points. it’s a great wine at a very affordable price.

And my wine of the week this week, is a white wine.

Sauvignon Blanc is one of my favorite white wines and it’s so distinct in its flavors. It was the very first wine I had on the final exam for my first wine course. It was a blind tasting and the fact it was Sauvignon Blanc was unmistakable. Some are grassy with notes of green pepper, but my favorite Sauvignon Blanc wines are those with tropical fruit flavors, and this one fits the bill. A friend bought it to my place last Saturday night and I loved it’s crisp and tropical fruit flavors. And it’s priced under $19.

That’s it for me for this week. I had a Twitter friend from Newfoundland send me a note last night saying he was looking forward to my wine blog. Thank you, that was very kind, and it made my day.

Till next week, cheers

Darlene