My New Crush

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