Saturday, January 14, 2017

A New Wine for A New Year

Our friend, David, over at Cooking Chat has invited us to try and share a New Wine for a New Year. So I did and I am.  And so did many more of us who belong to this fun little group we call Wine Pairing Weekend.   I will be linking to all the others at the end of this post, so stop by and learn of some new, wonderful wines to try in 2017.


I also belong to a group called The French Winophiles.  This month we are discovering the Savoie region and I wasn't having any luck finding wines from that area in my part of the Country.  I had a trip planned to California that was starting in San Francisco.  My friends, Martin of Enofylz Wine Blog and LM of binNotes, both recommended I go to K&L Wine Merchants while in San Francisco.

I went into the store and was immediately helped by wonderful staff who finally turned me over to John who helped me not only find the wines from the Savoie region of France but also set me up with a nice bottle to give my cousin's daughter who was providing a room for us while we were in San Francisco.  John also said one of his favorite wines in the store right now was Valravn from Banshee Wines.  John told me that this wine is hand made locally on a very small scale and that their store was lucky enough to get some.  John went on to tell me that Banshee Winery was trying to showcase the Zinfandel grape and that they, in his opinion, had nailed it.  He convinced me so I bought a bottle and took it with me to my brother's house.


We got up early the next morning and drove south.  When we got to my brother's and settled in, his wife, Mary, took us to the Madonna Inn for lunch after which we went into San Luis Obispo for shopping.  When we got home, Mary put together a counter full of goodies.  We had brie cheese with blackberry jam, fresh fruit, veggies and sausage platters and I opened up the wine.  

I thought the wine was lovely.  It was smooth and much lighter than most zinfandels I have had.  It had a slight peppery finish to it, which I loved.  Good wine, Good food, Good company. Time spent with family....how much more perfect can life be?

Here are the New Wines being shared today

Please join the conversation about new wine and food pairings to go with it! Our live #winePW Twitter Chat will take place today, January 14, at 11 a.m. Eastern Time. Just tune into the #winePW hashtag between 11 and noon ET that day. Check out past and upcoming Wine Pairing Weekend events here.

16 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. We had a great time David. Thanks, sorry I wasn't available for chat...was flying home.

      Delete
  2. The Zin you tried sounds great - light and peppery - just the way I like them. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like a good wine. I love zinfandels usually!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was delicious Paula but dry and I think you like a sweeter wine, if memory serves.

      Delete
  4. Doing CA wine country is so on my bucket list!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I still haven't made it to Sonoma or Napa but the Central Coast region has wonderful wineries.

      Delete
  5. SO happy to have been part of your California trip. I can't wait to use the wine glasses you gave me. XOXOX

    ReplyDelete
  6. A dual purpose wine for #WinePW & Winophiles. Great idea!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, the same store but different wines. Anxious to share with winophiles.

      Delete
  7. Isn't it nice to have wine friends to make recommendations and prompt you to try new things. Sounds like a great trip.

    ReplyDelete
  8. So glad you had a chance to get by K&L Wendy. It's my favorite wine shop. I go to a different store, but the service is very good! Sounds like you had a wonderful time while in California! Cheers Wendy!

    ReplyDelete

I enjoy getting comments and feedback from my audience. Please let me know what you think, keeping in mind that we are all entitled to our own beliefs and opinions. I am happy to hear yours as long as they are stated nicely.