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Thursday, March 4, 2021

Italian Grapes Grown Outiside of Italy and Served Out of a Box? Che Diamine!!! #ItalianFWT

Do you drink wine from a box?  Do you admit to drinking wine from a box?  We drink a lot of wine around here and I find the boxed wines to be not only economical but pretty darn good.....

Box of wine

So when the Italian Food Wine and Travel group asked us to share Italian Grapes grown outside of Italy, I just happened to have a box of Pinot Grigio handy........

The Teen's Aunt Michelle drinks white wine and Pinot Grigio is her preference.  Yes, I even serve boxed wines to guests.  These wines stay fresh in the box for a long while so I know that any time Michelle or any white wine drinker comes over it will be available for them and that we can enjoy it ourselves between visits.

Linda of My Full Wine Glass is hosting this month.  You can learn more in her Invitation Post and you can join in Twitter Chat on Saturday, March 6 at 11 AM ET, following #ItalianFWT.  We would love to have you join us.

Here are the topics we will be discussing.........


Mushroom Stroganoff

I poured Frank and I a glass of this Franzia Pinot Grigio when we were enjoying one of our favorite Meatless Entrees, Mushroom Stroganoff.  The bright, lemony flavor of this dish pairs very nicely with the California grown Pinot Grigio.  

Franzia was started by a woman, which is perfect since March is Women's History Month.  Theresa Carrera came over from Italy to marry Guiseppe Franzia who had settled in California.  She planted the first grapes on their property in 1906.

According to Wikipedia, Franzia is now produced by The Wine Group.  The Wine Group is the third largest wine company in the world following Constellation Brands and E&J Gallo.  It is interesting to note that Theresa's daughter, Amelia, married into the Gallo family and loaned her husband the money he needed to start Gallo wines.  In 1973, the Franzia family sold the brand to the Coca Cola company.  

So the next time you are in the store, grab a couple of boxes of wine.  Franzia is a good brand as is Black Box which we buy quite often.  We recently tried Costco's brand of boxed wines and were very pleasantly surprised. 

Pinot Grigio is a very well known Italian Grape variety however it has it's roots firmly planted in France where it is known as Pinot Gris.  Pinot Grigio is the second most popular white wine in the world.  Not surprisingly, Chardonnay is in the number one slot.  These grapes make a beautiful, crisp, acidic, citrusy wine that I love to enjoy in the summertime while lounging in the pool.  It pairs extremely well with seafood, like this Salmon in White Wine Sauce as well as with salads like this one topped with Grilled Chicken and a Blueberry Vinaigrette.

Hope to see you at chat. Cheers!!!!


14 comments:

  1. Pinot Grigio with mushroom stroganoff? Never would have gone there but now I really want to try!

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    1. Enjoy Andrea....This is a lemony version so I think it pairs nicely with the Pinot Grigio.

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  2. I'll be honest: I don't know that I've ever had wine from a box. I'm just dipping my wine-loving toes into the canned wine pool. But you have me thinking. And I can't wait to try your mushroom stroganoff. I will be featuring a local mushroom grower on my Culinary Cam YouTube channel very soon. So I might just have to try that recipe!

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    1. It's a good one Cam, enjoy...and do try a box of wine..I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

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  3. I have to make this for one of our meatless Fridays. This looks amazing. We had a Pinot Grigio last night. So good.

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    1. Open another bottle to have with this meatless dinner, you won't be sorry. Cheers Terri.

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  4. It's been a while, but definitely used to buy boxed wines back in the day. It's fun to get to know the history behind Franzia as I was not familiar at all.

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  5. In the Before Times, I went to a few fundraising and social events where the wine was from a box. Seemed OK to me. Convenient and casual, right? Bring it on a picnic, serve it poolside. Why not?

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  6. I haven't had the Franzia, but I know boxed wines can be quite good! I didn't know Franzia started by a woman! So cool!Cheers Wendy!

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  7. So Franzia predates Gallo and with a woman... that bit of history is quite interesting. I've just had a few boxed wines, more often shying away from them preferring the bottle. I mightr rething that!

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