Gruet Demi-Sec NV

Mionetto Prosecco, NV

Piper Heidseick, Cuvee Brut, NV

Argyle, 2007 Brut

Raventos, Cava Blanc NV

Croser, 2004 Petuluma Brut

Cannot wait to share the experience will everyone!

From Candy Bar, the Strawberry Kiss: Champagne, Ginger Ale, and a frozen strawberry. I would so 2/3 Champagne (or sparkling wine) and 1/3 Ginger Ale, but if you like sweetness I would even out that proportion to be closer to 1/2 and 1/2.

Sangria: The best Sangria I ever had used Brandy for a special punch.

1 orange, sliced.

1 lime, sliced.

1 lemon, sliced.

4 oz simple sugar (more to taste) (or 1/4 cup granulated)

6 oz fresh squeezed orange juice

2 oz fresh squeezed lime juice.

5 shots brandy

1 bottle of dry red wine.

Placed the sliced fruit in a pitcher with the simple syrup and muddle (mash a little bit with a spoon). Pour over the orange juice, lime juice, brandy, and wine. Let sit in the refrigerator for as long as possible, at least 2-3 hours. Pour over ice and serve.

Flirtini: Remember this from Sex and the City? It’s great for summer!

1/2 oz Cointreau

1/2 oz Vodka

1 oz pineapple juice

3 oz champagne (sparkling wine)

Place Cointreau, Vodka, Pineapple juice into a martini shaker add ice, shake, and strain into a martini glass. Top with champagne. Garnish with pineapple. Enjoy!

Late Harvest Wine and Campari Cocktails (from Food and Wine):

3 and 3/4 cups late harvest wine, such as Riesling.

2 1/4 cups fresh orange juice

1 cup Campari

Ice, for serving.

Mix all ingredients (except ice) together in a pitcher. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Pour over ice into 10 glasses. Enjoy!

Of course, I am always happy grilling with a chilled Rose. I personally like a nice, full bodied Rosé and many of my favorite wineries have one come summer. Go ask your local store about what is good, it might surprise you!

However, not all wine sites are the same. There are 6 that I monitor with some frequency, and I encourage you all to include more in the comments section, but I thought that I could review the 6 that I frequent to let you know a little about them. (Please Note: Lot18 requires an invitation. I do have a couple left, if you would like one please leave your e-mail in the comments section or send me an email through the blog.) I am going to start with the one that I buy from most often, but am going to try to give a pros and cons to each. Just try to find out what you like!

www.tillsoldout.com: This is the site that I use most frequently and where I got the deals above. They have a limited amount of a particular bottle that they will sell until it is sold out. Often sold at a discount of between 40-60%. They tend to sell a lot of Italian Varietals, but you can get some amazing deals on domestic boutiques if you monitor it close enough. The biggest con to this site is that there is a limited allocation and it goes quickly. Therefore, you have to make up your mind as to whether you want to buy the wine quite quickly. Pros: amazing selection, great discounts, free shipping. Often if you buy X number of bottles they will ship to you free. That will save you about 10$. This is a great site.

wine.woot.com: This is likely my least favorite of the bunch. However, if you are having a party it can be quite useful. Often the “deals” here are for a lot of wine, like a case, and I find that it is not as high-end as some of the other sites. Deals by the day, so you do not have to make your decisions as quickly.

lot18.com: This is an invitation only site. It does not have the same availability of boutique style wines as tillsoldout (as long as you are willing to wait around) however, the site gives you a lot of information on the wines, some VERY high-end wines (and special releases) and I think makes one a more informed wine buyer, generally. I would highly recommend it, for its wine and educational value. Note: it is the only site that also offers deals on wine accessories.

thewinespies.com: I love this site — its only downfall is that it does not have as large of price reductions as many of the other sites. It is incredibly informative, with information directly from the wine maker and will give you exposure to some really incredibly small boutiques. It is mainly CA based wine and tends to run a lot of reds, Zins, Cabs, Merlot, Pinot, is what you are most likely to find here. However, I really, really, really recommend this one, especially if you are trying to start to delve into some lesser known wineries.

www.wiredforwine.com: This site is nice, it offers one wine per day, typically about a 25-33% discount and I tend to see a lot of Italian Varietals. So, if you like Italian wines this can be a place for you. You don’t have to move as fast as tillsoldout.com, but the discounts are not as large either.

accidentalwine.com: This site is a bit different from the others. You don’t know what wine (specifically) you are buying when you buy from here. I love this site for birthday presents, however! Very fun. Pretty much, if one bottle of wine in a case breaks, it will affect the labels of the wine and then it is not able to be sold as normal. This group offers those slightly “damaged” wines to you at large discounts. What is fun is it is offered in packs that have 4 different price ranges (plus you get to choose red, white, or mixed). The biggest negative here is that it can often take some time to get your wine… 3-4 weeks. Most of the other sites are 3-4 days.

Please let me know if you have any questions and please share if there is a site that you love!

But, the wine is what is most important. Mayo makes a large range of wines, including some lesser known varietals (they also make some lovely wines from classic Italian varietals), but does not make a lot of any particular wine. Generally, Mayo makes on the low-end less than a hundred and on the high-end several hundred cases per wine. There are definitely some highlights — I find that their big reds and their champagne are some of the best things that they produce. I am going to review 3 of their wines here, but there are so many to explore and I suggest you do. If you are planning a trip to wine country, this is a great place to visit.

First, their Sparkling wine is a lovely and a fun treat for the holiday season or special occasion. It is a little pricier than your average bottle of sparkling wine, but it has a wonderful slightly pink hue, perfect for celebration and is wonderfully crisp, It has beautiful aromas of strawberry, raspberry, peach and apricot. The wonderful fruit flavors are bolstered by just a bit of yeast, but it is a very dry wine. Enjoy.

One of the things that I think Mayo does best are its Italian Varietals. I love Italian Varietals generally because they are crafted, typically, to go wonderfully with food. This wine is no exception. It is incredibly acidic, just asking to be paired with a lovely Italian dish. Add in flavors of cherry and strawberry, mixed with wonderful herbs and currants, with just a hint of toastiness. This is a wonderful wine with a nice meal and is lighter so it can be drunk in the spring and summer as well. (as a note, the Barbera grape is very high in acidity and therefore typically makes a wonderful wine with food.)

I just recently drank a bottle of the 2006 Random Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon with friends and boy it is a big wine. This is meant for a hearty meat dish. It has deep fruit flavors, medium to high tannins, and is decently heavy. This is a very structured wine and would be great for people who love a big wine. There are flavors of black cherry, blackcurrant, blueberries, spice, and a little oak. There was a hint of pepper there too. The color was almost inky. This is a very bold wine but could do with some cellaring, at least 3-5 years.

Cheers!

Just a disclaimer: I am a member of a wine club and am on the mailing list for several others (you have to be on the mailing lists to be able to buy their wine, for the most part). If you are interested in the wine where I happen to be a member please visit moshinvineyards.com, they are a wonderful winery and the people who work there are stupendous and so incredibly sweet.

First, a little bit of math. At one case of very inexpensive wine (if bought in California), it is a mark-up of 7$/ bottle x 12 bottles/case = a mark-up of 84$ a case! Does it cost that much to ship wine? No, it costs anywhere from 20-40$ a case, often less money if you are only shipping 3-4 bottles (the average wine club shipment). Even at the most expensive price to ship a case buying the wine directly from a winery in CA (if that is where you want to buy your wine) will save you 44$ or 3.50 a bottle!

OK, clearly the math favors buying wine from a wine club– and, please note, all of this is assuming you are purchasing a wine produced and sold in the United States– but what kind of wine club or mailing list should you be looking for? I am of the personal mindset that one should purchase wine directly from the winery! I have found that 100% of the wine clubs or mailing lists that I would want to be a part of charge nothing to be on the mailing list or to join the wine club. You do still have to pay for the wine, but often that is given to you at a discount!

Here are a few things that you should be on the lookout for when thinking about joining a wine club:

1. Does the winery charge you a fee to belong to the wine club? If it does I would most likely abstain.

2. Is the wine club through a large vendor like the Wall Street Journal? If it is there is a good chance that I would abstain, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should. However, be very aware that the wines you receive through this program are very likely not as “boutique” as the club touts in its materials– just think about the number of cases each producer needs to give the WSJ in order to fulfill its order!

3. Does the winery craft wines using varietals that you like? Don’t want to buy something you will not enjoy!

4. Does the winery allow you to cancel your membership at anytime? I personally do not like to be locked in (especially not now that I am a student) to paying for wine all the time and like a wine club that allows you to defer a shipment or to leave the wine club at anytime.

Of course, the best way to pick out a wine club is to go and visit some wineries, if you are blown away go ahead and join the wine club– it is a great way to save some money on great wine if you do not like in CA, WA, OR or near the Finger Lakes!

Recently, I went on a trip up the Mendocino coastline to see it, head to Montgomery Woods, and just get away. Up there I discovered 3 great beers that taste like beer, excellent!

The first beer is the Anderson Valley Brewing Company Boont Amber Ale. I had this with dinner at the Redwood Grill a great place that I recommend you all check out if you are ever in Anchor Bay, CA (get the southern fried chicken salad!). This was a delicious ale. Full bodied, yet smooth and drinkable, it had huge caramel notes and was just absolutely delicious. Great with burgers, southern fried chicken, steaks, you name it. I am ready to try more Anderson Valley Beer!

The second beer was the Scrimshaw Pilsner from the North Coast Brewing Company. I really enjoy Pilsners, especially when having something a bit lighter to eat or when I want that refreshing style of beer. This is a very good one. It has really nice hops, spices and malt, with a very dry refreshing finish. Exactly what one wants from a Pilsner.

The last beer was the Acme California Pale Ale. This was a very interesting beer. I am not typically a Pale Ale drinker, but I was curious as to what a “California” pale ale was. The difference, I think, is that it did not have the typical bitter finish of a Pale Ale. It was very malty with a medium body and was surprisingly refreshing. Very good.

So, there you have it. Congratulations, North Coast, you can really make some great beer!

I went home to Vermont (yes, Vermont) for Thanksgiving and one of the many things that I miss living in CA is the beer, mainly Magic Hat. Quite honestly, Magic Hat brews the best Hefeweizen I have ever tasted and I miss it when I am not on the East Coast. So, one of my closest friends, Jess, came to have Thanksgiving with our Vermont clan and she is a huge beer lover like I am and I wanted to take her to the Magic Hat Factory where one can participate in a beer tasting. It is crazy fun. Plus, her husband has the worst taste in beer and wine and believes that Widmer Hefeweizen is the pinnacle of human brewing, gross, and I had to open up some eyes.

Jess, my mother, and myself all went to the “Artifactory” at Magic Hat in South Burlington, VT. It is right off of Route 7 for anyone who would like to venture over there (I definitely recommend it). We went to the Brewery and though there were no official tours going on that Day (those are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I believe) we still walked around and watched the bottling, smelled the hops, etc. Then it was time to taste and wander around the store while we did it. There are normally 8 beers to taste, that day there happened to be 9, and the tasting is free. The tasting is done in the most adorable little glasses that you can buy later for 2.50 if you would like (Jess did, I got big beer glasses). We were served 9 beers, from light to dark, and they were: Single Chair Ale, Circus Boy, #9, Odd Notion Sour Ale, Jinx, Roxy Rolles, Lucky Cat, Howl, and Night of the Living Dead Odd Notion.

Some of these beers are Magic Hat classics (Single Chair, Circus Boy, #9, Jinx, Lucky Cat) and some were seasonal (Howl, Roxy Rolles) and some were the odd notions (Night of the Living Dead, Sour Ale)– Odd Notions are interesting one-off batches that Magic Hat makes which are really delicious, especially the Sour Ale!

Single Chair: This is the Pilsner that is brewed by Magic hat and it is a Single Chair from Mad River Glenn (the slogan is “Ski it if you can”). This is everything that a Pilsner should be. Crisp and refreshing but with more body than the average Pilsner.

Circus Boy: The Magic Hat Hef. I love this beer, I have always loved this beer. This is unfiltered with wonderful body and the fantastic citrus aromas that come from a great Hef. Delicious.

#9: This is Magic Hat’s signature beer. It is called a “not quite pale ale”. After tasting it from the tap I can definitely recommend you pour it into a class before serving. It allows the wonderful apricot aromas and taste to come through.

Odd Notion Sour Ale: I loved this. It had a mouth puckering ending and tons of grapefruit running through this beer. It was truly delicious.

Jinx: Jinx is only available at the factory and is a Scotch Ale. The first thing that will hit the senses is a campfire. This beer has a lot of the smokey notes to it. Not as intense as most Scotch Ale, which makes it easy to drink.

Roxy Rolles: This is this year’s autumnal seasonal. I really think that this beer should be served in a glass rimmed with cinnamon and sugar, I bet it would be excellent. This is an Amber Ale that is full of malted, vaguely sweet flavors.

Lucky Cat: This is the I.P.A. Now, as a disclaimer, I am not a fan of I.P.A.s, never have been. This had that classic bitter black tea note that I associate with I.P.A.s. This could be a good one, I just don’t know.

Howl: This is apparently a black lager, but in taste I would say it is more like a porter or a stout. This was very nice, nice body, great flavor and can easily be summed up: if you like coffee you will love this.

Night of the Living Dead: This is a Chocolate Belgian Stout with very developed flavors and body. This is smokey with hints of unsweetened coco. Definitely an intense beer.

I love Magic Hat and I hope that everyone tries some. There is a beer for all tastes. And if you have a question about which one you might like, feel free to shoot me an e-mail.

I have realized what I miss most about Vermont: You can get a Growler (a half-gallon jug) filled up with your favorite beer from the Magic Hat Factory uber fresh taps for only 7$. I miss VT.