Welcome to Betty's Wine Musings, where you'll get fabulous wine tasting tips and wine tasting notes, discover personalized wines, and more! Whether you are a wine veteran or just getting started, there’s always something more to explore about the wonderful world of wine.
When you think St. Patrick’s Day, you think green: green beer, green Midori, Irish Crème liqueur, green Irish whiskey…It isn’t surprising that St. Patrick’s Day Wine doesn’t jump into your mind when considering what to serve with corned beef and cabbage. I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to drink like a leprechaun to enjoy beautiful wines with St. Patty’s Day fare.
When I think of the Loire Valley, I immediately think of Chenin Blanc and Rosé. I know that if there’s Rosé in the Loire Valley, there’s got to be red wine there too. But truth be told, I can’t think of what red wine grows there. Time to do a little Google research to figure things out. Thank you to LoireValleyWine.com, WineFolly.com and WineTraveler.com for their help with this article.
This writeup from Fodors is so beautiful that I had to share it. “A fairy-tale realm par excellence, the Loire Valley is studded with storybook villages, time-burnished towns, and—bien sûr—the famous châteaux de la Loire. These postcard staples, like Chenonceau and Chambord, seem to be strung like pearls across a countryside so serene it could win the Nobel peace prize.” Oh boy, do I want to go there!
The bulk of the wine produced in this region is white. The region is known for its fruity-style whites. According to WineTraveler.com, “Regardless of whether you’re sampling a sweet, botrytis derived dessert wine, or a classically produced dry Chenin Blanc from Vouvray, there’s no doubt that the dominant aroma and flavor on your tongue will be comprised of citrus, tree and or stone and tropical fruit. It’s this distinct fruity flavor and aroma that attracts hundreds of thousands of wine consumers vintage after vintage.”
The Loire Valley is in the northwest of France and is France’s most diverse wine region, actually containing five wine regions, each with many appellations (87 in total!):
The chenin blanc produced here is so high in acidity that some of the wines have been known to age as long as 100 years. Is that unbelievable? This past weekend, I got to taste a 52-year-old French wine that was well past its prime. Boy, would I love to try a 100-year-old wine that is still good. Wouldn’t you?
After a lot of evolution, Crémant is now the term used to describe French Sparkling Wines not made in the Champagne region of France. At one point, Crémants were thought to be creamier than Champagne. But that isn’t the case any longer. Crémant is not restricted to the three Champagne grapes: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay.
I would love to hear about your experiences with Loire Valley wine, especially if you tasted it in France. Santé!
As an independent wine consultant with WineShop At Home, I absolutely enjoy bringing a taste of the Napa wine country home to you one sip at a time. Whether you simply love to drink wine, seek a special personalized wine gift, or are in search of a new wine jobs opportunity as a wine consultant, feel free to contact me for a truly unique wine tasting experience! This past Saturday was OTBN 2019! That’s right! Open That Bottle Night 2019! The night each year where you get together with wine-loving friends to share special wines that you might have been saving for just a bit too long. OTBN was created in 2000 by Wall Street Journal Tastings columnists Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher.
On Saturday, I hosted what I believe was my ninth OTBN gathering, and we had a ball. Twelve wine-loving friends gathered together to enjoy 14 bottles of wine, along with yummy vegetarian appetizers.
Our wines ranged in age from the youngest, which was a 2009, to the oldest, which was a 1962!!! We had eight non-dessert wines in the 2000s and four non-dessert wines before the year 2000. We also had two dessert wines from the 1990s.
We tool a poll to see what wines got the most votes. Here are the results:
At an OTBN, it’s hard not to think about what a wine should be tasting like. We very quickly decided that most of the wines were past their prime. But perhaps if these wines were served at a normal event, where we weren’t expecting to taste elderly wines, we would have enjoyed everything. Who knows. It’s really fun to get together once a year to try old wines. I can’t wait to do it again next year.
Did you celebrate OTBN 2019? Please share your stories here.
As an independent wine consultant with WineShop At Home, I absolutely enjoy bringing a taste of the Napa wine country home to you one sip at a time. Whether you simply love to drink wine, seek a special personalized wine gift, or are in search of a new wine jobs opportunity as a wine consultant, feel free to contact me for a truly unique wine tasting experience!
If you read my blog on a regular basis, you know that I’m a big fan of Rosé. Last year, I wrote an article on “Celebrating the Popularity of Rosé.” Today, my focus will be on a new WineShop At Home Rosé that I think is incredibly delicious, our Revel Vin Rouge.
Why Is Rosé Only Now Becoming Popular
For many years, people poo pooed Rosé, saying it was a sweetie weetie wine for beginners. That was thanks in large part to Sutter Home’s White Zinfandel, a wine that truly was created for beginners. I have to say that I love Sutter Home’s White Zin, because it enabled millions of people to begin to enjoy wine.
Why Is Rosé So Wonderful?
As I mentioned in my article on the popularity of Rosé, The Washington Post says that “Rosé is populist. It’s a wine of the people.” Well, it’s hard not to love that. But I have a few more reasons why I think Rosé is so wonderful:
The New WineShop At Home Rosé
WineShop At Home’s Vin Rouge is a real treat. While it’s made with 90% White Zin and 10% Muscat, it’s important to note that our White Zin is not Sutter Home’s White Zin. It just means that Zinfandel was used. And Muscat gives the wine some fun floral notes.
Our Winemaker Alex’s Tasting Notes
In the glass, the wine is pink with some orange, almost terracotta-like tones. This is a direct result of the time the juice stayed in contact with the skin of this Zinfandel in the fermentation tank. This wine opens with fresh aromas of watermelon, ruby red grapefruit and strawberry. There is a second nose with more floral characters like rose. The Muscat brings candy-like undertones throughout the entire mouthfeel. The structure in the mouth is provided by acidity and citrus flavors that are balanced by a few tannins that escaped the skin during those few hours of contact. A fruit smoothie is the closest comparison to this Rosé wine.
My Take on the New WineShop At Home Rosé
I thoroughly enjoyed this wine, as you will see from my latest video. If you’d like to try this wine, please let me know. Cheers!
As an independent wine consultant with WineShop At Home, I absolutely enjoy bringing a taste of the Napa wine country home to you one sip at a time. Whether you simply love to drink wine, seek a special personalized wine gift, or are in search of a new wine jobs opportunity as a wine consultant, feel free to contact me for a truly unique wine tasting experience!
When I decided to write this week’s article on Valentine’s Day, I did a quick online search to find appropriate artwork for the occasion. Oh my goodness, did I find a lot of incredible images. It seems like everybody has the brilliant idea of using wine to make hearts. I really love this concept, and it prompts me to wish everybody a WINEderful Valentine’s Day.
Wine feels very romantic. It evokes warm, fuzzy feelings about sipping the wonderful drink with a loved one and making dreamy, loving toasts. And for people who don’t have a Valentine, wine is a festive way to celebrate a good excuse for opening a good bottle.
Pairing a bottle of red wine with gourmet dark chocolate is pretty amazing, as is pairing that same wine with gourmet blue cheese.
If you’re opting for white wine or sparkling wine, strawberries might be a perfect fit. Or perhaps a fruit tart.
Pairing your wine with a beautiful dinner might be the best of all. In that case, you would probably want to include several bottles of wine, rather than just one.
I’m a big fan of nice wine glasses, because they actually make wine taste better. When the glass is designed to allow the aromas to hit your nose in the perfect spot and the wine to hit your mouth in the perfect way, you really are in for a treat. And I have to say that WineShop At Home sells a beautiful line of Italian stemware that is gorgeous to look at, wonderful to taste from and incredibly easy to maintain. The stems we sell are dishwasher safe!
These are just a few of the images I found on Google. I would love to know which one you like best.
Cheers to a WINEderful Valentine’s Day!
As an independent wine consultant with WineShop At Home, I absolutely enjoy bringing a taste of the Napa wine country home to you one sip at a time. Whether you simply love to drink wine, seek a special personalized wine gift, or are in search of a new wine jobs opportunity as a wine consultant, feel free to contact me for a truly unique wine tasting experience!
