I am tapping out this blog on my phone so it will be short. We like this wine because it is complex with mellow flavors and smooth feel. For dinner I brined then roasted a chicken. I made mashed potatoes with gravy from the drippings. Savory and filling after a good run today.
We are home from a wonderful Christmas with Tom’s family. We drove 10 1/2 hours today through pouring rain, wind and then snow so we are very happy to be safely at home. We ordered pizza and opened this special bottle of Napa Valley Cabernet. Earlier this month, during a weak moment, I said “okay” to a sales pitch to upgrade our wine club membership to a reserve level and this is our first bottle from that selection. Although I was kicking myself for saying yes, I now see it was a good decision. This is a fine wine. Structured tannins and rich flavor. Very smooth and rich.
It is Sunday night and we have had a good weekend with nothing special but with lots of special nothings! We did our normal things like grocery shopping and laundry and I was able to spend a few hours Christmas shopping for my wonderful sisters- and brothers-in-laws. We also shopped for a snowsuit for a baby boy, whose tag we picked from the list of needs at our church. For this baby boy we bought a very warm snowsuit.
I spent most of the afternoon working on making turkey pot pies in order to use up our leftover turkey. That is a very labor intensive meal starting with making the pie crusts and then the filling. I finally got everything assembled and have been put the two pot pies away for later in the week along with a brown rice pudding that needs to bake for three hours at a low temperature. But for tonight, we had pork loin with potatoes and carrots, asparagus and a fresh salad with homemade bleu cheese salad dressing’ that I made on a whim today.
I chose this Chilean wine for our dinner tonight and it is good. This is different and not our usual. . .this is heavy on tobacco aroma and taste with a vanilla finish. This is a wine that gets better after airing. At first, it is overpowering but after breathing it is tasty and rich but not overpowering.
Looking forward to my last business trip of the year tomorrow. Just a one-nighter. It will be great to be home for an extended time. Cheers!
It is Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I took the day off from work to do some pre-Thanksgiving cooking. It was a fun day for me. I also went for a run but waited too long to go, so when I finally got out there is was pouring rain and about 40- degrees and windy. The hot shower when I was done was my reward.
For dinner, I needed to use some fresh mushrooms from my food co-op . . .and, some beef that had been in the freezer for awhile, so I put together a beef stroganoff. Rich and delicious flavor. The wine I chose for our dinner is excellent. This Argentinian red is bursting with fruit, chocolate and oak with very smooth tannins. Luscious. We love it. Cheers!
It is Monday of Thanksgiving week and we are enjoying a spicy bowl of chili with whole grain bread and some white cheddar cheese. It really warms us up. Tom chose this California Cabernet Sauvignon for our chili dinner, which I happily thought to be a bit extravagant for a Monday night (but did not complain). I like extravagance! This is a very nice Cab in a beautiful bottle, decorated with a Platinum palm leaf. This would make a good gift wine to give as a housewarming gift or to give to the host when you are invited to someone’s house for dinner because it is a good wine with a very attractive presentation. The wine is deep purple in the glass, light to medium bodied, a taste of blackberries with a tobacco finish. This is a nice, smoky wine that held up very well with my spicy chili.
We are having this delicious, silky Portuguese wine with our dinner. I made a beef and potato casserole, fresh spinach, salad and garlic toast. The wine is a bright red in the glass with a strong aroma of licorice and cassis, tastes of dark cherries and cedar. Delicious after a long day that started with a 10k race, a football game and Saturday-night Mass.
We are having a late supper tonight at our local favorite restaurant “The Common Grill.” The wine is spicy with flavors of cherries and red berries. The Chef chose a great wine to complement our smoked chicken and pancetta capellini pasta with plum tomato sauce, calabrese peppers and fresh basil.
I am out of town and found this quaint restaurant downtown. The decor and ambiance are nice and this house wine is good. The bartender tells me it is a Lohr from California. I just asked to see the bottle. It is called Cypress and is from the Central Coast. Simple but very drinkable. My meal is disappointing but I will make do. I can’t wait to get home tomorrow. 
It is great to be home after a demanding work trip. I arrived home too late to figure out dinner so we ordered pizza.
This Alambrado Gran Selection Cabernet Sauvignon 2010, an Argentine Cab. tastes really good. Very subtle nose with a dark fruit, tannic, and dark chocolate taste.
This Casa de Ermelinda Freitas Valorosa 2010 is intriguing. First of all, we just don’t drink many Portuguese wines. Second, it is very fruit-flavored (dark, blackberry fruit) without being sweet or fruit-bomb-y. A very pleasant, surprising wine. I think Melody will enjoy the other bottle of this when she comes home.
This is where Melody describes what she is cooking. I’ll just say that this big Valoroso should go well with my hamburger.
