If you are at all familiar with what is happening in the Lodi wine world, you have probably heard of Mokelumne Glen Vineyards. If you are a fan of German and Austrian wine varieties, then you most certainly know that Mokelumne Glen Vineyards is home to plantings of Kerner, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Bacchus, Dornfelder and Blaufränkisch, to name just a few. In addition, there is the “German Collection”, a block of over 30 German and Austrian varieties.
Our challenge for the June wine pairing weekend (#winePW on Twitter) came to us from Italy, literally. This month’s #winePW host is Valerie Quintanilla, you can read all of the details of the challenge in her blog post. She is an American living in Italy, so her challenge to us of pairing a summer dish with Arneis, a delightful northern Italian white wine, was spot on.
The Willamette Valley in Oregon has earned a reputation for producing outstanding pinot noir and we are big fans of the region and the variety. In addition to pinot noir from the Willamette Valley, we have recently tasted some very fine chardonnay and pinot gris from the region. Kudos Wines are among the examples we have tasted lately.
Just in time for Cinco de Mayo, the May wine pairing weekend (#winePW) topic was South of the Border. The choice of topics by Christy Majors, this month’s host of #winePW, couldn’t have been any better. You will find an introductory post about this month’s paring on Cindy’s blog, Confessions of a Culinary Diva.
Montes Winery was founded with the goal of producing truly premium quality Chilean wine for export. At a time when Chilean producers were producing wines mostly for local consumption, the two original founders Aurelio Montes, Sr. and Douglas Murray, had bigger plans. The year was 1987 and by the following year Montes and Murray were joined by Alfredo Vidaurre and Pedro Grand and the winery was founded.
We celebrated Earth Day this year by participating in a online tasting of wine and cheese— naturally. The Earth Day tasting included four wines produced in accordance with Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing and provided a great opportunity to learn about Lodi Rules .
When Markus Niggli talks about his wines, you need to be prepared to pay close attention. He will recite harvest dates, º Brix, pH and TA levels so quickly it will make your head spin. His enthusiasm for and love of winemaking are evident. He loves making wine and taking about wine.
Our homework for the April Wine Pairing Weekend (#winePW) was to choose our favorite springtime flavor, then pair a wine with it. What a delicious assignment, courtesy of Wendy Klik. You can find the details on Wendy’s blog, A Day in the Life on the Farm. We had no problem eating a delicious pairing.
It was quite by chance that we came to visit Waterkloof Wine Estates located above Somerset West, an hour’s drive east of Cape Town. I had not heard of the wine farm until several years ago when we received a comment on one of our blog posts about South African wines.
I can’t believe another month has flown by and that it is time once again for Wine Pairing Weekend. Our March pairing is co-joined with Open That Bottle Night, which happens every year on the last Saturday in February. Basically OTBN is an “excuse” to open that special bottle of wine you’ve been holding, or to try a wine you’ve been curious about. It’s up to you to make your own fun.
We enjoy wine, food and travel. Pull That Cork is a chronicle of our wine adventures, the food and wine pairings we create and our travels which are increasingly organized around wine.