Wine of the Week: Nottage Hill Pinot Noir

July 30, 2014 by 7 Comments

Disclosure: I received this wine from a PR firm on behalf of Hardys Wines to provide an honest review. 

I received a bottle of Nottage Hill’s Pinot Noir to review for Wine of the Week. This was perfect as I needed a good bottle for our Bachelorette viewing party (a.k.a. my friend Tracy and I drinking wine). If you’ve followed along with Wine of the Week you will notice that I review a lot of Pinot Noirs, because they are my favorite wine to drink.

nottage hill final

Hardys is one of Australia’s best known wine brands and just last year celebrated their 160th anniversary. It’s a global brand and can be found in more than 80 countries, particularly in the United Kingdom.

This particular brand, Nottage Hill, is named after Tom Nottage who was the nephew of the founder Thomas Hardy. If you ever visit Australia, you can tour the Tintara Winery, which is Australia’s oldest winery and see where the Hardys wines are made.

Tracy and I really liked this Pinot Noir. The first thing we said as soon as we tasted it was that it had a kick of spice on the finish. As you keep drinking it you will taste the cherry and raspberry flavors making this an easy wine to drink. The Nottage Hill Pinot Noir is also very affordable, coming in at around $13.

The official tasting notes recommend pairing this with a mushroom risotto, but I think any pasta or steak would also be great with this.

Let me know if you’ve tried this Pinot Noir and if you have any wines I should try in the future.

For more Wine of the Week posts, click here.


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Champagne Wishes and Paris Dreams #UncorkedandUnwined

July 28, 2014 by 13 Comments

The day to share my Uncorked and Unwined party is finally here! If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve already seen a few photos from the party, but I can’t wait to share all the fun in today’s post.

Seamless vintage background with wine glasses

For those of you that are new to the blog, Uncorked and UnWINEd is an opportunity for us to have a girls night in and try some new wine in the process. You can follow along using the #uncorkedandunwined hashtag. Today, I am linking up with the Uncorked team to share all of our parties with you. If you hosted your own party, you can link up with us below. The Uncorked team includes:

Since my birthday was in July, I decided to go all out for Uncorked and make it my birthday party. I named it “Champagne Wishes and Paris Dreams” and went with a champagne tasting with a Paris twist. I got my inspiration from Birthday Express’ Paris Damask party theme and I was able to purchase their party supplies. They even had a matching Evite and free printables that I was able to customize for my party.

To get ready for the party, I went down to DeVries & Co. Cheese Shop in Eastern Market to stock up on Brie, Gouda, Manchengo, Gruyere, Cheddar and Camembert to try with our champagne.

Devries

I also found a fantastic French bakery, Cannelle Patisserie, to get some sweet treats (including macaroons).

canelle patisserie

Without further adieu, welcome to Paris:

paris

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collage one

Collage 2

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We had a lot of fun tasting all of the different champagnes. I ended up getting nine different champagnes in total, three French champagnes, three Italian sparkling wines and three US sparkling wines to mix it up. At the end of the night I was popping those corks like a pro!

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We decided that our favorite champagne was the Pommery, which is a blend of three different grapes and is aged three years before it even gets on the shelves.

pommery

At the end of the evening, I gave these adorable macaroon trinket boxes as favors to all of the guests. They were just darling!

favors

I ended up with a few extra favors, and I am going to be giving them away for a few lucky readers! Enter via the Rafflecopter below and I will announce the winners next Monday:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway is over, if you won, you will receive an email from me, so make sure to respond within the week. Thanks to everyone who participated!

If you hosted your own Uncorked and Unwined party you can link up with us here and check out all of the other awesome parties:


 

Our next link up will be on September 29 and I already have an awesome idea for my next party. I can’t wait for you to join us!

If you missed my last party, you can click here to check it out.


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Wine of the Week: Meiomi Pinot Noir

July 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment

It’s been a while since I did a Wine of the Week recommendation, but never fear – I have been trying lots of new wines to share with you!

This week’s wine is one that I have been meaning to share for a long time, it is one of our favorite ones. John and I always order this one if it is on the menu. This week’s wine is Meiomi Pinot Noir, bottled by Belle Glos Wines.

meiomi final

We first discovered this wine during one of our dinners in Greektown and couldn’t believe how smooth it was (for such a reasonable price). I love a good Pinot Noir and this one is the perfect combination of flavors – berries, apple, vanilla with a slight oak on the finish.

Meiomi (May-OH-mee), means “coast” in the language of the California Wappo tribe where this wine is produced. Meiomi is a blend of grapes from Sonoma, Monterey and Santa Barbara.

meiomi blendThe owner and winemaker, Joseph Wagner is a fifth-generation winemaker. He grew up in the vineyard and it seems like winemaking is in his bones.

Meiomi is under the Belle Glos brand of wines and I was surprised to learn that they make another one of my favorites which I will be sharing with you soon! I will just have to try them all because they are delish!

Have you tried Meiomi yet? I would love to hear what you think about it.

For more Wine of the Week posts, click here.


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Washington Wedding Recap – Day 2

June 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment

On Day Two of our Washington Trip, we visited a few wineries in Woodinville. We started with the infamous Chateau Ste. Michelle:

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The winery was located in its own estate, there was a beautiful chateau and it was a very scenic area. It would have been a great place to picnic at or sit outside and enjoy some wine. We had a tight schedule that day, so we didn’t have a ton of time to hang about. Chateau Ste. Michelle is famous for its Rieslings. I used to be a huge Riesling fan, but lately I don’t like some of the really sweet stuff. We did buy some of the Sauvignon Blanc from the Horse Heaven Vineyard. We may have purchased more, but I think we drank it during the trip, so this is the only bottle I have left.

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In the back of Chateau Ste. Michelle, there is a winery within a winery. This was intriguing to me because it was in this little room made entirely of glass. This picture doesn’t really do it justice:

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Our hostess at Chateau St. Michelle was telling us about this winery run by the Antinori family who has been making wine since 1385. I am a sucker for a good history lesson and we had to go check this one out. The winery is called Col Solare and runs in partnership with Chateau St. Michelle. They only have three wines available, the 2008 Col Solare, 2009 Col Solare and the 2009 Shining Hill.

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This wine was amazing and if they would have had a wine club I probably would have joined it. We bought one of each at this winery and I am excited because they are a number of restaurants in my area that carry this wine, plus it is available at one of the local markets by our house.

After our visit to Chateau St. Michelle, we stopped at Airfield Winery, where the wedding would be held, to get a sneak peak. This tasting room was PERFECT for our friends’ wedding. He is a Marine and a pilot and she is a Navy Physiologist. One of the hosts at the tasting room gave us a little history about the winery. The vineyard is located in the Rattlesnake Mountains in the Yakima Valley within three miles of an airbase used in World War II.

Throughout the course of the weekend, we purchased the Pinot Noir, Bombshell Red, Ruby Rose and Flygirl White. We also joined The Officer’s Wine Club so we could have a great memory of this weekend.

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After this tasting we drove out to Seattle to meet John’s fraternity brother for a Mariners/Tigers game at SafeCo field. I was so happy to see these guys reunited. Plus this added to our list of baseball fields that we can cross off the list.

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We had a ton of fun on Day 2!

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Stay tuned for Day 3 of our Washington Wedding!

If you missed Day 1, click here for the recap.


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Uncorked and UnWINEd

May 28, 2014 by 1 Comment
You are cordially invited to Uncorked and UnWINEd:
Seamless vintage background with wine glasses

If you remember my Sip Happens party, then you will be stoked to hear about my newest venture…Uncorked! Uncorked is the official relaunch of Sip Happens as we have a new group of gals on board to kick this off.

The name may have changed, but the concept is the same. Uncorked is an opportunity for you to unWINEd! This might be some wine as you watch The Bachelorette or a wine tasting party with your besties. Uncorked is a chance to take a break from the crazy and expand your palate. There are no rules to Uncorked. You can drink whatever you like, try a new wine or come up with your own theme.

I will keep you updated on my Uncorked plans as the month goes on using our new hashtag #uncorkedandunwined so stay tuned for the date of my party and clues on my theme. Then on Monday, July 28th, we want you to tell us how you Uncorked and UnWINEd by linking up on my blog or any of the new Uncorked team’s blogs below:

Val from Chicken Scratch

Kelly from Sequins & Scissors

Amber from The Browsing Brunette

Aleks from A Slocum Story

Jessica from Jessica Stout Design

As a reminder, my blogiversary raffle is still running and we have some great prizes, including some of the favors from my Sip Happens Party and your very own Haley’s corker to aerate your wine. Make sure to enter here.

I would love to hear your thoughts on what my theme should be and if you have any wines I should try.

For more Wine of the Week posts, click here.


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Wine of the Week: Cambria Wines

May 28, 2014 by 1 Comment

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cambria Estate Winery for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I was approached to create a wine and food pairing for Cambria’s hand-crafted wines which is right up my alley. For those of you not familiar with Cambria, it is a family owned, estate winery from Santa Maria, California and is located in the beautiful Santa Barbara wine country. What is an estate winery you ask? I learned that anytime you see the word “estate winery” it means that they make wine from their own vineyards.

Cambria’s unique wines have received more than 150 reviews of 90+ scores in the past 20 years and they have a lot of different options to choose from specializing mostly in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Their two leading wines are:

Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir

Cambria has four different vineyards and this wine is named after Julia’s Vineyard, which is named after the founder’s youngest daughter. The vineyard was planted in 1991 and offers one of the longest growing seasons in California.

 

JuliasPinot

 

This Pinot has aromas and flavors of dark cherry, strawberry and pomegranate and pairs well with a nice filet mignon or Gruyere cheese.

Katherine’s Vineyard Chardonnay

Katherine is the owner’s eldest daughter and this vineyard focuses more on fruit development.

 

KatherinesChard

 

This Chardonnay has subtle tropical and citrus aromas. It has a nice crisp finish and pairs well with lobster and Brie or Camembert cheeses.

For my recipe pairing, I would use Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir and make one of my favorite snacks – Caprese skewers! Who doesn’t love Caprese Salad? But when you are at a party, you can’t really sit down and eat a salad. Skewers make it easy to take with you and make them bite sized. Plus you get all the flavors of tomato, basil and mozzarella in one bite.

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If you are in Santa Barbara, you can visit the Cambria Estate Winery ® tasting room and check them out for yourself. You can also Visit the Cambria blog for terrific recipes, DIY tips and news from the Cambria Estate Winery Vineyards.

Remember that the legal drinking age is 21 years old, as always please drink responsibly.

What are your favorite wine and food pairings?

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Sip Happens Party Recap

February 3, 2014 by 6 Comments

A month ago, I wrote my Sip Happens Party post about an awesome wine party link up I was planning with Val from Chicken Scratch,  Eva Marie Taylor and Erin from Living in Yellow. Well the time has finally come for me to share all of the details with you!

A quick recap of what this is all about:

Sip-Happens-Party-Info

Open the Google Doc here to sign up to be a part of the Pay Pal Cash Giveaway.

Because the featured wine was 14 Hands Hot to Trot Red Blend, which is inspired by the wild horses that roamed Washington State, I decided that my Sip Happens Party would have an equestrian theme. We had a fantastic time and I can’t wait to host another one!

Here is my table setup, I decided to feature all 14 Hands Wine so we had Chardonnay, White Blend, Pinot Grigio, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and the Red Blend.

Table Setup

Table Setup

I also visited DeVries Cheese Shop in Eastern Market to procure all of my cheeses. We had Gouda, Manchengo, Brie and Cheddar. I have a horseshoe shaped cake pan that I used to make the bread. Here is the recipe from Wilton. I did end up making the roast that I mentioned in my previous post and it was delicious! It went great with the red wine.

Cheese Tray

Cheese Tray

For dessert, I got to try out my new fondue pot and had all sorts of dippers (marshmallows, apples, strawberries and rice krispie treats).

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Dessert Station

I also found these cute chocolate horseshoes on A Taste of Kentucky’s website.

Chocolate Horseshoes

Chocolate Horseshoes

I also asked all of the women to wear their cutest riding boots and equestrian themed outfits. Everyone looked super cute!

My guests

My guests

We were pretty informal about tasting the wines, everyone could try and pair the wine at their leisure and when they were done I had them rank their favorites from 1-6. My wine glass writer metallic pens came in handy because people could keep notes on their wine glasses. I seriously LOVED these pens! They were so much fun and came right off in the dishwasher.

Wine Glass Writer Pens

Wine Glass Writer Pens

I had to get this picture of everyone in their riding boots!

Riding Boots!

Riding Boots!

The final wine ranking for the night was:

  1. Red Blend
  2. Pinot Grigio
  3. White Blend
  4. Chardonnay
  5. Tie between the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Merlot

The Red Blend was a big hit! We crowned the winners:

Sip Happens Party Winners!

Sip Happens Party Winners!

For party favors, I gave out these adorable Forever 21 horseshoe necklaces. I got little burlap bags from Michael’s and used a red fabric pen to write FEED on them (like a horse’s feed bag). I think this was my favorite detail:

FEED Bags

FEED Bags

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Forever 21 Horseshoe Necklace

Forever 21 Horseshoe Necklace

I had SO much fun hosting this Sip Happens Party! I cannot wait to do this again! I would love to hear how your Sip Happens Parties went and I can’t wait to check them out on the link up!

If you didn’t get a chance to host a party this time around you can check out Val’s post about how you can still link up. The link up will be live from Monday, February 3 at 12:00am and close Friday, February 7th at 11:59pm, so you have this whole week to link up. The hosts will feature their favorite post on all three blogs on Monday, February 10th. Make sure to come back on the 10th because they will also kick off the giveaway and announce their new Guest Host for the next Sip Happens Party link up! 

For more Wine related posts, click here.


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Wine of the Week: Steelhead Vineyards Pinot Noir

January 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this wine from a PR firm on behalf of Steelhead Vineyards to provide an honest review. 

I received a bottle of Steelhead Vineyards Pinot Noir to review for this week’s wine. This was right up my alley, because I love a Pinot Noir, it is my favorite.

Steelhead Vineyards in a unique winery in Sonoma because they are committed to creating a better world through their wine. With every bottle they sell, a donation is made to conservation efforts in Sonoma County. Their mission statement is Better Wine. Better World. Below is a picture of “Wine Creek” which runs through one of their vineyard that they have worked to restore.

Steelhead riverAfter visiting Sonoma a few years back, I loved the mission of this winery. Sonoma is such a beautiful place and it is awesome that Steelhead is working to preserve it.

So on to the wine!

Steelhead Wine of the Week

The first thing I noticed when I popped the cork is a deep fruit flavor. This wine has a smooth finish which is always something I look for in a Pinot Noir, I want it to be easy to drink. You can taste cranberry and cherry with just a hint of toasted oak and spice at the finish.

Steelhead Pinot Noir pairs best with wild Salmon, poultry, pork and lamb. I tried mine with a milk chocolate Hershey’s bar which did the trick.

I can’t help but picture that beautiful river scene every time I take a sip

Let me know if you’ve tried this Pinot Noir and if you have any wines I should try in the future.

If you missed my previous post, I am getting ready to host a Sip Happens Party with Val from Chicken Scratch, Eva Marie Taylor and Erin from Living in Yellow. Make sure to check it out here and see how you can host your own Sip Happens Party.

For more Wine of the Week posts, click here.


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Five on Friday: Sip Happens

January 3, 2014 by 5 Comments

It’s time for another edition of Five on Friday with A Liz Adventures, The Good Life Blog, Hello Happiness and Carolina Charm.

THE GOOD LIFE BLOG

In honor of my upcoming Sip Happens Party, I thought I would use today’s Five on Friday post to talk about all of my favorite wine things.

1. Sip Happens Party

I am excited to be part of the Sip Happens Party with Val from Chicken Scratch, Eva Marie Taylor and Erin from Living in Yellow. You can read more below and check out my Sip Happens Party post here.

Sip-Happens-Party-Info

2. Mahogany Wine Glass Appetizer Plates 

These are so cute and perfect for a wine tasting party! They come in a set of four for only $20.

wine appetizer plates

3. Wine Glass Writer Metallic Pens

These would be awesome for a wine tasting. You could write your name on your glass or keep track of what you tried and liked. You get six pens for $19.95 and they wash off in the dishwasher after the party. How cool!

Metallic Wine Pens

4. Wine Purse

This was my contribution to our Sip Happens Giveaway. I have one and I love it! It is a great carrier and it even comes with a corkscrew for you to use on the go. There are lots of different colors. For my friends in Michigan, you can get them at the Five Fifteen boutique in Royal Oak. Stay tuned for the Giveaway on February 10th.

wine purse

5. Haley’s Corker

This little contraption is pretty awesome. I started noticing these on my various winery tours. Most of the wineries I went to were using them so that tells you something. This is a 5-in-1 contraption that works as an aerator, filter, pourer, re-corker and stopper. They are pretty inexpensive and are really get the job done. I usually try to pick one up whenever I see it. They are key to any good wine tasting party.

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What are your favorite wine accessories?

For more 5 on Friday posts, click here.


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Sip Happens Party

January 3, 2014 by 1 Comment

In my last few Wine of the Week posts, I have teased a fabulous Sip Happens Party…well the day is finally here and we are ready to reveal what the party is all about. If you follow my friend Val from Chicken Scratch, you may have noticed that she recently celebrated her blogiversary and decided to start a new wine series. Val has been a faithful follower of my Wine of the Week series so I decided to get in on the action.

Val, along with Eva Marie Taylor and Erin from Living in Yellow  have created a wonderful wine tasting party for all of us to join in on. Here’s how it works:

  • We provide the wine idea, party printables and food pairings and then you get your girlfriends together for a fantastic wine tasting party.
  • During the party, we would love to see your photos on Instagram using the #siphappensparty hashtag.
  • On February 3rd we will all link up so you can share all of the party details and tell us what you thought of the wine.

And that’s not all – we are doing an awesome wine giveaway which includes:

  • PayPal cash to host your next party
  • Sponsorship package on Living in Yellow
  • Necklace from Chicken Scratch’D Designs
  • Wine Coasters from Eva Marie Typography
  • Wine Carrier from Detroit Duchess

The giveaway will begin after the party and run from February 10-14, so stay tuned for more details on how to enter.

Sip-Happens-Party-Info

Sip-Happens-Party-Pay-Pal-Cash-Giveaway-Google-Form

Open the Google Doc here to sign up to be a part of the Pay Pal Cash Giveaway.

Erin, our guest host, chose the wine, 14 Hands Hot to Trot Red Blend and Eva created some awesome party printables that you can download here.

Hosting-a-Sip-Happens-Party

What wine tasting would be complete without food pairings? Here are some tasty treats that will complement your Hot to Trot Red Blend:

For a wine tasting party you want to make sure to have some oyster crackers around so your guests can cleanse their palate before trying different wines and combinations.

Appetizers

Since the 14 Hands Hot to Trot Red Blend is a combination of Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon for your appetizer I recommend crackers with Gouda, Cheddar and Manchego cheeses.  Try a piece of each cheese with your Red Blend and you will be surprised at all of the different flavors you discover. For my fellow Detroiters, I like to head down to the DeVries cheese shop in Eastern Market when I am doing a wine tasting because they have the most amazing selection of cheeses.

Main Course

If you want to serve dinner at your party you might consider a Prime Rib or Pork Chops to complement the wine. I found this great Rib Roast recipe from Martha Stewart that would be perfect. You could also add some of the Hot to Trot wine to the bottom of the pan while its roasting. I also found this recipe for Herbed Adobo Pork Chops that you marinate overnight and throw on the grill, so delish!

Dessert

At any wine tasting you want to make sure to have milk chocolate and dark chocolate available for tasting. You can just have a few bowls of hershey kisses to make it easy and they really bring out the flavor of the wine. For dessert, I like the idea of melting dark chocolate for a fondue and having various fresh fruit dippers out on the table. I received a fondue pot for Christmas, so this would be the perfect opportunity to test it out. For 1 bag of chocolates you would want to mix 1 cup of heavy cream into your fondue pot.

I am super excited to host my own Sip Happens Party and cannot wait to see what you come up with! Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

Now download your invitations and get to sipping!


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