Wine of the Week: Mumm Napa

January 3, 2024 by Leave a Comment

For my 40th birthday in 2022, John and I went on an amazing trip to Napa. I didn’t schedule any wine tastings until we arrived in California and I knew I wanted to get bubbles on the list. We were able to book at Mumm and it was the most perfect day driving out there. We rented a Mustang convertible for the trip, so we were driving through Napa with the top down and just loving life. As we arrived at the winery, it was so beautiful. The attention to detail and the gorgeous view made it one of my favorite tastings.

Mumm Napa

Our tasting was about an hour and we lucked out and it wasn’t very busy so we were able to sit outside on their patio with a view of the vineyards and the Mayacamas Mountains.

Mumm tasting

Mumm can be traced back to GH Mumm, the leading international champagne brand in France. Established in California in the late 1970s, Mumm Napa follows traditional wine-making techniques of its French heritage to create the finest, hand-crafted sparkling wines. John and I loved the experience and just being on vacation and baby-free. It was probably a combination of it all that made the trip so magical. To commemorate the day, we ended up joining the wine club and since then have enjoyed some amazing wines from Mumm.

Mumm Napa Visit

For this post, I didn’t want to highlight one specific wine, but the winery as a whole. Mumm has some amazing Rose Sparkling wines which are my favorites. They also send out two Magnum bottles to wine club members during the holidays, which is so fun!

We started a little tradition of bubbles and pizza on Friday nights and have enjoyed having bubbles on hand to celebrate the big wins and the small ones. Another highlight is their DVX Cuvées which are made using the best grapes from each year’s harvest and aged for at least six years.

One of the other things I discovered in Napa was a Bouchon, which is a special tool you can use to recork and extend the life of your bubbles. Mumm has sent us one in our shipments, but I bought a few on Amazon for $10 and they work better than anything I’ve tried before. So if we have bubbles on Friday, I can save what’s left and have mimosas on Saturday morning. These would make great stocking stuffers, gifts, or a housewarming present to accompany a bottle of bubbles.

If you’ve tried Mumm before, let me know your favorites in the comments!

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Wine of the Week: Living Coral Sparkling Rose

July 22, 2020 by 2 Comments

I’ve mentioned this year that I want to share more products that give back and no sooner did I say that and I stumbled across Living Coral. This sparkling rose was created to educate wine lovers about the importance of coral reefs and help fund organizations that preserve and restore the coral reefs.

Living Coral is the perfect sparkling rose wine – it has notes of ripe nectarine and peach along with a creamy texture. I’ve found a lot of sparkling rose wines are too sweet and this was not the case. Living Coral was crisp and refreshing and fantastic for brunch or for any special celebration.

For every bottle of Living Coral Sparkling Rose sold, a contribution will be made to an organization that is dedicated to saving the coral reefs.

In the past few months, I’ve started to see this wine in more liquor stores all over Michigan, so I have no doubt you’ll see it at a store near you soon!

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Wine of the Week: Send Nudes

February 19, 2020 by Leave a Comment

I’ve mentioned my love for SloDown Wines in the past, especially their Sexual Chocolate red blend (SO GOOD). I was excited last week to get to meet the founder of SloDown Wines, Brandon Allen, at the Neighbor’s Shoppe. I was lucky enough to taste test all their wines and learn a little bit more about what they have to offer.

My new favorite is definitely the Send Nudes Rose! It’s made from 100% Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir and has a cool waxy seal on the top. If you turn the bottle around, you can also see a secret message through the bottle.

The Rose has notes of spring strawberry, ripe peach, candy watermelon and white grapefruit. With spring approaching, it will make a great outdoor drink on the patio.

The tasting was so fun, and I was excited to meet Brandon and hopefully will be talking more about SloDown wines in the future.

Have you tried Send Nudes yet? It would be perfect for the next bachelorette party!

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Wine of the Week: Sancerre

January 29, 2020 by Leave a Comment

If anyone has read 50 Shades of Grey, you’ll know that a ton of wines are mentioned throughout the series. As a wine enthusiast, I was surprised that I didn’t recognize a lot of the wines that were mentioned. On a random trip, John and I were in a liquor store (searching for bourbon for him) and I stumbled across this Reverdy Sancerre Rose pick. I remembered the name from the book and thought I would share a little more about it.

For the 50 Shades of Grey fans, you might remember a Sancerre being mentioned when Ana and Christian meet at the Heathman to discuss the contract, and then again at Escala following their Georgia trip.

Technically, all Sancerres are Sauvignon Blancs. Sauvignon Blanc is a white wine grape and Sancerre is the name of a wine region in France’s Loire Valley. This particular Sancerre wine is more of a rose and made from Pinot Noir.

This Sancerre is from the Domaine Jean Reverdy winery located in Verdigny, one of the top villages in Sancerre. It dates back to 1650. It has flavors of cherry, blackcurrant, and apricot.

In the book, I’m guessing they were drinking a traditional Sancerre white wine versus a rose like I have here. But this is crisp and delicious and everything you would want in a rose wine.

Have you tried any of the wines from 50 Shades of Grey? If you’re a Sancerre fan let me know, I would love to try more as I’m learning more about it.

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Wine of the Week: Dom Perignon

January 22, 2020 by Leave a Comment

As promised, I wanted to address The Bachelor’s Champagnegate and figured the best way to do that was to talk about the amazing champagne that started this whole mess. As you may have seen, Kelsey Weier had been saving a bottle of Dom Perignon for a year and decided to bring it with her to drink with Peter Weber. Unfortunately, Hannah Ann Sluss “accidentally” opened the bottle and drank it with Peter and all hell broke loose. After Kelsey finally calmed down, she eventually got to drink champagne with Peter, but she decided to drink it straight from the bottle and gave us this gem.

In the future, I would highly recommend Kelsey get herself a Chambong if she plans on slamming champagne again. I have two myself and they are great for any party AND you can down champagne like a champ.

Like Kelsey, I too have saved bottles of Dom Perignon for big occasions. We celebrated with a bottle of Dom Perignon on our wedding night and when we closed on our home. I LOVE the idea of always having a bottle on hand and tagging them for specific goals.

Dom Perignon is made by our friends at Moët & Chandon and named after a Benedictine monk. Dom Perignon is a vintage champagne, which means it is only made in certain years. The current release is from 2009 and there is quite a market for different years if you are a collector. Each vintage is a little bit different but they always use a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. Charles and Diana even served Dom Perignon at their wedding in 1981.

Have you tried Dom Perignon before? What vintage did you have?

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Wine of the Week: Layer Cake Cabernet Sauvignon

January 15, 2020 by Leave a Comment

If you’re a wine fanatic and haven’t watched Cougartown, what are you waiting for?! I recently finished up a series rewatch and thought that this was the perfect time to start trying some of the wines featured on the show. I was (and AM still) a HUGE fan of this show. In Season 4, the characters were all sharing their meet cutes (the fun/romantic way they met for the first time). Layer Cake’s Cabernet Sauvignon was featured in both Jules and Ellie’s and Jules and Grayson’s meet cutes.

When Jules meets Ellie, she brings over a bottle of Layer Cake’s Cabernet Sauvignon and says that someone told her it was a great wine to make friends with. Then at the end of the episode we see her and Grayson bumping into each other and him giving her the bottle and telling her to keep it because it was a great wine to make friends with. So after my massive Cougartown binge, I figured it was high time to try this wine for myself.

Layer Cake’s goal for all of their wines is to make something that tastes like $50, but costs less than $20. I think they met their mark when they created the Cabernet. This is a blend of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Petite Sirah, 3% Petite Verdot, and 1% Syrah. This blend has a strong flavor of rich, ripe plums and a long coffee chocolate finish.

Not only can you have cake for dinner (without the guilt), but it IS an excellent wine to make friends with!

Have you tried Layer Cake’s Cabernet Sauvignon? I would love to hear what you think.

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Wine of the Week: Moët & Chandon

January 8, 2020 by Leave a Comment

I had so much fun watching the Golden Globes this year and I thought it would be fun to talk about the official champagne of the Golden Globes for my weekly wine post. Some of you know that I’m really into champagne. In fact, I’m considering making a visit to France for my 40th and drinking all the champagne! As if it couldn’t get better, Moët & Chandon is Queen Elizabeth’s favorite. The company holds a “Royal Warrant” and is the family’s champagne of choice.

Moët & Chandon is known for promoting success and glamour and has 277 years of history behind the name. It’s no wonder it’s a favorite at award shows like the Golden Globes. For the awards show, they created a special cocktail called the Moët Golden Hour with pink grapefruit Belvedere Vodka, pineapple juice, simple syrup, and Moët & Chandon Impérial. It sounds delicious! Maybe worth recreating for the Oscars…

Moët Impérial was created in 1869 and is the House’s most well-known champagne. It’s created as a blend of Pinot Nero, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay. It has a light, fresh and fruity taste with notes of green apple and citrus. It’s so delicious that apparently Napoleon kept it on hand to celebrate every victory.

Have you tried Moët & Chandon? I have a few big things in the works and I can’t wait to celebrate with a bottle!

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Wine of the Week: Cote des Roses

December 18, 2019 by 1 Comment

I’ve been meaning to write this post all year long, Cote des Roses has been my go to Rose for a while now! John brought it home one day and it has been my favorite ever since.

The bottle is definitely a highlight here, it’s like someone bringing you roses, but even better! The bottle was designed by Melitine Courvoisier, a student at the Ecole Boulle, as part of a design contest. The bottle is called “Soiree A Rose.” Her idea was to design a bottle that redefines the rules of seduction, “Wine is more often offered as a present to men, and flowers to women. I combined these two aspects, turned the bottle over and the idea was there!”

What I didn’t realize was that they also have a whole variety of wine in the same packaging. I have only ever seen the Rose, but if you see the other varieties in stores, let me know! The Rose is crisp and fresh, with notes of fruit and candy. It’s the perfect rose, not too floral.

If you’ve tried Cote des Roses before, let me know your thoughts AND if you have any great ideas on how to re-purpose the bottles share them below! I hate recycling them when they are SO beautiful.

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Wine of the Week: Blanc de Bleu

September 19, 2018 by Leave a Comment

John and I recently took a trip to Chicago and on the way back, we had to stop at a place so he could find a special bourbon he was looking for. While he was doing that, I, of course, was browsing the wine selection. I stumbled across Blanc de Bleu in the bubbly section and knew it had to come home with me!

Blanc de Bleu is a sparkling wine made with blueberry flavoring from Northern California. It’s not an overly sweet wine – great news for me because I can’t stand too much of something so sweet. Winemaker Bob Stashak adds the blueberry juice concentrate and coloring at the end so the wine stays dry and crisp.

The fun part about Blanc de Bleu is using it for all of your special moments. People are using it at weddings for something blue, baby showers and more. I was thinking of drinking it during Michigan games or to celebrate a victory…#GoBlue! A bachelorette party would also be fun. You can also order mini bottles as favors and customize the labels (great future baby shower idea!). This would have been so perfect for my Breakfast at Tiffany’s bridal shower…why didn’t they have this seven years ago?!

For $20 a bottle it is a great price point to bring for a celebration. How would you celebrate with Blanc de Bleu?

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Wine of the Week: Chocolate Shop

June 13, 2018 by Leave a Comment

I first discovered Chocolate Shop during a Black Wine Night event. It was served as the dessert wine and it was like red wine and truffles all mixed into one. I’m not usually a huge fan of dessert wines, but this wine is different. It’s easy to drink and not too sweet that you can’t handle it.

Hal Landvoigt is the brains behind Chocolate Shop and from what I can see he is an innovator through and through. As much as I love tradition, I also love the idea of trying new things when it comes to wine…who knows what you’ll come up with? Chocolate Shop wine is a premium vinifera red wine with a natural dark chocolate flavor. What is vinifera you ask? Vitis vinifera is also referred to as the wine grape of which there are 5,000 to 10,000 different varieties.

Chocolate Shop wine is the perfect pairing of wine and dessert with notes of black cherry and dark chocolate satisfying all of our cravings in one perfect blend. This is a good blend to keep chilled. I like to use my Coravin with this wine so I can enjoy a glass here and there. This is also the perfect little treat if you are craving something sweet at the end of the night.

Have you tried “The Ultimate Chocolate Lover’s Wine?” What would you pair it with?

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