Drink Rosés Now (or all year round if you're like me) #darkhorsewines #TBWines #BostonWineExpo

My youngest daughter, Abigail and I recently went shopping at the local Tom Thumb for food and drinks for her twelve days here in Dallas this past summer. Of course, little Adelyn and Rayleigh had their own opinion about what they wanted to eat which was quite different from their mommy's idea.

But when it comes to wine, my daughters and I pretty much like the same thing.

The only thing that might be different about our rosés is the color. I prefer the lightest, but will drink others. Abigail likes it all. Natalie only drinks the palest pink salmon ever known to rosé. I don't see one below that she would drink at all! LOL

Abigail and I discovered four different rosés in Tom Thumb that we decided we would try.

2015 Hogwash ($16) by Tuck Beckstoffer Wines out of St. Helena, California. I had never heard of this wine until visiting with friends at their home in June. I loved the pink pig on the bottle and the simplicity of the label. The color of the rosé drew me in closer. As you can see, a lot of guests loved this wine. "This is purely and simply summertime in a glass." Very pale pink salmon color and delicious.




2015 M Rosé, ($20) Château Minuty,  Côtes de Provence. A magnificent wine of pleasure, the harmony of grenache and cinsault, and a round mouthfeel. Gorgeous!

2015 Dark Horse Rosé ($9) Limited Release. It’s a blend of 40% Grenache, 20% Barbera, 20% Pinot Gris, and 20% Tempranillo. It's a beautiful pale pink, although you can't tell her. A lovely drink of pink right now!




~2015 Mont D' Azur~Cloud Chaser, ($25) Côtes de Provence Rosé, France. Love, the French flag on the front of the bottle. This is sunset in a glass! It's a rosé for all seasons as I said before. I drink them all year! What a lovely pale pink color. This wine was rated 90 points and this winery has won so many awards! This rosé is a blend of 50% Cinsault, 20% Mourvedre, 19% Grenache, 3% Carignan, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Tibouren, 2% Syrah. And if this bottle isn't pretty enough, check out their website! It's gorgeous!

At the end of August, I went to stay with my mom some and check in on her daily. Part of the time I was with Abigail and her family. And guess what! We found four more rosés new to us both. In the photo above we have a:



2015 VillaViva ($12) produced from vineyards surrounding the fishing village of Sete and facing the Mediterranean Sea. This rosé bursts of flavors of strawberries, raspberries and traditional English bonbons. It is a 100% Carignan grape varietal.

2015 Chloe Rosé produced and bottled in Livermore, California. Aromas and flavors of strawberries, raspberries and watermelon make this a crisp, well-balanced wine. This can be found at Kroger.



2015 Villa Des Anges, ($9) a Cinsault Rosé from the Languedoc region of Southern France. It's light-bodied, intensely crisp, and vividly fresh. We loved this one! A super value Rosé is always a huge hit for us! Lots of melon on the nose and palate, with hints on citrus rind and fresh herbs. A go-to grab-and-chill Rosé that goes with everything.



2015 Père Anselme Côtes de Provence ($7) a bright fresh taste of red berries and citrus fruit. An orange-pink color. This is a good one too!



I've had a few other rosés in Canada, but haven't blogged about those yet! In time, in time! Until then.....

Pairing 101: Rosé All Day at Molto Formaggio, The Cheese Shop #MoltoFormaggio

My youngest daughter, Abigail and I, attended a cheese class at the end of July offered by Molto Formaggio in Highland Park Village. I had been to a couple of them where they serve foods to pair with their wines, but never a "class" where you learn how to pair the wines.

This was a class for pairing of rosés with their cheeses that were out of this world.

We arrived and took two places close to the door, took a few photos and got started on the wines. This is a fairly small shop with plenty of cheeses and wines, but not a lot of room to sit and dine. They set up small wooden trays on stands (reminds me of tv trays in the old days) and chairs pretty close to each other. But everyone makes it comfortable without getting in your space.

 

Notice the bottles of wine sitting so carefully within the beautiful cheeses!

This was our first wine to taste. A 2015 Commanderie de Peyrassol Rosé ($20) from Côtes de Provence. Cinsault, Syrah and Grenache make a balanced trio full of fruity flavours, nicely sharpened with a touch of Mourvèdre. This was paired with:

Abbaye Belloc (French Sheep's Milk) served with Alain Millait Raspberry Jam also from France. 

They say if it grows together, it goes together! 

A Vacherousse D' Argental (French Cow's Milk) was served over a Raincoast Crisp cranberry cracker with citrus balsamic vinegar and a bite of Lonza with Gold Rush mustard. 

Lonza-Cured pork loin

The second wine and pairing are as follows:

A 2015 Château des Antonins Rosé ($15) a Bordeaux rosé from France. I was a little put off by the color, but it turned out to be amazing. It was paired with the following cheeses and cracker:

Le Jeune Autize (French Goat's Milk)

Brebirousse (French Sheep's Milk)

Victoria Amory rosemary crackers

and coppa, a cured meat much like prosciutto.

The last of the rosé wines was a 2015 Bisson Golfo Ciliegiolo ($21) a product of Italy. When is a rosé not a rosé? i had to struggle with whether to officially classify the Ciliegiolo varietal in this category or whether to present it as a light-colored red wine with lots and lots of character. Ciliegiolo is a variety of a red grape from Italy named after the Italian for cherry. Something new I learned that night. 



Ok, it was good! Abigail bought all three rosés from our class!

So here's what that Bisson rosé was paired with.

Nevat (French Goat's Milk)



Served over an olive oil cracker with crabapple preserves.





Prosciutto di Parma



Vulto Creamery Hamden (US Cow's Milk our of New York)



Served on a Potter's Smoked Applewood cracker.




Our small bite dessert was Heritage Lemon Shortbread.




This class was so much fun and we learned so much about cheeses, crackers, jams, and meats. I will return to another class as soon as possible.

Thank you Molto Formaggio for having these classes!

After leaving the class, we decided we were still hungry and thirsty for more rosé, so we went around the corner to Bistro 31 and had my favorite!



 2015 Château de Berne Impatience  $19
Extremely pale and shiny salmon, pink rose, with a pretty iridescent shimmer. This was a great way to end the night!

Some French Wines We've Had Recently

At the Dallas Country Club-2009 Château Pindefleurs, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru $34

the back label-love the font-so beautiful

At T.J's Seafood on Royal and Preston-2015 Château de Campuget Rosé $15, Rhône, France. This is a beautiful peony pink rosé that is delicious!

Our trip to Carlsbad, California to a wedding in June!

In La Jolla, Calfornia-2009 Château Plaisance, $22- it unites the stars from above with the stars from below, creating a unique link between man and nature A great Bordeaux-Saint-Émilion Grand Cru.

back of label

the beautiful Pacific Ocean

Some French Wines I Forgot!

It took two weeks and many hours to blog about our taste of Bordeaux trip to France. In doing so, I left out some of the wines we either tasted onboard the AmaDolce at the evening dinners or in one of the villages we toured. All of the foods were fabulous and beautiful as well. 

Two of our waiters that we loved were:

Michael (I called him Jamaica).

He missed his wife and family so much that he went home to the Ukraine after our cruise.

I can't remember his name. If any of my friends read this, let me know!

All of these wines were from the region that we were docked overnight. So that gave us a taste of "Bordeaux" without having to leave the ship-but who would not do that!

This is a Sbragia that Ed brought to the table one night! So yummy! Not everyone had the opportunity to taste this wine!

La Dolce Vita!