Port and Dessert Wines that great for any occasion

Hello all, I have a few great dessert wines to share with you today. I have 4 different wines that I have reviewed and would like to share. Before we get started here is some insight to Ports and Ice Rieslings.

When people think of Ports they think of the sweet red wine that is usually served after dinner. People assume its from Italy but it's not. Port comes from Portugal in the northern region. It's a fortified wine that has the grape spirt added to help it from soiling and stops it from fermenting. This leaves in a lot of residual sugars and higher alcohol content than most wines. Only the wine coming from Portugal can be called Port or Porto.

Ice Riesling usually called Ice wine that comes from the grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids don't freeze, but the water does, allowing a more concentrated grape. A smaller amount of wine is a result from pressing of frozen grapes but it's a very sweet wine.

• Fonseca Bin 27 Port Premium Reserve - This is blended from reserve wines selected from the winery for their color and depth in taste. Tastes of ripe plum, mocha, black currant, and cherry with a lingering finish of berries and fruit. Great with Chocolate. Great for all who like a heavy intense red wine. Great after dinner drink
• Quinta Do Noval 10 year-old Tawny Port - The 10 year-old Tawny is a blend of old ports from different vintages that have matured in oak casks for 10 years. A medium ruby color, the bouquet is bursting with rasin, chocolate, menthol, cherry, and spice. This is a wonderful port that has an oak finish and very tannic. If you enjoy Cabernet Sauvignon then this will be the port to choose. 
• Frost Bitten Ice Riesling - The Ice riesling has a sweet and tangy taste that is a medium bodied. The bouquet has pineapple, pear, orange zest and some ginger. Awesome by itself or with creamy cheeses. 
• Easley Blueberry - This is the taste of blueberry preserves, a great fruit wine. Perfect for brunch or buttery dishes.  

You can try these all this week at Liquor City Bakewell  in Covington for free on January 26th and 27th from 4 - 7.  Please join me. 

Cheers. 

Four different Chardonnays worth trying

Here are four Chardonnay wines that are different but have some similar qualities.

I recently tried 4 Chardonnay wines that were all wonderful and worth purchasing. 

Chateau St. Jean Sonoma County Chardonnay: What a great Chardonnay a little creamy not to oaky and has a mineral taste. The bouquet has tastes of Lemon zest, a little bit of melon, nut, and a hint of floral. Very light on the oak aging.  Great wine that I would recommend with sushi or light pasta dishes. 

Simi Chardonnay Sonoma County Chardonnay: If you are into buttery creamy Chardonnays then this is your pick. This is a buttery Chardonnay with a hint of oak, a little bit of citrus, vanilla, and honey. Great with pasta light red sauce or a heavy cream sauce. Also goes with crab cakes, seafood casseroles, or seafood chowder. 

Francis Ford Coppola Director's Chardonnay: This is a very light Chardonnay it's fermented in Stainless steel instead of oak. Very crisp, with tastes of pear, apple, citrus, and a little bit of vanilla. I would recommend this with any fish, chicken, or cheese dishes. Very vibrant wine nothing but the true taste of Chardonnay comes out!

Francis Ford Coppola Diamond Collection Chardonnay: The big dog Chardonnay, this is very buttery, very oaky, and very creamy. Tastes of cream, brown sugar, carmel, apple, and a hint of pear. Very crisp and full-bodied Chardonnay. I would recommend this award winning Chardonnay with pasta with clams, alfredo sauce, chicken cordon blu, and fried chicken. 

You can try all these wines tonight at Liquor City Bakewell tonight from 4 - 8 pm. Please join me, it's free. 

Cheers, 

Angela 

Free Holiday Wine tasting at Liquor City Bakewell

Tonight at Liquor City Bakewell (On the corner of Fifth St. and Bakewell St. in Covington) we are trying  5 lovely wines.

Whites:

• Simi Sonoma County Chardonnay - Simi has a bold creamy buttery Chardonnay. It has hints of green apple, lemon, a touch of honey with lots of other citrus fruits. This is a full-bodied Chardonnay that can be drank alone or with the heartiest of meals...very versatile.
• Kim Crawford Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc - This is a gold medal wine, it won 8 years in a row of awards from Wine Spectator. From 2010 (which is in season now) to 2002. I'm not even counting any of the numerous international awards it's received, click here to view all awards. This is what a Sauvignon Blanc should taste like! It's a very crisp and clean Sauvignon Blanc that has hints of melon, citrus, and pineapple.  Plus for what this normally goes a bottle I would suggest picking up a few bottles because for tonight only it's on sale for under $13 dollars! Anywhere else $15 or higher!

Reds:

• Sterling Vineyards Vintner's Collection Meritage - This is one of the best blended red wines I have ever tasted. It's the perfect blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, and Petit Verdot. It has a hint of oak, a little bit of pepper, very jammy, and the perfect amount of tannins that wont leave your mouth feeling like velvet wall paper. The price is a steal as well at $7.49 a bottle. 
• Sterling Vineyards Vintner's Collection Cabernet Sauvignon - Here's a wine that gets better and better as it breathes. This is an oaky wine that has hints of spice, fruity jam, and a hint of vanilla. Awesome wine! Great Cabernet Sauvignon for the price. 

Sparkling: 

• Castillo del Piggio Moscato d' Asti - A great sweet wine with a hint of bubbles. This is the perfect wine to drink as a dessert and skip the sweets. It has tastes of peach and fruits but not over done. A very well balanced sweet wine and that's sometimes hard to find. Great to bring to a holiday party that even non wine drinkers can enjoy. 

That's all for tonight so stop in any time between 4 - 8 and say hi and bring friends. 

Next Week Wine Tasting for the 29 & 30: Sparkling Wines. Yeeehaa! 

• Nicolas Fueillatte Brut and his Brut Rose
• Emeri Pink Mocato
• Martini a Rossi Moscato d' Asti
• Lotto Moscato

Stop in tonight or next week! 

Cheers,

Angela 

Middle Sisters Winery an Up and Coming Winery

I got the chance to sample Middle Sisiter wines last night at my wine tasting. Middle Sister is a female owned winery, the wine names were based upon the Founder's daughter Erin, who was a middle sister herself. Terry Wheatley, Founder, has over 30 years experience as a wine professional and was a top wine exec at Sutter Homes Winery before starting Middle Sister. The wines that I sampled were:

• Sweet and Sassy Moscato - Sweet typical Moscato
• Drama Queen Pinot Grigio - Very light, hint of fruit mostly melon and lemon. Wonderful Pinot Grigio
• Sweetie Pie Sweet Red Table Wine - Tasty a light red blend with tastes of jammy fruits, berries, a little bit of cranberry and blackberry. Would be awesome with BBQ or burgers. This wine was fun.
• Forever Cool Merlot - I loved this wine, true taste of merlot not over done. It is blended with Malbec grapes, which gives it a ripe berry flavor with a hint of chocolate and vanilla. I can't believe that I went for a lighter Merlot.  
• Rebel Red Red Table Wine - Awesome!!! This is a wonderful red blend of Zinfandel, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah grapes. If you love the bolder reds then this is your wine. Very full bodied wine with tastes of dark plum, berries, and finish of spice that is black pepper. This is a great wine that will go with everything

What won me over with this winery was how well everything was so well blended. This is going to be a powerhouse winery. One to watch in the next few decades to come. 

Don't take my word for it come down and try these for free at Liquor City Bakewell in Covington on the corner of 5th and Bakewell today from 4-8. It's free so come on down. 

Buy local...A winery that will is ranked internationally

This Saturday I decided to go the Ohio River Valley 6th Annual Barrel Tasting. First off it was a beautiful day and what a lovely drive. Since I live in Northern Kentucky, I decided to go to Harmony Hill Vineyards  in Bethel, then to the Ripley to Miranda-Nixon Winery and then end at Kinkead Ridge Winery.

I would normally blog about all three places but I'm going to go straight to my favorite the Kinkead Ridge Winery, they have their wines mastered. These wines will stand the challenge against of any wines anywhere. We first tasted wines as the finished product and then we tasted them out of the barrel. The first wine we tried was their Cabernet Franc and I all ready knew I wanted to buy a bottle. We tried 4 wines from the barrel and all of them were showing strong characteristics of big red wines. We started off with the Cabernet Franc which all ready had some tanins, a hint of cherry, and a little spice aftertaste. This was by far my favorite out of the barrels. I then tried the Cabernet Sauvignon which was on its way to be a full-bodied tanic cab. It was of course still in its young stage but it sure showed potential. Next we moved onto the Syrah which was a little more fruitier tasting or lighter tasting than I would expect from a Syrah. I’m sure after it’s fully aged and bottled the wine will be great after a few years of aging in the bottle. The last barrel tasting was a Petit Verdot this was also showing strong tannins and a spicy aftertaste. This will be the wine to buy when it gets released next year. Trust me when all of the wines get released next year, I’m going to be the first in line to purchase them.

If you check out their wines on their website almost every single one has won awards either internationally or national. The 2003 Viognier/Roussanne was rated in the Top 100 Exciting Wine Finds in the World by Tom Stevenson, British editor of the New Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia. (I bought the last bottle of the 2010 vintage as pictured below.) The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon won the 2011 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition. Check out their fabulous wines on their website. 

Pictured: I’m with the winemaker of Kinkead Ridge Winery, Ron Barrett, I bought the last bottle of Viognier/Roussanne which he autographed for my collection.  Here it is on their website.







Cheers,
Angela

My new favorite Petite Sirah

Last night I hosted my first wine tasting and it went well. People that came and people bought the wines that I was pouring. If you missed it last night please come to tonight's wine tasting. It's at Liquor City Bakewell in Covington from 4 - 8pm and it's free.

The Petite Sirah, Masked Rider, that I was pouring I had picked for many reasons. I had tried it once before and I enjoyed it plus the price didn't hurt the wallet at $7.89. The Masked Rider Outlaw Petite Sirah tastes wonderful after you let it breathe for about 30 minutes. It has tastes of plum, oak, a lot of berry, and a finish with a black pepper. This wine won the silver medal at the 2010 International Critics Wine Challenge and won the silver medal at the 2010 San Francisco International Wine Competition.

I recommend having this wine with a hearty dish like steak or pork.

Enjoy and please join me for the wine tasting tonight,

Angela

Join me Thursday and Friday for a FREE Wine Tasting

Hello all,

I just wanted to inform everyone that starting Thursday I will be pouring and hosting FREE wine tastings at Liquor City Bakewell in Covington KY.  Thursday and Friday, November 17 and 18, from 4 -8 p.m. I will be pouring the big six grapes. The tasting will be Riesling, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah.

The big six wine tasting will get you to:

• taste the difference between each grape varietal
• the difference between light, medium, and full bodied wines
• see the color difference between the three whites and the three reds
• and you'll be able to know the basics about wines

If you happen to be in the Covington/Northern Kentucky area this Thursday or Friday please come and see me!

Future wine tastings: November 21st & 23rd at Liquor City Bakewell. Please follow me on Twitter so you can also keep up to date on future wine tastings. My handle is @angelaisfab or go to http://twitter.com/#!/angelaisfab.

Cheers,

Angela