Dessert and Decadence

Something Tasty, Something Blue(berry)

 

Summertime brings warm weather, picnics, outdoor fun,and summer wine.  However, when you search for summer wines, you’re faced with the usual rose’, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, and on and on and on.  Same old, same old.

Not if you go to Su Vino Winery in Scottsdale!  Much to my sweet-wine-lovin’ delight, they have four tasty light wines that will change what you drink for summer.  Chardonnay and Pinot are fine  for staying inside and sipping (while holding one pinky high), but these have “pool party” written all over them!

Enter four sweet wines from Su Vino: Summer Rain, Sweet Symphony, Peachy Keen, and the all-new Blue Breeze.  Sweet tasty wines all infused with fruit flavors to keep you going “Wow!  This is good!”  Throw in some fruit and you have a party in a glass.

Summer Rain: Riesling with a tart green-apple infusion.  This is an excellent balance of tart and sweet.  Riesling can sometimes be overly sweet, but the apple is tart enough to balance out the sweetness.  Nice fruit-forward apple taste that is brightened up by the Riesling.  It’s not overly sweet, and not overly tart.   It doesn’t need to be paired with anything; it’s excellent by itself.  In fact, the only thing that would make a chilled glass of Summer Rain even better would be a swimming pool to be soaking in while drinking it. 

Peachy Keen:  Chardonnay infused with natural peach flavors.  Strong peach flavor balanced by the tartness of the Chardonnay.  Usually, I’m not a fan of Chardonnay because it’s too tart for me. But the sweet peach flavor balances it out nicely.  The stronger flavor is peach, and the tartness of the Chardonnay comes in the background.

Sweet Symphony: This wine features the “Symphony” grape; a combination of Grenache Gris and Muscat of Alexandra. Natural flavors of mango and citrus fruit are added in to create an interesting combination of flavors.  

Blue Breeze:  I’d never tasted a blueberry wine before, so I was all excited to give this a try.  It’s great!  It’s not a “blueberry wine”….it’s a sweet red wine with an infusion of natural blueberry.  Blueberry flavors with a light red wine flavor in the background. This is a proprietary blend specifically developed by Cory Whalen, the owner of Su Vino.  He had tried other blueberry wines and didn’t like them, so he invented his own.  I’d say he’s created a winner.

Ranked from dry to sweet, they list like this:

• Summer Rain
• Peachy Keen
• Sweet Symphony
• Blue Breeze

So the next time your friends invite you to a pool party, skip the old boring summer wines and reach instead for some light and fruity flavored wines from Su Vino.  Your friends will be glad you did.

Check out Su Vino's wines here.

A Port for Manly-Men!

Last week I visited my favorite place: Paso Robles, the town with 250 wineries.  However, instead of going wine-tasting, I went dessert-wine tasting to see what they offered.  First on the list was Roxo Cellars.

Roxo (pronounced “Roe-show”) Port Cellars is a family owned winery specializing in ultra premium  
Port-style wines.  They make their Port-style wine using only traditional methods with minimal interference. The grapes are exclusively hand-picked and sourced from Paso Robles and Cienega Valley vineyards in California.

I tried five different ports and they were all very good.  However, one in particular stands out: the 2007 Paso Melange.  Yeah! That is some gooooood port!

Not for the Faint-Hearted
Strong and earthy, this is a good port for really full-flavored, not-so-sweet desserts. It has a strong spicy/earthy flavor to it, very strong fruit flavors, and a light sweetness. It can easily stand up to a good dark chocolate or even my favorite, chocolate and ancho-chili crème brulee.

Even though it’s a port, this isn’t the sweet syrupy stuff your grandma drinks. This is for strong flavors.  Even the website suggests that it would go well with a good cigar, and I believe it.  This is a manly-man port that doesn’t give any quarter.  Strong and spicy, it’ll remind you that just because it’s a dessert wine, you aren't drinking any kind of sissy-water.  It’s awesome!

So if you’d like to get some port that’ll go well with dark chocolate pots de creme, visit their website at http://www.roxocellars.com/ and order up some Paso Melange.  

If you're in Paso Robles, you can visit their tasting room at 810 11th St, Paso Robles, CA.   Then go get yourself a bunch of dark chocolate to go with it.  Trust me, you’ll need it.

Musical review:

Ooo Baby Baby!

Yeah...it's that good!

Hello Sweet Lucy!

I have a new girlfriend, and her name is Sweet Lucy.

Chandler Arizona's Kokopelli winery's best-selling wine is called “Sweet Lucy”. It’s a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Muscat Canelli.  The sweetness of the Muscat eliminates any hint of tannin in the wine and creates a sweet light wine.

I tasted it recently.  Wow!  Delicious!  I can see why it’s their best-seller!

It’s sweet, but not too sweet, and not syrupy. It’s light-bodied and fruity, with flavors of strawberries and raspberries.  Sweet Lucy has "Sit on the deck during a warm evening and drink this" written all over it!

What would it go well with, you ask?  Chocolate!  But not just any chocolate….raspberry truffles immediately spring to mind!  The complexity of dark chocolate and rich raspberry flavors blend perfectly with the light fruity flavor of Sweet Lucy.

Would this be good for the holidays? You bet it would!  It’ll give your guests something to talk about.  They’ll say things like “Wow!  May I have more of this?!”

I’d say Celine Dion says it best:

Halfway to Heaven

 I'll be pairing this one  in the very near future.  Check back for further updates.

Here’s Kokopelli’s website: http://www.kokopelliwinery.net/.  You can buy Sweet Lucy online.  Sweet!