Cheers To You

Mary writes:

Frascati is an adorable little town in the hills about 25 miles southeast of Rome.

It’s also a golden-hued, dry, medium-bodied white wine that is generally about 12 percent alcohol. Frascati is an agreeable blend of the Malvasia and Trebbiano grapes with a bit of spritz that makes it a refreshing summer drink.

With its beautiful villas, gardens, fountains and cypress lined boulevard the town is a favorite getaway for the nearby Romans who descend upon the town for a weekend or summer visit. This is a significant reason for the 1,540 tavernas in the town.

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This would have been a great recipe and pairing a couple weeks ago for Cinco de Mayo, but we see no reason why you can’t carry on the celebration a little longer.

As we head into summer there will be plenty of reasons to celebrate — including the warm weather — and Ann Vogel’s fiesta themed potluck dish is the perfect go-to for those warm summer gatherings.

This week’s pairing is slightly different than our usual wine offerings, but we decided to follow the festive theme. That’s why we’re offering a recipe of our own, so grab a clear glass pitcher and get ready to make Sangria.

This delicious, fruit-based wine punch has Spanish roots. Typically Sangria is made with red wine, fresh fruit and a bit of something carbonated. But there are recipes for white wine Sangria that are just as good.

It is easy to make and refreshing for summer barbecues. One beauty of the punch is that you can use a wine that may have not worked with another dish. Sangria is a great way to “spike up” leftover wine with oranges, lemons and perhaps a bit of brandy or Cointreau to brighten it up.

Here’s our suggested recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 bottle red wine
• 1/4 cup Brandy or Cointreau
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar or to taste
• Fruit, whole, sliced or in wedges (apples, blueberries, cherries, kiwi, lemons, limes, oranges, peaches, raspberries, strawberries, etc.)
• 2 cups soda, ginger ale, lemon lime or club (chilled)

Preparation:

Dissolve sugar in the orange juice. Combine remaining ingredients except soda. Chill at least one hour before serving, but best overnight. Add chilled soda just before serving. Pour in tall glasses with a skewer of fruit. Consider freezing pieces of fruit in an ice cube tray or small bowl.

Salud!

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Mary writes:

Looking for an affordable red wine blend from Washington? There’s plenty out there to try, but as we know when you’re standing in the grocery store aisle looking at the vast selection it can be a little overwhelming — especially if you’re looking to try something new.

So let us offer a suggestion for the next time you’re in the store looking for a not too pricey red.

The Maryhill 2010 Columbia Valley Winemaker’s Red is a delicious blend of cab, merlot, syrah and cabernet franc. The ruby red color is saturated, which gives the wine a complexity of flavors.

Aromas of berries, cherries and minerals lead to flavors of dark cherries, blackberries, currants with cocoa powder and a finish that is harmonious and long lasting. This wine is widely available and ranges from $12 to $15.

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Mary writes:

This week’s word is fun to say, but it’s meaning in English is quite different than its Italian translation (although more than a few nips off a flask can create quite the fiasco depending on the circumstance).

Fiasco is Italian for flask. In this definition though it’s not the flask we might think of — a small metal container kept in a breast pocket of a jacket to hold a favorite liquor.

Way back when, during the time when bottles were handmade, wine bottles were round, thin and extremely light. That meant there was hell to pay when taking the bottles to the market in the donkey cart to be refilled.

In order to keep things orderly, and to prevent the bottles from bouncing around and bumping into each other — and potentially breaking — straw coverings were woven around the lower portion of the bottles. This is what is known as a fiasco.

When the bottle was filled, the fiasco helped to keep the wine from flowing in the wrong direction. A true fiasco holds two liters.

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Mother’s Day is a day to celebrate and what better way to toast the mother in your life than with a glass of bubbly?

If you’re planning to do a brunch this year for your celebration we’ve got a great recommendation that isn’t your run of the mill bubbly, and it’s made locally.

Ann Vogel’s Mother’s Day recipes for yogurt parfaits and apple Dutch babies calls for a partner in wine with lots of fruit flavor to echo the fruit in the dish; the bubbles will contrast the creamy yogurt.

This is where the Olympic Peninsula’s Finnriver Farm and Cidery enters the picture.

An artisan cidery and organic farm located in the Chimacum Valley, Finnriver produces its ciders from heirloom apples and berries grown at the farm. They also glean apples from old homesteads in the valley and from a family farm in Eastern Washington.

Cider has a long history — it was the drink of choice for the colonists. Cheap and easy to make, it was consumed for any event imaginable — weddings, funerals, Mother’s Day, baptisms, barn and church raisings and even breakfast.

Ciders can and do vary in style from a drier, more traditional style from Normandy and England, to the sweeter sparkling blends made with berries in Washington.

Finnriver’s award-winning ciders are handcrafted from the orchards to the bottle. They like to experiment with small-batches fruit blends to see what Mother Nature has offered them at harvest.

The sumptuous sparkling hard ciders are made with apples, pears and berries. Perfect for this Mother’s Day menu.

A few suggestions include:

The Artisan Sparkling Cider. Fermented using the traditional, labor-intensive méthode champenoise this wine is perfectly balanced, crisp with distinct apple aromas and flavors. The bubbles are small and make a bright, champagne-style cider.

The Sparkling Pear Cider is made from heirloom apples, blended with sweet pear. A soft sprightly sparkle accompanies the definite pear aromas and semi-sweet pear flavors of this cider.

The Sparkling Black Currant Cider is lighter is body and has a pretty blush color. It’s a blend of sweet heirloom apples and tart black currant. This one is also semi-sweet.

Finnriver is located at 62 Barn Swallow Road in Chimacum. A trip to their tasting room gives you a chance to sample their wines — and decide which you might want to serve mom this Mother’s Day.

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Brynn writes:

I shared this earlier this week (or maybe it was last week) on Facebook, but wanted to also post it here so people were aware of a wine tasting event this Saturday in Belfair.

Mosquito Fleet Winery is opening its barrels for the public to taste at its first spring barrel tasting event. If you forgot, we wrote about Mosquito Fleet and its inaugural tasting in February. Mary and I were impressed with the wines coming from first-time winemaker Brian Petersen. Here’s our post from the tasting.

And here’s the press release from Mosquito Fleet about Saturday’s barrel tasting:

This May 12th event, hosted by the owners of Mosquito Fleet Winery, is an experience not to be missed. You will be led through tastes of the upcoming vintages. From our recently blended 2010 Meritage to our velvety Syrah and our classic Cabernet Sauvignon, you will have the opportunity to taste these young wines and imagine how much more decadent they will become as their character continues to develop.

The impact that our artisan choices and hand-crafted efforts have on our wines is tremendous. Our winemaker will talk through his barrel selections, utilization of specific yeasts, and the cellar practices that help make Mosquito Fleet wines so special.

The flavors and overall experience will nod a tribute to the Puget Sound’s famed Mosquito Fleet and the impact they had on our area.

Just as the Mosquito Fleet brought communities and people together, this tasting opportunity may be the gateway to re-connect with old friendships, forge some new ones, and partake in the most recently discovered gem of the South Sound….Mosquito Fleet Winery!

We look forward to sharing a vintner’s voyage with you!

Please register by purchasing a Barrel Tasting Coupon from our online store.

Details:

• What: Spring barrel tasting
• When: Saturday, May 12; 12 to 4 p.m.
• Where: Mosquito Fleet Winery, 21 NE Old Belfair Highway, Belfair
• Info: Jacy 360-340-1862
• Tickets: $25, available at mosquitofleetwinery.com

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Mary writes:

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Mary writes:

This week’s definition comes from Spain.

Mencia is a red grape from northwest Spain. Traditionally it was a lighter bodied, fragrant red wine in the Denominaciones de Origen (guarantee of origin) of the Galician territories of Bierzo, Rias Baixas and Valdeorras.

But with the younger winemakers a much more concentrated, full-bodied wine is now the norm from this grape.

Many locals believe this vine is related to babernet franc because the fragrance is so similar; as such they called it cabernet.

But after DNA testing determined there was no relation, they’ve had to break the habit.

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Brynn writes:

Just wanted to provide a quick update to all you wine lovers out there to let you know you over the next couple months you might notice this blog isn’t as busy as it usually is.

That’s because I’m out of the office on maternity leave. Yes, instead of tasting and enjoying wine, I’m doing more loads of laundry than I can count, wiping awat baby spit up and changing dirty diapers — and loving every minute.

Mary and I hope to continue our pattern of offering a wine pairing for Ann Vogel’s weekly recipes, which also appear in Friday’s Kitsap Sun, but if we skip a couple you’ll know why.

So no need to worry faithful readers, a silent Cheers to You doesn’t mean we’ve gone off in some drunken stupor, it just means I’m too sleep deprived to string together a coherent sentence.

I’ll be back in August, so you can expect to see everything pick up again then.

Cheers!

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Mary writes:

We recently got to taste the whole line of Okanogan Estate and Vineyards wines. The selection was quite impressive but what really stood out was the number of icewines they have available.

Of the four available that we tried, the 2009 Riesling Ice Wine was one of the favorites.

The grapes were harvested after they had frozen on the vine and reached 38 degrees Brix. To give you an idea of how much sugar was in the must, most dry wines are harvested at 24 degrees Brix.

The acidity of the wine was more than double that of an average dry wine.

It was concentrated, rich, complex and sweet. But because there was more than double the amount of acidity in the wine, it balanced the sweetness nicely.

Tropical fruit flavors were dominated by dried pineapple with hints of apricot. The finish was long lasting and fabulous.

Here’s what winemaker Mike Buckmiller has to say about the wine:

This ultra sweet dessert wine is rich and luscious with an intense fruity-floral nose. It offers complex flavors of orchard and tropical fruit including mango, peaches, and candied pineapple with a velvety mouth feel and final notes of vanilla and honey. This Ice Wine is well rounded with plenty of acidity balancing the sweetness.

The wine normally retails for $40, but is on sale currently for $20 — a great deal for anyone who is a fan of icewine.

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