Tag Archives: White Wine

When Stoned Isn’t Always So Much Cooler

It was bright, sunny, hot (yes) and crystal clear here in the Cleve. And like the summer romance that vanishes by Labor Day, I chose to make the most of it while it was here. I wanted a little glass of Chard to toast a beautiful late afternoon but nothing was cold (stupid fridge ~  for not knowing what I needed before I knew what I needed). Bah! And so I did something one should never do with any white wine ~ I opened it anyway and tried to chill it with some frozen whiskey stones. Desperate times called for somewhat desperate measures. How did they fare? About as well as you can imagine … notsomuch. While they created a nice little bubbly effect on the glass, they didn’t help cool the temp to drinkable. But then again, they’re not really designed for wine.

Well, live and learn. And in future, I’ll make sure I always have a couple of bottles on the chill. Because that’s so much cooler for me if I do.

Cheers!

©TheWineStudent, 2014

Crabby night

The Lovely Lugana

The Lovely Lugana

Tonight we dined on crab. It’s a treat we don’t have very often. And we don’t have it often because it’s somewhat pricey and also it makes my feet swell. I wrote swell, right? I’d hate for you to think it made my feet smell. It doesn’t. Anyway. HubbyDoug came back from his most recent trip to Italy with a lovely ’11 Le Quaiare Lugana. Wait. A white wine? It’s true, I’ve spent much of this blog writing about red wine and, for the most part, we do prefer the reds. Yet this white was something special. And it needed to be paired with something just as special. I think what I enjoyed most about this wine was that it had a light, playful grape and honey essence on the nose. It tasted of delicate apple that seemed to enhance the light, salty brine of the crab while adequately cutting through the fattiness of the butter. To paraphrase Cole Porter it was de-lovely!

Cheers!

 

But I digress…

The Lovely Enon Chardonnay

Tonight, I had a lovely dinner of Monterey chicken, steamed, seasoned green beans, spicy rice. I paired it with a blind pick from my wine rack: an Enon Chardonnay from South Africa.

I haven’t had a Chardonnay since before summer ended but I wanted to tell you about this one. This happened to be my first sampling of South African Chards. It won’t be my last.  This was particularly fresh and kick-y, a light straw color with honey on the nose and very fruit forward on the palate. The oak-y, buttery undertones came alive when paired with the chicken and once the spicy rice came into play, it was like fireworks. It had a burst of light and then sparkled into a warm afterglow which was a real treat. Wait. That sounds like something else that has an afterglow. Maybe that’s why I liked it so much.

I’m going to give this one 4 out of 5 grapes.

Meanwhile, I’m getting the girls together for the Vegan ~ Organic wine tasting. I can’t wait to see what the verdict is!

Cheers!

A little chill

The past few weeks have been incredibly busy. I’m very grateful for the wonderful friends and family who have ventured down to see me. We’ve shared some wine, a lot of laughs and it’s been nice to feel that home isn’t really so far away.

2007 Daniel Lenko Viognier

2007 Daniel Lenko Viognier

So tonight, I’m toasting the lovely new memories with an 07 Daniel Lenko Viognier from Niagara. It’s proving to be a delicious end to a wonderful few weeks.

Cheers!