Des Moines Wine and Food Connection tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1732168 2009-10-12T09:00:00-05:00 Your source for whatever Des Moines is eating and drinking. TypePad Autumn Reds Tasting Postscript tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e554ecff8d88330120a5d84c08970b 2009-10-12T09:00:00-05:00 2009-10-12T09:00:00-05:00 Casa di Vino's "Autumn Reds" tasting went great Tuesday. Poured one white and five reds. Going by sales, Torres 07 Sangre de Toro (Blood of the Bull), a Spanish Garnacha/Carinena blend and the Rosenblum Contra Costa Zinfandel 06 were the... Howard Bernstein

Casa di Vino'sWine tasting "Autumn Reds" tasting went great Tuesday. Poured one white and five reds. Going by sales, Torres 07 Sangre de Toro (Blood of the Bull), a Spanish  Garnacha/Carinena blend and the Rosenblum Contra Costa Zinfandel 06 were the stars. I made a crock pot of venison & chorizo stew/chili and folks ate it up with the wines. Particularly with the Europeans and more tannic wines a bit of food along side brings out the best in the wine.  

Howard Bernstein
Owner, Casa di Vino
Wine and Food Guy, Des Moines Wine and Food Connection 

 Industry Tasting No. 4 - Okoboji Wines tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e554ecff8d88330120a5aef7db970b 2009-10-01T09:00:00-05:00 2009-10-01T19:13:59-05:00 Okoboji Wines has an extensive portfolio of small to mid-size wineries from around the world. Many of these wines are only available for tasting at this show so your avid wine and food guy bucks up and works the room... Howard Bernstein

Okoboji Wines has an extensive portfolio of small to mid-size wineries from around the world. Many of these wines are only available for tasting at this show so your avid wine and food guy bucks up and works the room hard to bring the best and most interesting wines to Casa di Vino. This tasting is always my most challenging and it always seems to take a toll. I tasted 115 wines at the 2007 Okoboji show and a record (for me) 165 wines in four hours last year. This years grand total came to 145 wines; 7 sparkling, 34 whites, 92 reds, 2 dessert wines & 10 sake. I definately felt ratty this morning.  

Certain wineries you expect to be top quality. For what they're charging they'd better be. August Briggs, Juslyn, Robert Hall, Zind Humbrecht, Loring & Shafer all get top dollar and produce top quality wines. With these wineries and their track records you usually won't go wrong. Sorting through the rest (approx. 400 wines) and finding the gems is my job. CDV works harder than anyone to bring these values to you, our customers. Finding a good Cabernet for $125 shouldn't be that hard. Finding one for $13.99 is another story.  

Once again South America and Europe starred. Perhaps it's just my palate but the most interesting wines and the best values I've found this season are coming from S.A. and Europe. There are plenty of good wines being produced here in the U.S. and in Australia but the wines that seem to excite me most are coming from Chile, Argentina, Spain, Portugal, Italy & France. Once again, it's just my palate. Anyway, stop on in and give some of this juice a try. The wines are just beginning to arrive. I'll let you, the public taste and be the judge. Am I wrong or am I right?

Howard Bernstein
Owner, Casa di Vino
Wine and Food Guy on the prowl
Des Moines Wine and Food Connection  

 Autumn Reds tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e554ecff8d88330120a5aefb85970b 2009-09-30T18:20:25-05:00 2009-09-30T18:20:25-05:00 Tuesday, October 6th from 5-7 PM Casa di Vino pours "Autumn Reds". The weather is cooling off. Time to bust out the big boys and those rustic reds we've been eyeing all summer but didn't really care to drink on... Howard Bernstein

Tuesday, October 6th from 5-7 PM Casa di Vino pours "Autumn Reds". The weather is cooling off. Time to bust out the big boys and those rustic reds we've been eyeing all summer but didn't really care to drink on a 90 degree day. CDV will sample a happy half dozen that you'll want to drink all winter long.

Howard Bernstein
Owner, Casa di Vino
Wine and Food Guy
Des Moines Wine and Food Connection

 Industry Tasting No. 3- Johnson Brothers tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e554ecff8d88330120a5e9a168970c 2009-09-23T16:16:12-05:00 2009-09-23T16:16:46-05:00 Johnson Brothers industry tasting was yesterday afternoon(tuesday) at Prarie Meadows Conference Center. Unfortunately so was a Casa di Vino wine tasting. That left me with just over an hour to run around and taste. I tasted 44 wines including; 1... Howard Bernstein

Johnson Brothers industry tasting was yesterday afternoon(tuesday) at Prarie Meadows Conference Center. Unfortunately so was a Casa di Vino wine tasting. That left me with just over an hour to run around and taste. I tasted 44 wines including; 1 sparkling, 11 whites & 32 reds. Johnson Brothers probably has the largest portfolio in the state but much of the wine is geared towards volume sales and supermarkets. I did finds some interesting wines though including a pinot noir from Oregon's Belle Glos, a top notch (and top $$$) sauvignon blanc from St. Supery (Virtu), and a wonderful German riesling from Dr. Hermann amongst others. These wines should be gracing CDV's shelves over the next few weeks. Stop by and taste what's new and exciting.   

 Industry Wine Tasting No. 2 - Glazer Distributing tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e554ecff8d88330120a5d9d76b970c 2009-09-21T09:00:00-05:00 2009-09-21T09:00:00-05:00 Glazer Distributing put on their industry tasting Thursday evening at Foxboro Convention Center here in Johnston. It was nice having only to go a half mile from Casa di Vino. I tasted 6 sparkling, 18 whites, 44 red & 2... Howard Bernstein

Glazer Distributing put on their industry tasting Thursday evening at Foxboro Convention Center here in Johnston. It was nice having only to go a half mile from Casa di Vino. I tasted 6 sparkling, 18 whites, 44 red & 2 Scotches. That's correct, Glazer distributes liquor also. The liquor bottles were only suppose to be out to show off but as I was wrapping up my tasting I noticed the fill level was down in a couple of the scotch bottles. SO... I asked for a tipple. Tasted two different bottlings of Glenmorangie. One aged in Sherry casks, one aged in Sauterne barrels. Noticibly different tastes with the Sauterne bottling having a slightly sweet note. Very nice.


Found some goodies that I'm really looking forward to bringing into CDV. Of course there's a sea of good Aussie shiraz out there but the number and variety of fine wines from South America is impressive and there are still some fantastic values coming out of Spain and Portugal. California can hold it's own though with wonderful pinot noir coming out of central California, plump and juicy zinfandel coming out of Amador, Mendocino and the Sierra Foothills, and an exciting (but a bit costly) Pinot Meunier coming out of Napa (Chandon). These wines will be hitting the shelves here at Casa di Vino over the next few weeks and this wine and food guy looks forward to introducing these wines to our clientele and pairing them up with dishes and recipes to help make the experience all that much better.

Eat and drink well,

Howard Bernstein
Owner, Casa di Vino
Wine and Food Guy (at large)
Des Moines Wine and Food Connection