Next we opened the 2009 Pinot Noir and dug into Janice’s boysenberry baked brie along with a strawberry salad containing feta cheese, almonds and poppy seeds. The fruits in the dishes made this Pinot pop! Everyone is not a Pinot fan, I get it; but when it came to this Pinot and this pairing, everyone was a fan! Jessup really outdid themselves with this wine, if you haven’t tried it already you seriously need to get your hands on a bottle.

The main feature for the night (as if we hadn’t had enough awesomeness already) was Jessup’s latest 2009 Table for Four. As most of you may know, this is Jessup’s flagship blend. This was also the first time I had tried their 2009 blend and wow is it amazing! As opposed to the 2008 blend, it’s got a much darker color and a bit more tannins. It reminds me a lot of the Juel blend in that sense, but the taste is most certainly not the same. We paired this with my Mom’s chicken pasta in a tomato cream sauce and of course some garlic bread on the side. I could have this over and over and over!

For the final pairing, we broke out the 2007 Zinfandel Port and served some homemade chocolate pudding pies and a raspberry tart. Every time I have one of Jessup’s ports, I fall in love all over again. When you finish a bit of dessert with a sip of this port, the raspberry and chocolate flavors almost explode in your mouth. The port has that sweet chocolate dessert characteristic already, so when you add in a rich chocolaty food, you get a dessert worth remembering!

What a way to wrap up the night and alas, my final Jessup tasting! We let the last couple pairings linger on everyone’s pallet and for the next hour or two everyone mingled, laughed and had a great time. I’ve never seen a bunch of jollier folks in my life! It was at this tasting that I realized how much this ambassadorship helped me to grow, not only in my knowledge of wine, but in my appreciation for its ability to glue people together.

From the people who make it to the people who drink it, wine contains a friendship energy that no other beverage possesses. The infinite number of flavors it produces creates a unique and happy experience that I have not seen with anything else. I don’t know about you, but when I take the first sip of a great wine matched with some great food and friends, the only thing I can do is smile. I think that’s why every person I’ve ever met at Jessup feels like a great friend even with just a few minutes of talking. The wine that Jessup makes not only tastes like a dream, but it’s somehow infused with this friendship energy in the most potent state. The greatest wine I’ve ever tasted has been shared with friends.

I can’t thank Jessup Cellars enough for this opportunity to be one of their Ambassadors and given the option, I would do it all over again. Thank you Jessup! And if you’ve gotten all the way down to the end of this blog (and I hope you have), thank you very much for supporting my journey! It’s been an experience of a lifetime that I won’t soon forget and I hope you’ve enjoyed my blogs as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. Keep enjoying and exploring wine, it only gets better with age. Adieu.

Before our guests arrived, we put the Sauvignon Blanc in the fridge to be chilled and started prepping the food. Janice put herself hard at work on her delicious homemade boysenberry baked brie and I prepped the vegetables and cheese. Our house is a bit small so to fit a party of 6 we had to turn our little kitchen into a dining room as well. Needless to say, it was cozy.

Once our guests arrived we cracked open the perfectly chilled Sauvignon Blanc and gave my friends their first ever tasting of my favorite winery. Their reactions were nothing less than expected. The Sauvignon Blanc is light, fruity and crisp which was a great combo with the snapeas, the baked brie, and the mozzerela cheese rolls. One of my friends said it was the best Sauvignon Blanc they’ve ever had and of course I couldn’t agree more. It’s the type of wine and makes everyone feel refreshed and happy; basically the perfect opening to a great party.

Once everyone had settled in and the appetizers had all been tasted, I threw our peppercorn marinated ribeye steaks on the grill. We opened up the Manny’s Blend as a bridge from the fruity sauvignon blanc and to our main feature, the cabernet. Manny’s Blend is such a fun wine! It’s got that sweet berry flavor, which turned out to be the perfect pairing to Janice’s boysenberry baked brie. Seriously a match made in heaven!

When the steaks were done we served them with some mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus (a classic!). The pairing for this one was my all time favorite; Jessup’s Cabernet Sauvignon. The peppercorn steak and the cabernet were a taste of bliss. The flavors of the char-grilled peppercorn steaks matched perfectly with the tannins from the cabernet. I don’t know about you, but in my honest opinion nothing beats a nicely grilled steak matched with a perfect wine.

To wrap up the evening (and truly make our bellys burst) we had french vanilla ice cream and home made brownies! To pair with this decadent chocolate treat, Jessup provided us with their 2007 Zinfandel Port. Let me tell you, nothing goes better with chocolate than a Jessup port. The two are a perfect match and it was definitely the perfect way to end a great meal.

That’s all for now folks! Thanks for all of your patience, I know my fans have been waiting! Did you like the pairings? Want a recipe? Leave a comment and let me know!

Our first stop was to a winery I had never heard of before, Mi Sueño.  We were greeted by a laid back gentleman named Tom, who showed us around the winery, opened a couple bottles and shared some great stories with us.  My favorite at Mi Sueño would have to be their Chardonnay.  I’m not really a huge Chardonnay drinker, but this was delectable!  Check out their website for the complete description, they totally nailed it.  Fun fact, the Mi Sueño winery is literally around the corner from the Jessup Cellars winery!

Another stop we made was to the oh-so-famous Silver Oak.  I had never actually been to their winery, but my Uncle is a HUGE fan of their wine so I had previously tasted it.  Let me just tell you that their latest collection of Cabernet Sauvignon‘s are something you don’t want to pass up.  We tried their 07 and 08 Alexander Valley as well as their 07 Napa Cabernet’s.  Each one is the type of Cabernet you wish you could cuddle up with and enjoy next to a warm fire.

Our last stop (saving the best for last) was, of course, Jessup Cellars.  Every time I walk in through the door of their tasting room I am reminded how friendly, happy, and inviting their staff is.  We were greeted by Bob Clark himself (finally got to meet him!) and immediately we felt like family.  Christina took fabulous care of us, started us off on the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc and led us through a magnificent wine journey to close out the night.  Even in the winter, that crisp and fruity Sauvignon Blanc makes me happy inside.  If you don’t have a bottle yet, you need to get one.  A couple others we tasted were the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2008 Manny’s Blend, and of course the 2008 Juel; which I think gets better every time I have it.

I know I talk about Jessup a lot, after all I am an ambassador, but in my honest opinion out of all the wineries we went to in our latest trip, Jessup is the only one who consistently nails it with each wine.  Their breadth of knowledge and selection are next to none, and no matter which type of wine you prefer, rest assured Jessup has the perfect flavor for it.

When was the last time you visited the Napa Valley?  Have you been to Jessup’s tasting room lately?  Leave a comment and let me know!

The Napa Valley offers a fun and exciting alternative to your average winter getaway.  The Valley in winter does rain from time to time but is usually followed up by crisp mornings and bright blue skies.  There are lots of activities to do in Napa besides the most classic wine tasting (although many events do include this of course!).  If you’re thinking changing it up this year, I highly recommend the Napa Valley and all it has to offer.

One of my favorite things to do at Christmas time is to watch a tree lighting celebration!  If you feel the same, then you’re in luck because the Annual Town Tree Lighting and Chamber of Commerce Mixer in Yountville is happening THIS Thursday!  It’s right around the corner folks, so if you’re going to be in town make sure to swing by and take part in the festivities.  Don’t forget to book some time to swing by and say Hello to our friends at the Jessup wine tasting room too!

Wanna take a quick getaway but also want to get some shopping done?  The holidays can be stressful; however, do not fret, I’ve found the best way to get shopping done while having a good time is to go to a festival!  And it just so happens that this Saturday, Dec 10, the St. Helena Cheers! To The Holidays Celebration is taking place!  St. Helena will be celebrating the holidays with plenty of shopping, carolers, pictures with Santa, and of course, wine!  This event should be a lot of fun and relaxing at the same time; it is what you make it.  Who’d have thought you could Christmas shop and drink wine at the same time!?

And last but not least, it’s Cabernet season! I won’t lie; this is my favorite season of them all. Not just because Cabernet based wines are my favorite, but also because of the huge slew of deals and special offers!  The Legendary Napa Valley website has a combination of deals from lodging, to spas, to the Calistoga Winter in the Wineries Passport; all perfect for your winter getaway.  There are so many great things happening this year in Napa Valley. Everything featured here is just the tip of the iceberg.

So keep your options open this year and avoid those crazy slopes by booking a trip to visit all our friends in Napa and Yountville!

I’m not saving the best for last on this one; the first and my most favorite is this spiced pumpkin pie recipe! Let me preface this by saying, I’m not a huge fan of the traditional pumpkin pie. But alas, my family loves it so about 5 years ago I sought to find a recipe which worked for all of us. After making about 3 pumpkin pies that year, this recipe is definitely the winner!

Due to all of the spices, the pie doesn’t have that same light brown glistening look to it, but instead has more of a dark brown crusted appeal. I was a bit concerned at first, but boy is it delicious! The spices really stand out yet don’t overpower the traditionally sweet pumpkin flavor so the resulting taste is one which everyone in my family enjoys! (Then again, maybe they’re just saying that since I baked it) To pair this dessert, I am going to go with the 2007 Zinfandel Port. This port has a lot of sweet characteristics to it, however, since it’s based on a Zinfandel it has a nice spicy finish. The resulting pair is to die for! If you don’t yet have dessert plans this year, I would certainly suggest giving this one a try!

Another dessert I would suggest is for all you chocolate lovers out there! Both my fiancé and my dad are a huuuuuuge chocolate fans so of course we can’t have Thanksgiving dinner without some sort of chocolate goodness. If you love chocolate and you love cherries, listen up because this Black Forest Cake recipe will knock your socks off! The rich chocolate goes perfect with the tart cherries making for a lip-smacking-have-to-get-seconds type dessert.

However, I know that Kirschwasser isn’t exactly the easiest thing to find at the last minute so if you’re unable to find it you can either swap it out with cherry syrup (I have not personally tried this but it’s been suggested to me) or follow this alcohol free recipe! Both will pair very well with Jessup’s 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Port. This port is my favorite Jessup port of them all! The last time I was at Jessup I bought 6 bottles of it on a whim, so I highly recommend it. And for all those non-chocolate eaters, you’ll be happy to know that the port stands up on its own without the pairing so regardless if you like chocolate or don’t, everybody wins!

Well that’s all for today, I’ll leave you with my latest thumbs up awards and I hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

2009 Nigl Grüner Veltliner Alte Reben

2008 Dutton Estate Chardonnay

2009 Testarossa Chardonnay

Also, for more detailed information on the ports featured check out Bob Clark’s review on YouTube!

2007 Zinfandel Port

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Port

So how does one pair wine with bacon, even though bacon is not usually a featured item on the plate?  Although bacon may not be the main item, it definitely changes the flavor to the dish.  That salty, oily addition can alter not only how the meal tastes, but also how it looks and feels.  So to offer up some pairings that I find personally enjoyable, I am going to show 3 dishes which include bacon in their recipe and offer some pairings for those.

The first dish is one of my personal favorites, bacon wrapped chicken.  This dish is delectable!  The salty, savory flavors that come out of this dish are simply amazing!  For this dish, my Jessup recommendation is the 2009 Pinot Noir.  This Pinot Noir has a nice spicy nose that mixes very well with the spices in the dish and the lightly sweet taste mixes great with the saltiness of the bacon to make for a beautiful pairing.  You’re definitely gonna love this one!

My next favorite is actually a recipe I got from Bob Clark, Jessup’s very own sommelier!  Bacon wrapped scallops!  I know, I’m sticking to the wrapped theme but I simply couldn’t pass this one up.  This is also more of an appetizer but nonetheless it’s simply to die for!  For this one, it mixes superbly with the 2009 Chardonnay.  This nice and crisp Chardonnay has a creamy citrus flavor that goes perfectly with the bacon and scallops.  Check out the full recipe (and lots of Jessup reviews) directly from Bob on YouTube.  You simply must try this one!

And my last pairing is a bacon and sausage quiche!  I simply love quiche dishes.  It’s a way of having breakfast without actually having breakfast, know what I mean?  For this dish I am going to suggest the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc.  This wine has a nice blend of fruity aromas which complement that breakfasty feeling of the quiche.  But also, this sauvignon blanc has a slight acidity to it, so mixing it with the saltiness of the bacon and sausage makes for a wonderfully rich pairing.

In the end, there are hundreds of options when pairing wine with bacon.  Especially since I’ve only touched on the most classic type of bacon.  Has anyone had good wine pairing experiences with Canadian or Australian Bacon?  I would love to hear about other pairings that people have tried!

For the first item, I would have to suggest a spicy pumpkin bread paired with Jessup’s 2007 Merlot. Fantastic! When I say spicy, I don’t mean spicy as in hot, but spicy as in full of flavorful spices such as cinnamon, cloves, all-spice, nutmeg, etc. If you don’t have a favorite recipe to try, may I suggest this recipe from AllRecipes.com. With flavors of pepper and currant, Jessup’s Merlot is surprisingly spicy so it goes great with this traditional Halloween dish!

The next in my lineup is a bit more on the fruity side. My fiancée loves Sangria, so we thought of a great party recipe!

1 Bottle of 2008 Jessup Cellars Manny’s Blend
1/2 Cup Pumpkin cubes
1/2 Cup Honeydew Cubes
1/2 Cup Cantaloupe Cubes
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Shot brandy
2 Cups ginger ale or club soda

I guarantee that this recipe will be a hit at your party! It’s got a bit of that Halloween twist but yet doesn’t lose that fruity deliciousness which we all love about Sangria!

Lastly, what would a Halloween party be without a little candy!? Those lovely chocolate treats are a perfect match for Jessup’s 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Port. This port is so delicious that I simply can’t get enough of it! The flavors mesh perfectly with any of those chocalety choices in the candy bowl. Just try not to steal too many candies from the tricker treaters!

Halloween is just around the corner so make sure you stock up on these tasty wines for the festivities to come! And now for my latest thumbs up awards!

Vampire Vineyard’s Dracula Zinfandel

Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon

Toad Hollow’s Eye of the Toad

Since I’m so fond of this event, I figured I would write a little blog about it and give a small report on my top 3 wines this year.  Now keep in mind that the event only lasts for about 4 hours so there isn’t enough time for me to try every variety and every vintage of all the wines available, but I got through a good chunk of them before deciding on my final 3.

3. 2008 GiaDomella Vineyard Zinfandel

It’s a nice full bodied wine with notes of wild berries, raspberries and plums.  Though not overwhelming, you can definitely taste the tannins but it finishes off smooth leaving a pleasant after taste.  As far as a pairing, I would recommend putting this with a healthy serving of duck and mashed potatoes.  Mmmmmm… gravy  Note: It looks like the website needs to be updated with the 2008 vintage.

2. 2008 Pessagno Winery Pinot Noir – Lucia Highlands Vineyard

This is a very nicely done wine from the Lucia Highlands Vineyard near Monterey, CA.  It’s a surprisingly deep colored Pinot Noir but with a very balanced, fruity flavor.  It smells of fresh cherries and violets, then tastes like a nice sugar plum jam.  Very well done.  Rolls around easily on the pallet and leaves a soft sweet after taste.  To pair this one, I’m going to have to agree with their website and say that a nice dish of grilled vegetables and veal would be perfect.  Now if only I can count this as my fruit serving for today…

1. 2007 Ranchita Canyon Vineyards “Old Vine” Petite Sirah

This was by far my favorite wine and winery at this event and was also the only winery which I purchased wine from.  This Petite Sirah is far from petite with its dark color and smells of blackberries and cherries.  It’s nice and full bodied with very well rounded flavors and a nice lingering finish.  The website is definitely correct that it leaves behind that chalky tannin feeling, but I can see how fantastic this wine will be if you lay it down for about 5 years.  In my opinion, this wine would go excellent with some herb rubbed BBQ chicken dipped in a soft mustard sauce.  Add in some salt and pepper grilled vegetables and you got yourself a dish to die for!

Since all of my favorites were red wines, I figured I would throw in my favorite white wine just for kicks as well.  So the runner up is awarded to:

2009 Malvasia Del Fiore

This was an extremely unique wine because it was so light and crisp, yet full of nicely balanced fruity flavors.  My friend described it best when he said “it’s like the Gatorade of wines”. Haha.  It was extremely refreshing with flavors of peach and apricot; I was tempted to just down the first glass and ask for a second serving!  If you ever find yourself hanging out with friends on a hot summer day, or you’ve just come back from a nice weekend run, this wine would be a perfect supplement to help cool down the atmosphere.

Well there ya have it folks, my top favorites from this year’s Santa Clara Vintage Wine Festival!  Gone to a festival lately?  Leave me a comment and tell me what your favorites were!

To start us off, I’m gonna give you one which you probably already know.  Wine.woot.com!  This site offers 5 deals a week only wine or wine related products.  Very awesome!  When this site first launched they only offered one deal a week, so for those who are just now discovering it consider yourself spoiled!  But seriously, this site has some great deals and whenever there is a Woot Off I have to hold myself back from draining my bank account on new wines.  And if all that wasn’t enough, they even have a ton of side deals for you to peruse at your leisure.

My next favorite actually turns it up a notch and offers a discount on a new wine each day! The Wine Spies are a cadre of undercover Wine agents that scour the planet, in search of the best wines – at great prices.”  I’m serious!  Just read their FAQ page.  These guys really put their all into bringing you some good wines which for the most part you wouldn’t find down at your local liquor store.  Another cool piece to this site (besides the already awesome wine) is their concept of Spy Points.  The more active you become in the community the more points you get, and the more points you get the more special deals you’ll see!  Pretty exciting stuff!  And to start you off, I’ll even give you my personal discount code for your first purchase: XW5WQH.  Enjoy!

So who’s next?  Well, this has been one of my personal favorites for a long time and I confess that I’ve been known to drop way more money than I should at one of these.  It’s BevMo‘s Five Cent Wine Sale!!  Never heard of it?  Well I know that BevMo doesn’t operate in all 50 states but it doesn’t mean that this deal isn’t AWESOME!  So how does it work?  Quite simply, it’s buy one get one at 5 cents on select wines throughout the store.  Can I get a high five!  Unfortunately, BevMo only features this amazing deal twice a year but in the mean time they have some other great deals on wine like their current 33% off over 333 wines!  Sometimes I just don’t know what I would do without this store.

And for my final deal secret it is the stupendous Invino.com!  This site is truly one of a kind.  You have to be invited to sign up but don’t worry I’ve got a hookup for y’all right here: http://www.invino.com/signup/?invite=3c12dbae6f727f0a3867735683b7c35ea861b56b! Once you’re all signed up, you get access to between 6 and 12 new wine deals EACH WEEK!  And if the sheer quantity wasn’t good enough, some of these deals are a high as 80% off retail!  Yeah, this one blows the others out of the water.  All of the wines they offer are also rated by the folks at Invino so you know the wine you’re buying has been hand selected as well as discounted by professionals.

So there you have it folks, some great sites and sales that offer amazing wines without breaking the bank.  Now the only catch is not buying too many great deals at one time.  If you figure out a solution to the whole self-discipline thing though, leave me a comment and gimme some tips! :-p

Last but not least, my latest thumbs up awards!

1997 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon – I think this one goes without saying

Athena Grill – Amazing Greek food!  The fries here are to die for!

Quirky.com – Totally not wine/food related, but I’m in love with this site

But eventually I end up with a bunch of bottles everywhere and no real order to them.  So I find myself, night after night, rummaging through the house, pantry, storage, etc looking for a good wine to pair with the amazing dinner that my fiancée is cooking up.  Can anyone relate?So I started searching the internet for good ways to manage the madness and catalog what I currently have in my house and hopefully tie in some reviews as well.  After searching for not a very long time, I found CellarTracker.com!  (NOTE: The newer Beta version of the site is shown below) I was really blown away by the features they offered, and pretty much everything is FREE!

By creating an account, I was not only able to add all of my wines into my own online cellar, but I could check out community reviews, average prices (even discovered I got some occasional really good deals!), share my latest discoveries with Facebook, create my own wish list, and a bunch of other stuff!  It took me a bit to finally get all of my previously bought wine entered into my online cellar, but once it was done WOW it’s been great!

Now when I want to find a wine, I simply log on and search my cellar for my current zins, cabs, or whatever else I want to narrow in on.  Then I can do a deeper dive if I want and check out other reviews and pairings to see if it’ll fit just right.  Once I’ve made my decision I simply look up where I’ve placed it and BAM instant wine awesomeness!  I’ll admit though, logging onto the net every time I want to drink a bottle of wine can seem a bit much.  I mean, sometimes I want to be lazy and I don’t really want to boot up my laptop simply to find a bottle and mark it as opened.  So after my initial burst of excitement my usage began to drop.  Slowly but surely, my online cellar became more and more out of sync with what I actually had and where it was.  So I did  a little more searching and much to my surprise, CellarTracker has actually teamed up with a number of companies which allow user to access their data via a mobile device!

So I tried out the Cor.kz iPhone or Android app and it is amaaaaazing!  The app pretty much has all the features that the CellarTracker website does and they’re adding features all the time so if you find something that’s missing, I’m sure they’re working on adding it.  The coolest part about this is that they have a bar code scanner!  So when I’m in a store and I’m staring at a wine and wondering, is this any good?  I can simply whip out my phone, scan the barcode, and check out some reviews.

A quick note about the reviews.  The free account only gives you community reviews from other users, but by donating $36/year (which in my opinion is chump change for the value) you get professional reviews as well from various different sites like Wine-Searcher.com.

I will be absolutely honest, that using this site and these apps have revolutionized my wine drinking experience.  Another cool feature about Cor.kz is that you can compare wines right on the app.  Not only can you compare wines that are in your cellar, you can compare wines in your cellar to wines outside your cellar or any combination thereof.  The app makes it really easy to do so as well, so you’re not starting at your phone for an hour in the store just trying to look at two wines side by side.  I swear I don’t know what I would do without this app.

Recently, Eric LeVine (the founder of CellarTracker) sent out a newsletter which advertised the new iPad app, CellarVU.  The app is really only meant for viewing your own cellar so it doesn’t have as many features as Cor.kz (which btw is iPad friendly as well) but it’s got a really creative twist on viewing your cellar.  It ties into CellarTracker‘s data as well so signing up is a cinch and you can instantly thumb through all of your wines, sort them by pretty much every category, and view all of your bottles with details and reviews.

So if you keep finding yourself in a similar situation as myself and are boggled by which wine you have and where it ended up, I would definitely recommend checking out this site and it’s various counterparts.  Even if you don’t store that much wine and are more of the buy it tonight, drink it tonight type; I would still recommend it because the mobile experience is so rich and convenient.

If you currently use CellarTracker or decided to give it a shot after my posting, give me a shout out!  I’d love to hear your opinions as well!  And with that, I’ll leave you with my latest thumbs up awards.

Jessup Cellars 2010 Sauvignon Blanc

Thea Mediterranean Cuisine

Costco’s Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)