Maryland Wine Festival- 30 years of MD Wine

Today I attended the Maryland Wine Festival. This year they are celebrating 30 years of Maryland vino. There were so many wine lovers at the festival. And it was a great day to celebrate. There was a premier tent, it was very exclusive. Only 400 tickets were available. I enjoyed learning more about wine grapes and the pressing process. I was given the opportunity to actually press and destem red wine grapes. I had so much fun! I'll tell you a secret.... my next venture is to own my wine. I'll be fermenting grapes, bottling and selling my own vino! More details to come. In the meantime, check out the pictures and enjoy. Cheers!

Mysterious Red Blend, Apothic Wine

I have to admit, I am completely surprised by Apothic Red. I found myself in a never before visited wine store in Towson, MD. This place (from the outside) looked like a corner liquor store. I didn't expect the wine experience that was ahead of me. Lesson learned, don't judge a book by its cover. The sales man was so knowledgeable about his wines. The vino he selected for me was a red blend. My first question to him was, "how sweet is this wine"? Most wine blends are just that.... a blend of grapes intended to compliment each other or... hide the original flavor of a particular grape. As you can tell, I am not necessarily a fan of blends. I am very passionate about wine grapes and I enjoy the original taste of them. With all this said, I'll contradict myself by going back to my first sentence, I am completely surprised by Apothic Red. I ended up purchasing the blend due to the fact that it contained most of my favorite grapes, Zinfandel, Syrah,Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. The mixture of these grapes created a fabulous taste. This wine has medium tannins, and a beautiful purplish color tune. All combined to create an essence of black cherry, ripe raspberries, and plum. I was so impressed by Apothic Red that I visited their website. The site equally impressed me. It is a pleasure to share my experience of great wine finds with you. Check out the website at www.apothic.com. 

Cheers!

Sweet Red, A Great Saturday Find!

This Saturday was intended to be a laid back day, spending time with the kids. First stop, my nephew Chance's soccer game. Even though his team did not win, Auntie was still very proud of him. Next stop, the market to gather items for dinner. But not before checking out an impromptu wine tasting at DiWine Spirits in Pikesville. As a mom, I know better than taking two active kids into a fancy wine store but I could not pass up the opportunity. We entered the shop, was greeted by the staff, and then whisked off to the tasting area. Like normal I give the speech to my little darlings..... don't touch, don't touch, don't touch. Now it's time to explore. I had my eye on an Old Vine Zinfandel but this wine was not on the tasting list. I only had time to try two wines, a Sweet Red and Pinot Noir, before kids "don't touch" tolerance level boiled over. The Pinot Noir was very light and delicious. The tannins of this vino were perfectly set.  I ended up purchasing the Sweet Red. The name of the wine is Rock Rabbit Sweet Red. It's fermented in a California Winery, 2009 Vintage. I choose this vino because it surprised me. Rock Rabbit was able to make a sweet red wine with 13.5% alc content. What I like about it is that it's not overbearingly sweet. I taste all dark berries including raisins. I love the color of the wine in my glass, my favorite color purple. This wine is considered a dessert wine so I paired a glass of sweet red with a red velvet cupcake. My thought is that this is not just a dessert wine. I have lots of friends who love sweet red wines but their only option has been Sutter Homes. Well not any more! Rock Rabbit hold on to your vines because here we come. Cheers!!

Have you seen.......

My new wine blog business cards? I am so excited to introduce to you my new and improved introduction cards. What better way to share my love of fermented grapes as well as meet new vino lovers and bloggers. I have made particular changes to the look of the cards as well as added a bit of wine education on the back of the cards. Check them out and let me know what you think! Enjoy!

La Capra Viognier 2009

Today I visited a new wine store named DiWine Spirits and I was enticed by the great selection of wines they had in stock. I may have roamed around the store for about 2 hours. It was a great experience. The owners were very knowledge about the different types of fermented grapes. I was totally interested is learning as much as possible. I finally decided on challenging my taste buds with trying the Viognier grape. This grape variety produces a white wine. I had the pleasure to enjoy a delicious South African wine named La Capra Viognier 2009. This vino was perfect with my scallop and mushroom pasta. I will be sharing my love of the Viognier grape with my friends at the next girls night out. Until then, enjoy the pics. Cheers!!!

Vino Note: In others countries La Capra wines are sold by the glass. Now that's a party!!

Girl Go Lightly- Low Cal Wine

Hello Wine Lovers,
I'm excited to share with you a new wine I have tasted. It's a Unoaked Chardonnay named "Girl Go Lightly". Since I'm a lover of unoaked wines, this Chardonnay was a great choice for me. After I learned that the vino was low in calories I had to order another glass. Just one personal fault about the Chardonnay, it was sweeter than I expected. But with an 11% alc content, who could ask for more? *Check out the cute girly-girl picture of the wine bottle (courtesy of thewinebar.com webpage).      

Wine Calories

Ok, as a responsible vino sipper, I feel that it is important to share as much information I know about wine as possible. Ladies... this topic is not a fun one but is necessary to discuss. Calories hidden in wine. Thanks to another awesome wine blogger, wine folly, we can make a better conscious decision on the best wines to drink at the right times. If you are like me, as our bodies mature we take a closer look at the calories we intake each day. And wow... what a chore this can be. Take a look at the chart created by wine folly. Now lets exhale and enjoy a glass of Merlot. Feel better? Me too! Cheers!