Our next stop was about 15 minutes down the road at Les Chenes Estate Vineyards. We had a really nice time here, the last time we visited Livermore and remembered the food and wine pairings. (http://mferraro73.tumblr.com/post/48889975506/on-location-in-livermore-ca-sunday-4-21-we)
We also thought their focus on Rhone varietals would be nice for KerryAnn to experience since the wines are so aromatic.
It’s been over a year since we’ve visited Livermore, CA for some wine tasting so we figured it would be a great place to bring my friend KerryAnn while she was in town. We chose three places initially but once we started tasting and had some lunch, there was only time to visit 2 of them. We went to one of the bigger brands out there and another place that we visited during our last trip out there.
We paired an Italian wine and French cheese this week, guess we’re ready to go back to Europe! We purchased the wine at Gianelli Vineyards during our trip to Yosemite back in February. (http://mferraro73.tumblr.com/post/78294642143/gianelli-vineyards-over-the-weekend-we-made-a) Since many Barbera wines have a creaminess to them, we chose the Comte to pair with it.
For this week’s pairing I decided to try another one of the recommended wine and cheese pairings at Trader Joe’s (http://www.traderjoes.com) The wine is a Chardonnay from Mendocino. I haven’t had many wines from this region so I was curious to see what it was like. The cheese, Le Delice de Bourgogne, is one I have tried before and all I could remember was that I liked it.
My friend Karen and I were excited to attend the first Wine Class at Enoteca Vino Nostro (www.enotecavinonostro.com) during the week. They spared no expense with the spread they offered; italian meats, cheeses, olive oil, of course, and a spicy sausage, bean and fennel dish. I have described the wines on their own as well as paired some of them with the delicious foods, to see how the wine might change. Since the cheeses weren’t labeled I’ve done my best to describe them in the pairings.
This week we are revisiting a wine from our past. Florida Muscadine, white dessert wine is produced by Rosa Fiorelli Winery, where I used to work. (http://www.fiorelliwinery.com/) This wine was one of our best sellers because the muscadine grape works so well for a dessert wine! It’s been a while since we’ve had it so I was curious how sweet it would actually be?