After coming up with the idea for our “Savor the Flavor” entry in 2017, it’s become an annual tradition for WineAndCheeseFriday! Neil and I love to see the evolution of aromas and flavors over the life of a bottle of wine and this is our way to showcase them to all of you. Throughout the year, we actually earmarked a handful of wines that we thought would be perfect for this entry so without further ado, here you go. Read More…
Towards the end of our Costa Rica trip, we found ourselves with a whole bunch of wine remaining from that case we had ordered from San Jose! There were a couple that had been earmarked for wine and cheese pairing research and another one that we just wanted to taste. And even two that we didn’t get to but ended up leaving as a Thank You gift for our caretakers. This pairing will kind be a catch all with wine, cheese, multiple dinners and even a little popcorn. We present to you “The Rest of our Wine in Costa Rica.” Read More…
I was on Social Media recently when someone said “Maria, we’d guess that you have some cool chip and dip pairings with wine.” Surprisingly I didn’t so when I saw this cheese at the Durham Farmer’s Market, my gears started turning. What if we used this soft-ripened cheese, that is essentially a dip, with some multigrain chips and turned them into bruschetta? And since bruschetta is Italian, we could see what kind of Italian wine we could find to pair with it. Not quite chips and dip in the traditional sense but we are far from traditional people. We present to you, our version of chips and dip featuring a Super Tuscan Wine, Cottonbell Cheese (by Boxcarr Handmade Cheese) and Italian Tomatoes. Read More…
When we arrived in San Carlos, CA, for Labor Day weekend, there was no question in anyone’s mind that we’d be enjoying lots of wine and cheese in the days to come. Our friend Kristy, a new mom, had been counting the days until we arrived since her wine drinking had been on hiatus during her “mommy to be” days. She planned a grand wine and cheese feast to start out the festivities with 4 cheeses and a bottle of rosé. Maria and Neil were ready! Such a delicious evening! Read More…
We came up with the idea for the Savor the Flavor entry at the end of 2017, https://wineandcheesefriday.com/savor-the-flavor/, to showcase some noteworthy wines from the year. We’ve decided to continue the tradition for 2018. One of the ways we were able to really Savor the Flavor this year was by using our Vacu Vin. Have you ever tried these? They are wine vacuums/pumps that suck the air out of the bottle in order to preserve them longer. We were able to keep one of the bottles for two weeks! Can’t say I was ever able to do that in the past. Read More…
During a set of recent Instagram posts, I found out that Neil and I have tried quite a few Languedoc wines. This came as a bit to a surprise to me. We know that we always enjoy trying new wines but who knew that we’d been gravitating to a specific French wine region? I’d say part of the reason we were unaware of these wines all carrying a similar trait is because Old World wines are labeled pretty differently than New World wines. Read More…
Did you ever purchase a wine, only to find out it tastes or smells much different than it’s label states. Or think, this is cheap and it can’t be good. Or maybe you think Cabernet Sauvignon is always dry and it’s not really for you? These wines were all Sensory Surprises for us. It was pretty funny too, how almost all the senses were affected. We hope you enjoy reading through these wines that we tasted throughout the year. Read More…
We told you there would be more wines by Undurraga! This time we’ll taste their rosé. And this cheese, I know you can all imagine how excited we were to find an aged cheese made with goat’s milk here in Costa Rica. We came across it at the grocery store that we visit most often, Luferz. We go there every week and it wasn’t until about a month of visits that we noticed this brand of cheeses, Monte Azul in the refrigerated section. They have have over a dozen different cheeses and they refer to themselves as artisan. We all know what that means ? Read More…
Here’s another Costa Rican Wine and Cheese pairing for you to enjoy. This week’s wine hails from Spain but the cheese is from here. We found the cheese in our grocery store refrigerated case and it was simply called Tico Cheese. (The phrase Tico, typically refers to a person from Costa Rica, but hey, let’s give it a try). We’ve found a few Spanish wines during our trips here and Opera Prima is another new brand for us so we picked up a bottle. Without further ado, the pairing of Opera Prima Cabernet Sauvignon and Tico cheese. Read More…
Since we are celebrating International Cabernet Sauvignon Day today, I figured we should get acquainted with this popular grape!