As a winelover it was necessary that I visit a vineyard and winery during my trip to Italy! Luckily I have a friend Matteo who lives here and he could recommend somewhere we’d be able to go for a tasting. Read More…
We were excited to find a handful of Italian wines to try in February. This rosé was purchased as part of that collection. We already told you about the Wine Folly Wine and Cheese List and on there was a Sangiovese Rosé with Mozzarella. After purchasing the rosé we found a cheese that was made in the part of Costa Rica where we were staying, Jaco. What a great chance to do her suggested pairing. I didn’t know which grapes were used to make the rosé but I figured it was a pretty close match. Let’s find out how the pairing went! Read More…
We’ve dubbed February as Italian Wine Month here on WineAndCheeseFriday.com. Why? Why not. I’ve been getting a little bored with my pandemic wine selection here in Costa Rica so I’ve been creating themes to revisit and learn a little more about each topic. Today’s pairing was suggested by WineFolly on a huge list that I found a while back, https://winefolly.com/wine-pairing/12-classic-wine-and-cheese-pairings-you-have-to-try/. I was excited to find both a Montepulciano and a Parmegiano Reggiano to do this entry, so without further ado, here we go! Read More…
Each year around the holidays Neil and I look forward to making cookies but this year we didn’t have an oven where we were staying. We had to get creative with what else we could make and have it be comparable to our tasty peanut butter Hershey Kiss cookies. We found this recipe for chocolate wine truffles on Pinterest and it seemed like just the treat. We had the correct cooking set up as well as access to the ingredients here in Costa Rica. Also it would be just the thing to bring to our holiday get together with chocolate and wine lovers! Read More…
This was our second time visiting the specialty grocery store, L’épicerie, in Ojochal. We had such good luck with wine and cheese we purchased from there a few months back that we had to plan another trip! (https://wineandcheesefriday.com/best-of-wines-and-cheeses-in-costa-rica/) As we entered we had wine and cheese on the mind. What would we find this time around? Would there be more wines from other countries that our local distributors don’t carry? And what kind of cheese would we find? Read More…
During our time in Costa Rica (much longer than we expected) we’ve been finding some really nice wines and cheeses. This trip we’ve had more purchasing options since we’ve been traveling around the country more. This has allowed us to find brands and shops that we never visited before. We’re also aware that it isn’t crucial to refrigerate cheese immediately so we’ve been fine taking the chance of driving home with it for a couple hours without thinking twice. Read More…
I think we can all agree that things have been different during Coronavirus. Maybe not for everyone but for those of us staying home to stay safe. What does that mean for wine and cheese pairing? Well, we’re not running out to pick up a cheese we just heard about since we have to carefully plan our trips to the grocery store. Also we’re rationing our wine so that we can still have some next week before we go back out to the store.
And regarding social media? In the beginning, I couldn’t find many people talking wine, mainly just the newly brewing pandemic. Now that we’re three months in, I figured I’d create an entry with how our wine and cheese pairings have changed. Read More…
It’s not often that I even consider repeating a wine and cheese pairing but there’s a first time for everything! During our 2019 trip to Costa Rica, we found a wine that we had been keeping our eye out for quite some time, https://wineandcheesefriday.com/stemmari-nero-davola-and-monterrey-cheese/. The Stemmari brand, from Siciliy, had been featured on #wininghourchat multiple times but I had never found their brand until that trip. Then this year I was back in the same liquor store and saw bottles of Stemmari Nero d’Avola on the shelf. Why not choose a new cheese to pair with this wine that we really enjoyed? It was settled, we’d be repeating a wine on #WineAndCheeseFriday! Read More…
Being the Wine Fan that I am, people sometimes send me listings for wine events. The Wine Feed, a new wine shop in Durham, puts on a weekly #WineWednesday Free tasting, so how could I resist checking it out. When we arrived we found out the theme for the week was “Italian Wines” and it was being sponsored by a local distributor of wines from Italy. We happily joined in to taste the three wines available that evening. 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…