#winemakerwednesday Hoorah for Syrah with Bench 1775

valandkathryn

We like to keep things fun, approachable, and educational in our Wine Club.  That is why we are extremely excited to sit down and chat with Winemaker Valeria Tait of Bench 1775 Winery April 18th at 8pm MST/7pm PST Via Facebook Live in our Facebook Group: Vine Life a Group for Wine Lovers

How does a tasting like this work?  Well, we all grab our bottles of Bench 1775 2014 Syrah, then log onto Facebook and sit and chat with Val from the comfort of our couches!  Could there be a more laid back setting?  We think not!

To grab their Syrah, Visit their Website or:

  • BIN905 Wine and Spirits – Calgary
  • Metrovino – Calgary
  • Highlander Wine and Spirits – Coopers Crossing Airdrie.

For alternative retailers in Alberta – you can use the handy search tools via Liquor Connect

Then join us at 8pm MST for some delicious, educational, and relaxing fun!

We firmly believe that great wine deserves great food to compliment it, and this wine is stellar with bbq, or for something heartier, try our short rib recipe!

Spice grilled salmon with mango-avocado salsa on a white plate

RED WINE BRAISED BEEF SHORT RIBS

Ingredients

  • 6 large beef short ribs (14 to 16 oz. each)
  • 3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 3 medium carrots, finely chopped
  • 2 medium celery stalks, finely chopped
  • 2 dried bay leaves
  • 2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
  • 1 Tbs. fresh thyme leaves, plus 3-5 whole sprigs
  • 4 cups hearty but fruity red wine (like Zinfandel or Côtes du Rhône)
  • 5 cups homemade or low sodium beef broth
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Kosher salt

Preparation

  • Put the short ribs in a large mixing bowl and rub them with the thyme leaves and 1 Tbs. black pepper. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2hrs to overnight.  Before cooking, remove the ribs from the refrigerator and season on all sides with salt and pepper.  Allow the meat to sit at room temperature for 30min-1hr before beginning to brown
  • Position a rack in the lower/center of the oven and heat the oven to 325°F.
  • Heat a 8-quart Dutch oven or other heavy-duty pot over medium/high heat
  • Once heated, pour in the olive oil, and wait until it begins to lightly smoke. Add as many short ribs as will fit in the bottom as a single layer. Brown on the three meaty sides , approx 2- 3 minutes per side.
  • Transfer the browned short ribs to a large plate or bowl. Repeat with the remaining ribs and transfer those as well
  • Once all ribs are browned and removed from the pan, reduce the heat to medium and add your onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves, and fresh thyme.  Cook, stirring to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, until the onions become lightly translucent (approx 7mins).
  • Add the balsamic vinegar and then the red wine. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil.
  • Once boiling, return the ribs to the pot, making sure the vegetables are in the broth and not on top of the ribs (the short ribs should be nearly submerged). Tuck the full thyme sprigs in around the meat, and cover with the lid. Put the pot in the oven and braise until the meat falls away from the bone when poked with a paring knife, about 3 hours.
  • Once cooked remove the short ribs from the oven and set aside entire pot for 30 minutes before serving.Serve atop mashed potatoes, and top with braised vegetables and pan juices.

 

Cheers!

           – Kathryn

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BC Wine and Alberta Cuisine – Could there be a better combo?

Sunset in the Vineyards in Penticton , okanagan valley Canada

Join us at The Hayloft on March 22nd at 7pm!

We are bringing together some of the best of BC and Alberta to the table for a night full of love, laughs, and incredible food/wine!

Tickets are $114/pp and include Gratuity and GST

The best of Alberta’s comfort cuisine, paired with some of British Columbia’s high quality, small parcel producers. Could there be a better combination?

Join us for a 5 course dinner complete with Wine Pairings from the likes of Blue Mountain, Kitsch Wines, Tantalus, Quails Gate and MORE! All wines selected have been chosen for their high quality and small lot goodness. Continue reading “BC Wine and Alberta Cuisine – Could there be a better combo?”

Best Wines for Valentines

Romance is in the air, and the day of love is  upon us!  What better way is there to celebrate with your special someone, than with a romantic dinner and a specially picked bottle of wine?

Special menus call for special bottles, and here are a few of my top picks for Valentine’s Day Romance depending on what menu is on your radar.

Classicly Romantic Chocolate Covered Strawberries…

Each year I test my artistic pastry chef skills and make a batch of Chocolate Covered Strawberries.  There is something classically seductive and romantic about this special treat.  They are a great reward if you are single too!  Something this special deserves a wine equally special to go with it.  My personal favourite is Rosé Champagne:

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Bollinger Brut NV Rose Champagne – $107

A classic Aphrodisiac, this is one bottle that you don’t have to save for dessert.  The complexity of balanced savoury and fruity flavours in a bottle of Rosé Champagne will compliment your entire meal.  And frankly, this wine is too special to save for just dessert.  Take your time, sip and savour your wine and each other.  Your glass will be brimming with classic red berry fruit, and bright acidity that is classic for the occasion, though admittedly not actually the ideal chocolate pairing.  But really, who cares?  Is there anything that says Valentine’s day more than a festive glass of pink Champagne?  I think not…

Best wine for the box of Chocolates…

Red Wine and Chocolate go classically hand in hand.  But the truth is that not all wines are a great match!  Milk Chocolate and sweet filling can throw off your wine if it does not have enough residual sugar.  If you plan of diving into a box with an assortment of caramel and fruit filled assorted treasures – a bottle of Vintage Port is your best bet.

vintageport

Quinta do Noval – Silval 2005 Vintage Port – $83

Vintage Ruby Ports usually explode with rich red fruit character, and offer just the right ammount of sweetness to balance out milk chocolate and caramel.  These wines are only made from the best years, similar to Vintage Champagnes.  Unlike Tawny Port, they do not see extended oxidation maturation in oak, and are instead largely matured in bottle.  Because of this they will be much fruitier in flavour than their Tawny cousins.  They are also a classic standout with blue cheese.  So if a cheese plate, and box of chocolates are on your radar – this is a sure winner.

Classic Steak or Filet Mignon wrapped with Bacon?

Special dates call for special cuts of beef.  If you are thinking of impressing your sweetheart with a decadent steak dinner, simply prepared on the grill, or basted in butter with salt and pepper, then a Syrah from the Northern Rhone or high quality Australian Shiraz is your ideal bet.

stjoseph

Domaine Yves Cuilleron – 2011 L’Amarybelle Syrah, St. Joseph $53

Your Northern Rhone selelctions from areas such as St. Joseph will offer a beautiful smokey complexity to them that are a perfect compliment to grilled flavours in lean cuts of beef, especially classic Filet Mignon wrapped with peppered bacon.  Full of rich red fruit character, smoke, and pepper this is a perfect choice.  Less smokey, and more fruit forward are your quality Shiraz offerings from the Barossa Valley in Australia.  These will be nice and peppery and full of jammy blackberry and cherry flavours.

Lobsterfest Anyone?

If crab legs or lobster tails are on your radar this Valentine’s Day, one of my favourite pairings with these dishes is Saumur.  Try this:

saumur

Bouvet Ladubay – Brut Saumur NV – $25

Saumur is a Sparkling Wine Appelation in the heart of the Loire in France.  These festive bubbles have crisp acidity that will cut through the rich butter, and a unique smoky nose that will bring out the delicate sweetness of the crab or lobster meat.  They are also exceptional with fruit based desserts.  Saumur offers extreme value, and this wine is a great choice if you already splurged on a Valentine’s day gift.

Fondue for Two?

Whether it be Cheese, Meat, or both topped off with Chocolate Fondue for dessert, there is something extrememly romantic about sharing fondue for two.  With many sauces and flavours, I recommend going with a refreshing, complex, but slightly neutral wine.  Pinot Gris is a natural choice.  My top pick:

pinot-gris-rotenberg

Domaine Zind Humbrecht – 2011 Rotenberg Pinot Gris – $68

This treat from Alsace France is bursting with crisp citrus, and stone fruit, and almond ntoes.  This wine has full body and tonnes of nutty texture thanks to lees treatment.  Refreshing, with a strong mineral backbone, this wine compliments all of the rich sauces, cheese, and variety of flavours associated with Fondue.

No matter what your menu, or choice of wine, the most imporant thing is to remember to take time out to celebrate your relationship.  Make it special!

Cheers!

– Kathryn

What makes Champagne so special?

Champagne is a culturally accepted luxury.  While there are many bottles of bubbles we consider to be Champs, there can only be one Champagne!  But even among the ranks of Champagne wines, there are some major production and quality differences.

Champagne Overview

I have to get something out of the way first – Champagne is a place, a region of the world, and not a style of wine.  There I said it!  Sorry to say that “Canadian Champagne” is NOT CHAMPAGNE,  Prosecco is also NOT CHAMPAGNE.  Sekt, Prosecco, Cava these are all types of Sparkling Wines, but none are named Champagne.

To call any bottle of bubbles ‘Champagne’ is kind of like calling Iceberg Lettuce by the name Spinach.  Both are leafy, green, and make great salad.  But Iceberg Lettuce is not Spinach by any stretch.  They taste different, they are grown under different conditions, and cost different prices accordingly!

However, I can easily understand the confusion.  All wine labelled as being produced in the French region of Champagne must adhere to a strict set of production guidelines, making it consistent as the home of the best sparkling wines in the world.  Interestingly the production of Champagne sparkling wine as we know it was born out of economic necessity.  The region of Champagne is a cool, wet region where grapes struggle to fully ripen.  With an average growing season temperature of only 16C, high ripe yields of fruit are hard to come by.  The cool climate gives grapes that are high in acid, and as such Sparkling wine was born as a way to make palatable wine from grapes that could not be made into quality still wine.   Without carbonation, these wines were undrinkable.  Thank goodness for capitalism and innovation!

Continue reading “What makes Champagne so special?”

How to Chill Your Festive Wines FAST

Have you been following along with our 12 Wines of Christmas ‘Advent’ure?  Every other day we have been revealing one of my best Value Wine picks, along with a Perfect Pairing recipe to go with them.  So far we have gone through a great assortment of Reds, Rose, Bubbles, and Whites!

The only challenge – you read about a great wine, rush out to buy it after work and then discover – dang it you need to wait an hour for it to chill in the fridge.  Or worse, you wait until the end of the day to open your Vine Life Wine Club Advent Calendar, thirsty and tired and discover it’s time to wait for the white to chill. Continue reading “How to Chill Your Festive Wines FAST”

Red Wine Braised Beef Short Ribs

Cold days have us craving comfort foods with hearty glasses of red wine!  There is something about sitting down to a braised meal that warms the soul.

Meaty and decadent, braised short ribs are the perfect pairing to many hearty red wines.  I recommend giving this recipe a try with a bottle that offers up a nice balance of fruit and spice, with mouth watering acidity such as JL CHAVE SELECTION 2015 Côtes du Rhône Mon Coeur. Continue reading “Red Wine Braised Beef Short Ribs”

How I am learning to take my own advice…

Life can be a little chaotic, and often I find myself telling people to take a time out for themselves.  When they do they always come back happier, and ready to tackle whatever their days throw at them.  (TRUTH BOMB: It’s actually the #1 Reason why I started the Vine Life Wine Club, but that is another topic for another day!) To be honest, I am not exactly great at taking my own advice in this department, but I am getting better.

As a Work-At –Home Momtrepreneur with two little kids, I rarely am without my children. Childcare has not been an option, and so my career choices have always been strategic in order to allow us to have the most time possible at home.

For those that follow me on Social Media, it comes as no surprise that Oranj Fitness has become a very important part of my life, but it hasn’t always been this way.  As a Wine Educator/Mom most of my work revolves around decadent food, tasting experiments, and a never ending supply of ‘easy’ snacks to keep my little monsters occupied with while I work.  It’s fast paced, and never boring.  There is always something that you feel you need to take care of .

I spend most of my days at home either in the kitchen or behind a computer screen.  It’s a combination that needs balancing out… or I find myself starting to go crazy.

Continue reading “How I am learning to take my own advice…”

The 12 Wines of Christmas ‘Advent’ure is HERE!

Are you on the hunt for some SPECTACULAR and affordable wines to enjoy with family and friends over the holidays? We are excited to say that we have hunted down 12 of the most delicious bottles for the season, and will be releasing them 1 BY 1 to YOUR INBOXAdvent Calendar style throughout December!

Every other day, enjoy receiving a new wine review right to your inbox – complete with tasting notes, a little wine education, and a Perfect Pairing Recipe to go with it!

Want to pick up a bottle or two? ONLY Wine Club members, and those signed up on our 12 Wines of Christmas E-Mail List will receive exclusive discounts and information on where to buy these great wines!

Want to join in on the fun? Simply Click and fill out the form below to be added to our E-Wine Advent Calendar!

Want to gather with a great group and enjoy wine deals all year?

SAVE BIG Until December 4th with our BUY 1 GIFT 1 Wine Club Membership Sale!

Check out our Wine Club!

Christmas wooden background with clock, fir tree and champagne

 

Warm up with Orange Scented Mulled Wine

Snow is falling, and there is nothing that says warm and cozy quite like a hot cup of mulled wine.  An often forgotten tradition, I have one recipe that will warm you from the inside out when Jack Frost starts to bite.  And while this is not a recipe to pair so to speak, it goes perfectly with cold nights, snowball fights, and gathering with friends.

A refined version of the traditional Mulled Wine, pre-toasting all of your spices adds a nice extra depth of flavour and allows them to open up before steeping them.  I recommend using a fruity, low tannin wine like an Australian Shiraz, Ripe Californian Merlot, Russian River or Central Otago Pinot Noir, or Lodi Zinfandel.

This is a great make-ahead- recipe too if you are entertaining.    Feel free to infuse the wine a day before serving it.  Then remove the spice sachet before storing it. When you are ready to enjoy it, gently reheat the wine over low heat and add the brandy, Grand Marnier, and vanilla.

Continue reading “Warm up with Orange Scented Mulled Wine”

Ghoulishly Good Wines for your Halloween Goodies

Muahhhahahahaa…  we hope that your celebrations are Spooktacular this week!  If not, we at least hope that you you are finding a small way to enjoy Hallo-Wine, I mean Halloween!

There is nothing quite like being stuck at home, answering the doorbell repeatedly every 45 seconds to make a person want to pour themselves a glass.

And in my best effort to save you from some nasty flavour interactions as you steal your kids chocolates and skittles, I have come up with a great little list of wines for practical Halloween Pairing.

Continue reading “Ghoulishly Good Wines for your Halloween Goodies”