Since my budget does not allow for Cakebread, I’ll have to settle for Cupcake Cabernet

We’ve all heard the hype on Cakebread but who can afford to spend $100 on one bottle of wine. This inexpensive wine drinker would rather stretch my wine dollars, so tonight I reach for a bottle of Cupcake Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 priced less than $10.

I wasn’t sure what to expect but was pleasantly greeted with oak and vanilla aromas. Full-bodied with soft tannins, blackberries and plums make for an easy drinking and very enjoyable wine.

Cupcake Vineyard is located in Monterey County, CA and benefits from the cool nights thanks to the proximity of the ocean and the warm days, slowing the growing process and allowing more time on the vine. This temperate weather provides balanced acids and sugars making for a well rounded wine. The grapes are then pressed and spend time aging in oak barrels.

Cupcake is a delightful wine and I will be sure to add it into my wine rotation. Maybe some day I can taste the hyped up Cakebread Cabernet for myself, but only when sold by the glass.

2009© Kellie Stargaard. All Rights Reserved.

http://winechicksguidetoeverydaywines.blogspot.com/

Looking for something different to do with your turkey this Thanksgiving, how about Drunken Bird

As so many other families, my family has a traditional way of cooking our Thanksgiving turkey. It’s cooked on the grill and basted in red wine. It amazes me how many people never thought to cook a turkey on the grill. It’s a great way to reduce the amount of heat the oven puts out, especially here in Florida, and if you’re the one tending to the bird, gives you just a little bit of alone time. It’s just you, the bird and a bottle of wine.

We don’t use any particular wine, just something on the dry side and make sure you get enough for the basting of the bird as well as a few glasses for yourself. It’s really an easy process, put the turkey in a roasting pan, get the coals or gas up to temperature, pour enough wine in the pan to cover the bottom plus some additional to use for basting, close the lid and check back in about twenty minutes to baste. I’m not truly convinced the constant basting keeps the turkey any moister than if you didn’t baste that often but it does give you a few moments to clear your head. Let the turkey get to the appropriate cooking temperature and voila! Drunken Bird.

Speaking of Thanksgiving and wine, this is a great time to open a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau. Since the wine may have experienced a little bottle shock, the additional week allowing the wine to settle may bring out some additional flavors that were not detected on last weeks release date.

When picking a wine for Thanksgiving you want to think about the side dishes you will be serving since these have the more complex flavors, textures and aromas. I prefer something a little on the light side like a Pinot Noir or Zinfandel, a big, bold Cabernet or Merlot may be just a little too heavy for this meal. A Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio is a good choice for white wine lovers. Sparkling wine is also a great choice and can be a phenomenal in food pairing.

How ever you choose to spend your Thanksgiving, take some time to reflect on all the wonderful things, big or small, you have to be thankful for in your life. Have a happy Thanksgiving.

2009© Kellie Stargaard. All Rights Reserved.

http://winechicksguidetoeverydaywines.blogspot.com/

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Interview with Mark Adams from Amber Crest Winery

Recently I had the opportunity to interview Mark Adams owner of Amber Crest Winery located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Amber Crest was North Carolina’s first MicroWinery but recently made an innovative move in closing their tasting room and instead offering their own wines with your personalized wine labels. Mark also has fun with a webcast entitled Really Fun Wine Show.

Wine Chicks Guide - How did you get started in the wine business?
Mark Adams - I had made wine as a hobby for several years. One holiday season I gave wine with personalized labels to all of my family. Everyone seemed to really like the wine and especially the labels. In the next few days, I got requests to make wine with a custom business logo that could be used as staff gifts, wine for a wedding and requests for birthday and anniversary gifts. It wasn’t hard to see that personalized wine was fun to give and to get. I opened Amber Crest Winery about 3 months later.

WCG - The Amber Crest website states you are a custom winery and the first “virtual only” winery, can you explain what that means?
MA - Our wines are only available online at AmberCrestWinery.com. We make our wines specifically for personalization. The “virtual” part means that means you can sit at your computer in the comfort of your own home and design you labels using our custom label maker without ever setting foot in our winery. You then choose your variety. We then print and apply your labels and then ship your wine to you. It’s kind of like Build-A-Bear for adults…

WCG - Where does the name Amber Crest come from?
MA - From the high point on a family farm. Every fall the leaves in that area would turn gold first. So it became know as the “Amber Crest”

WCG - Any advice to people thinking about getting into winemaking, or the wine industry?
MA - I see the industry continuing to grow rapidly, so there is plenty of room for people to come into the industry. But in most states the biggest niches have already been filled. I think the opportunities will be in businesses that support the existing industry. For instance that could be in starting a company that specializes in wine tours, companies that specialize in marketing wineries or even companies that make barrels.

WCG - What wine trends to you see for the future?
MA - I think you will start to see an emphasis on local wines. You see many restaurants support and use local produce and other local products. But when it comes to wine, they still only offer wine from Europe or the west coast. I believe when people will start to discover how much fun it is to drink their local wines, this will change.

WCG - What were the deciding factors for closing down your tasting room and focusing on custom wine labels?
MA - We operated our winery as a traditional winery for over two years. But, by the end of the first year over 90% of our business had developed into custom labels. We had definitely found a niche. We were getting calls from all over the country asking if we could ship wine to them for weddings and special events. It was easy to see our future. Since those 90% of our customers were outside our area and were never going to set foot in our tasting room, I decided to shift our business to meet the demand. We are still working out a few things, but the shift has gone very well and business continues to grow rapidly. I am looking forward to 2010. We have many projects and improvements in development.

WCG - Do you still make the wine for the custom wine label bottles?
MA - Absolutely, that part has not changed. We import our grapes from major grape growing areas from around the world such as the Napa Valley, Spain, France, Italy and others. We then ferment and produce our wine in our Charlotte winery. This method not only allows us to offer custom wine at under $10 a bottle in many cases, but it allows us to use the very best grapes available and make some really good tasting wine.

WCG - What type of response have you received to your webcasts?
MA - Fortunately, we have received nothing but positive responses from our viewers on our web TV show, the ReallyFunWineShow.com. Our audience is growing by double digit percentages each week. It has certainly been fun to do. I think people are responding to the idea that you can learn about wine and laugh a little, too. Where else are you going to find references to wine and Elvis in one place!

WCG - Do you ever look for value wines ($9.99 and under) for everyday drinking, if so what do you recommend?
MA - There are many excellent wines available in this price range. BTW, California is not the only place that makes excellent wine. Every state has some really good wineries, now. The first place I would go would be your local winery and do a tasting. I bet they will have a wine you’ll like. You can find many bottles under $10 and have an experience that no national wine can match.

WCG - Anything else you want to let the readers know?
MA - Thank you for drinking wine! I hope you can take a look at our website and if you have any questions about custom wine, please feel free to give us a call at 704-708-9463.

Checkout the Amber Crest Winery and design your own labels for that special occasion or just for fun wine!


2009© Kellie Stargaard. All Rights Reserved.

http://winechicksguidetoeverydaywines.blogspot.com/

Vampire Cabernet Sauvignon, the perfect accompany for the New Moon release

Before you and your girlfriends or significant other head out to the latest Twilight saga, New Moon, start off with a bottle of Vampire wine. Vampire — like its counterpart, Dracula Wine — was at one time made in Transylvania, but has now moved operations to Paso Robles; that just bites, no pun intended.
Half the fun of drinking Vampire was the storied location where it was made. Thankfully, the change in venue has not resulted in ghastly juice.
I’m first enticed by the aromas of blood-red, ripe fruit. The scent calls to me and I can’t resist taking a small nibble, er, sip of the garnet colored liquid swirling in the glass. On the first taste I’m hit with a lip smacking, succulent flavor, with a finish leaving me wanting more. Just one thing to do: Join the ranks of the other vampires and finish the glass.
Vampire Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from the Paso Robles region of California’s Central Coast. Moderate day time temperatures and cool night time temperatures provide for an extended growing season. Mix in the perfect soil composition, and the region provides optimum growing conditions.
The winery’s head bloodsucker is entertainment attorney Michael Machat, who began branding the Vampire label in 1985 as a syrah. In 1989, the first 500 bottles were sold to Alice Cooper and MCA records in London. Sangiovese (Italian for blood of Jove) grapes were planted as well, and more than 600 bottles were shipped to the Anne Rice Fan Club in New Orleans.
Since 1985 Vampire has continued to expand and now produces eight different varietals. In addition to the cabernet sauvignon, Goth wine fans can suck on merlot, pinot noir, syrah, chardonnay, pinot grigio, and white or regular zinfandel. The winery doesn’t divulge the lead winemaker’s name, but one of its wines recently received an impressive 96 rating from the Wine Spectator.
Location of production moved several times from France to Italy, then to Transylvania, and finally to its present home in Paso Robles, CA. The most recent move has made the wine available year round, but I must confess I save Vampire for Halloween.
Pair this wine with steak and garlic knots and I’m sure you’ll survive to see the sun another day, if you can wake up in time for work if attending the midnight showing.
2009© Kellie Stargaard. All Rights Reserved.

http://winechicksguidetoeverydaywines.blogspot.com/

Celebrate the day with the release of Beaujolais Nouveau

While everyone knows the 4th Thursday in November is Thanksgiving, how many know the 3rd Thursday of November signifies the release of France's Beaujolais Nouveau? This is the week Beaujolais wine producers and distributors race to be the first to get their vintages to various markets for the official release date, this year that date is Thursday November 19.

Beaujolais Nouveau is made with Gamay grapes and must come from the Beaujolais region. The wine is the most popular nouveau (young wine) and is the first wine release of the season. The flavors are light with very little tannins as they were only fermented for a few weeks. The wine is intended to be consumed immediately but most experts say good wines can survive up to a year or a little longer in proper storage. This is definitely not a wine you buy as an investment and put in your cellar for a decade or so.

Beaujolais Nouveau has been around for some time but the frenzy and hype that follows the release is a relatively recent trend. The marketing can be attributed to William Deutsch, a wine importer who paired up with Beaujolais wine maker, Georges Duboeuf.
In 1982 Deutsch imported just 55 cases of Beaujolais Nouveau, by the 2007 he imported 200,000 cases of Duboueuf’s Beaujolais Nouveau.

Look in your area and there may be many events focused on the release of these young wines. Wine Hubby and I are spending the evening at Toasted Pheasant (813) 265-6700) for their Beaujolais Nouveau release dinner consisting of a 3 course meal and a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau for $20 per person. Reservations are required and yesterday there was still some availability.

So raise your glass and enjoy the new releases as this day only comes around once a year.

2009© Kellie Stargaard. All Rights Reserved.

http://winechicksguidetoeverydaywines.blogspot.com/

Twists and turns in the road of life

Tonight’s wine selection, Turner Road Shiraz 2003, reminds me of all the twists and turns my life has taken this year. I got married in May at a doughnut shop (it was great!), hours at work reduced to part time and I took up writing about wine. As I make my way down this new path, I take time to reflect on not only my past experiences but what new ones lie ahead. In the next few weeks, be sure to check out the new Wine Chicks Guide website (assuming I can figure out how to set it up) and all the new info that will be part of the site.

I promise I’m not scouting these wines out but Turner Road was once a division of Sebastiani Vineyards prior to being sold to Constellation Brands. This is just getting scary, what winery hasn’t a member of the Sebastiani family run? Constellation acquired the brand in 2001. Unfortunately Constellation does not provide any info on how the wine was produced or where the vineyards are located.

The aromas consist of oak and blackberries. The flavors are uncharacteristically dry for a Shiraz. Generally I find Shiraz to be a little sweet and sometimes taste like grape jam. This Shiraz was closer to an Italian wine and was quite pleasing to drink.

I was surprised to see a Lodi, California wine with the Shiraz label as the US along with many other countries typically use the name Syrah for this grape varietal. Shiraz is generally used by Australians even though they are the same grape. I can tell you Wine Specator gave the 2003 vintage 79 points.

This is one wine I’ll definitely add to my regular rotation of great tasting inexpensive wines.

2009© Kellie Stargaard. All Rights Reserved.

http://winechicksguidetoeverydaywines.blogspot.com/

Aquinas Cabernet Sauvignon

Last week as the banana leaves were shredded due to Hurricane Ida’s passing by, we were forced to stay indoors; not because of any rain as that was much appreciated and needed in the Bay area but rather we may have been blown away, kind of how I feel about Aquinas Cabernet Sauvignon, blown away.

The wine is a deep rich red with plum hues. Aromas are full of ripe fruits, spice and oak. Flavors of cassis, coffee and black currant along with a lingering finish make this wine smooth and very easy drinking.

Aquinas is produced by Don Sebastiani & Sons who established the Three Loose Screws winery. Don Sebastiani and his family were profiled in the Green Acres review last week. Don along with sons Donny and August, run Three Loose Screws as well as The Other Guys winery. Three Loose Screws was established in 2004 and caters to upscale yet moderately priced wines while The Other Guys portfolio is focused on a direct and personal approach to the consumers and wine. The grapes used for Aquinas are grown in one of their Napa Valley vineyards.

It was purely accidental that I selected this wine after just having written about the Sebastiani’s family and the demise of their 100 year old winery. The first two wines have been memorable and as I look at the Three Loose Screws portfolio, I notice I have another Don Sebastiani & Sons wine just waiting to be consumed. I’m truly looking forward to that tasting too.

This wine can be found at your local wine shop for around $8.99.

2009© Kellie Stargaard. All Rights Reserved.

http://winechicksguidetoeverydaywines.blogspot.com/