Through the Wine Glass - The My Wines Direct Blog

Thanksgiving Side Dish and Wine Pairing Ideas

In preparation for the big Thanksgiving feast, I thought I'd test drive a couple new side dishes. I really love some of Thanksgiving's traditional staples, but I also like to challenge myself on a few new dishes to add to the mix. I decided to experiment with a couple of Amy's recommended recipes for Thanksgiving: namely her Pureed Butternut Squash with Cinnamon and her Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms.

I started with the Butternut Squash recipe which was paired with the Laurent Miquel Nord Sud Viognier. This recipe was super easy and turned out delicious. Butternut squash is a great winter dish. The sweet deliciousness of this recipe paired very nicely with the smooth, medium bodied yet not overpowering Laurent Miquel Nord Sud Viognier.  My husband, who described the combination of squash and Viognier as producing subtle cider-like effect, was surprised that a sweeter dessert wine wasn't paired with this dish. I on the other hand, thought a dessert wine would be too overpowering and would compete with the sweetness of the butternut squash. Too much sweetness is not a good thing, especially when it's not dessert time. I think the Viognier was a perfect compliment to this dish.  If you are a white wine drinker, I definitely recommend the Viognier as a wonderful complement to the Thanksgiving menu.

I continued on to the Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms which was paired with the Lustre Syrah. This was also a super easy recipe. I recommend that you choose a spicy sausage as I did, because it was a great complement to the spiciness of the Syrah. I would also recommend that you baste the mushrooms in a little olive oil as the mushrooms would look better in presentation as well as taste better. As is, it was a delicious appetizer. I'm much more of a red wine drinker and this Syrah is on my list of top favorite red wines that we sell. So, yes, I also definitely recommend this red wine for your Thanksgiving feast. 

Haunted Sonoma

As I was browsing the internet in search for Halloween folklore, I came upon this great kooky video of a haunted tour of Sonoma. I love the audio affects! Click on the link below or just hit the play button to view (it takes a moment to load, so be patient).

Haunted Sonoma Tour

Also, there's still time to submit your wine themed pumpkins!! I've carved my own, but I know someone can do better. Submit your photos to community@mywinesdirect.com for a chance to win a $20 gift card!

Holiday Covers

We need your help! Which cover do you like best?

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New York City Wine & Food Festival

The weekend before last, I attended the New York City Wine & Food Festival's Grand Tasting Event. I'd  never been to a big food & wine festival before, so I was very excited. I mean, I've been to cook-offs and food fairs and things like that, but nothing that could compare to this. After all, It's a big commitment at $150 a ticket! So, was it worth the price of admission? Well, a couple of things surprised me.

1) It wasn't all about wine... I think there were equal amounts of liquor and beer vendors there too. Which was strange. I know people's tastes vary and some tend to like liquor or beer over wine. A few people like them all, but can you seriously have a tasting of all three in one setting? I personally stuck to the wine. Even though we only had small sips of everything.. it was hard not to feel a bit woozy by the end of it all. I knew if I added liquor or beer into the mix, I'd be very sorry!

2) I was disappointed in the amount of wine vendors there.. I thought there would be more. I did end up tasting plenty of wine, but I just wasn't all that impressed with most of them. I think there were only a couple of standouts in the bunch. I certainly didn't taste anything that could beat a comparable wine that we sell.

The one thing that made the event worth the price of admission was the food. The variety and quality of the food that was presented was excellent. We were totally full an hour before the event was slated to end. Would I go again? Possibly. But I would recommend that they change the name to the "New York City Spirits and Food Festival". Maybe next time I'll stick to the mixed drinks! They did look good.

Columbus Day Wine Pairing

In honor of Columbus Day, I decided to try a recipe and wine pairing recommended by Amy Sherman, who writes the top ranked blog "Cooking with Amy." She contributes all of the recipe and wine pairings we feature. I chose her Grilled Eggplant Sandwich recipe because it was paired with our delicious Spanish Tempranillo.

Now, I want to start by saying how delicious this sandwich was. Yet as I was making it, I posted what I was cooking on my facebook account and my sister immediately piped in that the sandwich sounded gross. Isn't it funny, how sometimes the mention of a vegetable-based recipe is an immediate turn-off for so many people? I cannot tell you how much you are missing if you think this way. I'm in no way a vegetarian. I love my meat but have come to realize I don't need it at every single meal, and there are some vegetarian meals that are absolutely delicious. This recipe is one of those meals, with the sun-dried tomatoes in particular carrying a texture and taste worthy of a "meaty" starring role.

The second point I'd like to make is how easy this recipe is to make!! While I love to challenge myself every once in awhile with a super complicated recipe, usually I just don't want to have to work all that hard in the kitchen. Especially after a long day at work. This recipe is going to make it into my regular meal rotation because it is delicious and so easy to make. 

The key to this sandwich is striking a perfect balance between its many hearty ingredients. We were fortunate to find an excellent, crusty, airy ciabatta loaf. After a good pressing, biting into it one was met with a soft explosion of flavor and texture.

The wine proved a great complement to the meal and finished nicely. The Tempranillo fired off consistent spicy notes that really enhanced both the creaminess of the Manchego as well as the tangy eggplant and sun-dried tomato. Moreover, it left a simmering impression particularly pleasant during this shift in the seasons. Looking forward to meeting this menu again!

Do you have a recipe you'd like to recommend for any of our wines? We'd like to know! Please submit your recipe to community@mywinesdirect.com. If we choose your recipe to feature, you could win a MyWinesDirect.com Gift Card!

Cooperativa San Carlos Sud

We recently got a shipment of delicious red wines from the Uco Valley (Valle de Uco) region of Mendoza, Argentina. I'm not sure if you've heard of the Uco Valley or even Mendoza for that matter. I hadn't, and while I found a lot of information about Mendoza on the internet, I found very little about the Uco Valley. The Uco Valley, it turns out, is emerging as one of the prime areas in Mendoza for premium quality wines. I write more about the region here.

The wines, a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Malbec are both from a cooperative vineyard that was formed in the 1980's and is composed of 51 small and medium vineyard producers. I thought this was quite an interesting story for a wine as I've never heard of a cooperative vineyard before.

The cooperative, called San Carlos Sud, works with the producers from the beginning, consulting on the pruning techniques, vineyard management and harvesting dates.  The vineyards are oriented towards specific product lines, based on historical results.  However, the final determination is made in the winery, once the wines have finished fermenting, so that wines originally oriented towards a varietal line have a chance to be upgraded to the reserve line, and vice-versa.  The members of the cooperative share in the winery´s profits, but also receive a percentage of the sale price of their wines.  Since the sale price is closely related to the the quality level of the wines, the producers have a strong incentive to produce high-quality grapes.  While the winery is quite large, the average fermenting tank size is quite small, permitting the winery to ferment individual producers grapes, which thus makes it possible to implement the quality-based reward system so fundamental to keeping good quality.

San Carlos Sud has a website, but it's in Spanish. Fortunately, I was able to use a translation plugin that translated the Spanish into English. Isn't the internet great? On the homepage is a line of a poem, which I absolutely fell in love with (remember this is a loose translation):

The wine, like love,

you have to drink from in sips,

because the two palls

if you drink otherwise

Alfredo Bufano