No post doesn't mean no wine!

Whoops, so I haven't been keeping up with things here on the blog but I have definitely still been drinking wine and eating cheese! Here is a recap of the last few weeks:

My Birthday!!!

On July 15th I turned 25 and of course did the obligatory "where did all the time go?? whoa!!!" nonsense. In reality it has been a great year and I feel like 25 is a good round number and will be even better than 24. For my birthday, I went out to Eddie V's which I LOVE. The only thing I really wanted was this amazing, amazing salad and a glass of wine. Seriously this salad is the best I've ever had. Its just arugula, sauteed mushrooms and onions, warm goat cheese and a vinaigrette dressing. Oh. My. God. So good! I usually don't like to get wine in restaurants because it is SO much more expensive that getting it at a store. The price of a glass is about the price you'd pay for a bottle. But since it was my birthday and I was in a nice place I indulged. The cool thing about getting wine at restaurants though is you can ask for a recommendation and usually try a few until you find one you like. So thats what I did, I ended up choosing the Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc/Viognier blend. Since its been a few weeks I don't remember too much about it except that it was DELICIOUS, and I promptly went to Specs and bought a whole bottle a few days later. A glass at Eddie V's was $10.50... guess how much the bottle was... $11. Yep. I will be trying my bottle again soon.

Third Wino Divino meeting-

As always this was a fantastic meeting. I so love getting together with friends and trying many different wines all at once. I really get a chance to compare and broaden my horizons and try things I usually wouldn't. The theme this month was to bring a wine from a place you have never been, yet would like to go. So we had a large variety of wines from Spain, France, Italy, Argentina, and of course California. ALL the wines were just fantastic. I brought a tempranillo from Spain that I was very impressed with, and I wish I had my notes from the night to describe some of the other ones. One of the shockers of the nights was a California Chardonnay that we were all like "whoa! this is great!" and it was only $4... thats what I like to see! In addition, there were tons of cheese and crackers, fruit, and hilarious games. A good time was had by all, and I can't wait until the next meeting!

Cresta Azul "needle wine"-

Also I tried the needle wine I bought from a Specs tasting. I believe its actually a white blend but the bottle was vague about what it really is. Its called a needle wine because it feels slightly carbonated (although Im not sure it is) and the bubbles feel like slight needles on your tongue. I loved it at the Specs tasting because it was so different, and when I tried it again at home I was equally impressed. It tastes like a straight up cream soda... exactly. Its a tad sour, but the carbonation and vanilla and cream hints make you feel like you have a cream soda wine. It was delicious and refreshing, something I would like to drink on the patio on a hot day. However, it definitely has to be ice cold. As it warms up its like... a warm soda... kind of gross.