Cork Cage

Here is a picture of my new cork cage! I was dropping in the cork from the almond sparkler on New Year's Eve.

New Year's Eve Wines

Stephen and I decided to keep it pretty low key this New Year's, so decided to just spend the evening with Maddie and family. We invited our parents over as well and while my parents were sick, Stephen's parents could make it over. We bought hats, glasses, and noisemakers and had snacks, wine, and played the new game I got Stephen for Christmas, Hedbanz. This game is FUN! It's basically kind of like 20 questions, but you are wearing a headband with a card on it and you are trying to guess what is on your card.

The night was really fun and while we played the game, we gave Stephen's parents a choice of a few wines. They chose one they actually have had before, the Becker Prairie Rotie. This wine is always a crowd pleaser and is very soft and not very tannic so fits well with people who don't usually drink wine. We celebrated the new year a little before midnight so Maddie wouldn't have to stay up so late, and toasted with an almond sparkler.

Everyone agreed the sparkler was great and better than real champagne! I always love almond sparklers, as they are sweet and super delicious.

The night was very fun!

Christmas wine

Christmas was amazing this year, we were all very fortunate to receive so many wonderful presents! One of my favorites has been the new camera Stephen's parents gave us since they know I love to take pictures so much. My photos for the blog, scrapbook, and just in general will be so much better! :) Stephen and I had a ban on giving wine as a present this year since we have SO many bottles already, but I should have known he would give me one anyway lol.

It is a Cabo de Hornos from Chile and is a blend of cabernet, syrah, and malbec. It sounds very interesting and was a bit pricey so we will probably keep it in our new wine cooler for a little while! He also got me a cork cage which I will get a picture of shortly. It is like a wire house where you drop corks in through the chimney and then you can keep the corks for memories.

I had just seen my parents for Christmas Eve, but my brother was only coming into town on Christmas day, so they all stopped by for a short gift exchange and a little wine and a mini round of Apples to Apples. We were trying to think of a wine they might like but would be new to them and came up with an good one we have had for a little bit. It is a 2008 Flat Creek orange muscat and we all loved it! It is 11% alcohol but tastes extremely smooth. It's a tad sweet with a hint of orange but overall was just a very smooth easy drinking delicious wine. I actually don't think I like it as much as the Texas Hills orange muscat though, which is higher alcohol (14%) with a little more kick and balance to it. This one, like the Texas Hills one, is a little pricey though at $17 for a 2/3 sized bottle.

As I said before, we got many wonderful presents and had an excellent Christmas overall.

Christmas Eve wines

We got together with Stephen's parents and my parents for some holiday fun on Christmas Eve and had a delicious array of foods and wines. My parents are not into red wine, so before they came Stephen and I opened a Becker claret we had brought, which is delicious. In my opinion, most if not all of the Becker wines are very solid choices and most are between $10 - 15 so a good value too.

My parents arrived and they had brought wine too, so we opened a Biltmore Century white wine, which unfortunately I forgot to snap a picture of. It's a wine I introduced my parents to that they now like. It's a blend of riesling, gewurztraminer, and muscat canelli and is a little higher alcohol than what they were used to (12%). It's very good.

We all ate some soup, salad, and sandwiches and munched on cookies and other treats as we played Apples to Apples which is probably my favorite game ever.

We also opened another wine near the end of the night which I had never had before but always thought looked interesting.

It is a Root: 1 Cabernet and I think Stephen's parents bought it because it had high reviews. It turned out to be very good as well! We ended up staying pretty late but the night was a lot of fun and a very good Christmas Eve. :)

Martini & Rossi Sparkling Wine

For some reason I felt like opening a sparking wine and I've had this one for a little while. Stephen wanted to try a new way of opening sparklers called "kniving" I think. Basically you open the top of the bottle but leave the cork in. Then, you rub a knife up and down against the neck of the bottle really fast and its supposed to build up the carbonation. Finally, the cork should shoot out.

Well we tried it and it WORKED! The only thing is that the cork did not exactly shoot out, it shot off a piece of the bottle with it...

It was very fun. As for the actual wine, I liked it! It was somewhat sweet and very drinkable. I wanted to try it also because I've heard champagnes and other sparkling wines that something in them that amplifies the effects of the wine, making you feel slightly different. 

I'm not sure I'd get this wine again just for fun, but if I needed a sparkling wine for some reason I would consider it. 

 

Becker Barbera

Stephen and I had his sister and her boyfriend over for wii and wine and we had them pick a wine. They chose this Becker barbera, which is an EXCELLENT wine. This wine has a really unique smell and I was trying to look online somewhere for what it is and came across sandalwood. That is exactly it! And possibly a bit of mint? The flavor is also amazing - it has a subtle spiciness yet is a relatively light wine. It doesn't taste or feel thin at all though, which is something I hate in a wine. There is still some fruit in here, but it is not the dominant flavor.

I am sad to say that the barbera is no longer on the Becker website, which leads me to believe they are not making it any more? :( This may the last bottle I ever have! Also, speaking of Becker, Stephen and I joined their wine club when we went up there in June and haven't picked up our shipment yet. We signed up for 3 wines every 3 months, and they are supposed to be special limited release and exclusive wines. At this point, we are just going to wait a few more weeks and pick up our September shipment along with our December one (which is supposed to have the Raven wine in it - their special!).

To go along with our wine, I made a cheese plate! Ahhh the days of cheese plates, they have been severely lacking in my life lately. Anyway, I cut us up some aged gouda, gruyere, and parrano and all were delicious. I think the consensus was that the parrano was the best one, although all were amazing. In my opinion, the gouda paired best with the barbera.

Chisholm Trail Blanc du Bois

I'm not sure how, but we have THREE of these wines. I think the Round Rock Grapevine Market closing sale is partly to blame. Anyway, it is definitely time to drink one of them. Stephen just got back from a week long business trip to New York, so we decided wine was in order. As always, this blanc du bois is exceptional. I was curious as to what grapes are in here so I looked it up and found out blanc du bois IS the grape. Apparently it's some man made hybrid? It's similar to a sauvignon blanc but with just a hint of sweetness. The flavors are perfectly balanced and this particular wine has definitely citrus but also some floral notes as well as peach.

I love this wine so much I am definitely going to have to investigate other blanc du bois. In fact, I have a blanc du bois Haak white port that is A...MA...ZING that I got at the wine festival in May that I might have to revisit soon. This might have to be my "it" wine of the moment. 2 thumbs up!