Wine & Cupcakes: A Brilliant Idea

I love wine.  That’s probably not a surprise.

I also love cupcakes.  That is also probably not a surprise.

So an event that involved both wine and cupcakes?  Not surprisingly, I loved it.

My friend Paul had tweeted me to tell me about this event and I signed up immediately.  I was so excited about it, I almost forgot to check my calendar to see if I could go.  (Luckily, I could.)  And then I talked Teri into going with me.  You can imagine it took a lot of convincing. 

Or not.

It was such a cool event.  Tammy Colson, aka Miss WineOH, runs a blog that reviews wines from all over as well as coordinates events such as the one we attended, where they do unique wine and food pairings.

I’m considering asking her if she needs an intern.

The event was held at City Beverage, where I had actually never been (!!), and it was a cozy, intimate group of 15 people.  Tammy did an amazing job running the event and Spencer from City Beverage was super accommodating.  I was so impressed, and Teri and I both had such a great time.

But you want to know what I ate and drank, right?  Right.

Each of the wines was paired with a cupcake to match it.   Light wines with light cupcakes, heavy wines with heavy cupcakes.  The cupcakes came from a new bakery in Winston-Salem, Camino Bakery, and they were so creative and delicious.  (And thankfully they were mini cupcakes, so you didn’t have a sugar coma if you tried them all!  Which I most definitely did.)

Here’s the actual tasting list from the event, with the wines we had and the cupcakes that matched.  My hands down favorite was the roasted garlic cake with smoked gouda icing matched with the 2009 Dante Pinot Noir.

I know.  I am starting to love red wines.  I don’t even know myself anymore!

And yes, a GARLIC cupcake.  It was delicious – a little smoky and savory, but still a tiny bit sweet.  Perfectly balanced by the wine, which to me was my favorite kind of red – jammy.  I may have brought a souvenir home…

My second favorite cupcake was the saffron cupcake with cardamon icing, especially when I just tasted the cupcake without the icing.  It reminded me of paella, but in cupcake form.  That sounds gross doesn’t it?  It wasn’t.  I liked the wine it was paired with too – it was called Big Fire Rose and it was from Oregon.  It definitely wasn’t like most Roses, and I could imagine eating it with a spicy hot meal on a chilly fall night.  (Or with a saffron cupcake on a chilly fall night.  That worked too.)

My favorite wine was the Pinot Noir, but my second favorite was the 2010 Valdesil Montevo Godello (a Spanish white) paired with a vanilla bean cupcake with strawberry balsamic icing.  It wasn’t my favorite cupcake – nothing about the flavor really jumped out at me – but I loved the wine.  I’m a sucker for anything from Spain, but I can’t say I’ve really had a lot of wine from there!  But Tammy said this wine was a lot like a viognier, which I discovered I love at last year’s Salute festival. 

This was such a fun twist on the usual wine-and-cheese pairing idea, and such a neat way to explore new flavors.  Not to mention a great way to spend time with some old friends, new friends and friends who photograph their food too.

PS, you can read Teri’s version here with more pics and different wine preferences! 

Monday in Sonoma Valley

Is there anything better than sitting outside on a unexpectedly warm Fall day, gazing out at lush green land, sipping wine and laughing and talking with your friends?

I’m going to argue no.  After spending the most glorious 3 days in Sonoma with my college girlfriends last March, I was hell bent on getting back there if we were only going to be 50 miles away.  Luckily for me, Anne took no convincing whatsoever and the boys somewhat begrudgingly agreed.  (I think they were very content once we got into the swing of things.)

I mean, who wouldn’t be?

We used the same company that I had used with the winos for our drivers –  Terrific Tours.  I can’t say enough great things about them, especially DJ – who had driven us last year and I requested this year.  He grew up in the area in a grape-growing family and is knowledgeable about the area and is on a first name basis at almost every vineyard we visited.  But he also backs off and lets a group do their own thing once we get to each place.  If you’re ever going to wine country, use them as your drivers!  (And trust me, you want a driver.) 

On our way out of the city, we were all exclaiming at the views of the Golden Gate Bridge and he asked if we wanted to take a quick pit stop for some photo ops.  Of course! 

We somehow packed 7 vineyards into our day.   We started off at Cline Cellars, because…well, obviously!  We’ve had a handful of Cline wines before at home, including one of Matt’s favorites Red Truck.  I was glad that I knew I could get most of these wines at Total Wine when we got home, because I wanted to take them all – especially the Zinfandel.

(So, I’m wondering if fixing the broken “E” on the Cline sign is a photoshop do-able thing?  I need to learn these skills.)

From Cline, we went across the street to their “sister vineyard,” Jacuzzi.  Apparently a Cline married a Jacuzzi, bringing these 2 vineyards into one family.  Kind of lamenting that it’s not one of our Clines that married said Jacuzzi.  Jacuzzi had some really delicious Italian style wines, but our favorite was the “chocolate shot.”  Their dessert wine poured into a chocolate shot – drink the wine, then immediately chew the chocolate.  Heck yea.  Anne fell in love with a red here called Barbera that she swore was the best red she’s ever had. 

From Jacuzzi, we went to a vineyard called Anaba.  Instead of the usual tasting room style, we were invited to go sit outside on the patio and she came out and poured one wine at a time and allowed us to sit and sip and talk.  I think this was hands down everyone’s favorite place.  These were some of my favorite wines we had all day too – I bought a white called Coriol just because I had never had anything like it and Matt picked out a red called Turbine, that was super jammy and delicious.

At these point, we were in need of some food to start soaking up the wine, so DJ took us into downtown Sonoma to a place called Sunflower Café.  The long line told us everything we needed to know – and fortunately for our rumbling stomachs, it moved quickly.  Per the recommendation of the girl at Anaba, we tried the goat cheese and pistachio stuffed peppers as an appetizer.  Ah.maze.ing. 

After lunch, we were ready to go again.  DJ took us next to a place that was supposed to have some of the best Pinot Noirs in Sonoma Valley called Nicholson Ranch.  This was probably my least favorite place of the day, possibly because it was the only place we went where the person doing the tastings was not very warm and really didn’t take a lot of time to tell us about any of the wines we were pouring other than pointing to the tasting notes on a piece of paper.  We didn’t stay very long or take home any souvenirs.

From Nicholson, we went on to Robledo which was pretty much the exact opposite experience.  The guy doing the tastings was one of the 7 sons of the owners, and not only did he tell us about each and every wine but kept us entertained with stories about how his Dad had started off in the late 60s learning to prune vines and saved every penny he made until he could open his own vineyard in the late 80s.  We loved the story and we loved the wines – and Matt loved the hand made furniture in the tasting room (of course).  We didn’t have room to put a table in our carry-on, so we settled for taking home a bottle of Los Braceros, a bold red blend. 

After Robledo’s, we hit up two more smaller vineyards – Homewood winery and Meadowcroft.  Homewood winery is literally a one man show – the owner does as much of the work himself as he can and so production is quite small.  Their attitude was that wine making (and drinking) should be fun, as evidenced in the name of their signature wine – the Flying Wizzbanger.  I can’t remember how the name came about, but the wine is good!  We were definitely winding down by the time we got to Meadowcroft, but they had a great Chardonnay which surprised me as I’m not usually a fan of oaky, creamy Chards.  It was the last one to join my collection of souvenirs to come home.

And by then, it was time for us to go home.  It was getting late into the afternoon, and our driver said “bad things happen after 7 vineyards.”  Can’t argue with that!  Back to the city we went…

Waving good-bye to my favorite place on Earth…

Hoping that somehow 2012 holds a surprise trip for me, too…

Spur of the Moment Wine Tasting… Why Not?

I'm not necessarily the most spontaneous person in the world (ahem, planning my days off to the hour including times spent driving between distances?  Yeah, whatever the opposite of spontaneous is... I'm it.)  So I was a little bit surprised & delighted with myself when sitting on my couch this morning, thinking of all the things on my to do list today, I decided "you know what? It's a beautiful Sunday, I want to be outside."  I had a livingsocial coupon for a wine tasting at West Bend Vineyards, so I texted Anne to see if she wanted to go.  I was equally as surprised when she was free, since Anne's pretty much the most scheduled out person I know so, must be the spontaneous gods were looking out for us today.  ​

It was a perfect spent Sunday afternoon.  It was a reason to drive out to an (extremely close!) vineyard I had never been to, a charming little place where the wine was delicious.  It wasn't super busy in there, so the guy let us try a few things off the usual tasting menu and we rewarded his kindness by picking out a bottle to purchase.  We spent the afternoon sitting in a rocking chair, talking about life, love, careers, husbands, dance trance, babies, dogs and wine.  I'm quite certain there are very few things that make me happier than good conversation over good wine with good friends.  It's like the trifecta of happiness.​

Salute, again!

We had so much fun at Salute last year, we went back for more this year.  It was unbelievably hot out.  It must have been well in the high 90s.  Anne, Akanksha and I had a very specific strategy: we didn’t touch a single red or sweet white, and we chugged my water bottle in between tastings.  I love this event – it makes me proud to see all the great wines coming out of my little state!  Way to be, NC. 

We also took lots of water breaks for Buddy, who is on the other end of the red leash in Anne’s hand in this picture.  He was quite the attention getter!  I kept having to tell people that no, he’s not a puppy…he’s an old man!  Must be the buzz cut.

We took a food break at Rana Loca and my old man doggy passed out on the cool tile.  Shortly after, we met up with our friend Loren, and then Kate & Charlie joined us and we attempted to venture back out in the heat with our growing crowd.  I didn’t last too long on our second go round, and I could tell the Spuds was really to get outta the heat, so I hitchhiked a ride back from Matt who was on his way back into town from the airport.

I also had the fun of running into a friend I’ve talked to on Twitter for the last few months!  I adore reading Teri’s blog – it’s a happy marriage of so many things I love: she’s a foodie, a fitness geek and possibly as obsessed with her dog as I am with mine.  I felt a bit stalkerish to tap her on the shoulder as I saw her walk by and introduce myself, but she is just as sweet and cute as can be in real life.  I love when internet world collides with real world.

All in all, we had a super fun day exploring our state’s vineyards all contained in a couple of city blocks.  We managed to survive the heat, and the other disappointment of the day was that the peach bellini machine had quit working.  After we called it quits for the afternoon, we were lucky enough to be invited over to Tim and Crystal’s for some delicious fajitas complete with homemade tortillas that Crystal’s momma had brought up on her last visit from San Antonio.

What a fulfilling day.

Dead Legs

It was hot.  The first really hot day we've had this year, and we were out pounding the asphalt down a country road with no shade.

It was hilly.  Gorgeous scenery - rolling farmland, with vines stretching as far as the eye could see.  Gorgeous.  But it's hard to notice that when all you can think about are your quads burning and your heart pounding.

It was tough.  My mind wasn't in a good place, and coupled with the heat I hadn't trained in, I was saying all sorts of curse words about the sport of running.  We came around a bend to a water station at mile 4, and a cute little pixie handed us our Dixie cup of water and squeaked...

"All uphill from here!" as she cheerily waved us on.

"Wait, what did she say?" asked Anne.

"All. Up. Hill." I grunted.

We groaned.

We chugged along, our happy chatter from the first mile being replaced by occassional comments and eventually, just the sound of our breath and our feet pounding.  Our paces changed, and soon I was by myself.  I put my headphones on and prayed some Gaga and some ZBB would carry me to through the final mile.

I came around another corner and saw the gates of the vineyard in sight, and picked up my pace.  I saw the mile marker 6, and knew there were just 0.2 left go and poured out everything I had.  I saw my friends waving from the finish line - done already, happily nursing their powerades and cheering for me.  I pumped my fist, I picked up my legs, I crossed the finish line....

And I puked all the way down the lawn in front of a family and 2 EMS volunteers.

Ugh.

What does Jillian always say?  "Unless you puke, faint or die...keep going!"

Yes ma'am.

I'm pretty sure it was the heat, coupled with the fact that I hadn't been exactly faithful to my training plan the week before.  (I was busy, I had a messed up toe from a pedicure, I prefer sleep over running, blah blah blah...)  But nonetheless, that is what I will always remember from my Running through the Vines 10k.

On a happier note, it was both Anne and Akanksha's first 10k and they did amazing.  There's no better feeling that surpassing a goal you previously thought impossible and I'm so, so proud of them.  Also, Jamie came out to support us and seeing her smiling face and big camera lens at the finish line was the extra push I needed to get me ACROSS the line before my eventful finish.  She drove all the way up from Winston - an hour's ride - to stand in the heat (at 20 wks preggo) to support us.  That is a good friend.

After the race and getting a little food in me, we walked across the street to the cheap hotel room we had rented for the purpose of showering and napping.  Both of which were much needed.  After some BravoTV and napping, I dosed myself with the necessary medicine for recovery: 1 liter of water, 1 packet of Goody's aspirin and a happy meal from Dairy Queen.  With that, I was good to go.

We were able to enjoy a great tasting at Shelton and pick out a bottle to carry out to our picnic blanket on the lawn and settle in for the concert.  The Embers did not disappoint.  They brought down the house... as soon as their first song started playing, there were folks out there shagging and by the end of it, I think the entire lawn had spilled out on the dance floor.  I love beach music and I love the culture of shag dancing - but that's a story for another day.  For now, let me just say that the evening's events... a bottle of wine, the sun setting over the vineyard, some upbeat music and dancing with my girlfriends... more than made up for the morning's miserable run.

I'm still not sure whether my legs were sore the next day from the hill at mile 3 or 3 hours of shag dancing.

PS, Thanks to Jamie for all the race day pictures!

Salute!

Let's see... time spent with good friends, in warm weather with delicious wine? Check. Pretty sure that's a recipe for a perfect weekend day. Matt and I spent Saturday at the Salute NC Wine Festival with friends - Mike, Anne, Locke, Crystal, Donna, Kim and Crick. I'm not sure we tasted everything there but we definitely put a good effort forth. I'm totally shocked to report that my absolute favorite wine was the Cellar 4201 Sangiovese. Yes, moi, who pretty much only started drinking, nay tasting, red wines a month ago. It seems like white wines from NC are just super sweet. I'm a fan of semi-sweet wines, for sure, but I don't want a sugar buzz along with my vino buzz. Other faves were the Raffaldini Fiore, Divine Llama Chardonnel and McRitchie Sparking Niagara.

After our (sugar) buzz, we headed to dinner at Downtown Thai. Afterwards we headed across the street to a new bar. It's called Tate's Craft Cocktails... I guess craft means hand-made and hand-made means really, really, REALLY slow service? I'd give 'em a 2nd chance, since apparently they have just opened, but it took an hour and a half for 8 of us to have one round of drinks.

And then we stood in a street and danced to an 80s cover band and I thought about how much I adore life in this city with our wonderful friends, the end.

Winos Do Wine Country: Day 2

The sun rises on Jimtown Cottage. Next door, a rooster crows. (Seriously.) And we are all tucked in our snuggly, warm beds, while visions of zinfandels danced in our head.

No, wait. Scratch that. We were all lying awake staring at the clock since about 4 am, still on East Coast time.

By 6 am, we had all gathered in the living room, lamenting over the lack of coffee and decided to pile into our mini-van for a Starbucks/Grocery store run. With a little advanced planning (and some crazy Excel spreadsheets), we divided and conquered the grocery store. Groceries for 3 dinners, 3 breakfast and snacks for 5 girls? Purchased in less than an hour, for about $45/person. Amazing.

With our provisions secured, we headed back to the house to wait our driver with a warm-up glass of wine on the porch.

(Also, we were really pleased with the driving services, but I’ll save my review for that on yelp. However, if you’re going to Sonoma look up Terrific Tours.)

Pam and I had researched the vineyards (Excel, again) and had narrowed down a list of 70 recommendations into approximately 12 vineyards . We turned the list over to our driver who made some tweaks according to their experiences and connections. I was totally pleased with the choices they came up with, even though it changed about half of the places we had researched.

The day was nothing short of magical. Standing shoulder to shoulder at bars that ranged from beautiful, polished oak overlooking lush green rolling vineyards and palatial Italian terraces to old wooden plank bars in a farmhouse to wine glasses held directly under a spout in a barrel. We visited seven vineyards today: Ferrari-Carano, Sbraglia Family, Preston, Bella, J. Rankin, Pedroncelli, and Coppola.

My favorite thing about vineyards in Sonoma was how tucked away they all were. Without GPS or an experienced driver I’m not sure we would have found half of them. One of my favorites was Preston, which was a beautiful farm house and an organic farm. Here we sat outside (despite the cold) and ate our Oakville Grocery sandwiches accompanied by purring, friendly cats.

Preston Farms Vineyard

Um, scoos me, what u pack me for lunch?

Another favorite, J. Rankin was basically a shed with a wildly hilarious pourer and a beautiful dog named Shelby who recognized five dog lovers and literally threw herself at our feet. The vintner is a current ICU nurse, who makes wine in his “free time.” I loved the places were making wine was more about the passion than the pennies.

Around 3:30, we left J Rankin and our driver asked us if we wanted to make one more stop. Most of our visits had been about 45 minutes, so I’m sure he figured he had plenty of time for us to make one more stop. We agreed (of course) and he pulled up to Francis Ford Coppola. As a downpour began, he pulled us up to the door and we slipped inside to safety. This was the most crowded place we had been to, which is not surprising given it’s a little more well-known. We had to wait for a seat, which is apparently more than standard for normal in-season, but we had been spoiled by visiting places that were practically empty when we arrived.

Our pourer started off with the 5 wines on the tasting menu. We struck up a conversation with a couple next to us, and when they stood up to vacate their seats they waved us into their spot. In the midst of our conversing with the fellow patrons, we had lost the attention of our pourer. But at this point, we had become more interested in each other than the wine being poured. Once back in the hot seat, we turned our focus back to the task at hand.

“Have you all tried this one?” the pourer asked. I looked at the bottle, and didn’t recognize it. “No?”

“Well the couple who was sitting here wanted you to try it.” He poured me a glass, and it was one of the most delicious wines I had had all day. I couldn’t find the bottle on the tasting menu, until I finally found it on the list of wines for sale as one of the pricier selections. WELL. Good to know that there is a difference between the seventy dollar bottle and the twenty dollar bottle. Our enthusiasm won him over, and he came back with wine after wine for us to try as the tasting room emptied out.

All of a sudden the door flung open, allowing light to pour forth into the dark tasting room and our driver anxiously peered inside. "I just wanted to make sure you guys were still in here!" Once we got back to the car, we understood his worry – 2 hours has passed during our free-for-all of tasting!

The rest of the ride home we laughed and giggled and compared notes about our favorites. (My faves: Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc and Coppola Sofia Blanc de Blanc.) Our driver dropped us off, and carried our armloads of souvenirs inside. We prepped dinner (spinach dip by Pam, steak and couscous salad by Jess) and rehashed the day. After dinner we attempted to watch American Idol, but it wasn’t long before our heavy eyelids won over. One by one we drifted off to bed, eager to repeat the day’s events again tomorrow.

Souvenirs.