For those times when a delicious bottle of wine is bestowed upon us, or we find a gem at a local store and make an effort to cook a complimenting dinner, I've added some short post of times spent and notes made in my 'little black book of wine tasting'. The layout here is the same as that of my Little Black Book, short and simple so more time can be spent enjoying the company you are with.
I spent time living in the Caribbean where you can find the odd South African wine and the more expensive European wines, but the USA and South American wines are much more reasonable (having to not travel as far) and have a wider selection of wines available in the local stores. So, some of these notes may include foreign wines.
My wine notes below...
WINE: Cupcake Red Velvet
PRICE: $14 (KYD)
REGION & COUNTRY: California, USA
GRAPE VARIETY: Blend - Zinfandel, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah.
RECOMMENDED BY: Ourselves after perusing the shelves and seeing their unique name and branding.
PLACE BOUGHT: Big Daddy's
PLACE TASTED: At Home. On the beach watching the sunset before enjoying some homemade chicken pie. I may have thrown a splash of wine into the sauce of the pie for some added flavour - delicious!
APPEARANCE: A dark hue, a very full reddish purple colour.
NOSE: Rich and fruity with a hint of coffee
TASTE: Quite similar to a Pinotage with the berry flavours and chocolate mocha finish
FINISH: Smooth. Very nice!
OVERALL IMPRESSION: Definitely one of the better USA wines we have tasted. I would definitely like to try it again together with a big slice of home made Red Velvet Cake.
OVERALL VALUE: 4 out 5
There is actually a great range of Cupcake wines. The farm and vineyards are in California where a number of the wines are created. The winemaker does however travel the world collaborating with other winemakers in Argentina, Australia, France and Italy to name a few, to develop wines. The Merlot for example comes from Australia's Barossa Valley region and the Riesling from Mosel Valley, Germany.
I think it would be awesome to have a wine and cupcake pairing evening with a number of these wines for tasting. There are a whole host of cupcake flavours you could play with from chocolate and mocha to berries and citrus - yum yum yum!
Labels: Cupcake, Wine with dinner
