Well…the long wait is over! If not for my fellow #Vinopanions, at least for my own incessant #wine cravings and the need to blast out my ramblings de vinos. WardKadel.com is finally live, as we are in the process of shutting down the long-running WineLog.net. With this relaunch, you will find more content combining my two...
Category: Food
Hall Wines Cabernet Cookoff tastes great, gives help
We're a little late on our coverage of this fine event, but we did want to send out hearty Vinopanion props to Hall Wines (WL, FB, Tw, IG, YT) and their highly enjoyable 6th Annual Cabernet Cookoff charity #foodie and #wine event this past April. Fifteen Napa Valley and San Francisco based chef teams competed to see which one could most favorably pair their small bite with the 2012 Hall Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvigon and the 2012 Hall Napa County Coeur Cabernet Sauvignon red wines. To whet the almost 700 attendees' palates, the festivities were kicked off with a glass of the delicious 2012 Hall Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc. On this particularly hot April day, the SB was quite a treat, with its juicy citrus acidity, rounded out with some tropical fruit and floral notes, and finishing with some zingy minerality. Following the SB intro, the Lady and I headed into the array of tents to taste through the many culinary delights on prep. Hofsas House Carmel-by-the-Sea: A central, tasty stay
Earlier this year, the Lady and I had a chance to stay at a continually refurbished gem in one of our fav places on earth: Carmel-by-the-Sea (FB, Tw, IG, YT). We hadn't had a chance to stay at the Hofsas House Hotel (FB, Tw, Blog) in a number of years, so we were excited to be granted a media weekend stay at the centrally located property, courtesy of the hotel and Chatterbox Wine Marketing. Family owned and operated for over 60 years, the Hofsas is a longtime landmark for the entire Monterey Peninsula, with its Bavarian charm and singular ocean views atop the hill in Carmel-by-the-Sea. #OleWinos: MGWines Group's Lavia rocks the A+ #wine
We continued our #OleWinos adventure with host MGWines Group (WL, FB, Tw), at their stellar Bodegas Lavia (WL, FB, Tw) #wine estate in the Bullas DO (WL, FB). You might remember that I visited DO Bullas a couple years back during our #Murcia8 journey. It was wonderful to be back and to visit a new part of this small Spanish appellation, the smallest in the Murcia region of Spain. It is here that MGWines found the latest jewel in their basket of unique, fine wineries across the multitude of Spanish wine regions. Our host for this trip was again, winemaker Sebastien Boudon. He splits his time between Sierra Salinas and Lavia, which are about 100 km apart from each other. The rain and clouds followed us to Lavia as well, but that didn't stop us from taking in the striking mountainous surroundings of the Lavia estate.
More details after the leap! Pisco.
Yes, that there in the title is the name of a spirit...a SPIRIT!? You ask such a question since I've never written about any spirits in the long history of Vinopanion, except for the occasional mention of Bourbon, after the previously enjoyed wine and Port, ahem, or something. Yet, I am finally throwing down the spirit gauntlet (goblet?), and am excited to talk about the Peruvian grape-distilled spirit known as Pisco. Yet, discussing the fine premium aspects of true Pisco does not put a slash across my wine-writing obsession, it merely adds to the annals of my vinous discovery. For what is Pisco distilled from? Come now...you must have guessed it by now: grapes! Pisco is the national grape brandy of Peru and as such, is as highly regulated for quality and style as the finest and more widely known grape-distilled spirits found across the fine continent of Europe.