10 Green Bottles. . . .

. . .  hanging on the wall - well, not exactly, and they're not all green either! But here's a little birthday treat hubby brought home for me on my birthday . . . (but not including the champers, which I picked up myself that day) ;-)

I told Jason not to buy me pressies to wrap up for my birthday, because I'd already treated myself to over $80 worth of yarn the week before AND we went ahead and finally ordered a storm door that I'd wanted for the past couple of years (it gets installed next Monday) - but being the sweetie that he is, he came home on Tuesday with 6 bottles of wine from the grocery store. We buy six at a time (when we can) because the store offers 10% discount when you do and they give you a convenient 6 pack carry case :-) 

I love the selection he brought me too. 3 reds, a Cabernet Sauvignon , Merlot and Pinot Noir, and 3 whites.- Riesling, Pinot Grigio and a Pinot Gris.  As I mentioned before I've taken quite a liking to red wines lately, finally after many many years of thinking I didn't like them at all. Both Cheryl and I are really enjoying them.  Cheryl bought me a lovely bottle of Bordeaux wine for my birthday too and a book on wine tasting, and a large pack of wine label removers!!! This is perfect because I tried recently to remove the wine labels so I could start keeping them in a journal and they wouldn't come off without tearing.

You can CLICK HERE and see the labels she bought me. I've never heard of such a thing, but they actually laminate the label and you peel it off and get a neat plastic covered label. I want to start keeping notes in a journal about the wines we try, but I can also keep track now in a wine note book that Cheryl also bought me ;-)

So, it's Friday . . . . wonder which bottle we'll open tonight?   It won't be the champers, I drank all that on Tuesday!!!! CHEERS!!

Wine Time!

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday so I thought I'd pop on here this morning and do a wine post :-) Looks like I'm not actually managing to do these every week, so I'll just do them as and when I have something to share with you. This week I bought two new wines to try. Last night I tried this one (of course, with Cheryl - I cannot try a new wine without getting her opinion on it) ;-)

Pine Ridge Wine (you can find their website HERE). This is a Chenin Blanc + Viognier (which I pronounce 'von-yay', but have no idea if that's how you say it!!), the chenin blanc is a sweet wine but this wasn't too sweet because 21% of it is viognier. It has peach and honeysuckle flavors from the Viognier and crisp apple, pear and citrus from the Chenin Blanc. I was surprised that I actually could smell and taste the peach (and yay, I didn't look at the back of the bottle before I tasted). Cheryl got hints of citrus when she tried it.

I picked this wine because the first house we ever bought when we moved to the USA was on Pine Ridge Rd! It brought back sweet memories of my new life in the States.

The other wine I picked (but I haven't tried yet) is this one . . . 

Isn't that a cute label :-)  And of course we're still in 'flip flop weather' here in Texas (and probably will be all the way through to October!) so this will be fun to try next weekend.

I have to share this bottle with you - Cheryl opened it last night to try and I have to say, it's the best Merlot I've ever tried. 

This is a huge discovery for me (I'll definitely buy it again- Cheryl got it  from Costco) because I've never liked Merlot. They've always tasted too dry for me and very 'oaky', and LOL, I've always said it tasted very 'furry'!! But this wine wasn't like that, and get this - I actually tasted 'black cherry' (and not the usual blackberry taste that I get from a Cabinet) and that is what it said on the label :-)  I'm getting pretty good at this wine tasting stuff! Highly recommend this one.

I asked Cheryl last weekend to take a picture of my new dress and shoes - this is from her Iphone so it's not very clear (the shoe pics were totally blurry, so I'll get a photo of them next time). I got the dress at Ross and it was actually a gift from Cheryl because a couple of weeks ago she bought me one from there that she thought I might like (she's an awesome friend like that!) but it turned out too small, so I took it back. Couldn't find the dress in a larger size, so I got this one instead :-) 

 I also have to share with you the pretty cuff I wore with it - Susan will recognize this! I won it in a giveaway at her blog last year some time - it's made from a vintage man's suit and is adorned with beautiful lace and a hand sewn silk rose, and tied with a silk ribbon.

Well, I must be off. Hope you all have a great weekend. I have a giveaway coming soon - if you like scrapbooking or have wanted to try digital scrapbooking, you're gonna love it!

Sweet Bliss!

A few weeks ago I tried this delightful bottle of wine. Bet you can't guess why I picked it! Just kidding, of course you can guess I picked it because of it's cute label. I LOVED IT as soon as I saw it. What's not to love about a white chocolate dipped strawberry on the label.

I'm not a huge fan of overly sweet wines, although when it comes to white wine I do prefer a sweeter one than a dryer one. I much prefer a Riesling to a Chardonnay for instance, but some of them can be too sweet. I thought this pink wine would be overly sweet too, but my local grocery store was handing out samples one Saturday afternoon and when I tried it I was rather surprised. It was lovely and fruit,y sweet but not too sweet and really quite refreshing.  I took a picture of the back of the label . . .

The best word to describe this wine is YUMMMM. Aromas of fresh strawberry jump from the glass and harmonize with flavors ranging from white peach to watermelon. This wine is unbelievable delicious with bbq chicken and it's positively indulgent when paired with red velvet cake, strawberry shortcake or gelato. After all, everyone deserves a little Sweet Bliss.

Doesn't that just make you wanna go out and buy a bottle ;-)  I googled the wine and found they have a really sweet website too. Check it out HERE (or click the picture below)

They also have a sweet white wine . . . I just love this label too (although I haven't tried the white yet)

and a sweet red (I also have to try), chocolate dipped cherry, YUM!

I've been watching my 'diet' this week, trying out something new (I'll talk about that in another post) so I won't be drinking wine this weekend. I'm watching my carbs, so instead of wine I'll be trying a gin and 'diet' tonic :-)

CHEERS!

Wine - The Birdman!

Hi guys, I thought I'd make my wine post on Thursday, so I can still join in with Heather on Fridays for Book Club Friday :-) Last weekend I picked up this cute bottle of Pinot Grigio called The Birdman. I want to try a new wine every week if I can, but I don't want to read the back of the label to make my choice (I want to try the wine and see if I can pinpoint any of the tastes it mentions), so for now, I'm going by label!  Yup, if I like the label, I'm buying it.

So, this label caught my eye last week. The birds on it looked kinda cute, especially around the top of the bottle, each one was different and had a different expression on their face!

 

 Well, once again I forgot to NOT read the back of the label before I tasted it, and I didn't make notes about it! Not much of a wine reviewer am I?!! 

sings with a harmonious blend of floral peach and pear aromas and finishes with a long, fruity warble!

I love how some wines are described - 'fruity warble', LOL :-)  This was a really nice Grigio, smooth and almost creamy (i.e. not sharp or citrusy), but still very refreshing. I wish I could taste the peaches and pears, but I usually can't (wonder if that has anything to do with my often stuffy sinus nose!).  I definitely would buy this one again, but there are so many more out there I want to try, so it may be a while before I do. 

I found this on Amazon today, I've added it to my Wish List ;-)

 So, how do you pick a bottle of wine? Does the label influence you at all, or do you reach for something you know you like?

Wine!

Hi all, wow, this past week just flew by again. I didn't even get a chance to post yesterday for Book Club Friday! I was about to do it today but then I decided to post about 'WINE'! Cocktail night has been a bit hit and miss lately, Cheryl and I have usually just shared a glass of wine on a Friday night, and to be honest, that's what our Friday Night's were all about - wine and cheese tastings ;-)  

Cocktails are fun too but I like the idea of getting back to trying a new wine each week, and I thought I would share my 'findings' with you all on here. Not that I'm a connoisseur of wine by any means. In fact I'm no connoisseur at all, but I love trying them. Just this past year I discovered I rather like red wine too so that has opened up a whole new experience for me. I thought I might try to have a post once a week of a new wine I've tried. . . . I'm trying to come up with a name for the 'feature' but as of right now I'm stumped!

For now, let me tell you about two wines we've tried lately. And because I'm not a connoisseur and often can't tell what they taste like, I'm going to share with you the description on the labels :-) So, last week Cheryl was trying a new wine called The Naked Grape (well, new for us), a Pinot Grigio from California.

Light bodied and crisp, with aromas of pear, lemon and honey!

Honestly I can't even remember if that's what I tasted in this wine, I just remember it was nice! I think if I'm to do a post on wines from now on, I'll make notes of what I thought of the drink as and when I taste it. 

Next up is Toasted Head!

 Funny story, I was in the grocery store with Kristen the other week and looking to buy a bottle of wine for Friday night, so I ask her to look at the labels and pick one for me that she liked :-)  She picked this one with a fire-breathing bear! The following are notes from the Toasted Head website (because again, I didn't make any notes about it AND I didn't get a picture of the back of the bottle - because I wasn't thinking about doing these posts at the time).

The nose offers ripe pineapple and peach aromas with toasted graham cracker. The bright straw color prepares the palate for the rich tropical fruit and luscious stone fruit with a viscous mouth feel accented by toasted coconut, vanilla and butterscotch. The creamy finish lingers with hints of buttered toast and lemon zest. This wine will pair well with creamy Italian pasta dishes, roasted chicken or fish, and fresh summer corn.

Pineapple, peach and toasted graham cracker! Wow! I wish I could remember tasting all of that, lol :-)  Toasted coconut, vanilla and butterscotch, I'm sure I didn't get a taste of any of that either! Chardonnays aren't really my favorite kind of wine, I usually find them too dry, but am wanting to like them better - so I keep on trying them. This one was actually rather nice.

Well, that's it for this weeks 'recommendations'. I really liked both of these wines, so if you see them in your local store, give em a try.  And if you've tried something yummy lately, or can recommend a great wine, do let me know.

Hmmm? Any ideas what I can call my weekly 'wine post'?