Sheldrake Point Riesling Wild Ferment Ice Wine `14 $100.00 #SheldrakePoint #CLWT #ALTWBC15

What's the best part about holidays?  For me, it is spending time with the people you care about, sharing a special meal and memories.  This year, I was invited to join in the Annual Game Pie family dinner with SMF & JPH et al.  During dinner, we discussed New York's Finger Lakes AVA and the vineyards that we have visited.  It was at Sheldrake Point on Cayuga Lake that they discovered this rare, delicious wild ferment ice wine.

Let's talk about wild/spontaneous ferment wine.  That's where the winemaker takes a chance on the native yeasts in the environment, and lets it culture the wine.  It's a risk, yeasts affect that final flavor of the wine - and you won't know what you get from the random predominant yeast until it is too late to change the inoculation.

Conditions need to be perfect just to be able to make an ice wine (grapes freeze on vine at perfect ripeness).  Wild ferment is a high risk game of chance - after you have hand harvested your rare frozen grapes, and juiced them the wine maker had to wait months to see the residual sugar dropping indicating that the juice is spontaneously fermenting while in a holding tank. In this case, with Wild Ferment Riesling Ice Wine `14 Sheldrake Point scored a home run. 

This is a rare (213 cases), expensive ($100.00) special occasion wine.  It's a splurge.  rich, delicious dessert wine with an amazing mouth feel, and long lingering taste of pineapple - it is sweet, fruity and delicious. Although we sipped this unpaired as the evening wound down, it could easily be paired with anything - just remember the rule of thumb - never serve a dessert that is sweeter than the dessert wine - it will make the wine seem thin - too much sugar can be overpowering.

At 7.8% ETOH is was a great low alcohol dessert wine for entertaining (Some ports/dessert wines are so high in alcohol, they should be labelled in proof, and could be the final tipping point to a DUI).  It was the prefect finish to a wonderful evening as we sipped, smiled, and enjoyed.

Serendipity is a beautiful thing! (And so is Game Pie!)

Gluten-Free Chocolate-Almond Thumbprint Cookies #BittenWordCookies #FoodandWine

Ho, ho, ooooh no...Santa's got a gluten problem.

`tis the season, and I am TRYING to get in the festive holiday spirit, so when Zach & Clay over at the Bitten Word announced that this year's cover-to-cover would be Christmas cookies, I signed up immediately.  As I waited for my assignment, there were visions of sugar plums and silver balls in my head. (you know those tiny silver balls that cracked teeth back in the day? Those were the days when  a Christmas Cookie was part sugar rush, and part fear of an emergency trip to the dentist).  When my assignment arrived, it was a healthy, and au courant - Food & Wine Magazine's Gluten-Free Chocolate-Almond Thumbprint Cookies.

I was apprehensive.  What is Christmas without SUGAR? Well, there is plenty of honey in these cookies to compensate for the lack of good old bleached and refined sugar. To add to the uniqueness of the recipe, this is a Christmas cookie without FLOUR- the cookies are made with not in your average grocery store almond flour (thank you Trader Joe's, you are always there when I need you).

This challenge was  my first gluten free baking experience, I made my first caramel with honey and coconut milk and coconut oil.   And you know what? They aren't too bad.  I'll admit I had more fun styling the cell phone photo and drinking the port (Santa LOVES Graham's Six Grape Port)

Well, Zach & Clay, I did it.  I'm still not quite in the holiday spirit, but I am getting there.

A slideshow of the process:

NV Viñedo de los Vientos Tannat Alcyone $27.00 2nd review #DessertWine

A crowd pleasing gift.

Exotic, approachable and unique, this dessert wine form Uruguay is the most universally interesting wine that I have ever tasted. It is a very sweet wine, which makes it popular with non-wine drinkers. This Alcyone is my hostess gift of choice, and I love watching people react to the sweet chocolate/marshmallow taste.

I first discovered it at Vini-Volo JFK. It's not easy to find (I get mine at Astor Wines and Spirits in NYC) and it varies in price, but it's a guaranteed to be a welcome addition to almost any dessert course.

Recently, I paired it with cake, whipped cream and fresh strawberries. It really worked.  For the leftovers, it was suggested that I macerate the strawberries in the wine, brilliant idea. I'm thinking that I'll make a couple of recipe cards to add to the gift bags.

Banfi Rosa Regale Brachetto d’Acqui DOCG NV $19.99 (Not TJ's) ****

A Birthday Dinner in three bottles:  #3  Banfi Rosa Regale Brachetto d’Acqui DOCG

I have written about the Banfi Dynasty before - It really is the "House that Riuniti Built" But they offer so much more.  On the top of that scale is this light, sparkling delicious sweet strawberry nuanced wine.  JPH chose it as the pairing for dessert:  Vanilla and Lemon Panna Cotta.  S. & JPH first had Rosa Regale at a tasting dinner at the Banfi Estate in Old Brookville, not far from their house.  I liked it from the first sip, and after devouring a couple of splits over the summer, we had this bottle waiting in the beer drawer for a special occasion.

From Piemonte, (just like the origins of Panna Cotta) this wine was a hit.  It is sweet (everyone should approve), fresh strawberries with a hint of rose and bubbly with a dark pink/red color that just makes me think of Valentine's Day (which is a stretch, because normally, I think of Valentine's Day and want to eat a Lemon Meringue Pie all by myself, watch George Clooney in anything and then go to sleep, wishing that the day would be over... but I digress...)

Made from 100% Brachetto grapes, it is simply a great sweet/sparkling wine that you can drink to brighten up any occasion.

After we finished dessert, we went back to the terrace and enjoyed the fire pit in full blaze.  We roasted some garlic grown in a family garden and simply relaxed and enjoyed the evening.  Cognac may have been opened and enjoyed by the fireside, but what happens on the terrace, stays on the terrace.  I am done blogging for this evening.

Cheers!

Pacific Rim "Vin de Glaciere" Riesling `07 $14.99 (not TJ's) ****

This was the dessert wine that we first tasted at Sardi's. What I didn't know is that there was a bottle lurking in the fridge back at the home front! 

It was a perfect glass of cold candied sweetness, with a predominant taste of Pineapple.  On the whole, I love Riesling, (although I panned their table wine: Pacific Rim Riesling back when I started this blog).

Pacific Rim "Vin de Glaciere" Riesling  is sweet - like a ripe, lightly honey coated pineapple.  BUT having it served well chilled makes it almost crisp - it is a great juxtaposition of flavor/texture.  Both times that I tasted it, it was the delicious end to a great meal.

This wine has a lot of sugar in it. About the "Ice" method; From their website:  We pick the Vin de Glacière Riesling grapes around 22.5% sugar in order to preserve the natural acidity of the grapes. The grapes are then frozen. We press the grapes frozen, resulting in a concentrated press juice (about 36% sugar) and a low yield (about half the regular yield). The concentrated juice is fermented until we reach 16% Residual Sugar.

S., JPH, et al. ~ /! (AMH) are skiing out west this week.  

AMH & I were lucky enough 

to have some home made goodies baked for us before they left.

(I hope that hers arrives in the mail before this is posted!) 

Behold, Ciambella from Marcella Hazan's Essential of Classic Italian Cooking.

Pretty much a perfect breakfast.

Lost Angel Muscat Canelli Paso Robles `08 $5.99 ****

This is a VERY SWEET wine.  A dessert wine.  It tastes like sugared Honeydew Melon.  I liked it.  Because of the fruitiness, I would serve it with a salty prosciutto maybe?  The rule of thumb for dessert wines is that dessert wine should be sweeter than the dessert.

We had it very well chilled, with Brie, apples and crackers. I only have a morning after picture of the bottle, because there are some times when the Blackberry needs to stay on the shelf and last night was one of them.

I really was surprised by this wine, and it makes me want to try all of the Lost Angel Wines. They have a pretty comprehensive website (except this wine isn't on it).  This California wine is from EOS Estate Winery but I am not exactly sure of the provenance, as they are now owned by a conglomerate.  Maybe a trip to California is in order - any excuse to travel!!  The price is great, and it is well worth it to have a bottle on hand for when you want to have a sweet addition to a meal.

 UPDATE:  Did I mention that I LOVE comments?  Well, I do.  Since they commented, I now know that they are not owned by a conglomerate (I was terrified that they were Bronco owned)  Whoo hoo, great wine, great price.  I'm gonna try all of them!!

Trader Joe's Moscato Late Harvest *** $5.99

It is a 350 ml bottle. So, I knew that it was a dessert wine. I brought it home and poured a glass not for dessert - but for my supper. Wine for supper - now that it a treat.

It seems thick when you first drink it, and sweet - and citrusy (is that a word?). I had it really well chilled, and you do want to drink it from a small glass. (I was using a standard wine glass) I over poured - but sipping it while watching TV made for a nice Friday December evening, and I had the balance of the bottle in the fridge waiting for its chance to really be a dessert wine on Saturday.

Yummy - I'd buy it again.

***