More of My Favorite Things... Wine

So today I decided to post about one of my other favorite things in life… wine!  Andrew and I are pretty avid wine drinkers.  We generally have a bottle or two or three around the house.  In fact, between our parents, probably our two favorite gifts most recently are the wine fridge Andrew’s parents bought us for Christmas last year and the wine rack my parents found for us at a craft show.  They are both great because now we have a place to store wine both cold and room temperature as well as a place to store the wine glasses. 

 

Now, I used to not be a wine fan at all.  In fact, I thought it had the taste of grape juice run through a dirty old shoe.  All it took to change that was a little trip to Italy.  When I was there with my college several years ago, we visited a winery and tried several different kinds of wine.  This was also when I was introduced to Prosecco.  I would be lost if I hadn’t found Prosecco!  I will always have fond memories of sitting on the side of the Duomo in Florence sipping Prosecco with a couple of other ladies.  Ahh the days!

 

Now, I have expanded my wine horizons a little and drawn Andrew into the wine world too.  He used to, and probably still would, drink jegger… blech.  Just the smell of that junk is more than enough for me.  We have been to several wine events.  We took my parents to a wine tasting even in November last year and last summer, Andrew and I went to Winefest downtown and the Sips in the City event.  If you are at all interested in wine and finding some more wines you enjoy, this is one of the best places to do it. Between these two events, we have discovered a lot of really great wine.  I also figure in the end, we have probably saved ourselves from buying several bottles of wine that we would have taken one sip of an not wanted to finish. 

 

Here are a couple of our favorites. 

 

Stella Rosa Rosso- we were introduced to this lovely by a friend of our and have since hooked my parents on it as well.  We have the best luck finding it at Hy Vee and it usually runs between $12 and $14/ bottle

When we were at the wine event in November, we found out there is more than just one kind of Stella Rosa.  Stella Rosa Bianco is now my other favorite.  This one also runs about $12-14/bottle depending on if there is a sale going.  

At the November wine festival, we were also introduced to the Lindeman’s line of wine.  Now, if you ever want to see Andrew jump for joy and be your best friend forever, buy him some Lindeman’s Bin 46.  Lindeman’s in general is pretty cheap, running around $5-7/bottle, which is another reason we like it. We recently tried the moscato and really enjoyed that one as well. 

When we are feeling a little festive, we have come across a couple of sparkling wines that we like.  Martini& Rossi Asti Spumante is one of them that my parents served at their wedding reception dinner and I discovered my love for it at that point.  Another one we had at our wedding was Wycliff, which is actually a champagne, but we enjoy that one too.  We currently have a bottle sitting in our wine fridge.  I think we decided to pop that one open at our house warming party, not sure when that will be yet.  We have a few more improvements we would like to make.  We usually see these at Target and similar places for about $15/bottle, which isn't bad.  

I know I talked about my love of Prosecco, but to be honest I haven’t had a good one in a while.  Here is one I have had before and I enjoy.  Not my favorite, but it will do.  I haven't bought this one in a while, so I honestly can't remember how much it is.  

One of my other go to wines is Riesling.  Now, some people like the California wine and I say to each their own.  Personally, I have no desire to drink a California Riesling. The German Rieslings are the only way to go in my mind.  I don’t really have a go to brand, I kind of bounce around to whatever is on sale.  I have found more and more lately that this is something I really have to be in the mood for.  Now the Riesling I do find that I like is the edelweiss Riesling.  From talking with various sellers at the wine tasting events, this comes from a late harvest grape.  I love this flavor! 

The final wine I wanted to put on here is Vouvray, a French white wine.  I can usually find this one at the World Market for about $13/bottle. 

Well, that wraps up the tour of wines.  Now, you should all make a trip to the wine and spirits section at the grocery store right away!