Fleur de Vino

Little Vineyards Band Blend

This week’s wine looked like it would be a lot of fun. The label resembled a ticket to a live show of some sort. It gave off those festival vibes just in time for the start of festival season. I was expecting something easy drinking and ready to share with friends. This “Band Blend” was actually a red blend of 57% Zinfandel, 32% Teroldego, 5% Petite Syrah, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 3% Petit Verdoh. I knew of Zinfandel, Petite Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon; but Teroldego and Petit Verdoh were new to me so I started my research there. Teroldego is…

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White

Zazou Picpoul de Pinet

Ok. Ok. I know I say I’m excited to try something every week. But damn. There are just too many interesting wines out there and it’s difficult not to get excited about them. But when you get a wine in your box that it’s name means, “Lip Stinger,” the intrigue and excitement rises on it’s own. The varietal I’m talking about this week is Picpoul de Pinet. Literally translated, “sting the lips.” It is also known as Piquepoul and sometimes referred to as just Picpoul. Most Picpoul grapes are grown in the Languedoc region of France, and indeed that is…

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Red

Raimat Family Vineyards Garnacha

Raimat Garnacha paired with Spicy Pork Trashcan Fries

After hosting a housewarming party the weekend before, I knew I would have to be creative when fixing a pairing up for this week. All that was left from the festivities was a bunch of random foods. All little bit of barbeque here, a little bit of veggie tray there, some frozen foods, and some half eaten cheese blocks. Fortunately, the wine this week was a Garnacha, so I knew pairing just about anything would work out ok. The Garnacha for this week was also a fully organic wine, so I decided to look into organic wines a little bit.…

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Red

Jean Marc Barthez Bordeaux Rouge

Do you ever buy cheese and not stop thinking about it sitting in the fridge? I mean it’s just sitting there all delectable looking and ready to be eaten. How am I supposed to get anything done with deliciousness like that in the house? It’s just me? Haha! I’m fine with that. This was exactly what happened to me this week. I picked up some sharp cheddar at the grocery store and I could not wait to pair it with an equally delicious wine. I picked up my research there to see what I should be looking for. Wine Folly…

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White

Boya Sauvignon Blanc

With two solid weeks of sunshine here in Seattle, I was happy to see a bright white in my WineAwesomeness box. Spring had officially arrived and with it, the promise of warmer days with more hours of light to be shared with some lighter wines. I have not drank enough Sauvignon Blancs yet in my lifetime, because I always think of them as a zippier Pinto Grigio, so this week I set out to find out what made Sauvignon Blanc different and special. It turns out that Sauvignon Blanc is much more similar to Grüner Veltliner, which when I thought…

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Red

Poggio Anima Nero d’Avola

To be honest, this wine label scared me a little bit. The howling wolf with bat wings made me think more about scary stories and the No Sleep podcast more than wine. I was really hoping the research into the why behind this label would pay off and provide some sort of explanation for this strange little creature. It turned out; the little creature had quite the fascinating backstory. It represented Asmodeus, the offspring of the first of mankind, Adam, and the demon, Naamah. Asmodeus represented the physical description of lust. Adam left Eve for 130 years and during that…

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Red

Sidekick Merlot

At this point, I feel like I’ve tried most of the wines that the Sidekick brand, Iconic Wines have produced. The labels always get me pumped with the depictions of female superheroes. I feel like I should only be tasting them when I’m also doing something badass, but then I realize that living as a woman in Trump’s America is on it’s own badass and I move on from there. This bottle was labeled as Merlot, but is actually a blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc grapes. I am generally a big supporter of Cabernet Franc, given that…

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Red

J. Bouchon Cabernet Sauvignon

I was so stoked about trying this wine that I went out with my husband in search of the perfect steak to pair with it. It was noted that this wine was practically made for steak. Since we are a steak-loving household, I just knew this would be the wine for us and that it would round out one of the first great meals in our new house. We procured a couple of well-marbled ribeyes and once I had the sides in the oven and my husband was working with the steaks, I sat down for some research. Most Cabernet…

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Red

Vylyan Portugieser

The label for this wine made me think more of Halloween than the Valentine’s Day that was so close at hand. I’m a big hater of V-Day though, so for me this seemed like a perfect fit. The black cat with the quizzical stare had me a bit quizzical about what this bottle might hold. I had never tried a wine from Hungary before so I started my research there. It turns out that Hungary is mostly known for sweet wines, notably, Tokaji from Tokaj, Hungary. While other varietals are grown on a smaller scale, they are all equally difficult…

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Red, Sparkling

Frico Lambrusco

The wine for this week made me laugh as soon as I opened the box. The large pig on the label of the can let me know that this wine label didn’t take itself too seriously, but that it also might be Italian. Italians love to pair their wine with pork and often keep both of them paired as locally as possible. I would highly recommend this too if you can! I knew automatically that I would need some pork to pair this with and was thankful that my husband had made a trip to Costco that week. He picked…

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A simple blog about my wine journey