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You are here: Home / Archives for Wine

Natura Wines: Sweet Bliss in a Bottle

May 2, 2015 by Jessie Leave a Comment

Wine

Sample provided.

Ah… Wine.

Perfect for those pesky neighbors and their pounding techno beats to which dance my angry stompy feet. Because I cannot turn down the uncontrollable volume of his lovely beats, I turn to my friend, Natura Wines to soothe my fraying nerves.

It only takes a few glasses for the peaceful bliss to settle in and my raging heart to calm. Before I know it…I can dance along, a serene smile on my face, my cats a little confused.

I <3 Wine

While all this is true… it is not the only reason I turn to Natura Wines on a warm spring evening. Natura Wines are the perfect companion to a delicious pasta dinner and side of dessert. (Caramel Cake, anyone?) With a great variety of flavors and luscious, tasty ingredients, Natura Wines are palatable and delicious treats on any evening. From their White Rose, with a gentle sweetness of strawberries and black currant, to the darker, riper flavor of the plum, raspberry and vanilla Merlot, Natura is sure to please.

We had the pleasure of sampling the Natura Rose, Natura Merlot, and Natura Carmenere.
Each had its own distinct flavor, and individual deliciousness. As a rule of thumb, I personally have a tendency to enjoy white wines, and I loved the fruity sweetness of the Rose. However, both the Carmenere and Merlot are excellent companion wines to any simple dinner from my Butter Garlic Tilapia to a simple Carbonara Pasta. If you are less of a sweet tooth, I’d heartily recommend any of the darker wines.

Natura has a wonderful variety available on their website.

Darth Vader

One aspect of Natura Wines that I found pretty awesome was their dedication to sustainablitiy of Earth and nature. They are the world’s leading organic, biodynamic, sustainable and carbon-neutral winery. They believe that proper organic practices result in healthier and more productive vinyards which helps to produce the awesome product they make. They are also partnered with the Keep America Beautiful project, which includes local beautification projects.

In Honor of Earth Day, check out these awesome wines from Natura Wines Emiliana Vineyards in Chile. Tune out that neighbor, tune up the love.

Natura Wines Website is waiting for you here!

Filed Under: review, Wine

Pacific Rim Wines and Sara Lee: A Perfect Combination

November 27, 2014 by Jessie 1 Comment

photo 1 (3)

Samples provided.

To begin this article I must issue a disclaimer: I know nothing about wine. In fact, I can count the times I’ve partaken of wine on 2 fingers. Keep this in mind as I do my best as a wine sampling novice to convey the deliciousness of Pacific Rim Riesling wines.

When I received my beautiful box of Pacific Rim Riesling wines and Sara Lee recipes, I marveled at the packaging. They were so lovely with their colorful labels and detailed bottles. I felt fancy just looking at them. I set them out on my mantle so I could admire them for a bit while I decided if I was supposed to chill them, or not.

IMG_1749

Eventually I came to the conclusion that if I liked my coffee cold, I’d probably like my wine cold as well and I placed them lovingly in the refrigerator door. While they chilled, I went on a New York grocery store adventure looking for Sara Lee products to sample with my wine. Living in Midtown, grocery stores are few and far between but I eventually found a nice market with a wide selection of Sara Lee products and I chose an apple pie, pumpkin pie, and coffee cake. Setting aside the pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, I popped the apple pie in the oven and whipped up some Spaghetti for dinner.

While I cooked, I sampled the different offerings from Pacific Rim. The dry Riesling was fruity, stark but still smooth. For me it was more of a companion wine that would enhance a good dinner or dessert. I sampled it with both the spaghetti I made as well as the apple pie, and it was an excellent match. For someone who doesn’t like really sweet drinks, the dry Riesling would be good choice.

photo 3

The regular Riesling was sweet, a bit fruity with a little bit of a zing to it. It sparkled on my tongue longer than the dry and was a good wine with or without a dinner or desert to accompany it. That said, it wasn’t too sweet with the Sara Lee pie, and it complimented both the spaghetti and the chicken salad sandwiches I made the following night.

The sweet Riesling was definitely my favorite of the three. It was sweet on the tongue and tingled like soda with a fruity taste. It is definitely a wine that I can sip on its own and would taste excellent paired with any dinner or Sara Lee dessert. I suspect it would be an amazing match with cheesecake and it complimented the coffee cake perfectly. I definitely plan on serving it with our Thanksgiving dinner.

As for the Sara Lee baked goods- Sara Lee is always a quick and delicious alternative to homemade baking. Growing up we often purchased different Sara Lee pies and cakes. Although now I really enjoy baking my own desserts, it was kind of nice to kick up my feet, enjoy a glass of Pacific Rim Sweet Riesling and let Sara Lee do all the work for me while my spaghetti sauce simmered.

Unfortunately, I’m in a transitional state in a new apartment and it was only after I had baked the pie that I realized I didn’t own any hot-pads to remove the pie from the oven. As I maneuvered the pie out with a towel, the top surfed off the hot-molten apple deliciousness inside and plopped on the bottom of my oven. Because of this, I would recommend baking the apple pie on an old cookie sheet and definitely be prepared with the proper baking tools to remove it from the oven!

photo 2 (4)

Although the top went sliding, I was able to arrange it back on top of the pie without too much trauma and I covered it with some extra home-made caramel I had begging to be used in the fridge. The result with any of the aforementioned Rieslings was amazing! I went to sleep a little full but feeling light and happy thanks to the Pacific Rim and Sara Lee combo.

As I mentioned before, Pacific Rim and Sara Lee sent me some recipes featuring interesting adaptions for Sara Lee products. Again, because I’m still getting settled, I don’t have a lot of kitchen tools to make the yummy-sounding toppings so I simply used what I had in the fridge. However, you too can try your favorite Pacific Rim and Sara Lee recipes to be paired with each of the wines just by checking out their holiday specials on the Pacific Rim website! I myself can’t wait to try them out in the near future!

Check out their recipes and more on Pacific Rim’s Website! Pacific Rim and Sara Lee would make an excellent and classy addition to any holiday celebration this season.

Filed Under: review, Wine

Kicking Back With Friends Fun Wine!

October 31, 2014 by Beeb 2 Comments

Friends Fun Wine

Samples provided.

Since I’m a writer, it should come as no surprise to you that I love both coffee and wine. So when I received a package in the mail containing “The World’s First Coffee-Wine”, it was a Shut up and take my money! moment. This new beverage option from Friends Fun Wine combines two of my favorite things in a can, joining their other “Fun Wine in a Can” variations. The parcel I received boasted a can of Cabernet Coffee Espresso, Peach Moscato, and Red Sangria. I loved it! It made me laugh, and it made me excited. Honestly, I hadn’t looked too closely at what the brand carried when they reached out to me initially – I saw an email reading “Would you like to try some wine samples” and that was all I really needed to hear. 😉 So when this showed up at my door, it was awesome and unexpected!

So what does coffee wine taste like, besides joy? Honestly, this had more of a chocolate-y taste to me than anything. Granted, it’s been proven that I am terrible at identifying wine aromas, so my assessment could be off. The flavor is pretty jarring at first, but I warmed up to it. All 3 varieties were overly sweet in my opinion, and strangely, they tasted flatter to me than regular wine – which seemed odd to me, since they’re in a can. Perhaps effect of being in a can versus a bottle made the difference, or maybe I was psychologically expecting bubbles since it was in a can? So my verdict here is mixed. I want to love it because of the concept, but the flavor wasn’t what I usually go for in a wine. However, I did get used to it and I certainly enjoyed all three cans in short order. Would I give coffee wine another try? Yes, I would. Especially since we’re in the middle of holiday season. 😉

Speaking of the holiday season, Friends Fun Wine initially got my attention by sending me a list of brunch ideas and suggesting their Moscato as a Mimosa base, paired with an egg baked into an avocado half…mmm! The cans clock in at 75 calories each, so not only would a can of Coffee Wine be the perfect Mimosa replacement for a weekend brunch, but it will slash the caloric amount, too. Is there any problem they can’t solve in this one can?

Friends Fun Wine is available everywhere from Walmart to CVS and even Chevron Gas Stations – visit FriendsFunWine.com for more info!

Have you ever tried coffee wine?

Filed Under: review, Wine Tagged With: wine

Wine Catastrophe Giveaway

January 11, 2009 by Momstart 325 Comments

MyBlogSpark gave me another gift basket to try and give away. My husband and I are not big drinkers but I wanted to have some wine to bring in the new year. He bought me a bottle and thanks to MyBlogSpark we had a wine bottle opener to use.

I have to also say that I haven’t had anything to drink (well much) for almost over two years. I’ve been pregnant every Christmas and for New Years. This was the first time for me to drink more than one Mike’s Hard Lemonade. I’m getting ready to open my wine bottle and I’ve seen my friends do this so I feel comfortable. My husband isn’t so sure about my ability because I have never done it before. “Do you know what you are doing” He asked

“Yes, Of course I do” I said while thinking, I’m not going to get the cork stuck in the wine like you did. Good thing I didn’t say that out loud because as I was trying to twist the bottle opener the cork was sinking lower and lower. So I grabbed the pointy thing to try and help out the situation. Using the wine stopper to get the cork out was the worst idea I came up with that night. No, drinking over half the bottle on an empty stomach was the worst idea. I passed out at 8 or 9 I really can’t remember. My husband knows. He made sure I made it to bed.


None of this is the point. The point is MyBlogSpark has generously offered two of my readers a Savorings the moment gift basket. I love Pillsbury and I did try the Savorings. I couldn’t wait for my coupon so I went out and bought the Pepperoni flavor. I made it for dinner. Pepperoni is very greasy so I used a paper towel to sop up the extra grease. I cut up one for my daughter and I made green beans.

I gave some to my husband and he didn’t like them, me I was glad he didn’t like them. Then there were more for me. I ate almost the whole box myself. I can’t wait to use my coupon to purchase the spinach one.

What you Get

The Basket comes with a corkscrew, a cheese plate, very cute glass charms, a wine suggestion guide and a wine stopper and a coupon to get your own box of Pillsbury Savorings.

The Giveaway

Visit Pillsbury Savorings come
back here and tell me what flavor you think they should make.

That’s easy right?

Extra Entries

Subscribe to my RSS
Add My button to your site
Advertise on my EC
Blog about the giveaway for three extra entries
Leave a comment for each entry and you must complete the first entry for the others to count. I am also giving away a bottle of Skin MD. This giveaway ends January 31st.

Filed Under: giveaway, pillsbury, Savorings, Wine

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