D&D Wine Review

We wrote about Cakebread here:

http://www.ddwinereview.com/archives/143

And we don’t really have much more to add other than that we enjoyed another bottle together this past weekend.  It was a perfect outdoors wine to enjoy with some bread & cheese before we got to the grilling & red wines.

Here is one of the artistic pictures that got taken:

You have to admit, you can’t really beat that setting to enjoy some wine!  We’ll stick with the original rating - it’d be hard to improve upon.

Rating:

Definitely pick this up if you want to treat yourself to a very enjoyable Chardonnay.

The Dyars & The Duttons

A Spanish Tempranillo from la Rioja that is well-balanced, rich and full-bodied. The 2006 Ergo Tempranillo has in-depth layers of fruit and soft tannins.  It is a very nice change of pace and pairs well a variety of foods, we enjoyed it with a spicy dish.  We would absolutely pick this wine up again for a dinner with friends or a quiet night in.

Varietal:  Tempranillo

Vintage: 2006

Price: $12.99

Rating:

Another delicious wine by the Coppola Vineyard.  We purchased this Malbec as a gift for a friend and decided to give it a try for ourselves.  This wine has excellent flavors with nice fruits.  We opened this bottle with grilled steak and veggies, a great combo! 

Varietal:  Malbec

Vintage: 2006

Price: $16.99

Rating:

So I apologize to our readers for the lack of wine reviews lately.  But there is a good reason - I promise!  Well at least for the Dyars.

We are expecting baby number 2 - so for over three months now I haven’t had a glass of wine, nothing to review for all of you.  Sorry!

The Duttons don’t have the same excuse - so hopefully they get in gear and write something soon.

Cheers!

Kelly

PS Check out pics of the Big Sister to be on: http://www.dyarfamily.com/babyfoodblog

So I made up this recipe based on what I had in the house, and a few recipes I found online, to go with a butternut squash ravioli we had bought pre-made at BJs (it was great by the way).

I love a lemon cream sauce I get at a local restaurant so this is what I did, and it worked out really well.  This would go great with white wine, and in fact you could probably throw some wine into the sauce and it would also add a nice element.

Ingredients

- 1 Tbsp butter of choice

- 1 shallot, diced

- 1 tsp diced garlic

- 1/2 lemon (~ tsp zest and juice from a 1/2)

- 1 cup cream (I used regular not heavy I believe)

- Grated parmesan cheese (about 1/4 cup but up to you)

- Salt & Pepper to taste

Its pretty simple really - while the water for the ravioli is coming to a boil (the sauce takes longer than pasta to cook), saute the shallot and garlic in butter.  Once  slightly brown, and smelling wonderful, add the lemon zest, lemon juice and cream.  Bring to a simmer, constantly stirring.  Once it appears to start thickening, add parmesan and salt & pepper.  Its really to taste at this point.  We then tossed the now cooked ravioli in the sauce and it was so good.

Enjoy!

Or rather… art that is about wine.  Our friends the Duttons are considering a purchase of art by one of our favorite artists - Thomas Arvid.  His paintings of wine are so realistic, they can almost be mistaken as a photograph.  Just when you think you’ve seen it all, he comes up with a slightly different medium for his art, or a slightly different vantage - and its refreshing all over again.  For our wedding, our in-laws gave us this giclee of Arvid’s - and we just love it.  Its one of his champagne pieces and all about celebration and new beginnings.  We are lucky enough to have it signed, and I can’t imagine our home without it.   Since then we’ve had that partciular bottle of champange twice for special events (anniversary, birth of child) - it just adds to the amazing experience.  This is a picture of the living/kitchen area and you can see it hanging on the wall in a place of honor.

While at one of our favorite galleries in Atlanta - Vinings Gallery - to view more Arvid works, we came across another artist, Michael Flohr.   While we liked his work, nothing grabbed me to say ‘buy me right now’.  Until we had dinner at a local restaurant featuring his art - and we met ‘Uncorked’.  I love this painting and it fits just perfectly in our home above our fireplace.  You can also see our wine obsession through various other items on the shelves - a VINO, a wine-tray, a decanter…  we happen to really like wine and wine themes in decorating.

So good luck to the Duttons in their search for art, may they find pieces that make them as happy as ours have made us.

Kelly

We had a wonderful dinner of grass-fed filet mignon prepared on the Big Green Egg, prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, sweet potatoes, mixed salad and chocolate tarts.  We also enjoyed a few bottles of nice wine and the company of good friends.  Wine is a way to celebrate the joys of life while reminding us to slow down and savor each moment.  Thanks to our friends, Chris and Kelly, for furthering our enjoyment and appreciation of wine.

We don’t drink Merlot very often, so as part of the new year we looked to wines that are different as compared to our usual tasting choices.  We had this wine many years ago, as a gift from friends.  I remembered enjoying it, so I picked up a bottle at my local Harris Teeter for under $15.00.  We opened this bottle with a hearty pasta dish and it stood well with the rich tomato flavors.  The Coppola Merlot is balanced, yet bold with sweet fruits upfront and a smooth finish.  A very nice wine. 

Wine: Coppola Diamond Collection Merlot

Varietal:  Merlot, grapes from various regions of California

Vintage: 2005

Price: $14.99

Rating:

If you are looking for a quick, easy, perfect end to a meal - try these dark chocolate tarts.  I modified a more difficult recipe in an effort to save time, and it was wonderful.

Ingredients:

- 6 mini-graham tarts (pre-made in baking aisle)

- 14 oz dark chocolate chips

- 1 cup heavy cream

- berries of choice, creamy topping of choice

1) Bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a pot, remove from heat

2) Add in chips, let sit for about 30 seconds and then whisk until fully combined

3) Let chocolate mixture come to room temperature

4) Pour into tart shells

5) Refrigerate until about 1/2 hour before serving - you can eat it cold but best at room temp

6) Add berries & whip cream as desired - I used strawberries and Redi-whip this time, but raspberries are excellent as well

Fun substitution - you can use a flavored liquor (we have tried kahlua) for part of the cream, don’t go beyond 50/50 (I did more like 1/3rd liquor, 2/3rds cream); the original recipe called for making a chocolate tart crust from scratch and it is really tasty, but we equally enjoyed it with the graham crusts and it saved a lot of effort - next time we might try oreo!

Enjoy!

The last few months have been hectic and I apologize we haven’t posted more reviews.  My goal is to go back to the original pace, and try to have at least a couple a month if not more, plus fun recipes.

The Duttons & The Dyars will be having a nice steak dinner during the holidays, so look for a review of a top-notch wine we’ve been saving from the cellar, yet to be determined exactly which one.  A Cabernet of some sort… hopefully it won’t let us down.

Happy Holidays!

Kelly