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Savor the Season: A Guide to Holiday Wine Pairings

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 21:57:59 GMT

Savor the Season: A Guide to Holiday Wine Pairings

As the Holiday Season approaches…..

Every year, as Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, I am the recipient of requests for wine recommendations for the holidays. It’s a job I take seriously, as Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year, for several reasons, chief among them being the food. Whether its my dad’s (Rest his soul) flavored Spanish Rice and roasted Turkey, my mothers Spanish rice with coconut desert, my classic ensalada-mist with 25 year old Pedro Xemenez balsamic dressing, or grilling lamb chops or a rib eye, what to drink with my feast is always on my mind. It’s not a small matter.

And then there’s Christmas (and New Year’s Eve and Day). Plenty of opportunities to try something new and to open and savor some of your tried-and-true favorites. It’s a wonderful time of the year.

My view on pairing wines with Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities is simple, and is aligned with what I often say: Drink what you find pleasurable. It really is that easy. You open a bottle of, say, Endless Crush Rosé of Pinot Noir, from Inman Family Wines — which is one of my recommendations this year — and snack on some cheese straws while drinking it. Perfect. The salty/spicy flavor profile of the delicious Southern staple which marries well with the Rosé’s remarkable acidity, and all is well for you and your guests.

Now, you could as aptly open a bottle of EDIVO “EROS” Ultra-Premium Sparkling wine (another of my holiday selections this year) with those cheese straws, and I daresay your pleasure would in no way be diminished. Lively, Soft bubbles, low in alcohol, a great way to begin a day of celebration.

What I’m saying is this: Yes, there are a number of “rules” that most people are told they should (or must) follow when pairing wines with food, and some of them do have merit. There are wines that clash on the palate with salmon. I would not pair salmon with a boldly tannic California Cabernet Sauvignon. Neither would I drink an Auslese with a grilled rib eye or pasta with Bolognese sauce.

I could lay out a few more of these strictures, but you get the picture, and here is the main thing: Once you actually “taste” why a wine should not be paired with a particular dish or type of food you can proceed to write your own set of rules. When that’s done, a certain sense of freedom opens and you are on your way to wine-pairing liberation. You will most likely not want to eat salmon and drink a Cabernet Sauvignon at the same time, but you will have the confidence to know which pairing rules apply to you.

So, on to some of my 2023 Holiday Wine Selections. As with previous years, this is a highly subjective and personal roster of wines, bottles that appeal to my palate and sensibilities. I am an eclectic consumer of wines — yes, a mono-varietal red wine is my true love, my passion, but you will find me drinking Albariño (I am crazy about this beautiful white from northern Spain) as often as Chenin Blanc; one day I crave Syrah, the next Cabernet Franc or a Barolo or Müller-Thurgau — and hope my approach appeals to you. (Of course, I would love to — and could easily — include many more bottles on this list, but space does not permit me that luxury.)

At the least, I urge you to never, ever paint yourself into a corner when it comes to what you drink. I’ve met too many people who profess to like Chardonnay only, or who tell me they drink wines only if they garnered “at least” 96 points from this or that critic. Such individuals are generally lackluster conversationalists whose culinary predilections mirror their wine dogmas. Trust your pallet, trust your heart, trust your love of wines, trust the warmth of the holiday season.

Undersea Wine - Where and How it all began

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 21:47:23 GMT

Undersea Wine - Where and How it all began

Undersea Wine - Where and How it all began:

The story of underwater wine cellars and bottles of wine matured on the seabed began more than two decades ago, in the late 90s, thanks to an Italian artist turned sommelier. Pierluigi Lugano opened his wine cellar in 1978. Initially the owner of the Bisson wine and art store, Lugano was forced by the lack of space to look for an alternative method of storing his wines. After the classic odyssey for obtaining agreements from the authorities, specified, it seems, to all latin peoples, it received the green light to sink, in 2001, the first batch of sparkling wines obtained, by the classical method, from indigenous varieties grown in vineyards overlooking Golfo Paradiso on the Mediterranean Sea. When the wines of the sommelier-artist reached the bottom of the sea, off the coast of Portofino, in the Liguria region, he did not suspect that, after a few decades, his idea would be taken over by dozens of wineries, from all over the world.

From a wreck, to "Cellar in the Sea -

Then hazard also played a role in promoting the idea of a wine cellar under water: in 2010, the discovery of a ship that sank in 1880 off the Aland Archipelago in the Baltic Sea, between Sweden and Finland – about whichWines Of Romania recently wrote -, and the finding on board the wreck of 168 bottles of champagne encouraged the appearance of more underwater wineries in Europe. After a series of research projects, in 2014 was born the project called "Cellar in the Sea" – "Cellar in the Sea". Over the next four decades, this project aims to become an essential source of discoveries and experiences in the field of underwater wine cellars.

Specialists give the verdict -

The wine experts consulted studied the centenary champagnes recovered from the seabed and concluded that the storage of the bottles on the seabed ensures the optimal conditions for the process of aging of the wine. The constant temperature, semi-darkness, immobility and pressure generated by underwater currents are just some of the arguments of an ideal environment for underwater storage of wines.

Research has led to discoveries or inventions in this new field. For example, Bisson created and patented a special stopper with a layer of steel, resistant to the aggressiveness of salt erosion.

Mediterranean, the spiritual capital of innovators -

In less than two decades, underwater wineries were founded in Italy, France, Spain, Greece, the United States of America, Chile, South Africa and Australia. Three years ago, the first Underwater Wine Congress was attended by no less than 31 underwater wine cellars from around the world.

The Mediterranean can be considered a spiritual capital for these innovators, due to the presence of wineries of this kind in Sardinia – Alghero –, Liguria – Portofino and Sestri Levante – on the Adriatic Sea, in Ravenna and Croatia.

Edivo Vina

Drace is a small village in Croatia, located on the Peljesac peninsula, with many vineyards and excellent varieties of wine. There is Edivo Vina, the wine cellar inaugurated in 2011. Bottles and amphorae are stored on the seabed, from the end of 2013 and early 2014, around the Peljesac peninsula.

Each 0.75 liter bottle is sealed in a clay amphora protected with a special stopper and two layers of rubber. Amphorae are submerged in the sea, at a depth of 18-25 meters, where they remain over 700 days. This is the process that results in the appearance of Navis Mysterium, a unique wine in Croatia. It is a boutique wine, in limited edition, made from plavac mali native grapes. Lovers of adventure, wine and the sea are offered the unique experience of visiting one of the underwater cellars. A limited number of Navis Mysterium bottles and amphorae are kept in a sunken boat near Žuljana. There are organized, on request, supervised dives in which tourists can enjoy spectacular underwater landscapes and visit the underwater wine cellar..

Bacchus USA Launches its New Website!

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 18:15:25 GMT

Bacchus USA is proud to announce the launch of our new website which coincides with our continued expanding role as a premier leader in the global launch of Ultra - Luxury brands from around the world.

Our new website provides a clear message of who we are, what we stand for and where our value lies when developing, delivering and maintaining creative and relevant luxury product content. The website boasts a clean design and intuitive and consistent site-wide navigation system with improved menu functionality that directs you to the information most relevant to you. It is also fully responsive with mobile devices, making it easy to navigate on a wide range of web browsers and portable devices.

Going forward, we will continue to communicate regularly through our blogs and provide new articles and notifications. We also plan to continue adding more content (video as well) and product information to provide you with all of the information you need to evaluate our products and services.

We’re really proud of our new website and feel it will create the experience you’re looking for when you pay us a visit. Check out the new website here: www.Bacchus-USA.com

Wishing you all the very best as we soon enter 2024 with enormous anticipation and joy for a spectacular New Year!

Sincerely,