Looking for a delicious Sangria recipe for Memorial Day? This spring we visited a small winery in Virginia, Savoy-Lee Winery & Vineyard in Huddleston, VA and had a delicious Sangria. They provided us with the recipe and we are passing it on to our friends as a perfect drink for Memorial Day and summertime drink. (Savoy-Lee is available for sale. Anyone interested can check it out at http://www.savoy-lee.com/.)
The Sangria recipe follows.
Happy Memorial Day! Kathy

Savoy-Lee Sangria

Ingredients

1 bottle of Savoy-Lee Johnson Mountain Picnic Blush Wine or dry fruity rosé
1 lemon, cut into wedges
1 orange, cut into wedges
1 lime, cut into wedges
2 T sugar
1 small can of diced pineapple (with juice)
1 small container of sliced, sweetened frozen strawberries (thawed)
2-4 c of ginger ale (preference)

Directions

1. Pour Savoy-Lee Johnson Mountain Picnic Blush Wine in a pitcher and squeeze the juice wedges from the lemon, orange and lime into the wine.
2. Toss in the fruit wedges (leaving out seeds) and pineapple then add sugar.
3. Mix well.
4. Chill.
5. Add strawberries and ginger ale just before serving.
6. Use fruit wedge or fresh strawberry for garnish..enjoy!

Makes approximately 10 – 12 glasses of Sangria.
NOTE: Do not double recipe – make individual batches.

Wine Spectator has published an excellent article describing the origins and possible affects of H.R. 5034.  If passed, the Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act of 2010 or CARE Act has the potential of affecting alcohol distribution across the country to the benefit of wholesalers. Already more than 100 congress representatives have signed on to co-sponsor this bill!

The article describes the money that has poured into campaign contributions that increased by as much as 33 percent for those who support beer, wine and spirits wholesalers.

Take time on this long Memorial Day weekend to read the article, “Support for Direct Shipping Restrictions Builds in Congress” by Robert Taylor, Ben O’Donnell in Wine Spectator.

Then write to your congressperson your opinion about H.R. 5034! Don’t wait, this issue is too important to ignore and think it will just go away.

Cheers! Kathy

This recipe for chicken and Sauvignon Blanc may be an interesting recipe to use this Memorial Day weekend. You will need to make a substitution or two and some creativity in cooking may be rewarding. The recipe calls for strips of lemon peel. The directions for making the lemon peel is given but takes a week to make. Just substitute fresh lemon peel for this weekend.

As far as cooking, if you’d like to barbeque the chicken, marinate it in the ingredients, barbeque the chicken and reduce the marinate and use as a sauce. Of course, enjoy the Sauvignon Blanc with the meal.

The recipe is provided by Handley Cellars, Philo, California.

Read Wine Trail Traveler’s review of Handley Cellars.

Cheers,

Terry

You have a few hours over the Memorial Day weekend and you’re wondering where to go. Consider visiting local winery tasting rooms. Although some tasting rooms are in urban settings, many are in the countryside. Visiting them has the makings for a nice drive in the country.

Your experience in visiting a tasting room is totally different than visiting a wine store. At the wine store there are hundreds if not thousands of wines. They may have a tasting of a couple of those wines often in small plastic cups that are reminiscent of those used when you have lab work done at a doctor’s visit. However a trek to a winery tasting room is a different experience. You’ll get to sample several wines from the winery’s portfolio.

Tasting rooms may be crowded on the Memorial Day weekend. Use this opportunity to meet other people who may be wine enthusiasts. People are usually happy. We have never met anyone dragged into a tasting room exclaiming that they didn’t want to go in.

Whether your outing is a date or simply something to do, visiting tasting rooms can be an inexpensive alternative to other Memorial Day weekend activities. Some charge a tasting fee while others do not. If there is a wine that you like, consider purchasing a bottle and enjoy.

How should you behave when visiting a winery tasting room? Read the article, Tasting Room Etiquette. We discussed how to prepare yourselves to visit tasting rooms, what to expect and what to do and not to do while there. If you enjoy a visit to a winery tasting room, it may be a perfect activity to repeat throughout the year.

Check out this Memorial Day barbeque recipe for this weekend – Russell’s Blue Cheese-Zinfandel Burgers! It’s easy and it calls for McNab Ridge Winery 2004 Zinfandel or any other dry red wine. What more could you ask for? You can find the recipe on the Wine Trail Traveler website at http://winetrailtraveler.com/recipes/entree59.php.

The recipe is from McNab Ridge Winery located in the delightful Mendocino County in California. If you would like to know more about McNab Ridge Winery, read this review we recently wrote, McNab Ridge Winery.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Cheers! Kathy

Are you at a loss for what to do this weekend? Several of Wine Trail Traveler’s Featured partners have some events planned that may be just what you are looking for to celebrate Memorial Day Weekend. Why not check them out on the Internet and choose the one that interests you most?

Vezér Family Vineyards located in Suisun Valley of California will have an Annual Estate Concert & Dinner with Tommy Cash – May 29th

Messina Hoff Winery & Resort in Texas is offering a Wine Appreciation Class on the “Effects of Oak Aging on Wine” on May 30.

Chateau Chantal in Michigan will have Jazz at Sunset with the Jeff Haas Trio on May 30 from 3 to 5:30pm

In Ohio Ferrante Winery & Ristorante will offer a selection of live music Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Check their website for times and music selections.

Wine lovers in Virginia have several possible events to attend over the weekend. Check out Barrel Oak Winery that has events all weekend long. At DelFosse Vineyards and Winery, visitors will discover a Memorial Day Weekend BBQ on May 30. On Friday Pearmund Cellars will have their TGIF evening.  Tarara Winery will offer live outdoor music, food and wine tasting Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Three Fox Vineyards will hold The Three Fox ‘Wine ‘Bowl’ on Saturday, May 29.

Have fun picking and choosing the events you would like to enjoy and while you are at a winery pick up a bottle of your favorite wine to remember the weekend!

Cheers! Kathy

When one mentions the word distributor at a winery, any number of comments or expressions will be heard or seen.  Wine distributors do provide a needed service for many wineries. However, from what I have been able to discern most wine distributors want to work with the larger wineries that can provide many more cases of wines and continually fill the designated space shelf in a store. This leaves the smaller wineries to either self distribute which can be difficult and time consuming or to use lesser-known wine distributors.

How do winery owners know which wine distributors can be good business associates? A fairly recent website has come to their rescue. It’s called the No Pay Wine Distributors website, http://nopaywinedistributors.com.

What’s nice about this website is that wineries doing business with distributors can write reviews of the distributors they do business with and best of all the reviews can be negative or positive. All reviews are encouraged. Comments are reviewed before being posted on the website.

The website is easy to navigate and distributors are listed by individual states. Visitors to the website can also locate the most useful reviews, the latest reviews and the top rated distributors.

Check out the website as it gives an interesting view of another side of what winemaking for a living involves.

Cheers! Kathy

I am very concerned about the federal legislation (HB 5034) regarding the shipping of alcohol between states that is currently under consideration by the US Congress. I’ve been reading the news from a variety of sources and talking with winery owners and winemakers. Many have not heard about House Bill 5034 and some even think it has quietly gone away. Please don’t make that mistake!

The bill has the potential of not affecting only wineries and winemakers but consumers like you who may belong to out-of state-wine clubs or perhaps just may want to have wine shipped to your home from a winery you may have visited while on vacation. If the time comes that you can’t order wine from out of state to your home, look and see if this bill is the reason. Unfortunately by then it will be too late.

The last I heard is that the bill is expected to go to the Judiciary Committee for consideration in June.

To keep updated about the progress of the bill, visit the Free the Grapes website. To make a difference write to your representative in Congress and tell them what you think! Congress needs to hear from you BEFORE it’s too late!

Please forward this information on to anyone who may be interested, wine lovers as well as anyone who enjoys beer and spirits.

Together we stand….

Cheers! Kathy

If you haven’t planned your Memorial Day Weekend celebration yet, check out some of these wine related events for that weekend. Travel to another state or to Price Edward Island or perhaps to visit a winery near your home. Explore and meet new people and try new wines. Cheers, Kathy

New Orleans Wine & Food Experience
May 26-29, 2010
Website Information

Hawaii Food & Wine Paradise
May 27-29, 2010
Website Information

Terroir Wine Celebration
Prince Edward Island
May 29, 2010
Website Information

Valley Fest
Virginia
May 29, 2010
Website Information

The Great Pennsylvania FlavorFest
May 29-30, 2010
Website Information

14^th Annual Rockport Festival of Wine & Food
May 29-30, 2010
Website Information

2010 Albuquerque Wine Festival
May 29-31, 2010
Website Information

2010 Southern New Mexico Wine Festival
May 29-31, 2010
Website Information

Last night we enjoyed a Symphony 2008 wine with appetizers that included thin sliced salmon and creamy cream cheese with chives on slices of French bread. The other appetizer was Brie baked in crescent roll dough drizzled with honey and topped with crushed walnuts. Yum!

Symphony is a white wine grape that has been available commercially since the 1980’s. Grenache Gris and Muscat of Alexandria are its parents. The Symphony we enjoyed last night offered a floral and fruity aroma. The taste was of citrus especially orange and there was a perceived sweetness while the wine dried on the finish.

If you haven’t tried a Symphony wine yet, try it the next time you have the opportunity!

Cheers! Kathy