St. Patrick’s Day will be here soon and it’s never too early to start celebrating. We came across a recipe for Leprechaun Punch at Kreutz Creek Vineyards in Pennsylvania while we were visiting. The winery is located in the Philadelphia countryside.

The ingredients for Kreutz Creek Vineyards Leprechaun Punch include Vidal Blanc, sparkling water-lime, melon liquor, ground ginger, lime slices and green food coloring. This easy recipe is on the Wine Trail Traveler website.  Give it a try and this may be a recipe to remember and use every St. Patrick’s Day!

Cheers! Kathy

Are you looking for an entrée to make for this weekend? We have added the recipe for Pistachio Encrusted Grouper provided by Wintergreen Winery in Virginia to the recipes on the Wine Trail Traveler website. While this recipe does not have wine as an ingredient, it does call for grape seed oil, which can be obtained at some winery tasting rooms and one of our partners, Après Vin in Washington. This particular recipe uses pistachio nuts, butter, grouper fillets and spinach leaves. Check out the recipe for all ingredients before heading for the grocery store.

We continue to search for more recipes that have wine as one of the ingredients. We are also interested in adding recipes that use grape seed oil or grape seed flour.

Enjoy your weekend!

Cheers!

The Twitter tasting event #SauvBlanc is already gearing up. Wine tasters from around the world are going to tweet about Sauvignon Blancs. A few friends will join us as we taste four different Sauvignon Blancs, one from France, one from New Zealand, one from California made with late harvest grapes sourced from Washington and the fourth from Napa.

Just to make things a bit more intriguing, I paired the Sauvignon Blancs with appetizers. Been in the kitchen for a few hours working on an avocado dip and a salmon and goat cheese on toast appetizer. Kathy is going to wrap crescent roll dough around Brie and drizzle honey and walnuts on it; then bake it. Yum!

Of course we didn’t plan on dinner and on the east coast it is nearing the dinner hour. So I’ll go with simple: pasta and pesto. This should actually pair well with Sauvignon Blanc.

For those with a Twitter account, follow #SauvBlanc and see what people from around the world are tweeting about Sauvignon Blancs.

People are finding many uses for Twitter, among them a wine tasting. On March 4^th 2010, people from around the world are going to tweet about Sauvignon Blancs made anywhere in the world. What a perfect excuse for a wine tasting party. Sauvignon Blanc is a grape that can be made into wine with different tasting profiles. The recipe for this wine tasting party is to select a few Sauvignon Blancs, make a few appetizers and have some friends over. Every now and then, people can tweet.

I had a bottle of Sweet Surrender a late harvest Sauvignon Blanc from Keyways Vineyard & Winery in Temecula. I’m going to pair this wine with a honey, walnut baked Brie. The honey on the Brie should match with the honey nuances from this late harvest Sauvignon Blanc. I believe the grapes for this wine were sourced from Washington.

For my other selections, we went to the Wine Bin in Ellicott City, Maryland to purchase some other Sauvignon Blancs. A 2007 Domaine du Tremblay Quincy will represent the Loire Valley, in France. I plan to match this wine with an avocado based dip. Two wines will pair with a smoked salmon and goat cheese appetizer. A 2008 Culley Sauvignon Blanc is from the Marlborough region of New Zealand. A Honig Sauvignon Blanc is from Napa Valley, California.

The wines are ready, now its time to work on gathering the ingredients for the appetizers.

If you wish to follow and or post tweets on Twitter about Sauvignon Blanc use the #SauvBlanc hashtag.

If you are looking for the recipe for St. Julian Red Wine Dressing mentioned in the earlier blog, use this link to the recipe on Wine Trail Traveler.

Cheers!

St. Julian Winery is the oldest winery in Michigan. They have four additional tasting rooms in the state. Be sure to include enough time during your visit to enjoy the winery tour where you will discover a large collection of “antique” wine making equipment. We visited St. Julian in 2009.

St. Julian provided the recipe for St. Julian Red Wine Dressing. Eleven ingredients are simply blended together and chilled before serving over greens. Two of the ingredients are St. Julian Wine Vinegar and St. Julian Red Wine. The other ingredients are commonly found in the kitchen. For the complete recipe, visit the Wine Trail Traveler recipe site.

Enjoy exploring the world of recipes with wine.

Cheers! Kathy

This week we enjoyed dinner and wine with good friends, whom we do not have the opportunity to see as frequently as we would like due to family and work obligations. It’s amazing how the time can fly by when catching up on what’s been happening in each of our families.

We enjoyed a delicious salmon that had been marinated and served with quinoa. A salad with a raspberry homemade salad dressing was terrific. This meal was paired with a Pinot Noir from C. Donatiello Winery in Healdsburg, California. With a smooth mouth feel, the wine paired well with the marinated salmon.

C. Donatiello Winery, located in Sonoma Valley, produces Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines. If you have the opportunity to visit the winery during the growing season take time to wander through the spacious gardens in front of the winery. These gardens feature two smaller gardens with plants that feature aromas found in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

An article about C. Donatiello Winery is available on the Wine Trail Traveler website.

For dessert, we enjoyed ice cream with petite biscotti and a glass of dessert wine, Terry had made in 2009. The wine was made from a kit and was remarkably good with dessert.

What wine and food pairing have you enjoyed recently?

Cheers, Kathy

Have you decided what to prepare for tomorrow’s dinner? How about  including a Mushroom Merlot Soup? The main ingredients include celery, onion, heavy cream, Merlot, mushrooms and a beef broth. Check it out on the Wine Trail Traveler website. For dessert, consider the Peaches and Cake recipe. This recipe also includes directions for a “No-Fail Pound Cake.” After shopping for the ingredients you need, enjoy spending some time in your kitchen!

The Mushroom Merlot Soup was provided by Knapp Winery Vineyard and Restaurant in New York. White Hall Vineyards in Virginia provided the Peaches and Cake recipe.

Cheers! Kathy

With Valentine’s Day tomorrow, consider some special recipes for a romantic dinner.

For cheese lovers, the Cheese Fondue made with Swiss cheese and Chardonnay may be a good selection for an appetizer or perhaps a relaxing time beside a glowing fireplace.

A special entrée might be Grilled Rock Lobster (calls for 4 tablespoons of Dr. Frank Rkatsiteli). Perhaps the Knapp Shrimp Newburg is more to your liking. For those who prefer chicken, consider the Poulet De Chaunac from Buckingham Valley Vineyards. Sirloin Beef Tips in Red Wine from Goose Watch Winery may please a red meat lover.

Now to my favorite part of the meal – dessert. Pears in Red Wine is an old family recipe. Perhaps the Crepe Recipe from Black Star Farms and made with a late harvest Riesling would be ideal. It is suggested that these be filled with a little lemon fromage and topped with spiced fruit compote. Remember the Port Tim Tam Slams. These are unique and fun. Tim Tams can be found at Target stores.

Browse through all of the recipes on the Wine Trail Traveler website and choose one that everyone will enjoy.

If you’d rather enjoy an evening out, check with wineries to see which ones are offering a Valentine’s Day dinner. Usually these require reservations in advance, so call today!

Cheers! Kathy

In Maryland we are buried under two to three feet of snow. I have a lot of shoveling to do to reach the street that isn’t plowed yet. Since it will take a couple of days, I won’t have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen. Cooking with a slow cooker is perfect. Chili is a great item to cook in a slow cooker. It is also perfect to deal with this “Snowpocalypse” and Super Bowl. The Wine Trail Traveler site has more than 150 recipes that use wine as an ingredient. We have a couple different chili recipes. You can substitute the wines.

Barrington Cellars Cincinnati Chili calls for Baco Noir but you can substitute a dry red.

Barrington Cellars DeChaunac Chili uses DeChaunac. You can also substitute a dry red or sem-dry red.

Check out other recipes on the Wine Trail Traveler site. Recipes are listed by food category as well by wine variety.