Date: August 24th, 2012
Host: Andrea
Served: Loaded Baked Potato Soup, Baked Ham and Cheese Sandwiches, Baked Chocolate Pudding
Bonus bottle extravaganza (from the Host's personal inventory)! Tisdale Chocolate Red Wine, Velvet Moon Cabernet Sauvignon
♥ Hahn Winery Pinot Gris 2010 (Monterey, CA, USA), 14.5% alcohol, $10.99 at Otto's Wine Cask
♥Love love love♥ : This wine scored 18 or higher with each of us.
♥Love love love♥ : This wine scored 18 or higher with each of us.
Andrea says (18): Two great wines this night, and both went really well with the meal! It was clever of Kim to choose new wine varietals from houses we had tried before. This was a smooth, sweet wine with a bouquet of pear honey and floral scents.
Kim says (20): This was Andrea's inaugural Wine Club in her new apartment and what better welcome than food and wine. She was going to be serving baked ham and cheese sandwiches- comfort food at its best! The challenge was that there were so many variables, so I decided to throw all the so-called pairing rules out the window and leave it to chance. I figured we had done all this "research" (oh, the suffering!), might as well make use of it. I looked over some of the wines that had earned fairly high ratings: a Hahn Estates red (Pinot Noir) had earned a 15 so I decided to pick a Hahn Estates white. This is one of only two perfect scores that I have awarded so far. Pear and honey on the bouquet, smooth and buttery texture, excellent finish. A perfect every day wine!
Christine says (19): Awesome wine; great with the meal. Pale honey color, and a bouquet of floral, honey, apple/early fall fruit. Golden apple? It smelled sweet and ripe, vs. green apple. The flavor was light and pleasant, well-balanced, and more svelte than I expected. Some grassiness. Long finish. Very good! Hard to believe it was that high in alcohol.
New Age Rosé NV (Argentina), Malbec + Merlot, 11% alcohol, $8.99 at Otto's Wine Cask
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| Hahn Winery Pinot Gris; New Age Rosé |
Kim says (20): This was Andrea's inaugural Wine Club in her new apartment and what better welcome than food and wine. She was going to be serving baked ham and cheese sandwiches- comfort food at its best! The challenge was that there were so many variables, so I decided to throw all the so-called pairing rules out the window and leave it to chance. I figured we had done all this "research" (oh, the suffering!), might as well make use of it. I looked over some of the wines that had earned fairly high ratings: a Hahn Estates red (Pinot Noir) had earned a 15 so I decided to pick a Hahn Estates white. This is one of only two perfect scores that I have awarded so far. Pear and honey on the bouquet, smooth and buttery texture, excellent finish. A perfect every day wine!
Christine says (19): Awesome wine; great with the meal. Pale honey color, and a bouquet of floral, honey, apple/early fall fruit. Golden apple? It smelled sweet and ripe, vs. green apple. The flavor was light and pleasant, well-balanced, and more svelte than I expected. Some grassiness. Long finish. Very good! Hard to believe it was that high in alcohol.
New Age Rosé NV (Argentina), Malbec + Merlot, 11% alcohol, $8.99 at Otto's Wine Cask
Andrea says (19): This was a delicious, surprising Rosé! Smelt of strawberry, blueberry and something a little bit like plastic. Sweet and tart taste of cherry and cranberry, frizzante to top it all off. Love!
Kim says (19): A New Age white (Torrontes) that we had previously enjoyed scored an impressive 18 so I opted for a New Age red (well, it was a rosé). Turns out the risk was well worth it and surprise, surprise- frizzante! While the aroma of Strawberry Shortcake Dolls (yep... not the food, the actual doll) was a little odd, the cranberry and blueberry made up for it.
Christine says (17): So pretty! Very frizzante, with pale strawberry color. The flavor was strawberries, cranberries and tart cherries. Creamy, fun, bubbly mouthfeel. Puckery, with a medium finish. Super-fun summer picnic celebration wine. Great choice for those new to wine. I did dock it on aroma and bouquet (my first impression was rubber; also very light fruit, barnyard, yeastiness), and also on finish. Definitely a buy-again; I'd love it for cookouts.
GRANDMA'S BAKED CHOCOLATE PUDDING
Sift Together:
1 c. Flour 2t. Baking Powder
1/4t. Salt 1 1/2T. Cocoa
3/4c. Sugar
Add:
1/2c. Milk
2T. Melted Butter
1t. Vanilla
Mix together and place in a buttered baking dish.
Mix:
1/2c. White Sugar 3T. Cocoa
1/2c. Brown Sugar 1c. Water
Pour over mixture and bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
That sounds delish!!!! I never really thought about the baked potato soup AND wine. I love it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, AG! Yeah, we're rebels. :) And I think we've all thrown each other for a loop sometime. Poor Christine... she brings the wine when I host and she has had to figure out what wine to pair with Reuben Soup, and another time I served sloppy joe's... but we manage!
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