bostonzest

Tag: American wine

  • We’ll Toast July 2023 with Dr. Konstantin Frank’s 2018 Brut Rosé

    We're staying near home with our choice of an American wine for July 2023. This month we'll toast with and enjoy the memories brought to us by Dr. Konstantin Frank's 2018 Brut Rosé. This groundbreaking vineyard is in the Finger Lakes region of New York.

    IMG_9202
    Wines usually remind us of the people we have shared them with or the wine mentors who taught us about them. In this case, that would be our friends David and Peter. The first time we heard about Dr. Konstantin Frank and his wonderful wines was soon after we met them and discovered we shared a love of food, wine, and sharing great food experiences.

    A Finger Lakes wine also reminds us of trips to Limerock Speedway in Caledonia, NY. There was a time when we drove a mid-engine sports car and were autocross and auto racing fans and would make the trip to this area to enjoy the schedule of events at this track. If you're planning a trip to this delightful area in the fall-foliage season, consider adding visits to both the Dr. Konstantin Frank Vineyard and Limerock to your itinerary. 

    About Dr. Konstantin Frank's 2018 Brut Rosé

    The vineyard describes this wine:

    "Our Brut Rosé is a blend of 95% Pinot Noir and 5% Pinot Meunier. The grapes are hand harvested and very lightly pressed. Secondary fermentation took place in bottle for a minimum of 30 months in our historic underground cellar. 

    Seductive and shimmering, the light rosé color pulls you into its fragrant fruitiness. Strawberries and tart cherries circled by mouthwatering shale minerality completes this sunny and sophisticated wine.

    Perfect for celebrations and special occasions. Pair with oysters, lobster, smoked salmon, fried foods, egg dishes, sushi, popcorn, or seafood-based Chinese dishes."

    Wine Enthusiast gave this wine a score of 90 saying:
    "A perfumed, creamy and silky sparkling rosé with delicate raspberry and strawberry aromas and a hint of candied orange. Flows gracefully over the palate, the mousse very neatly matched with the creaminess from lees contact. The finish is very clean, in spite of a hint of sweetness. Drink now."

    Trying wines from different places, made with different grapes and produced by different methods, adds spice to our monthly ritual. Since 2007 we have raised a glass of sparkling wine to greet each new month!

    IMG_9165

    IMG_9166

    We purchase our bottle from the vineyard for $31 after a 6-bottle discount. Sadly, we have to inform you that this wine is currently sold out. 

    Related Posts:

    Our Sparkling Resolution is covered in this post : Join Us as We Toast…

    A Few of Our Favorite Gifts for Wine Lovers

    Here are all the wines we've covered. Since this is a category, this post may appear at the top. Just scroll down for more.

    What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: ©2023 Penny  Cherubino 

  • The Food Lover’s Guide to Wine: Book Review

    With our sparkler of the month on March 1st, we mentioned that we had put The Food Lover's Guide to Wine on our book wish list. That afternoon, we received an email from the authors Karen Page & Andrew Dornenburg saying they would love to send us a review copy. 

    9780316045131_388X586

    It arrived a few days later and hasn't made it to a bookshelf yet. It has spent a few nights beside the bed as Penny's relaxation reading, we've used it explore a couple of new wines, and we're planning to feature some recommended producers as our Sparkler of the Month.

    Learn in various ways from a collection of great wine lovers.

    • If you were hanging outside our door, you might have heard us reading quotes from the book to one another. It has the greatest collection of quotes from wine lovers and wine experts you can imagine. Boston's own Cat Silirie is often cited.
    • Ed loves the pronunciation guide in the core listing of wines, grapes, and wine topics.
    • The system used to emphasize the importance of wine grapes, characteristics, and producers (by using bold and all caps in lists) is brillant and intuitive to use.
    • The end chapters on matching wines with foods, cuisines, and courses will have us exploring new options.
    • We love the gold boxes with great asides on topics. A few are already marked with page tabs. 
    • Since these writers believe that the wine you like is the right wine for you, they've prepared a series of recommendations based on your own taste. If you like a flavor, for example almonds, they give you a list of wines to try. If you like a particular wine, they give you others with similar flavor profiles.

    A Great Interview Grabbed Our Attention 

    We first hear about The Food Lover's Guide to Wine on the Heritage Radio Network show, A Taste of the Past. Penny listens to podcasts of food shows while she cooks, and this one was good enough for a shared listen during an afternoon of crab-cracking and conversation.

    Host Linda Pelaccio began by covering the history of American Wine (the book contains a timeline) and then a discussion of the book that really gave us an insight to the authors' points of view and how this book would fit into our collection. Here's a link to that show.

    Meet the authors and hear what some experts say about this book.

     

    We are not only recommending this book to our readers, we'll be buying copies as gifts for wine-loving friends. It is a treasure and we expect it to look a bit worn and well-used pretty quickly. It may even suffer a few wine stains but we doubt that Karen and Andrew will mind.

    Here are more books from this team:

    The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs  

    What to Drink with What You Eat: The Definitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea – Even Water – Based on Expert Advice from America's Best Sommeliers

    Becoming a Chef

    and of course

    The Food Lover's Guide to Wine

    Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

     

    Details:
    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

    Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often those add a great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you.