Tag: Bauer wine and spirits

Toasting June with Our Old Friend, Nino Franco Rustico Prosecco

Nino Franco Rustico is the kind of old friend you take on vacation with you. And we did! To be sure we would have a bottle of this favorite prosecco to enjoy by the beach, we took along one from our Boston wine rack. (There are usually a few bottles of Nino filling their usual slots.)

We are having a fun year toasting each new month with wines that are old friends and that have happy stories of friends to go with them.

This wine was introduced to us by Howie Rubin at Bauer Wine and Spirits on Newbury Street in Boston. Howie is one of our longtime wine mentors. We have been writing about him and the wines he has introduced to us since 2008. Here is his story: Howie Rubin-A Life of Wine and Relationships.

Over the years of writing about and recommending this wine, we became social media friends with Silvia Franco. That's her in the photo above. We were fortunate to meet her in person when she came to Boston. Here is that story: Brix Wine Shop Makes Our Nino Franco Dreams Come True!

Sharing a bottle of this lovely sparkler is a rite of vacation for us. This year we sipped it on a foggy evening on the deck as we watched the tide change in Provincetown Harbor. First and foremost this is a food wine. It will happily pair up with whatever you are nibbling…

… even if it's some squares of bar pizza, a few cherry tomatoes, and a pile of shavings of parmigiano reggiano. Hey, it was what we had on hand in a rental house when we were too relaxed to go out and shop for more food. The Nino turned it into a feast!

Last month by the bay or tonight on the roof deck, we love this wine and hope you will find a bottle and enjoy it at some point this summer.

Trying wines from different places, made with different grapes, and produced by different methods adds spice to our monthly ritual. Since New Year's Eve 2007 we have raised a glass of sparkling wine to greet each new month – waiting 12 months just wouldn't do.

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

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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: ©2018 Penny & Ed Cherubino

June 1, 2018
Toasting February with Another Longtime Friend, Raventos i Blanc de Nit

We will welcome February 2018 with a delightful cava, Raventos i Blanc de Nit. This will be a year of welcoming each new month with longtime friends. This cava was a gift from one of the first friends we made after we moved to Boston. He's also one of the friends who has joined our sparkling resolution to toast each new month with a glass of bubbles.

Our friend discovered Raventos i Blanc de Nit at a Bauer Wine & Spirits tasting, loved it, and decided it was something we would also love. However, when he placed his order, there was only one bottle left in stock. Being the sweet person he is, he bought the bottle and gave it to us.

We enjoyed our New Year's bottle of a longtime favorite so much that we have decided to make 2018 a year of rediscovering some of our favorite sparkling wines from across the years. (It will also help us enjoy the wine gathering dust in our collection. In our attempt to live a healthier life, we are drinking far less wine than we used to and our collection of sparklers keeps growing.)

The last time we enjoyed this wine, we were relaxing in Provincetown and enjoying the views from a special place on a rainy day.

Whether you have seen these sparklers before or are new to our monthly feature, we'll be linking to our past posts on each of them.

Join us as we raise a glass to celebrate the month ahead.

Related Posts:

Our first report on Raventos i Blanc de Nit

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: © 2014-2018 Penny & Ed Cherubino

February 1, 2018
Toasting February with Another Longtime Friend, Raventos i Blanc de Nit

We will welcome February 2018 with a delightful cava, Raventos i Blanc de Nit. This will be a year of welcoming each new month with longtime friends. This cava was a gift from one of the first friends we made after we moved to Boston. He's also one of the friends who has joined our sparkling resolution to toast each new month with a glass of bubbles.

Our friend discovered Raventos i Blanc de Nit at a Bauer Wine & Spirits tasting, loved it, and decided it was something we would also love. However, when he placed his order, there was only one bottle left in stock. Being the sweet person he is, he bought the bottle and gave it to us.

We enjoyed our New Year's bottle of a longtime favorite so much that we have decided to make 2018 a year of rediscovering some of our favorite sparkling wines from across the years. (It will also help us enjoy the wine gathering dust in our collection. In our attempt to live a healthier life, we are drinking far less wine than we used to and our collection of sparklers keeps growing.)

The last time we enjoyed this wine, we were relaxing in Provincetown and enjoying the views from a special place on a rainy day.

Whether you have seen these sparklers before or are new to our monthly feature, we'll be linking to our past posts on each of them.

Join us as we raise a glass to celebrate the month ahead.

Related Posts:

Our first report on Raventos i Blanc de Nit

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: © 2014-2018 Penny & Ed Cherubino

February 1, 2018
Sunday Cat Sophia Says, “Let me in Whee-ooh …”

"Let me in whee-ooh (whee-ooh, whee-ooh, hoop-whee-ooh)

(Whee-ooh, whee-ooh, hoo-ooh-oop-whee-ooh, whee-ooh)"

"I-uh-I-uh-I (open up) hear music, let me in (music)

Oh I heard it just then

Let me in (let me in)

I wanna come in again

I thought you were my friend …"

Sophia works at Bauer Wine & Spirits and loves sitting in the sun, accepting pats and scratches from her fans. But when the music and dancing starts, she wants back in!

Rest assured one of her faithful servants quickly responds to any appeal that Queen Sophia makes. They'll even play her favorite rendition of her Let Me In… theme song on YouTube upon request.

We have reported on Sophia's musical spirit before when we were treated to a performance on her glass harmonica.

Sunday Cat, Sophia and Her Glass Harmonica

Get to know all of our Sunday Dogs (and, a few cats) at Boston Dogs.

Thanks to everyone who Hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino with lyrics from The Sensations – Let Me In Lyrics
Photos: ©2015 Ed Cherubino

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August 2, 2015
Sunday Cat Sophia Says, “Let me in Whee-ooh …”

"Let me in whee-ooh (whee-ooh, whee-ooh, hoop-whee-ooh)

(Whee-ooh, whee-ooh, hoo-ooh-oop-whee-ooh, whee-ooh)"

"I-uh-I-uh-I (open up) hear music, let me in (music)

Oh I heard it just then

Let me in (let me in)

I wanna come in again

I thought you were my friend …"

Sophia works at Bauer Wine & Spirits and loves sitting in the sun, accepting pats and scratches from her fans. But when the music and dancing starts, she wants back in!

Rest assured one of her faithful servants quickly responds to any appeal that Queen Sophia makes. They'll even play her favorite rendition of her Let Me In… theme song on YouTube upon request.

We have reported on Sophia's musical spirit before when we were treated to a performance on her glass harmonica.

Sunday Cat, Sophia and Her Glass Harmonica

Get to know all of our Sunday Dogs (and, a few cats) at Boston Dogs.

Thanks to everyone who Hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino with lyrics from The Sensations – Let Me In Lyrics
Photos: ©2015 Ed Cherubino

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Welcome Luke's Lobster to Boston

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August 2, 2015
A Few of Our Favorite Gifts for Wine Lovers

Here are a few of our favorite gifts for the wine lovers in your life. Of course, you could start your shopping list with wine.

We have a bit of advice for anyone buying wine as gifts. As a general rule, don’t buy any wine you see in an ad on television. We have an earlier post about this that includes a great suggestion for the holiday season. Buy a great value wine by the case for gift giving, entertaining, and for your own enjoyment.

On a recent visit to Bauer Wine & Spirits, we noticed additional half bottle offerings in the sparkling wine section. As those who follow along with our resolution to start each month with a glass of bubbles know, we love sparkling wine and enjoy trying many types. Having a few half bottles means you are always ready to celebrate major or minor victories! And, these little bottle make wonderful gifts.

Our Favorite Wine Chiller

We told you about this in September in our post, “This Wine Chiller Works for Both Champagne & Skinny Bottles.” We highly recommend it. It’s called a Rapid Ice Champagne Cooler and has become a popular item on our Amazon buyers list. Someone recently bought eight of these, perhaps for holiday giving. We have two of them!

Quirky Wine Opener with Hidden Assets

Here’s our Quirky 4-in-1 Wine Opener. The 4-in-1 in the Amazon description is because this opener has hidden assets.

The two silver colored items on the top of the handle come out, and you have a pourer and a plastic cork for your wine bottle. Opener, cork, pourer, and number 4 is a couple of tiny circular blades in the base that cut the foil on the bottle. Cut, open, pour, and seal all in one sturdy, easy to work cork remover. We may add a second one to our travel kitchen bag.

The Food Lover’s Guide to Wine

It’s been quite a while since we reviewed this book. It has stood the test of time and we still love The Food Lover’s Guide to Wine and pull it off the shelf for help in matching food and wine quite often. It’s a staple for our food writing research.

Cilio Campagne Sealer

The other day a friend said she doesn’t drink as much sparkling wine because you have to finish the bottle or lose the bubbles. And, most wine bottle stoppers don’t work all that well for sparkling wine.

We use the Cilio Champagne Sealer to cap the bottle and save the rest for another day. While you can stick the cork back into a bottle of still wine, these folks make one for that size as well.

Friends often ask us for gift suggestions and we keep meaning to turn some of these ideas into posts. We’ll try to fit in a few more in the days ahead. If you have a question about something we’ve featured or just want to ask about our favorite books, kitchen items, photography equipment, or dog gift ideas, you can write a comment below or add @BostonZest to your question on Twitter.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2014 Penny & Ed Cherubino

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November 28, 2014
Edible Boston Fall 2012 Issue Around Town Now!

Edible Boston's covers are so attractive that I can envision them framed on my dining room wall. This issue is no exception. Nice work by photographer Michael Piazza.

The Fall 2012 issue is around town now. I found a stack of them at Bauer Wine & Spirits on Newbury Street. Howie Rubin had nice things to say about the success of his advertising in this publication. I know that Edible Boston has been an asset to the local food community, but I'm really happy to hear that it's good for the businesses that support it with their advertising dollars.

Every issue seems to feature someone near to our hearts at BostonZest. This time, there's a feature on the family team from the Mei Mei Street Kitchen food truck.

Pick up a copy and enjoy the insight provided on many aspects of the local food scene.

Related Posts:

Mei Mei Street Kitchen: Food Truck Tracking

Thanks to everyone who hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support. What's on your "Off to College" shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your back to school needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Cover Art: © 2012 edibleBOSTON

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 great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

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August 27, 2012
Edible Boston Fall 2012 Issue Around Town Now!

Edible Boston's covers are so attractive that I can envision them framed on my dining room wall. This issue is no exception. Nice work by photographer Michael Piazza.

The Fall 2012 issue is around town now. I found a stack of them at Bauer Wine & Spirits on Newbury Street. Howie Rubin had nice things to say about the success of his advertising in this publication. I know that Edible Boston has been an asset to the local food community, but I'm really happy to hear that it's good for the businesses that support it with their advertising dollars.

Every issue seems to feature someone near to our hearts at BostonZest. This time, there's a feature on the family team from the Mei Mei Street Kitchen food truck.

Pick up a copy and enjoy the insight provided on many aspects of the local food scene.

Related Posts:

Mei Mei Street Kitchen: Food Truck Tracking

Thanks to everyone who hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support. What's on your "Off to College" shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your back to school needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Cover Art: © 2012 edibleBOSTON

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 great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

Newbury Street 60% Off… the Sidewalk?

BostInno's "21 Local Must-Read Food Blogs"

Basque Country Supper: Recreating Happy Memories

Change the World with Local Food – Incredible Edible

August 27, 2012
Edible Boston Fall 2012 Issue Around Town Now!

Edible Boston's covers are so attractive that I can envision them framed on my dining room wall. This issue is no exception. Nice work by photographer Michael Piazza.

The Fall 2012 issue is around town now. I found a stack of them at Bauer Wine & Spirits on Newbury Street. Howie Rubin had nice things to say about the success of his advertising in this publication. I know that Edible Boston has been an asset to the local food community, but I'm really happy to hear that it's good for the businesses that support it with their advertising dollars.

Every issue seems to feature someone near to our hearts at BostonZest. This time, there's a feature on the family team from the Mei Mei Street Kitchen food truck.

Pick up a copy and enjoy the insight provided on many aspects of the local food scene.

Related Posts:

Mei Mei Street Kitchen: Food Truck Tracking

Thanks to everyone who hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support. What's on your "Off to College" shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your back to school needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Cover Art: © 2012 edibleBOSTON

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 great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

Newbury Street 60% Off… the Sidewalk?

BostInno's "21 Local Must-Read Food Blogs"

Basque Country Supper: Recreating Happy Memories

Change the World with Local Food – Incredible Edible

August 27, 2012
Expand Your Wine Comfort Zone: Sampler Cases

In February, we bought a sampler case of Kermit Lynch wines from Bauer Wine & Spirits. We are long-time fans of both the ledgendary importer and of our neighborhood wine shop where Howie Rubin has been pointing us to great wines for 20 years.

Sampler cases are a good way to expand your wine comfort zone.

When curated by an able wine merchant, sampler cases can be an education about a country, an importer, or a type of wine. If you shop stores that offer these attractive sets of wine, sign up for emails on their offerings.

Bauer offers samplers on a regular schedule. Their customers have explored the Iberian wines (Portugal & Spain), rosés, single vineyards like Montes in Chile, seasonal selections for warm and cold days, and holiday samplers that put the right wines in your rack for a variety of guests.

These selections are often outstanding values because the store can purchase in greater quantity knowing that they will sell this group of wines quickly. The Kermit Lynch case, two bottles each of six wines, was offered at sale price plus an additional 15% discount.

We plan to feature other sampler opportunities in the weeks ahead. If you have a favorite wine shop sampler, let us know in the comments below or send us an email. Some shops do full cases, others offer 6-packs.

And, we have an upcoming post scheduled about one of the wines in this sampler.

Love wine? Join our Our Sparkling Resolution

Check Out: Our wine List

Want to learn more about wine? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site! Here's, The Food Lover's Guide to Wine the latest addition to our wine reference shelf. Here's a great interview and review of this book over on Taste of the Past.

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.

April 18, 2012