Good Morning!

Tomorrow night is our annual friends gathering and last year I passed out a little gift bag with a bottle of my wine and some homemade cookies for each friend to take with them. At the party last year, I opened some great wines, made some of my semi-famous Friendship sangria and we had beer iced down for everyone to enjoy. While the party was getting started one friend was helping in the kitchen and she opened the frig looking for something and said, what’s this chocolate milk stuff in here? I giggled and said, that is not chocolate milk, it’s my homemade Bailey’s. She said can I try it?

Well, every time a new bunch of friends arrived she bragged about the Bailey’s and made them try it….it was gone within a few hours and everyone wanted my recipe. So, tonight when the party goers arrive they will still get punch, wine and beer but in their gift bag, they will take home a bottle of the Bailey’s with a copy of the recipe.

I found some cool bottles at the hobby store and they have attached rubber stoppers so I made mega batches of the Bailey’s this morning and have all the bottles filled for my pals. I wanted to share the recipe with you, so here is it!

1 3/4 c. Irish whiskey
1 can Eagle condensed milk
1 c. whipping cream
4 beaten eggs
6 tbsp. chocolate syrup
3 tbsp. instant coffee
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract

Add all these ingredients in the blender and taste…you might like more whiskey…I always use Jack Daniels, since I am not much of a hard alcohol fan, you might have a brand you prefer. Also, I am not a coffee drinker so sometimes I only use 2 tbsp’s of instant coffee.

Remember you have eggs in here, so this is not like store bought Bailey’s..must refrigerate and consumer within about a week.

I hope you enjoy and I hope you get time to enjoy the holidays!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Good Morning!

Yes, I am feeling better and asthma can not keep me down for very long. Thanks for all the emails asking how I was feeling!

So yesterday I went to the wine shop and I was talking to a really dapper older fella who said the most fantastic gift to give at Christmas is Sherry. This caught me off guard and I had to ask more questions and learn more about Sherry. I honestly am not sure if I had ever had Sherry. My mom had a bottle of cooking Sherry in the cabinet when we were kids and my brother and I took a swig and almost died from the nasty taste of it…(it was in there for years and years).

After I educate myself on Sherry, I have to figure out why I have never given it as a gift or at least thought about giving it. An even better question is why hasn’t someone ever given it to me and of course, I have to buy some because I am not sure I have ever tasted it and I am not gonna let a chance to try a new drink pass me by!

Here is what I found out; Sherry is a fortified wine from an area of southern Spain. It is considered one of the 3 great fortified wines, the other two are Port and Madeira. Just to remind you fortified wine was originally used as a method to preserve some wines. Fortification is the addition of brandy or neutral spirit in order to boost a wine’s alcohol content, most fortified wines have an alcohol content of 17-21 percent. As well as most fortified wines are sweet because when you get a wine with a higher than 16% alcohol the yeast can not work, the yeast quits converting the natural sugar. The earlier the fortification process occurs the more residual sugar remains and the sweeter the wine.

Sherries range broadly in color, flavor and sweetness, but fundamentally only two types Fino and Oloroso. The difference between fino and oloroso is all about a particular yeast called Flor and it relates to the level of alcohol. Major difference in Fino and Oloroso is Fino develops a layer on the wine’s surface so there is no oxygenation, so it’s color is pale and it is lower in alcohol. Oloroso does not create this layer and they leave a space in the barrel so, this wine becomes oxidized and is darker and it is left in the barrels much longer than most sherries and it becomes deep gold and brownish in color and this sherry is higher in alcohol and much more expensive.

I found out that there are many versions of both the Fino and Oloroso and the quality is normally high because the Spanish use the solera system of topping off older barrels of sherry with the most recently made sherries. But the Solera System is another subject for another blog. There are many sherry-style wines made all over the world and sherries can be enjoyed before or after dinner and they are normally served chilled and really sweet sherries are served at room temperature.

That’s what I learned but why did this well dressed man at the wine shop tell me it was the best gift ever? He was obviously a salesman and he was looking at me like me like I was a rib-eye and he had not eaten in a week. I stepped up and tasted his 4 samples of sherry. Two were smooth, rich, thick and only slightly sweet and I could see why you would love this taste sensation after a meal. The other two were seriously like pancake syrup, sweet and coying and just did not make me wanna wrap up a meal with this, it made me want to make a stack of flapjacks and pour it over them. (for those of you asking about the breakfast wine options, this might be your answer)

I ended up buying four bottles of Sherry for friends for Christmas, I will let you know what they think of them after the holidays, but it is kinda nice not to be so predictable and just give everyone a bottle of bubbles during the holidays!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Good Morning,

Today I am copying a blog I read all the time and sharing it with you! I know it is cheating to not give you my totally original thoughts, but I am on the couch with my inhaler fighting a bout with asthma and I just need another day before I will be able to breath a little easier.

This blog post is written by Darren Williger and I read him often, he is a WAY better writer than I am and I found this blog packed full of information about the differences between wine bottles. I hope you enjoy, see you tomorrow!
Much LOVE and wine,
Tammi

Wine is a very sensitive beverage which gets easily affected by temperature, lights, vibrations, and oxygen among others. Ordinarily speaking, one can use any type of bottle to bottle his/her wine as long as it can be sealed well (some inset a thin layer of nitrogen before sealing it to prevent any chance of oxygen reaching the wine and oxidizing it) and at the same time protect the wine from direct sunlight.

Easy identification of wine type and place of manufacture

All wine bottles are made of glass. Wines, such as Champagne are fermented in the same bottle they are sold in, while most other types are bottled after the fermentations process has totally stopped. Most of the times the wine is bottled in a certain type of bottle for two main reasons – (i) to identify the area from where it comes (manufacturers, vineyard, country, etc), (ii) type of wine.

In the early days wine was stored in wooden kegs. After a while it became fashionable to have wine in large amphorae. Then, with the advent of the popularity of wine and its transport throughout the world, it became commonly stored in glass bottles. These bottles are usually thick, dimpled at the bottom and dark in color. Thick because it should break during travel/ transport; dimpled at the bottom so it can have better stability and easier for stacking while transporting; lastly dark in color to prevent the access of direct sunlight which can destroy the wine within the glass.

Today, the wine bottles are normally of 750 ml and the shape of the bottles in which they are stored usually denote the type of wine and many times the place from where it is produced. This article will attempt to describe a few of the most popular wine bottles below:

Bordeaux – this bottle is usually tall with a small neck, light green in color. You will find this type of wine bottle in Italy, Spain, and in parts of the Northern Europe for bottling Bordeaux wines.
Burgundy – this type of bottle has slopping shoulders making it elegant and longish. The bottle is green too and also has a large dimple at the bottom. This bottle is mostly used for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Rhone – this bottle is much thinner than the burgundy one, but similar in shape otherwise.
Champagne – this bottle has very gentle sloping shoulders, is taller than any other bottle, thicker and has a deep dimple at the bottom. This particular shape is to protect the wine within, which ferments after being put in the bottle, and also prevents the bottle from breakage.
Rhine – this bottle usually comes in brown color, though they have green bottles too.

There is actually no real rules. The types of bottles have been adopted as a tradition rather than any other reason. There are places where the bottles of wine have been thus for hundreds of years. The main concern for wine bottles, remain to protect the wine. Hence, most of the bottles are thick, dark and longish. All these three attributes help in keeping the wine as healthy as can be till it is drank.

Good Morning!

Earlier this week, I helped a winemaker do some blending and it was the strangest thing I have ever seen, at 9 AM all these wine bottles, glasses and notepads out, but no spit buckets or even an extra glass. I did not notice until the second taste, then it dawned on me, I was hungry and I would be hammered in no time if I did not spit.

I said, I am gonna need a spit bucket and one of the guys called me an amateur, I started laughing. I said are you serious? He said he never spits. I felt a little ashamed but I still found some thing to put my just tasted wines in. Then I was interested in how he kept from getting drunk. I watched him as we started through the wines and the process of blending and we went through 35-40 blends before we created the perfect flavor profile, perfect nose and perfect tactile sensation. If I would have drank all that wine I would have needed a nap or at least been way past having the giggles.

I made a point to watch this winemaker and he did not seem affected by the alcohol one bit, he was not bubbly or buzzed, no tired behavior, nothing. So I ask, how do you not get at least a small buzz from the wine? He said, I learned at a young age that alcohol, if you do not allow it, you will not feel it’s after affects. I said really???? I get the whole mind over matter and I have read enough Anthony Robbins to understand the whole, if you do not give a thought any power it can not control you, thought. But to me alcohol is sort of like medicine, it does something (something wonderful) to my brain. I feel it and I like it!

Anyway, this was a topic of conversation for the rest of the day, as we were pressing wine and barreling the reds, he tasted each barrel and each different tank. I swear I could feel the sugar lift after each sample I tried, but he swears he feels nothing. I guess I will never know the answer to how he does it, but I am glad I do not have this problem, I am glad I enjoy the alcohol and all it’s benefits.

So, this brings me to the thought if he was a wine judge, could he still be sober by the end of the day? I would love to be a wine judge, but my palate is not ready for hours of sipping, swirling and spitting. I need more practice and I need to be able to handle my alcohol and I would of course need a reliable driver.

I know this is not as wine related as some might like, but I am still so intrigued by this days’ events, I had to share it with you!

Have a great weekend!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Good Morning,

A few years ago, we got lost in Lake County, CA which is just north of Napa and we saw a winery sign and pulled in and decided to relax and enjoy the adventure. We ended up buying a case of wine and sharing it at our Christmas party later that year. We loved the building and grounds that the Tulip Hill winery sat on and the grounds were beautifully landscaped and the small but vibrant tasting room was the perfect pit stop and the wines we tried were all reds and we really enjoyed the 2005 Cabernet.

We had this 05 Cab before I started taking “real” tasting notes, but we bought a couple of bottles for ourselves and then picked up a case of the 07 for the Christmas party. We had not thought about Tulip Hill much since then, because we kept saying we are going to drive back up there one of these days and of course life goes in so many directions we just have not made it back yet.

So the day after Thanksgiving just a couple of weeks ago, we were having a girls day in Palm Springs and as we walked through an outdoor mall, I see a tasting room for Tulip Hill Winery, SURPRISE! Myself and the girls headed into the tasting room and the experience was as great as I remembered us having up in Lake County. Of course, I tried 7 wines and the Napa Reserve was my favorite. The wines all had the big California blast of dark fruit and the alcohol on the back-end was totally what I expected. The wines were well made and balanced, the Merlot was smooth as silk.

The inside of the shop was filled with all types of wine related gifts, cool Christmas and Holiday decorations. The place was filled with tasting customers and shoppers and the host was a quite knowledgeable guy with tons of spirit. The couple next to me bought a bottle, a corkscrew and glasses, they were taking the kids to the movies in the Mall and they figured they would enjoy The Muppets more with the Merlot. I found out the Tulip Hill Winery sold back in the fall and though they will still be producing great wines, they now have a new owner.

If you are in Palm Springs a few cool wine places are around, Zin American Bistro is awesome, sit outside, have a flight or glass or bottle from the extensive wine list, the food is very well prepared and the service is spot-on. I had a great time at the Tulip Hill Winery tasting room and the dinner with had at the Trio in Palm Springs will be remembered for the mac and cheese and I paired it with an un-oaked Chardonnay to cut the richness, it paired beautifully. We also had a very lively lunch at Hamburger Mary’s with mimosa’s one day…do not count calories during vacation, it will put you in a crabby mood.

Anyway, that is a little about the Palm Springs leg of our vacation and we go every year, my in-laws live there, what we are most looking forward to next year is we want to try the steak place inside the Riviera Hotel.

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi