How to make a wine advent calendar

We recently posted a picture of a wine advent calendar on the Share the Bottle Facebook page. It seemed like such a cool idea that we decided to make one too.

Here are step-by-step instructions for making your own wine advent calendar. 

Step 1: Assemble the following materials

• 1 spool of festive ribbon
• Scissors
• Red sharpie or marker
• Construction paper
• Hole punch
• 25 bottles of wine
• 1 mother-in-law

Step 2: Ask your Mother-in-Law if she'd like to work on a project

Mother-in-laws love to help decorate your home. Give her the materials you've assembled and show her the picture below. She'll know what to do.

Step 3: Let your mother-in-law know she's appreciated

Be sure to show your appreciation for her efforts. My mother-in-law likes beer. One tip -- it's a good idea to reward your mother-in-law after the advent calendar is finished.

Sharing beer with my awesome mother-in-law, Mabeth

Happy Holidays!!

Best Thanksgiving Wines

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time with family and friends, and an excellent time to share a bottle… or three.  With such a cornucopia of treats served during a traditional feast, it can be challenging to select one wine that pairs well from ingredients to dessert.  So, why not select three – a white, red, and sparkling! 

Selecting a variety of wines will aid in pairing with the several components of a traditional turkey dinner, as well as cater to a variety of guests’ palates.

When selecting a white wine, pick one that is refreshing and slightly fruity.  You want one that will compliment from turkey to pie.  The trick with reds is to select one that is not too tart or high in tannins – a solid, neutral food wine is best.  One of the most forgotten about wines for a Thanksgiving feast is sparkling wines.  The tip with these wines is to choose brut. Dry sparkling wines pair nicely with turkey and all that comes with it. Sparkling Shiraz is also highly recommended.  

Having the gang all over to your house and not sure what to serve?  Joining another feast and not sure what to bring along?  Check out some of our favorite Thanksgiving Day wines – all under $20, widely available, and sure to please a crowd!

Perfect Thanksgiving Wines Under $20

More Perfect Thanksgiving Wines

What wine will you be sharing this Thanksgiving?

First impressions of the Ramona Valley wine region

Sally and I were joined by our friends Sarah and Dave last Sunday as we took our first wine tasting excursion to the Ramona Valley wine region. While you shouldn’t cancel your Napa plans just yet, Ramona Valley can be a fun place to spend a day wine tasting if you live in or near San Diego County.

Our general impression was this is a very young wine region. Many of the wines we tasted were produced from vineyards that have yielded grapes for only a few years. The winemakers themselves typically didn’t have many vintages under their belts, but they were eager to learn and experiment. Give this region some time and we might see some great wine.

• Wineries
• Tasting Room Map

We met a few interesting characters along the way.

Victor Edwards was pouring wine on the Edwards Vineyard and Cellars wine patio. He and his wife, Beth, make the wine and run the winery with the help of their sons. Their story seems like that of so many people who love wine, plant a few vines in their yard, and one day find themselves running a winery.

Their wines are made in very small lots. Edwards only produced 47 cases each of the 2008 Syrah and 2008 Whale Mountain Red (50% Syrah and 50% Petit Sirah), their only current releases still available. 

The winery didn’t have much of a tasting venue, which is usually a good sign. They had a few tables and chairs, a wine bar, and a small shack where they stored wine and supplies. A couple of dogs welcomed visitors as they arrived. Everything was nice and casual.

Kim Nguyen-Hargett was our host at Mahogany Mountain Vineyard and Winery. She and her husband own the winery, which is situated on 43 acres on Mahogany Ranch Road.

Kim was pouring two vintages of their Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Mourvedre when we visited. She helped us have a bit of fun by pouring each vintage in a glass without telling us which was which. We all would taste the wine and try to guess the vintage based on the tasting notes on their wine list. Doing side-by side tastings is always a lot of fun and a great way to learn a little more about wine.

Our last stop of the day was Kohill Winery. Mike Kopp, the owner and winemaker, was on hand to pour us some wine when we arrived. We were his only guests so we kept talking and Mike kept pouring. We got to barrel taste several wines and he even opened a couple of bottles of unreleased wine for us to try.

Kohill’s current releases were good, but the stuff from the barrel has some real promise. I’m sure we’ll be back for his next vintage.

Barrel tasting with Kohill winemaker Mike Kopp.

Picking our anniversary wine from the $$$ wine list

2008 Ladera Stile Blocks Howell Mountain Cabernet SauvignonSally and I dined at J&G Steakhouse in Scottsdale, Arizona last Wednesday for our 14^th wedding anniversary. Local laws prohibited us from bringing a bottle of wine from our own collection, so we had to go to our bag of tricks to pick something from their wine list.

Admittedly, it was tough to pay steep restaurant prices for a nice bottle of wine. Cost is one of the many reasons why we bring our own bottle whenever we can.

We struck out trying to use our usual tricks for selecting wine from a restaurant wine list. The first move is to look for familiar wines, but they didn’t have any bold red wines we knew that fell within our price range. Our next trick is to look for options on the wines by the glass list so we can try before we buy, but again nothing jumped out.

Our last trick is to go with a region we know and get our server’s advice. We selected a Ladera 2010 Stile Blocks Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon that sounded promising. Our server hadn’t tasted it, but enjoyed other offerings from Ladera. It was also from Howell Mountain, which is in the northern part of Napa Valley and has a flavor profile we generally enjoy.

The wine turned out to be a good one. It had aromas of dark fruit, pencil box, and cocoa on the nose which gave way to blackberry on the palate along with a bit of tartness that mellowed as the wine warmed. The finish had powerful tannins which were a perfect match with our steak.

This wine is 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Petit Verdot. It’s a current release and is available for sale on the Ladera Vineyards website. 

Second Bottle - 2009 Rombauer Zinfandel

We recently enjoyed our second bottle of 2009 Rombauer Zinfandel while dining at Antica Trattoria. It was outstanding, but more on that later.

First, here’s a little background on why we’re big advocates of buying at least two bottles whenever we like a wine. That second bottle gives you all sorts of options:

• You can share it with friends
• You can drink one now and cellar the other one for a while
• You can avoid being disappointed when you drink your one and only bottle

Enjoying a glass of Rombauer ZinfandelWe’ve often noticed that you can have two bottles of the same wine at the same time and they’ll taste just a little bit different. It’s a perfectly normal and fun characteristic of wine.

When we bring two bottles of the same wine to share with friends at a restaurant, we always ask our server to pour a taste of the second bottle in a separate glass before serving it. The wine really does taste just a little bit different in most cases. When this happens, we ask our server to allow people to finish their glass of the first bottle before refilling it with the second.

Now back to the Rombauer.

It’s fun to compare our tasting notes when we drink a wine several months apart. Our perceptions are no doubt influenced by each bottle’s individual characteristics, its relative age, what we’re pairing it with, and even our mood at the time.

Here’s how it tasted when we enjoyed a bottle in July:

“Aromas of dark fruit. A jammy Zin with rich blackberry flavors, and a splash of pepper. The berry flavor stays strong throughout the lingering, smooth finish. You’d never know it was 15.9% alcohol.”

Here’s how it tasted when we enjoyed a bottle in late October:

“Dark fruit on the nose mixed with a little herb. Jam bomb with tastes of blueberry compote that carry throughout the palate with light pepper on the finish. Pour it on you pancakes. The 15.9 % heat is totally hidden in this bottle.”

Our notes are very similar but have two differences. First, we picked up some herbaceous quality on the nose the second time around. This is very unusual for a Zinfandel and may have been just that bottle of wine or perhaps a smell that came from our food. The second difference is we tasted blackberry in the first bottle and blueberry in the second.

Both bottles were very good, but they were also a little different. Perhaps we’ll need to start buying three bottles of good wine so we’ll have a tie-breaker!