Ever spend a day just cruising Twin Cities Wine Shops?  Well okay, maybe not the whole day – but really, just take some time and check out some of the little shops in our area that receive a lot of ‘wine’ buzz?  It’s a ‘must do’ and something you should put on your list one Saturday afternoon. 

Because I am in front of hundreds of people a week, teaching classes or in home parties nightly, I have so many folks telling me their favorite places to shop, new wines they’ve had or new places they’ve read about.  I keep a list of the places that I haven’t been to, and when I get the time, I cruise around for the day scoping them all out.

Last week, I managed to hit up just two.  Sinful Wines in Bloomington and the Cork Dork Wine Co. in South Minneapolis.   Both places came highly recommended by either write ups or people in classes that use the shops as their local neighborhood shop.

First stop – Sinful Wines.  Supposedly the shop had been written up when it first opened a few months back as having ‘hand-selected, boutique’ wines focused on small family owned wineries.  Being that it is the only shop in the Twin Cities owned and operated by a female, the shop received some great press upon its opening.  Thinking, “Wow, I’d love to support a fellow chica in the wine world”, I headed over.  And I must say, I never really truly ‘dog’ out shops, because everyone has their own gig.  But, wow, this shop was truly truly misrepresented by its press.  Hand-selected wines, boutique?  Not a chance.  If a free standing rack of BITCH Wines from Australia is your ’boutiquey’, dude you’re in trouble.  From displays of Gallo magnums, ‘Mommy’s Little Helper’ to racks of over the hill whites, the shop was cold and again, highly misrepresented.  A ‘close out’ table in the middle of store with white wines that are clearly over their prime was probably my last straw.  One wine I know well – Ceretto Arneis – sat in the middle of the table.  The vintage on the bottle was dead 2 years ago.  Bummer, you know why?  Because someone is going to pick it up off the table and take it home thinking that they got a great deal, drink it, hate it because it’s so over the hill and never buy Ceretto wines again.  And Ceretto, is ONE of my FAVORITE Italian wineries!  And their Arneis, get out…is delish.  But, not at Sinful Wines.   My overall experience is Boo + Hoo.  No bueno.  In fact, it’s a better liquor store with rows and rows of cheap liquor gracing its shelves including its anything but cool wine.  Sorry, not a fan.

Next stop, Cork Dork Wine Co.  After my first stop, I was thinking that maybe ‘today wasn’t my day’ for wine shopping.  Wrong.  Mr. Russell Fay, owner of Cork Dork Wine Co., changed my mind.  After spending a few minutes in the shop, quietly perusing the cool, eclectic wines pushed up against the cubical sized walls in his shop, I asked “So what’s the method to your madness of choosing these cool wines in your shop?”.  He gave me an answer that I enjoyed.  He said he had spent years in the restaurant industry within the Twin Cities, got to know a lot of wine portfolios, loved to taste wine and picked wines that he thought were kinda of unique.  “I like it”, is what I said. 

While the room itself (yep, its a room) is tiny, the choices of wine are anything from boring.  From some of my favorite wine portfolios in the city, I found some super fun, out of the way, cool storied wines.  Wines that he had all ‘written up’ with black marker on each of their propped up poster boards that sat behind each wine.  Whether it was his words or blurbs from the winery itself, they were good snippets of info.  And I, walked out of the joint with TWO cases of wine.  Super cool approach, so NOT pretentious and really helpful.  A guy with a dream that made it happen.  My only complaint, his signage out front.  I want more peeps to know about his spot and it’s a little hard to see off of Cedar Ave, where he’s located.  Snuggled in between a pizza joint and an alterations shop – he’s the guy in the middle selling wine.  Two Thumbs Up!

There you have it…The Life of a Sommelier.  Cruising the streets looking for some cool peeps to promote and in the meantime, adding more wine to a cellar that exceeded its limit over two years ago.  Where are these two cases going to live?!  Happy shopping to you all and go over and check out my new pal in south Minnie.  Salut!

Oh boy, if you missed the Sunday Funday at Solo Vino this past weekend, you may be a wee bummed out.  Let me tell you, with all things to throw in: the weather, the place, the peeps and the wine – my friend, The Chucker of Solo Vino, hit a home run with The Twin Cities BEST Rosé Tent Tasting!

Truly, it could be listed in years to come as, The Best Wine Tasting of the Season!  With only two years under his belt for the tasting, this was certainly one you did not want to miss.  Over 100 rosés from around the world were shown, from bag, box and bottle – the delicious list of gorgeous pink-hued beauties showed their skins.  The folks in attendance were draped in some of the hottest summer shades and the folks pouring were more than enthusiastic to show off their portfolios.  Truly, a big big hit!

Wines from around the globe wooed the likes of every wine drinker, but none more than the ‘Best in Show’ talk of the tent newbie!  That’s right, Croatia.  Croatia – I know, I know,  if you read my blog you’re wondering if I’m ever going to get off my soap box…  But, I just have to just show off some proud peacock feathers here for a second.  And, I have to tell you why I cannot shut up about these wines!

Sunday was why.  With over 265 people in attendance, the excitement built around a four foot table of three Croatian wines from Korta Katarina Winery.  Katharine Anderson Groethe, daughter of winery founder and sole importer and distributor of the Korta Katarina Wines here in the Twin Cities, along with myself, Sommelier for the winery – poured the winery’s Plavac Mali Rosé, Posip and Plavac Mali red.  And to be honest, we couldn’t get folks to leave our table!  It was so exciting and contagious.  By mid way thru the event, the word of the Croatians had spread all the way around the tent creating a line for folks to try these Dalmatian beauties.

With a Rosé of Plavac Mali, the wine was round with lush, strawberry field, watermelon pulp and dark bing cherry fruit.  Great, as we said, from everything in your salad, goat cheese, to a lovely fish on the grill.  Next, the winery’s white wine, Posip (pronouned POSHIP), was truly the hit of the party.  The Posip grape only grown on one spot in Croatia, the island of Korcula, is a lovely floral, aromatic, ripe melon fruited goodie.  Down to the last drop, it’s a backyard sipper and an elegant first course, through and through.  Lastly, Korta Katarina’s Plavac Mali.  If you’ve been following my bits, you know that the grape has been traced back to having one parent of Zinfandel.  It has a spicy, dark, meaty first impression that leads you into a palate filled with lovely notes of ripe raspberry, cherry and blackberry.  So good with meat on the grill to an aged Pecorino cheese.  And let me tell you, all agreed! 

Korta Katarina, ‘Best in Show’ again!  Stay tuned for more Summer Tastings listed on Amusee’s Event Page ~ you never know where these fun new wines will pop up again, stay tuned!

I say this almost every season that I’m in New York, but I just love New York this time of year!  What a wonderful, colorful, glamorous city.  There is truly nothing like it in world, well… unless you’ve been to Hong Kong (that’s another blog entry). 

Just this week, I spent a couple of days in the city hanging with a fun group of new Croatian pals and drinking Eastern European wine.  Not a bad job, right?  There is, as I’ve learned with Eastern European culture, so much to understand about the history, beginnings and taste of this culture and its wines.  Introducing the new wine kid on the block, Korta Katarina Winery, to a group of first generation Croatian Americans is both, as I found, exciting and also jam packed with interesting comments.  Especially in a very vocal location like New York.  After trying several of these bottles and thinking back to my first YOUTUBE video on Amusée’s CRUSH PAD where I tried some of the best producers of the country, I realize that there is so much more that I now know about this place called:  Croatia. 

Like New Yorkers, Croatians are proud.  They are rare folks who talk so romantically about their culture, the land, the original grapes and its people.  Everyone holds their hands in forms like the Italians, you know pinched fingers, expressing their points.  And, I love it.  The same is true of so many in NY.  Sometimes maybe too vocal, but always very passionate when they speak.  Good Mid Western girls were taught to never interrupt, which really wouldn’t get you anywhere with this crowd, so you have to ‘express’ your own points in between their breaths. 

And while NY is a place where every single rare bottle of wine can be found, they too have some wonderful neighborhoods that support the Eastern European wine category with its inhabitants in full force.  For one, the neighborhood of Astoria.  A very cool spot.  Folks with open markets, nationalities of every spectrum, and languages that are heard from one end of the store to the other.  It is a neighborhood in the northwestern corner of Queens, which now you can imagine a bit more the streets and corners if you’ve ever been to the area.  And funny as it is, when in Seattle a couple of weeks back, I had a conversation about an Italian restaurant located there.  A few Master Sommeliers spoke of this great Italian restaurant, delicious food and great wine located in Queens.  Wouldn’t you know it, I ended up there while on this trip!

Ponticello Ristorante.  While we did not have time to eat, you have to know that it will be the first place on my list the next time I’m in the city.  The owner, Pepe, is one cool cat.  A native Croatian passionate about his wines, food and his restaurant spoke to us about his culture, New York and well, many other subjects.  His passion for selling Croatian wine was evident and it was so fun throughout the day(s) listening to everyone’s take on the country’s main red grape:  Plavac Mali.  The grape as I’ve come to learn it is rich with fruit, high in feisty tannin and ridiculously complex with layers of dirt, minerality and crunchy dried herbs.  I can now say, I’ve tasted some very inexpensive ones (and not really my favorite) to some very good ones.  Knowing of course, that Korta Katarina is my first pick on the shelf, there are others that display the same fruit yet different underlying layers of earth and spice.  I feel like my palate and my mind have been taking inventory on this grape now for weeks.  It’s very cool how each of them really is so different.  From its native area of southern Croatia and the Dingac and Postup Vineyard Sites to the Island of Hvar – each has its own story to tell.  There is so much to learn. 

Though my trip to the great city of New York was short and sweet and filled with many more interesting ‘blurbs’, ones blog shouldn’t probably go on and on and on.  So I end with my favorite part of New York, because it’s always a place I manage to make it to while there. 

Central Park.  Where the horse carriage aromas seem to fill every corner of the park, to the colorful street vendors that make your walk visually entertaining, it is the most rare piece of land in any one city.  The trees are now in bloom, the color of green is almost neon in some spots and the open fields in the park’s center, I’m sure, have already been used for Sunday afternoon frisbee throwing and late afternoon picnics.  It’s such a beautiful spot, and truly…as I said like no other place in the U.S.  I can’t wait to go back. 

Cheers to my new Croatian and Russian friends and thanks for your warm and very generous New York hospitality!

Who doesn’t LOVE Ladera Winery?  I know, I know.  I definitely have my favorites, that’s for sure.  But Ladera…they are always at the top of my list when it comes to California’s Howell Mountain Cabernets.  Ladera Winery founded by some of the nicest Minnesota peeps, the Stotesbery Family.  With me is good friend, Dan Stotesbery, son of owners Pat and Anne.  Always happy to share his love for Minnesota!

Take a look inside as we give you a sneak peek inside Ladera’s portfolio and really,  how Ladera came to be.  (IN HD!)

Don’t miss Dan and Ladera’s Winemaker, Karen Culler, this week in Minneapolis. At the Westin Mpls tonite for a Ladera Wine Dinner inside BANK Restaurant and this weekend at Minneapolis’s own ~ WINEFEST.  

 Two hot wine events this weekend, not to miss!

A girl after my own heart!  I took some time this weekend to hang out with one of my favorite people and close pal, Miss Kate, for a little 101 in swirling, how to ‘hard sell’ wine and ‘how to say sommelier’.  I wouldn’t mess with her.

She’s good, CUTE and is the first in MY family to say ‘Sommelier’ right!

 (IN HD)

Not kidding, these are some crazy crows!  Travelocity Gnome joins us on shoot while Minneapolis Sommelier Leslee Miller of Amusée (www.amuseewine.com) is attacked by wild city crows while talking about one her favorite rosés of the season from A to Z Winery out of the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

In HD!

Sizzzzzzleeeee…is all you heard last nite in a room chucked full of almost 40 people for a very fun  Smoked, Grilled and Sauced Class @ Cooks of Crocus Hill in St Paul  with Minneapolis Culinary Superstars:  Chef Mike Shannon, Sommelier Leslee Miller and Cicerone Michael Agnew. 

First thing you ask is…what’s a Cicerone and what’s he doing with Mike and Leslee?  Michael is a new friend of this culinary team and we welcome him wholely with his wonderful knowledge of BEER.   Beer, that’s right I said it…and, a Cicerone is a person with a certification in beer knowledge.  ‘Kind of’ like a Sommelier.  The program is new to the US so they are, as Michael says, still figuring it all out.  But look out, the world is full of beer dorks, and I have to say…I like it. 

With a full menu ranging from:  Pulled Pork Cobb Salad, Smoked Salmon Pizza, Grilled Lamb Chops, Jamaican Chicken with Caribbean Slaw and Mike’s Specialty (who knew?!) Cheesecake with Chocolate Almond Crust and Tart Cherry Sauce.  Yum-my.    Between Cicerone and Sommelier, each course was paired off to alternate courses until the two libation dorks went head to head with the Lamb and Cheesecake courses. 

Here’s a run down of my favorite hits…

The starter wine ~ Famega Vinho Verde~ A Perfect Portuguese Treat, especially this time of year!  I love this wine.  A fresh, slightly fizzy Alvarinho (not Albarino, which would be from Spain) – that leaves a little tingle on your palate.  Very, very low in alcohol, a whoppin’ 9.5% alcohol and OMG, easy on the budget, maybe $8 on the shelf.  Milka what?!  That’s something you should be filling the bathtub up with on a Saturday afternoon!

The Pulled Pork Cobb Salad and the Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier.  First, let me just say that my Mike knows how to do anything that involves Smoke and Meat!  I mean he, in my book, is sort of like a little southern God.  His pulled pork, I’d throw on my pancakes!  The Hefe Weissbier was a perfect pairing to this Cobb.  With a slight egg like note of soft, yeast and floral aromas and mouth-filling creamy wheat, it was a perfect refreshment to this down home meaty Cobb.

Next, Korta Katarina’s Croatian Rosé (if you haven’t had the run down of these tasting notes, hit the blog entries below!) and the Smoked Salmon Pizza.  I love funky things on my pizza and this was a real winner for me.  The full salmon flavors, yet the supple strawberry fields of the rosé went hand in hand. 

The Jamaican Chicken with Caribbean Slaw was a lovely treat with probably my new favorite IPA.  Meantime Brewing Co. made India Pale Ale.  I love hops!  I love the floral aromas and the zesty little kick that they give beer, this was a very good pairing with the slaw having a slight kick to its profile.

The next two course were my favs…

The Grilled Lamb Chops ~ 1.  I have to give it up for one of my favorite Brunello di Montalcino producers, IL POGGIONE.  My 2004 Brunello di Montalcino rocked the lamb.  The herbal elements to the Sangiovese paired to the lamb chop and its Italian like chickpeas and tomato side…get out of town.  I mean, it was like that old Elvira Pinball Game, I was rocked!   

2.  I do however, have to hand it to my beer friend.  His pairing to the dish, Flat Earth Ovni Ale.  A local group of really great peeps.  I will tell you, I’ve been over there in St Paul to visit them a few times, and their beer is killer!  You must check out their Tues and Thurs Happy Hour!   This traditional farmhouse Biere de Garde was malty, rich, nutty and heavy with caramel.  Absolutely terrific with the lamb.

Last but not least ~  1.  The Tart Cherry Cheesecake with Chocolate Almond Crust.  And, I don’t even like sweets!  This was it for me.  What did I pour?  A very cool, old school producer from Germany, Schlink Haus, and their Dornfelder.  The Dornfelder grape produced slightly sweet had almost a nutty, sour cherry peel to it and oh boy, it was unbelievable.  I loved it!  And, I think I licked the bottom on the plate – c’mon Mike, you didn’t tell us you could cook cheesecake like that?  2.  Our Cicerone paired one of my favorite Sunday morning sippers, the Lindemans Kriek Lambic.  A spontaneous fermented wheat beer with a lush, bubbly content – ripe with cherry yet sour with strains of yeast.  I’m not sure what pairing I liked more on this one?  They were both just rock solid pairs in my opinion.  Very cool.

There you have it.  If you missed out again, what the heck are you waiting for?  These classes have been named: 

   THE TWIN CITIES’S  BEST FOOD AND WINE PAIRING CLASSES! 

With a class full of 40pp, we still had 30pp on our wait list.  Looks like we’ll have to teach another soon.  And really, if it wasn’t for our ‘peeps’ that support us with these amazing classes and the fun that YOU ALL bring to the room, we wouldn’t be here.  Thank you! for all who make these classes a blast. 

Don’t forget to sign up for these classes early, they have been known to fill up immediately.  Check ‘em out if you can, in the meantime…keep drinking and pairing!