Yeah. That pretty much describes all of my favorite things–and my night last night!
The Food Network is launching their own line of wines, and I was invited to a tasting event last night.
The line, called Entwine, aims to make food and wine pairings less scary. They partnered with Wente Vineyards, and Karl Wente, whose family founded the vineyard more than 125 years ago, was there, and let’s just say, he’s not too hard on the eyes.
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Food Network star Anne Burrell was there, and she encouraged anyone scared of wine to just drink more of it. I can’t say I’m afraid of wine, but I can still get on board with that. She says when she was in culinary school, her wine class scared the crap out of her. She had no idea what any of those wine words meant, and couldn’t taste any of the notes she was “supposed” to taste in the wines. These Food Network wines use the language of food, rather than the language of wine, in their descriptions.
For example, the chardonnay, one of my favorites (and I’m not usually a chardonnay girl), is just described as “easy-drinking, with crisp fall fruit.” I know what that means. I can get behind that. The tasting notes say it pairs well with “potato chips; grilled cheese sandwiches; shellfish; goat cheese; cream sauces; roast chicken and hanging out with friends.” I can get behind that. Wine doesn’t have to be pretentious. (Really, nothing needs to be pretentious.)
Our names and where we were from (it wasn’t just a blog event–there was tons of “real” media there, too) were written on our wine glasses–a really cute touch and something Ashley and I agreed would be easy to do for a party.
There was also lots of great food.
Chickpea fritters? Be still, my heart.
Scallops? I was a happy girl.
GRILLED CHEESE? OMG. I was in passed hors d’oeuvres heaven.
In our goodie bags, we got wine (score) and this cookbook, which I’m excited to try.
After leaving this event, I headed downtown to Swift for a runner happy hour that Laurel put together. Have you joined the awesome NYC Marathon Facebook group? No? Do it. We talk about running together and getting beer together. We’re fun.
See? Fun. And we even got a dude to come. (More dudes, please!)
So: wine or beer? And what’s your favorite wine or beer?
Wine or beer? That’s like asking me to choose a favorite puppy!
Definitely wine over beer, although I know pretty much nothing about it…..I just kinda go with the flow and generally choose randomly. I generally like sweeter, fruitier red wines…but as I said before, I really don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to wine, so I don’t have strong preferences.
@Kelly: I choose pretty randomly, too. The label has a ton to do with the wines that I choose. That and if the description includes real-people words, not wine-people words.
Wine! Riesling, to be exact. Mmmm.
Confession: in college I took “Advanced Wine Tasting” as a class because you got more wine than in Basic Wine Tasting. I still can’t tell you anything about a wine other than: I like it.
@Emily: Reason 898989898989 I <3 you.
It was so great meeting you last night!
I can go either way with wine and beer, I love Malbec for wine and hefeweizen for beer!
My two favorite things… food and wine 🙂 Thanks for the heads up on the FB Group! I could use the support!
Sparkling wine is my favorite, but I like a beer on the porch with a good burger too. (I just found Lagunitas, and it’s a delicious brew!)
that’s such a cool event! still a baller I see :). I like sparkling roses,cupcake vineyard chardonnay, and viogonior. Also prosecco! Not a beer girl
Wine! Zinfandel (red not white)
beer for me! my favorite usually changes… this summer i’ve been really into shipyard summer and radeberger. and allagash white.
and the nyc marathon fb group?!? i want in. but i’m not a facebook girl (i know, seriously). can i get a heads up for the next meet up? i love talking running. and beer 🙂
@ellen: No Facebook??? Yes, I can let you know about the next meetup!
And mmmmmm Allagash White.
How funny-Wente is from my hometown in California!
@YC: HE’S HOT!
Both those events look like so much fun. As for the wine or beer choice? Too difficult! Depends on my mood 🙂