Happy New Year Everyone! Yesterday we enjoyed family, friends, football, and lots of wine!
We follow a southern tradition in our household and serve Hoppin' John (Black-eyed Peas and Ham Hocks served over brown rice) starting at half-time of the Rose Bowl. Also on the menu was Artichoke Dip with Pita Chips, Fresh Veggies with Salmon Dip or Ranch Dip. I think a bag of plain potato chips made it's way to the table too. Leave a comment below if you'd like any of my recipes.
We had plenty of wine on hand including a mulled wine I made using Sawtooth Skyline Red. With it being the new year we served a couple of sparkling wines. Idaho doesn't have a lot of options for sparkling wines (only one that I know of, a Sparkling Chardonnay from Woodriver Cellars), so we relied on our favorite local wine shop, Bueno Cheapo Vino, for some inexpensive imports.
One of my favorites is a Prosecco from Riondo Spago Argento called Pink. What I love about Pink is the hint of berry flavor. It's really light and if, like me, you have friends that swear they only like syrupy Ice Wines, they will find this one refreshing too. Another really nice Prosecco we served was from Casalnova, it has really nice crisp apple like flavor. We then had a German sparkling wine from Henkell Trocken, which is known for its lasting bubbles and I would definitely describe this wine as very bubbly. Next on the list is a really nice 2009 Gewürztraminer from Sun Garden. As I reflect on the evening and review the bottles; stacked neatly waiting for recycle at Sustainable Futures, I realized we served some sweeter white wines: Sawtooth Reserve 2007 Ice Wine Gewürztraminer and Koenig Vineyards 2008 Riesling (like I said I have some friends with a sweet tooth). Not all the wines were super sweet, but pleasantly sweet like the Indian Creek 2009 White Pinot Noir (yum). I also saw that hubby decided to share one of his favorite reds, a rare bottle of Cinder 2008 Tempranillo. We were only allowed to purchase two bottles and I'm pretty sure it sold out. We don't mind holding onto a bottle of wine for a "special occasion", but we're pretty liberal with our definition of such occasions. Special occasions could be a holiday, like yesterday, or it can be an evening we decide to serve a special wine we've been saving.
I want to thank all my friends and family that were able to join us last night. I really appreciate that clean up this morning was really negligible, what great guests!
Again, Happy New Year Everyone. I am looking forward to more wine adventures.
