White Wine

Although Prosecco has been around a long time, its popularity has grown in the last couple of years. It is viable alternative to more expensive champagnes and sparkling wines and is a "go to" item for holidays and special occasions. It is no wonder that Prosecco is a natural for Mothers' Day. You can toast mom or make Momosas for the Mother's Day brunch. Alternatively, you can also make delicious cocktails and punches as well. Here are a few examples.

Bellini

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• 3 (16-ounce) bags frozen peaches, thawed
• 1 teaspoon grated orange peel
• 4 to 6 (750-ml) bottles Prosecco or other sparkling wine, chilled
• Orange peel twists, for garnish

Stir the sugar and water in a large saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Cool completely.

Puree the peaches and orange peel in a blender with 1 1/2 cups of the sugar syrup until smooth. Strain through a fine-meshed

Easter is upon us and this year I thought it would be fun to offer a few more choices in different categories. Hopefully you will see a few surprises.

WHITES

1. Vouvray: Les Lys Vouvray 2015

Made from 100% Chenin Blanc this is an off-dry white with notes of delicate perfume, stone fruit and tropical fruit, a hint of almond, and a pleasant dose of honey. It has low acidity and a soft, round finish. This wine pairs well with sweet and salty honey-glazed ham with a side of scalloped potatoes.

2. Riesling: Boundary Breaks Ovid Line North 2014

The nose on this Finger Lakes Riesling offers scents of honey, wax, and peach. This off-dry Riesling has fine texture and pleasant, lingering flavors and is very well balanced. This wine can easily take on not just salty-sweet ham, but smoked kielbasa, hard boiled eggs and horseradish.

3. Pinot Gris: Willm Pinot Gris Reserve 2014

The Willm Pinot Gris has a golden color with a very faint pink hue

This holiday season I have opted to repeat my blog from last year because the films obviously remain classics and the pairings still apply.

It is the busy season at Premier, so I am just doing one large blog for the Holidays. I have listed 10 of my favorite Christmas movies with one bonus film many of you probably have never seen or heard of, but should take a look at. For each movie I have suggested a wine or spirit to go along with your viewing pleasure.

1. A Christmas Carol (1951): My favorite all-time Christmas movie with the incomparable Alistair Sim. It’s full of dark, brooding, Victorian London along with cheery snowy street scenes and lovely carols. A figgy and nutty Tawny Port like Niepoort Ten Year is just the thing to sip along with a slice of Christmas cake or pudding as you view this ideal Christmas movie.

2. A Christmas Carol (1984): My second favorite version of Dickens’ classic with wonderful set

Here is my list of some favorite wines for Thanksgiving. Most of these are old favorites, and all are interesting and worth your time. With a couple of exceptions, these wines will fall under $15.00 a bottle.

1. Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau 2016 / 750 ml.: A good vintage with a deep, dark, plum color and juicy, ripe flavors with a smooth finish. This light refreshing red should be served slightly chilled and works nicely the day after Thanksgiving when you build that monster of a turkey sandwich.

2. The Borell-Diehl 2014 Gewurztraminer Kabinett Pfalz: This wine should be of particular interest to you if you like some sweet with your spice. This wine is very aromatic, with rose, grapefruit, lychee, coriander. With ginger, citrus and golden apple notes on the mouth, this wine will be a winner for complex Thanksgiving flavors.

3. Domaine L’Enclos Moelleux 2015: This is a lovely, bargain-priced French white

This Sunday is the last day for our Double Up for a Buck.  So now is the time to stock up for your Halloween party.  New to our sale are two very well made French wines: Les Argelieres Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  Both of these wines will run you $8.00 per bottle with our sale which is a great deal for good French wine.

The Chardonnay is well balanced with notes of apple, pear, a hint of pineapple and creamy vanilla pudding.  There is just enough oak to give it heft for enjoying with cream laden dishes such as corn and potato chowder.  The Pinot Noir is a bit heavier and darker than many of the traditional French Burgundies, but make no mistake, this is not a jammy fruit bomb either. This Pinot has very good balance with plenty of lively raspberry, cherry fruit with slight birch beer and wet earth notes.  Try this with sweet and spicy Sloppy Joes for a solid Halloween pairing.

Get here soon to take advantage of this sale because it ends on Sunday.

We are headed for another record breaking month of high temperatures before August is out.  Refreshing is still key when it comes to drinking wine right now.  Therefore, what better place to go than the Calabria (toe of Italy) region where they know what hot is to find a cool, crisp, white wine.

The first thing you will notice when you spot the Vivanco White Rioja is the unusual shaped bottle. Slightly squatty with a wider lip on the neck, the bottle has a distinct historical look which is not surprising since it was inspired from an original eighteenth-century bottle from the Vivanco Museum of the Culture of Wine. The next thing you will notice is the type and region; a white wine from Rioja with Tempranillo in it.  Intrigued?  Good!

From a region famous for well made wines going back several decades, Keuka Springs Vineyards has been making great wines for thirty years. Under the direction of the Wiltberger family, Keuka Springs is producing outstanding from a wide variety of grapes. 

Arrowhead Spring is another excellent winery that opted to journey down “the road not taken” that so many New York wineries have feared to venture.  Arrowhead has successfully created wines that for many years were not associated with New York, like Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, and even Syrah.  As with other wineries that have dared to follow this route, Arrowhead Spring has low yields which help to increase the flavor intensity of their wines.

Up on the Niagara Escarpment region, in Cambria, NY lies Eveningside Vineyards, a winery known for small production, well made European style wines. Opened in 2004 by winemaker Randy Biehl and his wife Karen, the winery slowly grew while keeping its production reasonable by not being all things to all customers. Their focus has been on dry reds, Chardonnays and Rieslings and for this reason they have achieved success, respect and admiration throughout the state with wine lovers and wine producers alike.