white wine – In Good Taste

Wine Wednesday: Butter Chardonnay for Mother’s Day

Maris Callahan — Wed, 10 May 2017 05:00:03 +0000

There are a few things that I inherited from my mom: her witty sense of humor, her complete and utter inability to keep a surprise to herself (“I’m sending you a birthday present….do you want me to tell you what it is?) and also, her love for snacks. Especially when you can eat those snacks for dinner. I’m not sure if a love for the snack-dinner is something that every mother dreams of passing on to her daughter, but my mother passed that on to me. Both of us can make a full meal out of noshes — cheese, crackers, chips, dip, guacamole. One time, I spoke to my mom on the phone and asked her what she had eaten for dinner. Her response? A box of instant mashed sweet potatoes and a cucumber.” Well, maybe that was taking snack dinner a little too far. My favorite snack dinner is a demi baguette, a chunk of triple creme brie, some fig preserves and maybe a few thin and wispy slices of prosciutto. And of course, a great bottle of wine. JaM Cellars makes three easy-to-love, everyday California wines Butter Chardonnay, JaM Cabernet and Toast Sparkling. Second-generation Napa Valley vintners John and Michele are […]

The post Wine Wednesday: Butter Chardonnay for Mother’s Day appeared first on In Good Taste.

#WineWednesday: Nine Walks Sauvignon Blanc

Maris Callahan — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 01:41:40 +0000

I’m not big on red wine, but between receiving media samples, gifts and buying wine for past parties, I have somehow amassed a large collection of it. When I have parties, my apartment tends to heat up pretty quickly so unless the weather is very literally sub-zero, which is certainly not out of the question here, no one who comes over wants to drink red either. So, I spend a lot of time shopping and looking for white wines to serve when I have parties or gatherings, need to contribute to a BYOB dinner or want to offer friends a glass of something when someone stops by. When I was offered a sample of 2010 Nine Walks Sauvignon Blanc, I assumed it would be one I would want to share with you. First, it has a story. The wine was inspired by The 9 Great Walks of New Zealand, one-of a kind walking and hiking trails know for their natural beauty and peaceful calmness. The 9 Great Walks have been said to “rejuvenate the soul,” which I won’t tell you this wine can do….but I also won’t tell you that it can’t. Sauvignon Blancs, whether grassy, crisp or on […]

The post #WineWednesday: Nine Walks Sauvignon Blanc appeared first on In Good Taste.

#WineWednesday: Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc 2009

Maris Callahan — Wed, 04 May 2011 18:00:40 +0000

90 percent of the time, when someone asks you if you want white wine, they mean Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. I don’t know if that’s true, but 90 seemed like a good percent. Sauvignon Blancs are crisp, dry, easy to drink, and one of my own personal favorite things to drink on a patio during the months between May and September. And this is a Sauvignon Blanc worth saying yes to. The Sauvignon Blanc grape is commonly grown in France, Italy, California and more recently in New Zealand and Chile. South African wines in general are fairly new to the market (since the early to mid 90’s South Africa wasn’t allowed to export and wines were not the best quality). Because Sauvignon Blanc is grown in so many different places it takes on a lot of different flavors. Most often what you are going to see flavor-wise is an array of grapefruit flavors, followed by gooseberry and honeydew and in parts of France, Sauvignon Blanc takes on a lot of tomato vine and basil aromas. Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc 2009 from Walker Bay South Africa is an incredible wine that is brisk and perfumey with aromas of lemon and fresh […]

The post #WineWednesday: Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc 2009 appeared first on In Good Taste.

#WineWednesday: Pouilly-Fuissé (White Burgundy)

Maris Callahan — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:34:09 +0000

For the longest time, I thought I didn’t like Chardonnays. When I think of Chardonnay, I think of big, bold California wines that have been aged in oak barrels and have a buttery aroma. But Chardonnay grapes are in a lot of wines, including my new favorite Pouilly-Fuissé, a White Burgundy. While you’ll never hear me complain about a buttery aroma, I don’t always want to drink it, whether it’s from a wine glass or otherwise. I am not going to say there isn’t a time and a place for a big, oaky Chardonnay because taste in wine is so, so subjective. But I will say that full white wines typically aren’t my favorite. French white wines on other other hand? Now, we’re on the same page. Pouilly-Fuissé is a white wine made in a village in the Mâconnais (Burgundy region in central France) that produces a highly distinctive Chardonnay wine. The vineyards producing this wine are part of a landscape where the limestone and heavy clay soils combine to create a unique ‘terroir.’ Louis Latour Pouilly-Fuissé, which happens to be my current favorite white wine, has floral aromas, a fruit forward flavor and hints of buttery hazelnuts. It has […]

The post #WineWednesday: Pouilly-Fuissé (White Burgundy) appeared first on In Good Taste.

#WineWednesday: Wines to Drink on a Snow Day

Maris Callahan — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 04:44:16 +0000

THIS JUST IN: it snowed in Chicago. When I moved here everyone warned me about the brutally cold winters, the biting wind and the endlessly dreary gray skies that would usurp the horizon from November – May. I prepared for that with a down coat and boots that aren’t quite waterproof but warm enough. My friends warned me that the city slows down in the winter and people hibernate, only to emerge around Memorial Day for alfresco dining and drinking on rooftop bars. What they didn’t tell me was that when it snows, the city turns all “Apocalypse Now” and highways close, businesses shutter and people raid grocery shelves like food is going out of style. I get it – severe weather is serious business. But when I moved to Chicago I expected snow to be the norm – not breaking news – and I expected snow days to be very few and far between, if at all. Today, however, was a snow day. Since I work from home I couldn’t very well justify taking the day off for snowy shenanigans but from what I could gather from my friends’ Facebook and Twitter updates, there were quite a few corks […]

The post #WineWednesday: Wines to Drink on a Snow Day appeared first on In Good Taste.