Memorial day leads to a beach celebration

This year my wife and I were crashing our friends vacation in Rodanthe, NC for a long Memorial Day weekend. Daily happy hours, and fun in the sun were the name of the game. However, for memorial day we decided we'd do festive meal to celebrate. And like usual, good food needs good wine.











Our menu for the evening would consist of grilled fresh tuna kebabs, Grilled zucchini, Caesar salad with real anchovies dressing, and a sweet treat of homemade salted caramel ice cream for dessert.










With all the fresh grilled food and salad, good white wine seemed to be a logical selection. We made two selections to pair with dinner for the evening. First was Apple Wine produced by Chateau O'Brien in Markam, VA. This is a non-vintage wine produced from a mix of apples grown in Stribling Orchard  right behind the winery. This wasn't my first experience with this apple wine. For those of you who haven't had it, you'll probably be taken back on how clear it is. It literally could be mistaken for dozens of white wines just by looking at it. However after just one taste will leave you wanting more. It has nice smooth apple flavor with a little acid on the finish like a good apple cider. It is a beautiful sipper by itself on hot days, but also pairs well with food, and as a bonus it is great to cook with, especially with pork.

The other wine we served that night was the Hiddencroft Vineyards 2010 Traminette. I was taken back by how good the nose was on this wine. It was mixture of tropical melon and honeysuckle and baking spices. The pallet presented good acid, very citrusy more grapefruit then lemon, but overall it was very pleasant and held up well in the summer heat of the beach.

As is obvious by the plate below, I spent as least as much time enjoying my wine as I did eating and savoring both to a great finish. 

American Soldier is just following General's Orders...

Wow, it is going to be a crazy month for many reasons. Unfortunately, my blog will be the one that suffers most. However, this blog has been running through my head since the idea was presented Thursday. I have been working nights lately, and when I was to be relieved last Thursday it was abundantly clear I wouldn't be leaving on time. Turns out I was stuck doing almost a double shift and fought pure exhaustion on my 35 minute drive home.

Upon arriving home, I quickly passed out in preparation for my hard earned night off. I was awakened later than I had planned with a text from my wife. Quite simply it said, "Put wine in the fridge, Seriously!!!" We had pretty much given up during the week drinking as part of our pursuit to lose 50 Lbs this year, and for the most we have done real good. But seeing how the text came in almost an hour after my lovely wife was suppose to be off work, I figured it was one of those situations in which breaking the rules were in order.

As I perused our selection, I quickly sent a quick text to see if red or white was in order. I was told white via text. That was little tougher, tonight's dinner was to consist of spicy black bean burgers and homemade backed sweet potato fries, so I need something a little heavier with good acid to stand up to the planned dinner. I selected a wine from the Chesapeake Region, specifically the Northern Neck and a wine we had picked up earlier this year on our winter trip.

I put the General Ridge GRV White into the freezer to chill, while I headed out to pick up my better half from the metro. Arriving back home, I quickly got to putting dinner together, while my wife opened the bottle for a pre-dinner glass. My initial thoughts were a little lacking. There was no acid back that I was looking for and the wine itself was rather tasteless, but I felt it was a bit cold so I was optimistic that it would get better as it warmed.

With dinner prepared, I did some quick research on the wine as a refresher. It is a blend of chardonnel and traminette, steel fermented, with a light 1.5% residual sugar. A little warmer, I noted lush white tropical fruit on the nose. It tasted of straw and unripe pear with just a hint of sweetness and balanced acid finish. It went well with dinner and was a good mid-week wine. It was versatile enough it could pair with lighter picnic fair, but probably not big enough to stand up to cream sauce pasta.

After two tough work days, it was just what the general ordered to clear away the stress of the day.