An Afternoon at Bonny Doon

Vineyard, that is.

At Foodbuzz Fest 2011, we had Bonny Doon Vineyard wine at the Friday night cocktail hour.  I love their Ca de Albarino, the crisp, fruity, fresh taste.  I’m not a huge white wine fan, but this one is definitely a favorite of mine.  After tweeting about their delicious wines, I got in contact with one of their sales reps, who set me up with a complimentary tasting at their tasting room here in Santa Cruz.

So, at the end of last quarter, on a ridiculously beautiful sunny winter day in December, I headed to the tasting room to try out some of their other wines.

Walking in to the tasting room, I was blown away by the décor – it was gorgeous, comfortable and most of the furnishings were from the wood of old wine barrells and bottles.

      

The tasting started off with a couple of white wines.  First up was the 2009 Sparkling Moscato.  I’m usually not a Moscato fan, but this one was delicious.  It wasn’t too sweet, it was nice, crisp and a little bubbly.  Highly recommended for a Moscato. 

The second wine I tasted was the 2009 DEWN Grenache Blanc.  It’s a fruity wine, tasting like citrus, almond, honey and green melon.  The wine connoisseur suggested that it had a very buttery after taste – which it definitely did, and I loved.  I actually loved it so much that I bought a bottle to bring home to my family for Christmas.

The third wine I tried was a red wine.  Specifically, the 2007 Syrah “Alamo Creek.”  It is a dark, meaty wine with a peppery taste.  It wasn’t my favorite wine, it was a little too tart, but I could see the appeal to some.

                   

The next wine I tried was the 2008 Cunning.  This is one of Bonny Doon’s most popular wines, and I definitely understand why.  I LOVED it – and brought a bottle of this to my parents as well.  It had a nice mixture of fruity/cherry flavors with wild spice.  It was such a smooth wine, with no tart aftertaste lingering.  Definitely recommend this one.

The next wine I tried was 2007 Le Cigare Volant.  It had a fruity, herbal and earthy taste along with a little pepper.  It was very good, but a more youthful wine, and I think after a few years it wouldn’t be so sharp tasting.

Next up was the Ca de Albarino (I requested a tasting of this since their 2010 just came out, but they only had the previously tasted 2009 on hand).  It was just as good as I last remembered, but I just wish I had had some hummus to go along with it, like we did at Foodbuzz.

The last wine I tried was a dessert wine, the 2010 Mourvedre “Mon Doux.”  For a dessert wine, it wasn’t too overly sweet, but I definitely couldn’t have more than a small glass.  This wine is made from the raisinated parts of the grapes, resulting in a very sweet, kind of thick, wine that tastes like dried plum, fig, and cherry.  I thought it would be delicious drizzled over a little icecream.  Or over a chocolate cake…

                   

Overall, I loved my experience at Bonny Doon, and hope to return there for another tasting when my family is in town this spring. 

If you want more information about Bonny Doon Vineyard, or how to order their wines, check out their website, or follow them on Twitter!

*My tasting was comped by Bonny Doon, but the opinions are 100% mine.

A Foodzie Tasting Box

Just in time for Black Friday, I was given the opportunity to host a give-away for two readers and also receive a  complementary delectable Tasting Box from Foodzie for myself.

After a bit of finagling the details with Foodzie, I finally received my December tasting box in Minnesota on December 26th…the night my stomach flu hit.  But since I was super excited about the Foodzie Tasting Box, and the awesome items held within (though I admit, I couldn’t really eat most of it myself – Mr. K definitely benefited from this one).

It arrived nicely packaged in the box.

Seriously, props for packaging!

And it contained the following:

A Square One Brownie & Effie’s Oatcakes.

Amella Cocoa Butter Caramels Passion Fruit & Madecasse Chocolate

Gary West Steak Strips & Salts from the Spice Lab.

Seriously, the salts are probably my favorite part.  Lava salt?!  Himalayan Salt?!  Yes, Please!

I’m excited to use the fancy salt packets I got in the weeks to come (especially during my bean-a-thon — which, stay tuned as it will begin mid-January as I’m finalizing the recipe list as we speak!), but the rest of it I gave to Mr. K.

*Updated: I just got his full reviews this morning!*

Mr. K’s review of his portion of the tasting box:

The Square One brownie was “too dry, but tasted really rich and good. I would eat it again over other packaged brownies.” (I think the box took a lot longer to find me during the holidays, and then a few more days before I regifted the foods to Mr. K).  And the Madecasse chocolates? “A nice chocolate. Nothing spectacular, but good.”  And once I told him the story of the chocolates (I learned about them at Food Buzz Festival), and the fact that they are entirely produced in Madagascar, he liked them a little bit more, I think 😉

How about the Gary West Steak Strip?  It was “Delicious! I usually don’t like beef jerky, too salty and almost like chewing gum but this was really good. a bit smoky, a bit sweet, quite good! I would eat it again.”   Effie’s Homemade Oatcakes also made the cut! They were “really good!  They are nice and crunchy/crumbly, the thickness was nice in the mouth (pretty thin, flat rectangles) with good grain flavors that had some of the sweetness of oats, and they had a perfect dusting of salt to give just a bit of saltiness.”  Last but not least, Mr. K tried the Annella passionfruit cocoa butter caramels.  He declared they were “soft and chewy with good caramel and chocolate flavors.  It had a nice hint of passion fruit (not my favorite flavor at all) which would be really good to me in others.”

Thanks Mr. K for your fabulous reviews!  I couldn’t have done it better myself 😉

So, with that update, I’d say the Tasting Box is getting a rave review – and for $19.99 a box, I might have to give a few for a gift next Christmas (you know, planning just a little ahead for the holidays ;))  If you are thinking about trying one out, go on over to Foodzie and check it, and their other great offerings, out!

How is your new year starting out?! I’m starting mine out in Denver for a conference and then its back the books.  I’m also working on filling in my Raceolution calendar with races and finalizing the Bean-a-thon recipe and posting date list!  I am so excited for this year already, and its barely started 🙂