Santana Savor - Mumm Napa - Wine Review

Toast the New Year with Santana!

Recently, my husband Lee and I were able to steal away for a day trip to Napa. As they like to say in Napa, “Cab is king”. Though I’m not all that crazy about Cabernet Sauvignon, I keep trying, thinking eventually I’ll find the one that will change my mind.  Though Cab is king, there is still plenty in Napa for me to enjoy. We visited several wineries and tasted at three of them. We always plan where we’ll visit before we leave and route our tour accordingly.  This time, Lee chose the wineries, but as we drove past Mumm Napa, I asked that we include it and make it one of our tastings as I was familiar with Mumm Champagne and sparkling wine and I thought just maybe we might find our bubbly for this NYE. As it turned out, we did.

Mumm Napa came about when Guy Devaux was sent by G.H. Mumm, of the renowned Champagne house in Rheims, France, to discover the ideal area in the U.S for growing Champagne grapes. The first vintage was produced in Napa in 1983.

We tasted several delicious sparkling wines (Sparkling wines can only be labeled as Champagne if they are from the Champagne region in France and if certain traditional wine producing methods of the region are used.)

As we tasted, we learned about Mumm’s Santana series.  This is a collaboration with rock guitarist Carlos Santana.  A portion of the proceeds benefit the Milagro Foundation established by Carlos Santana and his family.  The foundation provides grants to tax-exempt community organizations that work with children in the areas of education, health and the arts.

There are currently three wines in the series.  We chose Santana Savor, a blend of 47 % Chardonnay, 45% Pinot Noir, 6% Pinot Meunier and 2% Pinot Gris. Oh, how I love blends! The wine presents notes of stone fruit; apricot and peach as well as apple and shortbread. It is very fruit forward and subtly sweet on the finish. Because it is slightly sweet, it will pair well with one of Lee’s favorite dishes, Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas. If you’re having hors d’ oeuvres this NYE, it would also pair well with Cucumber Salmon Canapés . Click the links below to print or save the recipes.

I wish you all the best life has to offer in 2018!

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

Salmon Cucumber Canapés

Secco Italian Bubbles (2013) Wine Review

Perlage – that’s the word of the day this Wine Wednesday. Perlage is French (pronounced pear LEE ziə). The word translates as beadwork but is also used to describe the beads that form in sparkling wine. Yes, you guessed it, this week’s feature the 2013 Secco Italian Bubbles is indeed a sparkling wine.

The name “Secco” seems to allude to “Prosecco” an Italian white wine which is usually sparkling. However, this is not Prosecco even though it’s produced by two Italian sisters, Ginevra and Olivia Casa, who happen to be quite passionate about Prosecco. Washington state rock star winemaker Charles Smith joins them in this effort and shakes things up a bit.

Instead of the Glera grape varietal used in Prosecco, here they are using 100% Moscato Blanco. Sparkling wines have varying degrees of perlage and I would describe this as “frizzante”, a semi-sparkling wine.

As the days get warmer and lazy summer afternoons grow nearer, you might want to stock up on a few bottles of this. The low alcohol content (5%) makes this the perfect summer sipper.

On the nose (and palate as well) floral and tropical fruit notes. On the tongue, the sweetness of the Moscato is offset by the effervescence making it enjoyably but not cloyingly sweet.

We savored this with Grilled Bruschetta and Salmon Cucumber Canapés for one of our Saturday night appetizer night dinners. Start planning your weekend, sit on the patio or under a giant shade tree, play a relaxing game of checkers or Scrabble and sip on some Secco this Saturday or Sunday afternoon! Click the links below to print or save the recipe pairing suggestions.

Grilled Bruschetta

Salmon Cucumber Canapés

Segura Viudas Reserva Heredad Cava (Brut) Wine Review

So here it is NYE eve and the final Wine Wednesday of 2015. For this year’s bubbly I’ve decided to go with Cava - Spain’s take on French Champagne.  As you likely know, only wine from the Champagne region of France can be called Champagne. What’s interesting about Cava is that the same method is used to produce it (secondary fermentation) - Méthode Champenoise in Champagne. In Spain and with Cava it is referred to as Método Tradicional. 

What is different is the grape varietals used.  The three varietals for Champagne are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and  Pinot Meunier the last two being dark skinned grapes.  With Cava the primary varietals used are native to Spain, Macabeo, Xarel.lo and Paellada all of which are white skinned grapes.  Today’s feature the Segura Viudas Reserva Heredad (Brut) is comprised of 67% Macabeo and 33% Parellada and comes from Penedes, Spain near Barcelona.

You’ve likely had Cava before but may or may not have been aware of it.  Many are quite inexpensive. Cava ranges from sweet to dry just like Champagne and the more inexpensive ones tend to be the sweeter ones. This Cava is a brut which is dry (brut nature being the driest). There’s a tendency to want to compare Cava to Champagne but to me they are distinctly different and equally enjoyable though Cava tends to be more economically friendly making it a great NYE choice especially if you’ll be raising a glass with several guests.  This quality Cava was priced at $19.99. It is labeled as Reserva which means it was aged for a minimum of 15 months (though this particular one was aged for 30 months). The grapes were all harvested by hand and the riddling (turning of bottles during secondary fermentation) was also done by hand.

The bottle is quite striking which also makes it a great host/hostess gift and what’s inside lives up to the presentation. On the nose, tropical fruit (mango) and also pear with a hint of fresh baked bread.  On the palate an abundant amount of bubbles just a hint of sweetness, apple and lemon/lime. The finish is crisp and dry.  Of course this is great by itself for the midnight toast but if you prefer your bubbly with dinner the wonderful acidity here makes it a great pairing with a creamy pasta dish like Prosciutto Pasta Roulade or Scallops with Fettuccine Alfredo. Próspero Año Nuevo! Click the links below to print or save the recipe pairing suggestions.

Prosciutto Pasta Roulade

Scallops with Fettuccine Alfredo