Springtime Wine & Cheese Tasting

Wow! What a great time! This being our 2nd wine tasting, we were a lot more organized this time around. Easier scoring cards, written out instructions/rules, and keeping the food 'simple' helped this go smoothly. Each time it has been a learning experience -but the biggest thing we learned is holding a wine tasting generates a huge interest! I also think it was a great hit doing a seasonally themed tasting. As it is spring, white and blush wines were allowed only. This kept things narrowed down enough to really taste variations in the wines. In keeping with the light spring theme, we served flavour infused oils, fruit, and goat cheeses.

Many thanks to my friend Jessica Rivers, who just so happens to be a professional photographer, for taking all these photos. You can check out some her multi-talented work here.

The cheeses provided were a goat cheese Brie, goat cheese rolled in herbs, and a regular Havarti. Crackers were available for the cheese as well.
I made Garlic, Rosemary, and Cayenne Pepper infused oils that went very well with the wine theme.Making infused oils is wicked simple and easy to do! Here's how:
Just take some olive oil, and put what ever you want to infuse into it in a jar and let it sit for a week or two. If using herbs, make sure to 'bruise' them beforehand.  Though, for the Cayenne oil, you actually have to carefully simmer it on the stove top for it to infuse properly. Crush up dried Cayennes (the amount depends on what heat level you want- I used 3 whole large ones for a medium-hot heat), add olive oil to a pan with the crushed pepper, and simmer just under the oil's smoke point for 15-20 minutes. Strain, jar, let cool, done!  
Use bread as a dipping medium for the oils. I personally suggest a plain French loaf, and a multi-grain French loaf in order to let the true flavours shine through.

 

Two types different types of grapes, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and pineapple were also served. We had a deli sandwich platter too... Having something a little more substantial than fruit and cheese is advised when hosting a party centered around alcohol!

All in all, a marvelous experience... We hand out a prize for the wine judged 'best tasting'. It turns out our most junior guest brought the best one! It was a Moscato by Barefoot, and won by a landslide. It's a very sweet wine -like a dessert wine. I've never even had a Moscato before and I loved it!