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Let’s Taste

7/29/2025

Austin Hope Rosé

Rue and Alexa joined me in tasting Austin Hope Rosé, an absolutely gorgeous wine. We did have a little distraction during the tasting, you can hear Alexa’s son Jacob in the background, but we all loved this wine.

Austin Hope Rosé is a dry European-style rosé made with Paso Robles flair. Grown on the Hope family estate in the Templeton Gap District, this wine is composed of Grenache and Mourvèdre cultivated exclusively for Rosé production. The emphasis here is on elegance and minerality, with luscious flavors of strawberry and citrus. Crisp, refreshing and delicate—but not to be taken lightly.

I highly recommend giving this rosé a try, it is really beautiful. Please let me know your thoughts.

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Let’s Taste...

7/24/2025

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The Prisoner Wine Company Friction Viognier

After a long day it was so nice to come home to a beautiful bottle of The Prisoner Wine Company Friction Viognier. Prisoner says that Viognier is a variety loaded with aromatic and flavor intensity. The fruit is harvested a little less ripe than other varieties to capture more of the natural acidity and to hold up the wine and balance the oily nature of the variety. The grapes are fermented for two days in stainless steel tanks and then finished in neutral French Oak barrels. Notes of Meyer lemon zest, white peach, white flowers, and a hint of tangerine define the aromatic profile. The wine is elegantly structured with subtle tannins, and round edges driven by notes of citrus oil, limoncello and minerality with a crisp backbone.

This wine was wonderful with the Chicken Cordon Bleu dinner that Tommy made accompanied by a butter, thyme, Viognier, cream sauce that I created to go with it.

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Let’s Taste...

7/21/2025

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Zenato Alenera IGT

We were lucky enough to have my brother-in-law Vince Simonelli make us pasta bolognese for dinner and that was the perfect occasion to open a bottle of Zenato Alanera IGT. Alanera’s fruit hails from the Costalunga vineyard. The site’s landscape is remarkable as it overlooks the city of Verona, while partly hugging Lake Garda and being seemingly embraced by the impressive Monte Baldo and Lessinian mountain ranges. Alanera’s Three Swallows on its label serve as symbol to these landscape elements as well to its trio of native grapes: Corvina, Rondinella and Corvinone, creating this delicious red blend.

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Let’s Taste...

7/16/2025

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Livon Manditocai Friulano Collio

Wow, wow, wow... was this wine delicious. I bought it on Power Buy when they were having the 15% OFF European Wines and am fairly certain I paid less than $15 for this wine. Now, maybe I was lucky and it was mismarked because now it is on sale for $42.99 and they have very few bottles in stock. I promise I spent nowhere near that kind of money for this bottle. But, it was so fabulous, I am not surprised by the real price. Tommy and I enjoyed tasting this beautiful wine and it paired really well with the chicken, ziti and broccoli he made for dinner. It held up to the strong garlic butter sauce and maybe even smoothed out a little bit more. An absolutely delicious white wine!

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Let’s Taste...

7/4/2025

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Matt Parish Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

In this episode, Sallie and I are tasting Matt Parish Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a beautiful full-bodied cab that I get from my Naked Wines wine club. Naked Wines is a really cool wine club with very reasonably priced wines. As a customer, I decide how much I want to put into my account each month and then when I get enough saved up to order a case, I'll place an order (unless I need something before then). You can order in 3 bottle increments. The special aspect of the club is that Naked Wines uses our monthly commitments to help fund boutique wineries and as a result we get really great discounts on their wines. I haven't had a wine from Naked Wines that I didn't like nor have I had a wine that I thought wasn't a great price for the quality of the wine. If you are interested in more information on Naked Wines, you can check them out here:
https://www.nakedwines.com/invite/sharon-dyson-demers

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Let’s Taste...

7/1/2025

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Prisoner Syndrome Rosé

In this episode of my blog, I am in Mashpee on Cape Cod with my sweet niece Alexa who kindly agreed to taste with me on camera. We are tasting Prisoner Syndrome Rosé, a beautiful wine for a beautiful setting. Surprisingly full-bodied with loads of strawberry, this was absolutely DELICIOUS. We loved it and think you might, too. For those of you who think you don't like rosé, this might be the wine that changes your mind. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

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Let’s Taste

Austin Hope Rosé

Let’s Taste...

The Prisoner Wine Company Friction Viognier

Let’s Taste...

Zenato Alenera IGT

Let’s Taste...

Livon Manditocai Friulano Collio

Let’s Taste...

Matt Parish Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Let’s Taste...

Prisoner Syndrome Rosé

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