Tag Archive for 'wine'

WINOS Pick of the Week: Mommy Juice Wines

Mommy Juice Wines

Mommy Juice Wines

Ah, WINOS Pick of the  Week… my favorite blog category! This week we are looking at a brand-new wine for the Libby Family wine cellar: Mommy Juice Wines. And the winery name alone has this mommy fired up!

The people from Mommy Juice Wines contacted me to see if I would like to try their wines. (Um, of course!) Since I am a mommy who loves her vino, I am inspired by the concept that wine can “bring just a bit of peace after the chaos of everyday life as a parent.”

The name behind the wine is obvious to this mama. I am a working mom who is up at 6:30 a.m. and hits the sack around midnight. When I am still awake at 11 p.m. busily doing laundry, filling out school permission slips and writing a press release for a client… I tend to enjoy a glass or two of the juice.

Mommy Juice Wines is the vision of a wine industry veteran; in fact, founder Cheryl Murphy Durzy hails from Clos LaChance Wines. This mommy of two and I share a history of high-tech PR. Hmmm, I am still trucking along in PR and Cheryl makes a living drinking wine… something is wrong with this picture. Anyway, I digress… let’s talk about the wines.

I assembled a  panel of distinguished judges. Kidding, I had friends over for a dinner-party, and we always dine with wine! The eight of us bellied up to the bar and tried the Mommy Juice Wines. Here’s a round-up of reviews from five mommies and three daddies:

Mommy Juice White

Mommy Juice White

Mommy Juice White Wine: This white is 100 percent chardonnay, but is light and crisp almost like a Sauvignon blanc. We tasted light tropical fruits and citrus. The tasting notes indicated a hint of banana, which everyone in the room noticed and enjoyed.  We determined this is an easy drinking wine, good for a lazy summer afternoon while reading a book on the front porch. The wine is an affordable $10.

Mommy Juice Red Wine: This red is a blend of grapes, with the majority being Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a lighter red and even has a sweet flavor. We decided this is a red for people who are ready to bridge from white to red wines. I wouldn’t pair this wine with a heavy meal, such as steak, but it would be good to drink with a Margherita pizza. We also noticed the flavors of the wine intensified as the wine breathed, so I would open the bottle, pour a big glass, and let it open up before drinking. This wine is also an affordable $10.

Mommy Juice Wines (and some pretty awesome schwag!) can be found HERE. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and want to check out the wines for yourself, the winery is hosting a Mom’s Night Out on May 5 at the Clos LaChance Winery in San Martin, Calif., just south of San Jose, Calif. The address can be found HERE.

You also can find Mommy Juice Wines on Twitter and Facebook.

In the meantime, follow the wine-makers advice and tuck your kids into bed, sit down and have a glass of Mommy Juice—because you deserve it!

Cheers!

– LTV Mom

I received two bottles of wine from Mommy Juice Wines without cost. No blog post was required to receive the wines. These words and opinions are mine and are unedited.

Published
by
Stacy Libby
on March 3, 2011
in WINOS Pick of the Week
. 0 Comments

WINOS Pick of the Week: 2006 Ghost Pines Cabernet Sauvignon

2006 Ghost Pines Cabernet Sauvignon
2006 Ghost Pines Cabernet Sauvignon

It’s time for a look at the new wines appearing in my wine-fridge.  My husband and I have been wondering the aisles of CostCo looking for new — but not overpriced — wines to try. We recently stumbled across a 2006 Ghost Pines Cabernet. And it’s good.

We had never heard of Ghost Pines before buying a few bottles, but the Web site leads me to believe it’s owned by Louis M. Martini Winery in St. Helena.  The online retail partner The Barrel Room calls the winemakers “young” and “hot-shot” so I’m not sure who they are.  But their Cab is delicious.

The 2006 Cab is drinkable now, no need to cellar this one. It’s tasty with hints of jam and berries.  It’s not a peppery or earthy Cab, so I have been drinking it without meals (just a little bite of salty cheese.) I think this Cab would be good with a medium rare filet mignon, but I say that about every red wine I enjoy. At the end of the day, we found a wine that will please most red-wine fans and we proudly serve it to our friends. It’s not too overbearing, it’s just smooth and tasty.

The Ghost Pines cab sells for about $23 at The Barrel Room. We found it at CostCo and Safeway for a lesser price of about $16. I see the winery also bottles a Chardonnay and a Merlot, but have not tried them yet.

As much as I enjoy the wine, I absolutely love the tagline: “Sonoma Spirit. Napa Elegance.” (Yes, I love Sonoma for is down-to-Earth goodness.) The label tells me the Cab is 72 percent Napa County, 28 percent Sonoma County. I think it’s 100 percent tasty.

– LTV Mom

Note: Following the new FTC rules, I’m going to confirm the opinions are my own and I bought this wine all by myself! And yes, I am more than 21 years old (just barely).

Published
by
Stacy Libby
on October 6, 2009
in Food, Laptop Television and WINOS Pick of the Week
. 0 Comments

WINOS Pick of the Week: Ksara Chateau 2003

Ksara Winery

Ksara Winery

I like to write about good wine, but I usually stick to California reds, with an occasional Chardonnay. (Okay, and I’ll uncork a Willamette Valley Pinot or a Tuscan Chianti every now and then!)  But when I launched my WINOS Pick of the Week segment, I never imagined I would taste and enjoy a delicious red from Lebanon.

My husband and I recently made new friends through our daughter’s school, and we invited the couple (and their darling daughters) over for a dinner party.  Our new-found friends, one of whom moved to the United States from Lebanon when she was 16, brought this wonderful Lebanese wine from Chateau Ksara for us to try. We were excited to sample this wine, totally new territory for us, and we openly acknowledged that California reds are our comfort-zone. That said, we were pleasantly surprised by the wonderful drinkability of this wine. I served it with a goat-cheese appetizer (read HERE for more information), and the flavors of the wine nicely complemented the flavors of the food. It certainly left us wanting more.

About the Chateau 2003: It was a tasty red wine from the first sip. I liked the berry flavors and the smooth texture.  The Web site says the wine is good with red meat, and I agree. We followed the appetizers with healthy-sized Filet Mignons and a Tuscan white-bean dish.  Click HERE to order the wine and have it shipped to the U.S.

About Ksara wine: Ksara wine is known as “the wine of Lebanon” and the winery is located in Beqaa, Lebanon. The official Web site can be found HERE.

All I can say is this… great wine, delicious food and new friends. What a wonderful evening!

- LTV Mom

Photo Credit: Chateau Ksara

Published
by
Stacy Libby
on March 26, 2009
in Food and WINOS Pick of the Week
. 2 Comments