We gathered for wine night - tasting wines of Australia (and at least one from New Zealand...) As always we had such delicious food. Dear Diane had planned to attend but had something come up and yet still brought out the salmon she had prepared! Wow! It was soooo yummy and so very kind of her to bring it out even though she couldn't stay for wine night. We all appreciated it very much!
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| Diane's scrumptious salmon |
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| Judy brought chicken parmesan |
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| Andrea brought bacon wrapped asparagus |
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| Julie brought vegetable pad thai |
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| I 'brought' two store bought frozen cheesecakes. The one on the right turned out to be really good. Edwards whipped cheesecake. I'll remember this one! |
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| Wendy brought a beautiful salad |
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| Dana brought her famous shrimp with dipping sauce |
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| Lisa brought strawberries, cheese and grapes |
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| Wendy sent me this photo she took of the sky as she arrived out here... |
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| Joelean brought this tasty dessert |
Our theme for April was 'Wines of Australia'. We had some interesting wines and enjoyed sampling all of them. We started off with an unoaked and an oaked Australian Chardonnay. I liked both, but agreed with others that the oaked went better with the food.
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| Wine #1 - Yalumba the Y Series Unoaked Chardonnay - Australia |
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| Wine #2 - Oyster Bay New Zealand Chardonnay (oaked) |
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| Wine #3 - 19 Crimes Hard Chard This wine paired perfectly with the Edwards whipped cheesecake! Wow! But watch it - this is a high alcohol wine! |
We were trying to get the label on the 19 Crimes bottle to do that 'speaking' thing and it took forever to figure it out. But we finally got it to play. Sooooo depressing! Each bottle tells the story of a real prisoner sent to Australia. This lady got sent for stealing bacon for her family. Her kids were taken away and she was sent to a penal colony. Whew! Tough stuff! Does that help sell the wine? It sure makes you want to have a drink! ugh...
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| we were trying to get the 19 Crimes app to work on the wine label... Then we tried an Australian Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon followed by a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. I liked both. I thought the NZ was way more aromatic - floral. I think I may have liked the Aussie best, but the table was about split on these two. Both were good! |
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| Wine #4 - Cape Mentelle Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon - Australia |
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| Wine # 5 - Starborough New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc |
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| Wine #6 - Australia - Yalumba The Y series Viognier |
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| Wine #7 - Yalumba Barossa Bush Vine Grenache |
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| Wine #8 - Cullen Red blend - Malbec/Petite Verdot |
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| Wendy agrees! :D |
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| Wine #9 - 19 Crimes Red Wine |
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| wonderful ladies |
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| Joelean, Dana, Andrea, Judy, Laura, Wendy, Julie, Lisa |
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| Wine #10 - Pitchfork Margaret River Shiraz - Australia |
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| #11 - Yarra Valley, Australia Pinot Noir |
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| the wines from tonight - a lovely array of color |
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| Jennifer couldn't be with us in person, but she sent us this photo - Cheers! |
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| we sent cheers back to Jennifer! |
Dear Lisa went around and got photos of everyone with their wine stickers on their glasses. I had found these reusable stickers and thought they were cute so got them for everyone to try out. Fun!
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| Joelean - you can see her sticker better in the photo below |
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| Eat, drink and be meowy |
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| Andrea - Sun, sand and a drink in the hand |
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| Laura - Wine a little, laugh a lot |
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| Wendy had two - I could gopher a drink... |
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| and Sip, Sip, Ole! |
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| Judy had Te-quila and Brewnicorn |
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| Julie had Chardonneigh |
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| Lisa had Porcuwine and Time to Wine Down |
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| And Dana had I Make Pour Decisions |
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| my wine sheet for the evening |
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| wine map of Australia |
