Wine Recap – October 2018

Time for last month’s wine recap! We are back to our healthy selves, well, physically, I’d say so. We’ve had stuff to celebrate last month and stuff to grieve over. So, different times to relax while drinking some wine and other varieties.

Rose Nodo Bobal Garnacha Spain Wine 2017

Alcohol Content: 12%
Location: Spain

Nodo is a wine that I picked up randomly at the supermarket. I still am in search for a Rosé wine that can beat the two that I currently like. However, if there’s anything that I’ve come to learn is that Spanish wines are fairly dry and this one was extremely on that end. If you prefer something dry, this one definitely will be up your alley. Unfortunately, for myself, it wasn’t as enjoyable.

J.P. Chenet Ice – Sparkling Wine

Producer: Grands Chais de France
Alcohol Content: 10.5%
Location: France
Taste Tag: Fruity and Sweet

JP Chenet is the wine that my sister in law brought over for our Thanksgiving dinner. Its light and fruity and sweet. Very beautiful and delicious. It is one that definitely is a crowd pleaser. It finds a nice balance between being very smooth but also feeling like there is a decent amount of layers in the drink itself. The star of October for us has to go to this wine for sure.

Millebois Original

Producer: Millebois
Alcohol Content: 4.8%
Location: Quebec, Canada
Taste Tag: Light and Dry

I can’t say I agree with taste tags all the time but this one nails it. Millebois is a company that we discovered when we went to Sherbrooke to the Public Market there. You can see the haul HERE. Millebois is one that makes maple syrup based alcoholic beverages. Light it is and also dry it also is. I can’t say that I loved it but its tolerable on the dry scale, something like a semi-dry sort of feelings. I think the harder part for this drink and is more of an acquired taste is the maple syrup based portion. I’m not sure that I’m a fan but then I’ve never been a particular fan of maple syrup based alcohol.

Milton Cidre de FeuProducer: Cidrerie Milton
Alcohol Content: 10%
Location: Quebec, Canada
Taste Tag: Sweet

We’re a big fan of ice cider in our home. However, if you haven’t had fire cider, well, you are missing out. Its our favorite thing ever. We’ve never had this Cidrerie Milton version though. This one is pretty good. It had all the elements of a fire cider that we love and has more layers. It tastes a lot like drinking apple juice which also makes it a silent attack for those who drink this quickly.

Willm Riesling Réserve 2017

Producer: Alsace Willm
Alcohol content: 12%
Location: Alsace, France
Taste Tag: Fruity and Vibrant

I’m usually a big fan of Riesling. They usually find a nice balance of texture and not being too dry. Willm Riesling is definitely more on the dry side of things. Its one that took a little bit of an acquired taste. Its also the first time (in my memory) that we’ve chosen a Fruity and Vibrant taste tag (and what are the chances that the wine below also is). Dry it may be, but if you like dry wines, this one does goes down really nice. There’s still a good texture to it.

Yalumba The Y Series Viognier

Producer: Yalumba Wines
Alcohol Content: 13.5%
Location: South Eastern Australia
Taste Tag: Fruity and Vibrant

Australian wines are something of a hit and miss for us. We’ve had some lovely ones like Jacob’s Creek who never fails to deliver. But Moscato is a different variety so can’t be compared to something like this one. Yalumba Y Series Viognier is a really dry wine. I mean, just a whiff of it and you know it. I can’t say its a bad wine though because there is a nice texture. Its just more than we usually like to handle from the dryness. However, I would recommend it for those who like dry wines. Saying all that, I was doing a little bit of research on what else they offer and they have some other variety that I wonder if the SAQ here holds to try like the Riesling and their organic wines as well.

It seems like there was a lot of dry wine varieties in October.
However, we did have a few enjoyable wines that worked for our preferences. 

Have you discovered any wines (or cocktails/liquors, etc) lately?

My Weekly Adventures: Christmas Prep and Decorations (plus a new DIY skill)

C’mon! You knew this weekly adventures was all about Christmas 😉

What other time would I be able to, right? This year, I actually got my house decorated earlier than two days before Christmas.  Last year, we took so much time looking for decorations and ribbons and beads to decorate the tree that it took us 3 weeks to get it all done. This year, I did my shopping on Black Friday weekend and took care of mostly everything.  We did the outdoor decorations just this past weekend and its also the reason why I only did the update now.  Plus, we’re right on track! Remember 1st and 15th from last post where I was going to attempt this new schedule for Weekly Adventures segment? Right on time! 😉

Its these little achievements that make me happy!

I’ve rambled enough! Let’s talk Christmas! 🙂

1) Christmas decorations around Montreal!

Le Atrium @ 1000 de la Gauchetiere West

Place Ville Marie

Restaurant Costa Del Sole

I know I know…its so little.  I haven’t really had a lot of wandering adventures yet. At least not a lot of new decorations so I’ve already talked about it in previous years.

2) Salon des Metiers d’arts de Montreal (aka Montreal Arts and Crafts Show)

I go to this show every year. I’ve probably talked about it before and showed you my purchases.  The show seems to be getting smaller and smaller but this year, there was quite a few new vendors and they had some rather awesome new products.  We usually go for the foods, snacks, wines and ice cider varieties. Mostly because those are great for parties and gifts for family and friends. This year, I had set a budget and it got me this loot right here (plus a co-gift for my chiropractor which is not shown here).

Starting from the top left to right and next row, here are the items:

• Des Glaces, Ice Cider, Cidrerie du Minot
• Cidre du Feu, Fire Cider, Union Libre
• Bise d’Automne, Vendages Tardives (“late harvest”)/dessert wine, Domaine du Ridge
• Cidre Feu, Fire Cider, Domaine Labranche
• Peppermint Bark, BLINK Chocolate
• Honey and Almond Soft Nougat/Lavender Soft Nougat, La Nougaterie
• Champagne Lychee & Cranberry Jelly, Nutra-Fruit
• Shortbread: Sugar Plum, Almond and Sugared Rose, Pecan, Coach House Shortbread Company

Ice Cider is kind of a Montreal thing.  Quebec has a ton of apple orchards and a bunch of them will also produce ice ciders.  As of last year, Fire Ciders came onto the market from Union Libre and I just loved it.  That’s why it was on my hit list for this year’s show.  Much to my surprise though, Domain Labranche is a new vendor and has this product too except they chose to give us a second option of trying it heated it.  He described it like drinking Sake.  Now, I’m not a fan of sake because its too strong for me but this one tastes absolutely fantastic.  As I drank it, I could picture heating this up, stirring it with a sprig of rosemary or thyme or cinnamon stick (as he suggested to us), and sitting by the fireplace while watching an awesome movie.  Look, if your product can give me a vivid image like that, I just couldn’t refuse getting it. Blink Chocolate is dark chocolate and lactose free and it taste so good.  Its good for little tastes of dessert. As for La Nougaterie, I just love their products.  Last year, I was introduced to Coach House Shortbread and I gave all of them away.  This year, its going to be also a little dessert with tea or coffee or something like that.  It’ll be so awesome.

I’m loving my purchases so far.  This year, there’s not so much about gifts but thinking about how to be a great host for the Christmas party.  I think I’m set! 😉

3) Christmas decorations at my place!

Last year, we just bought the house and I hadn’t moved in yet so all we did was put up a Christmas tree.  This year, since I’m around, I stepped it up.  We took two weekends or so to decorate.  The first to go up was the Christmas tree and some little decorations, then I made a new wreath (I’ve already shown you my other wreath last year so I’ll skip that), and finally some outdoors decorations we set up this past weekend!

Berry Sprigs with Color Lights in a Vase

New Wreath: Blue and White theme

Inflatable Santa with his little companions, Polar Bear and Snowman

Its always nice when plans happen to work out. I still have one more garland to put along my inside stairwell.  I also showed that last year. I have a little bit of rearranging for that one before putting it up.  We’re still debating whether to wrap a ribbon around the Christmas tree.  Those outdoor setup looks really nice. Our area is all about side entrances so no one uses their front doors.  Its a little weird but hey, Santa’s guarding it for me 😉 And my fave goes to my husbands idea of having a few layers of lights on the bay window: clear lights surrounded with a backdrop of blue lights.  I love it! 🙂

As for the last minute addition right before sitting down to draft this post, its the book shelf.  Its newly installed and I just arranged all the TBR books that I own, so the bookworm in me felt like it deserved a little decoration. I guess its also a sneak peek of next year’s reading list, if you can see the titles 😉

4) Making Ribbons the FIRST TIME! 🙂

As you can see that I made a new wreath up there, I had to learn how to make a ribbon.  Last year, I was super lucky and one of my girl friends made it for me.  Hers was much more complex and its on my older wreath thats also hung up somewhere else.  But, I just had to make one this year so I chose that simpler model and found a link on Pinterest that I followed.

Here’s the zoomed in version of the bow:

DIY Bows for Wreath

Pinterest instructions: http://lizoncall.com/2014/09/17/how-to-make-a-big-bow/

Its not perfect, but its my first shot and took me like 20 minutes or something to get it looking fairly balanced.  I’m starting to think it looks a little oversized for my little wreath.  But hey, for a first time, I think I did decent. I’ll give it another shot next year and maybe change to another ribbon if I have to 🙂

5) What is going on with the Weather!?!?!

Its more of a thought than an adventure but I don’t know about all of your whereabouts since I’m guessing it varies but we had one little sprinkle of snow so far and all we’ve gotten was rain.  Last Friday, it was 15 degrees Celsius! That’s a little crazy for being in winter and all.  For my guests sake, I really don’t want to have a storm on Christmas day but I would like to see some snow on the ground by then.  Maybe its just me being Canadian…

The best part however is that the mild weather gave me a chance to go out this past weekend and clear out the rest of my pots on my patio that I didn’t get a chance to do before.  And guess what I found: mint growing in my garden…. Its December and my mint thinks its still okay to grow.  Yikes! Mojito anyone?

6) Upcoming: CHRISTMAS!

You know what? Its Christmas month pretty much with a few days of like after Christmas posts and before New Year’s wrapping up the year posts for that last week.  That’s what you’ll be expecting here.  I wrapped up the first round of Netflix.  The Random Chat Show also kicked off our Christmas Show. I have a few movies planned but this year, I want to get back to DIY crafts and baking so it’ll be a mixed bag.  I’ll have a few really overdue book reviews and extra posts going up that I promised I’d do. My guess is the next weekly adventures I’ll get to talking about plans for next year and 2015 recap and all that good stuff. I still can’t believe there’s only 16 days and 2015 ends! Its a little crazy!

FINALLY…

To wrap it all up, an adorable and somewhat hilarious video of NHL Montreal Canadiens doing a rendition of Frozen’s “Let It Go”.

Happy Tuesday, my lovelies! 🙂