Mills Fine Wine & Spirits

The name alone begs for you to take it to a special holiday dinner.  Bennett Lane’s,  Maximus Red Feasting Wine,  is a beautiful meritage wine from Napa.  The blend is 64% Cabernet,  25% Merlot and 11% Syrah.  What a fabulous blend it is!

The nose is heaven with aromas of plum, dark chocolate and vanilla.  On the palate,  it exhibits blueberry,  plum,  vanilla clove and nutmeg.  I personally really enjoy the hints of blueberry quite a bit!  It’s so perfectly balanced and the finish is just as good as the beginning!

This wine will pair with almost anything but also great without food.  Bring it to your next feast!

I love,  love,  love this wine and it’s definitely a new favorite for me.  I can’t wait to revisit it!

P.S.  Bennett Lane also makes a White Feasting Wine that is 87%  Sauvignon Blanc,  11% Chardonnay and 2% Muscat.  We tried this in the store the other day and it was a staff hit.  Peter had some leftover turkey that he brought in and it paired nicely!

Cheryl

I came home tonight and wondered what I could throw together for dinner that would pair with this bottle of wine that I brought home from Mill’s. “Wow”, is all I can say about this combination! So, I thought I’d share, only with our mills customers and staff my very own recipe and tasting notes.

Here’s what you will need:

Bottle of Mader Alsace Gewurztraminer or any Gewurztraminer from Alsace at Mill’s

pizza stone

1 ball of pre-made pizza dough (Trader Joe’s makes an awesome one)

3 sweet vidalia onions

1-2 cups sliced mushrooms

1/2 stick butter or my favorite, Earth Balance Vegan butter

2-4 cloves garlic (depends on your own preference)

1/2 zucchini and 1/2 yellow squash sliced very thin or any other veggies

olive oil

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees

In a large sauce pan saute the onions and mushrooms and half the garlic (chopped or minced) for about 20 minutes on med-low heat until translucent and brown and cooked down.

Lightly flour the pizza stone with flour or cornmeal.

Spread your dough ball thinly onto the pizza stone, overlapping the edges by a couple of inches. Bring the overlapped edges back up forming the crust for the pizza. Poke holes with a fork all over the dough then brush with some olive oil. Finish with some shaker cheese and bake in a 425 degree oven till browned. (about 10 mins) Pull from the oven.

Melt the butter and add rest of garlic to melted butter. Brush onto the pizza dough.

Spread the caramelized onions and mushrooms onto the dough. Top with the Parmesan.

Top with the sliced zucchini and squash (and any other favorite veggies) and add shaker cheese and salt and pepper to taste.

Bake for about 15 mins or until browned.

For comparison, sip the wine before and after tasting the pizza. Its a fruity wine at first sip, lots of lychee, apple and pear. Sip after the a bite of pizza and your in heaven! The wine evolves even more and the acidity pairs perfectly. It really packs a fruity mouthful! Not too sweet, just a lingering beautiful finish! This Gewurztraminer is from Alsace. We have a few from this region in our store that will have the same affect. Just ask, we’d be happy to lead you in the right direction! Enjoy!

Share your own favorite recipes and wine pairing. We’d love to hear about them!

Cheryl

Rick's New Bar

Wow!  We just got a delivery from Preiss Imports today.  Rick is very excited to be able to offer you some of the most intriguing and unique spirits and cordials in this area.

Here’s a list of some of the things we just got in stock:

From Luxardo:

Anice Forte: Classical anise liqueur infusion of chinese star anise.

Sambuca dei Cesari: Made with an infusion of elderberry and green aniseed.   Since antiquity,  elderberries have been know for their digestive and tonic benefits which Luxardo transfers to their classic anise base liqueur.

Ammaretto di Saschira: Made from pure almond paste and aged 8 months before bottling.  Distinguishable from other Amarettos by the high quality almonds picked around Avola in Southern Sicily.

Limoncello: An authentic Italian lemon liqueur.

Espresso Liqueur: Luscious coffee liqueur infused with the best Arabica coffees from Central America.

Additional Preiss Imports:

Pontarlier Anis: All natural,  tantalizing anis without artificial coloring, made from the finest ingredients.

Kalani Coconut Liqueur: Finest natural coconut extract and essences are blended with pure cane syrup to create an exotic, tropical coconut liqueur.

Senior Chocolate Curacao: Deeply chocolate flavored and rich,  followed by a wave of orange.

Mitchell’s Blended Whiskey: Signature blend from Scotland’s oldest distilling family.

Rick has stocked the shelves and set up a new tasting bar right in our store.  This tasting bar is a unique opportunity to try some of these rare gems.  So, stop in and let Rick show you these special cordials and spirits!

Cheryl amaretto, anice, anis, bar, curacao, limoncello, luxardo, mitchell's, pontarlier, Tasting, whiskey

We just got this great bottle of white in.  It’s 50 percent Chardonnay and 50 percent Sauvignon Blanc.  I know what you’re thinking….what an unusual blend! Not being a chardonnay drinker myself,  I was amazed at how much I enjoyed this wine!  It’s very clean,  crisp and fresh with grassy notes.  What a great bottle to take to a holiday party.  It’s 11.99 and from what I can taste,  one of the best deals in the store!  Pair it with fish or white meat or serve it as an apertif.

Cheryl

Our Tuesday wine tasting focused on California.  As you may know, our California wines are  featured this month.  We have an awesome selection of California wines and are offering a buy one bottle and get the same bottle for half off.  This includes even the highly sought after cult wines.  What a deal!  With that being said,  we tasted 2 pinot noirs and 1 sauvignon blanc from California yesterday.

The Laetitia vineyard  located in the heart of California’s Central Coast in the Arroyo Grande Valley  was established to create and promote a singular portfolio of burgundian style wines.  We tasted the Laetitia Estate 2006 Pinot Noir.  Our customers seemed to favor this wine most out of our three picks.  It is an elegant wine with ripe plum and blackberry fruits and dark chocolate.  It’s balanced well with soft tannins yet still fuller bodied for a pinot with a beautiful finish.

We also tasted the Toad Hollow 2006 Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley.  This wines soft plummy color really threw us for a loop!   We expected a ripe fruity style pinot judging from the color and the terroir.  However it was more autumnal in style,  a lot of dried leaves and and fruit with a full yet elegant body.

We also tried the Walter Hansel Sauvignon Blanc.  Hansel is delicate on the nose with scents of floral and honey. It’s  bright, crisp and mellow on the palate.  No overpowering citrus here!  Lot’s of melon, pear and soft citrus notes give way to a finish that holds you for a bit.  By the way if you are a pinot fan, this winery makes a spectacular  pinot noir.  It’s by far my favorite in the store!

Cheryl annapolis, california, laetita, Mills, pinot noir, russian river valley, sauvignon blanc, Tasting, toad hollow, tuesday tasting, walter hansel

Here are Cheryl’s notes on the Women and Wine Tuesday Tasting.

Wow! We’re tasting these malbecs and they are delicious! The Felino malbec from Argentina is big and has opened up beautifully over the past hour. Big ripe fruit and lingering finish. The Montes from Chile is also good, a bit more tannic with more tart fruit. The Cuvee Maurin from Cahors is the lightest of these malbecs.

Cheryl cahors, chile, felino, malbec, maurin, montes, Tasting, Wine

Ladies, We know it’s a rainy, dreary
Tuesday but it’s the perfect kind of
day to swing by and try some some
of our lucious wine choices for today!

Cheryl Mills, Tasting, Wine