Chateau St. Jean Sonoma County Pinot Noir

On a Pinot Noir kick these days, Sonoma County Chateau St. Jean 2009 is a homerun!

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Grapes are sourced from the Russian River Valley and the Carneros district, two cooler wine growing areas ideal for Pinot Noir. At Chateau St. Jean the grapes, thin skinned and finicky, as Pinot Noir is known to be, are treated with kid gloves, handcrafted gently, cold soaked before fermentation, for optimal colour and flavour, and during fermentation the skins are pushed back down manually into the fermenting juice.

We enjoyed the Chateau St. Jean 2009 Sonoma County Pinot Noir with our mixed grilled and mushroom risotto.  It’s lush flavours of cherry and plum with the hint of leather and notes of toasty oak and long lingering finish was a great match for our Chef’s Table a la Georgia’s Backyard.

Margo Van Staaveren, is the winemaker at Chateau St. Jean, and the harvest of 2011 marked her 32nd harvest.

Chateau St. Jean

@TheWineLadies @alyons_wine

 

Oh so Fab Pajama Party was…oh so fab! Raises $15,000 for the Daval Hospice

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The evening was a stupendous success with a few hundred ladies dressed in pjs and fine lingerie, from animal prints, to sexy bustiers, boxers and pignoirs, strutting their stuff walking the catwalk all for a great cause.

The fundraiser, held at the White Oaks Resort and Conference Centre www.whiteoaksresort.com in support of  the Daval Hospice www.davalhospice.ca had all the ingredients, the perfect recipe for the perfect party, with great food, wine and entertainment including a number of Niagara Falls finest firefighters; nothing like a man in uniform, ready to offer a helping hand.

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Award winning wining and dining at Pago Pago, Westin Resort and Casino, Aruba

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Aruba has become an incredibly desirable destination with so much to offer and to celebrate including an annual Wine, Food and Art Festival, held at The Westin Resort and Casino, Aruba www.thewestin.com/Aruba right up our alley!

Our home away from home is the Westin Resort and Casino, well known for their culinary program, with Pago Pago http://www.westinaruba.com/ArubaRestaurantsPagoPago one of their restaurants being awarded the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence.

Here we meet Executive Chef Matt Boland, responsible for all the restaurants and eateries at the Westin Resort and Casino. We quickly are taken with the enthusiasm Matt has for his craft, his mandate here and the island of Aruba captured here in our interview.

Georgia chats with Chef Bolland in The Westin Resort and Casino Art Gallery.

 Pago Pago, where we will dine this week is the recipient of the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, which we will soon appreciate, and be dazzled with; a steady stream of creative and delectable recipes paired with a selection of wines from Napa Valley, France and Chile will grace our table.

Susanne enjoys the signature Coconut Jumbo Shrimp dish, while Georgia savours the surf and turf, accompanied by a Portobello mushroom and chocolate sauce lightly drizzled on succulent filet mignon. Two of the wines we particularly enjoyed was a Simi Sauvignon Blanc, from Sonoma County, truly delish, with fresh and seductive aromas of lemon and lime zest with mineral notes and a lengthy finish, as well as the Silverado Cabernet Sauvignon, layered, complex, rich with ripe fruit, amazing with the filet and sauce. Magnifique!

And incredible selection of deserts that topped off the evening just right! Wow what a night.

Aruba a paradise of sandy white beaches, sparkling turqoise waters, amazing food and wine!

Niagara-on-the Lake … glorious afternoon for a little wine, a “Vidal pizza” and a Vidal truffle!

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Taking the ride down to NOTL for a morning meeting ended up being the perfect excuse to stay on, enjoy a light lunch, take in a couple of wineries and explore our "FIX" for chocolate!

First post-meeting stop was for a bite to eat. We decide on The Old Winery Restaurant, which we know immediately was a good choice based on the fresh thin crust pizzas we see exiting the wood burning oven and the waft of enticing smells that surround us.

Just as we are seated outside on the patio , our server promptly arrives with a smile, wine list and menu.

Shawna, is awesome! Our choice for pizza is the Vidal, tomato sauce, blackfigs, pancetta and fiore di latte and honey Dijon drizzle. What’s fiore? It’s a wonderfully flavorful and software type of mozzarella also made from cow's milk, super delish!

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Beachy Keen Swimwear rocks Aruba. We love you!

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Aruba, a little slice of paradise! Long stretches of white sandy beaches call for strolling in style in sunny Aruba, an island paradise! The beach is where’s it’s at on this glorious island.

We just spent an incredible week here where most of everything can be enjoyed on the beach… just where we wanted to be, whether swimming in the Caribbean Sea, enjoying water sports, strolling the glorious beach or sun bathing under the palapas. You can even dine on the beach with white linen tablecloths and lightly lit lanterns.

As you can see, there was little required in the way of wardrobe for our week away, save an incredible array of bathing suits, that took us elegantly and comfortably through the day and into the evenings. All of The Wine Ladies wardrobes provided by Beachy Keen  Swimwear & Accessories of Oakville.www.beachykeenswimwear.com

Many of our friends and fans on facebook and twitter have commented on our swimsuits and cover ups, so we thought we’d take a moment to share and to thank Val, the proprietor of Beachy Keen for her keen eye on finding just the right suit, no matter your shape or your size!

Aruba beckons… although small in size, just 30 km long and 8 km wide, this stunning Caribbean island is big on beauty, with long stretches of white sandy beaches, sensuous sparkling turquoise waters and gentle trade winds that caress and cool the skin while enjoying the rays of the tropical sun. We are returning to this incredible island, after many, many years, as our father’s identical twin started the very first hotel here, called the Manchebo Beach Hotel.  Aruba has become an incredibly desirable destination with so much to offer and to celebrate including an annual Wine, Food and Art Festival, held at The Westin Resort and Casino, Arubawww.thewestin.com/Aruba right up our alley!

Watch The Wine Ladies TV and our adventures in Aruba here.

Georgia pensive in polka dots!

Georgia’s swimsuit by Jantzen and available at Beachy Keen in Oakville.

Susanne in turquoise rocks in swimwear by Be Creative

Susanne’s swimsuit by Be Creative and available at Beachy Keen in Oakville.

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Niagara-on-the Lake … glorious afternoon for a little wine, a “Vidal pizza” and a Vidal truffle!

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Niagara-on-the Lake … glorious afternoon for a stroll, a little wine, a “Vidal pizza” and a Vidal truffle!

Taking the ride down to NOTL for a morning meeting ended up being the perfect excuse to stay on, enjoy a light lunch, take in a couple of wineries and explore our FIX for chocolate!

First post-meeting stop was for a bite to eat. We decide on The Old Winery Restaurant, which we know immediately was a good choice based on the fresh thin crust pizzas we see exiting the wood burning oven and the waft of enticing smells that surround us.

Just as we are seated outside on the patio, our server promptly arrives with a smile, the wine list and menu.

Photo of Susanne holding up the wine list

Shawna, is awesome! Our choice for pizza is the Vidal, tomato sauce, blackfigs, pancetta and fiore di latte and honey Dijon drizzle. What’s fiore? It’s a wonderfully flavorful and software type of mozzarella also made from cow's milk, super delish!

Pic here of us sitting without the pizza yet

The Vidal sounds amazing! But what about the wine? This is the Old Winery Restaurant with a good selection of wines by the glass to choose from too.

Georgia ‘s thinking Pinot Noir and Susanne a Shiraz

pic of Shawa showing the Cattail Creek Estate Pinot Noir

Cattail Creek Estate Winery Pinot Noir 2009 VQA Four Mile Creek -very aromatic, red cherry with plum, lively and spicey.

Creekside  Estate Winery – Shiraz  2009

Black raspberry and plum, spicey with notes of oak and vanilla

pic here of Creekside

Our "Vidal Pizza" arrives, doesn't it look to die for?

pic of pizza here

 

Aruba Winemaker, The Wizard, Vincente Kock

Aruba winemaker, Meet The Wine Wizard, The Wine Ladies TV

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Aruba a paradise of sandy white beaches, sparkling turqoise waters, amazing food and wine!

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Aruba beckons… although small in size, just 30 km long and 8 km wide, this stunning Caribbean island is big on beauty, with long stretches of white sandy beaches, sensuous sparkling turquoise waters and gentle trade winds that caress and cool the skin while enjoying the rays of the tropical sun. We are returning to this incredible island, after many, many years, as our father’s identical twin started the very first hotel here, called the Manchebo Beach Hotel.  Aruba has become an incredibly desirable destination with so much to offer and to celebrate including an annual Wine, Food and Art Festival, held at The Westin Resort and Casino, Aruba right up our alley!

Watch The Wine Ladies TV and our adventures in Aruba here.

We look forward to a having an awesome week of a little R&R, some fun and some seriously yummy eating…accompanied by some fine wines of course!  All this with our friends, a group of five fun loving ladies who also happen to be quite the foodies!

`Aruba Good Morning in over 100 languages! WOW

We are welcomed by broad smiles and happy faces with an aim to please. The native “Aruban”  speaks three to four  languages, is friendly and engaging, “bon bini” is how you are greeted, followed with Bon dia, Bon tardi, and Bon nochi as the sunset approaches. This is the vocab from the local language here, Papiamento, a creole language derived from African languages and either Portuguese or Spanish, with some influences from Amerindian languages, English and Dutch. We met one local, Romeo who could say this in almost any language known to mankind! Check out this talented man here. It’s pretty cool!

Aruba… One Happy Island

We will soon discover, there is definitely fabulous food here, and they even have a  winemaker on the island, sought after by international media, knocking on the barrel cellar door, anxious to discover and sample the wines made here in such an arid climate. How does he do it? Vincente Kock of Vino Vince, located in Santa Cruz, Aruba.

Vincente explains how he became the Wine Wizard during our interview.

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