Friday Night D4C!

Suggestions for South Beach Food & Wine Fest

Hey Brickgals, Happy Friday and more importantly, HAPPY SOBE Food & Wine festival weekend.  This is one of the most highly anticipated weekends of the year in Miami and I wanted to share a few insider tips with you if you are headed out of the hood to SOBE this weekend.

I went thru a list of the wines being poured and I wanted to steer you to 5 of my personal favorites that you should not miss. These wines are coming from Palm Bay Imports who will have a large section at SOBE.  They will be pouring tons of wines, but here are some of my favs….

Bertani Due Uve- If you like refreshing white wines this one is for you my Brickgals!  A light, slightly fruity and refreshing way to start you tasting.  This bright wine of Pinot Grigio & Sauvignon Blanc will wake up your palate and get you ready for the day of wine, food, and eventually the debauchery you will most likely encounter following an event like this.

S.A. Prum Essence- this is for my girls with a sweet tooth.  S.A. Prum Essence is a Riesling, sweet, but not too sweet.  I’m not sure what food will be there, but when you get a glass of this run for the sushi or spicy (thai) styled dishes.  This is when the party in your mouth will begin.

Jean Luc Colombo (JLC) Abeilles White- my personal favorite of the 3 whites I am suggesting, this white blend from the Rhone Valley in France is a MUST TASTE!  A little bit richer in style than the other whites, this is more for you Chardonnay drinkers.  If you look at the color it should be a little richer and golden in color.  I LOVE this wine.  Not that this matters since wine is so subjective, but try it, you should love it too!

Fontanafredda Barbera- a lighter style Italian wine, this is a great wine for people that like Pinot Noir and Chianti’s.  Barbera is one of the best food wines because it has nice acidity and not too much oak.  I know there will be some Italian dishes with red sauce, so have some pasta with this deliciously fruity red.

And finally…

Fontanafredda Barolo- THIS wine is for my serious red wine drinking chicas and your manly Brickguys.  If your guy claims to like Cabernet and big rich styled red wines, head over to this wine.  Now, go find the steak table and let the debauchery begin.  Life is good.  This is a wine to be enjoyed and savoured, so don’t wait until the day is over to try this wine, try it well before you dive into the spirits and the day gets blurred.

I hope you all have either experienced, or will experience the SOBE Food & Wine festival.  It is truly a staple in Miami and is a must do.  Cheers!

BrickGals Love Ice Cream. Fact.

If I’ve got any BrickGals or BrickGuys heading over to the Miami Boat Show tomorrow, make sure to plan in some time to head to Serendipity3 on Lincoln Road.

Peanut Butter Frrrozen Hot Chocolate

Check out our review from our sista site, ” Single Girls Guide to South Beach.”

BrickGals Hosts Wine 101 at Kork Wine & Cheese – 3/20

Hey BrickGals, it’s Friday and we have some exciting news to share!  We have teamed up with Kork Wine & Cheese to host a wine education class as part of their Tuesday Tasting Series on Tuesday March 20th at 7:30pm.

Do you want to learn about wine but it seems too intimidating?  Or, do you know enough but love to taste new wines?  Whatever level of a wine “chugger” or “connoisseur” you might be, this class is for everyone, and most importantly, it will be FUN!

This is the run down on our first class (the basics).  We will learn what exactly wine is, how it is made, temperatures to be served, how to properly hold the glass, why people swirl the wine and most importantly how to TASTE (and why sometimes people look so weird doing it).  If you want to get yourself in the mood for the ultimate cork dork experience, I suggest renting the movie Sideways this weekend.  It brings the term “wine snob” to a whole other level, and is quite entertaining.

We will taste 6 grape varietals during the class that most people are familiar with (Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Syrah, Merlot & Cabernet) and will discuss how each one varies from the next.  Whether you smell cat piss, barnyard, band-aids, tobacco, bacon (yes, these are all actual descriptors used by wine writers) we will figure out just what you get out of each wine.

Just a little disclaimer, this is not a “I know more than you class” this is pure fun!  I will be speaking during the class, and the #1 thing I believe about wine is, if you like it, it’s good, doesn’t matter what I think.  If there are any specific questions or requests you have, ask them now or bring them to class.  This class is to educated you, so whatever it might be that you want to know, ask away.

Cost is $20 per person. Call 305.377.8899 for more information and to reserve your spot.  Space is limited.

Have a great weekend and hope to see you at our first Wine class!

Food Trucks Thursday!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Love today (and every day) to all my BrickGals and BrickGuys!

We’ve reviewed some great date spots (ie. Azul and Mare Nostrum) over the past couple weeks, so hope your man already made the reservation!  But, if you find yourself happily single and ready to mingle tonight, check out Edge, Steak & Bar.

For all my single ladies (and gentlemen), tonight Edge is hosting a special Lonely Hearts Dinner.  We heart their food clearly, so I don’t think you can go wrong by grabbing all your single friends and heading over.

On tap will be a few VERY clever menu items, including Love Shucks – an East Coast seafood tower flavored by sour orange mojo, stinking rose aioli and angry habanero hot sauce; a Burnt, Bitter, Bleu salad of bitter greens, burnt almond praline, and crumbles of Point Reyes blue cheese, drizzled with two-timing balsamic dressing; Home Alone TV Dinner – roasted Creekstone Farm prime rib with a side of truffle macaroni and cheese and vegetable succotash; and Broken Hearted Napoleon with passion(less) fruit sauce.

And to get your juices flowing, they are starting the night off with a comp glass of Champagne. Everyone gets wild with bubbly!

The Lonely Hearts Dinner ($65 per person, excluding bar, tax and gratuity) will be held in their private dining room at 7p.m.  For reservations, call  (305) 381-3015.

 

Jean Luc Colombo Rosé

With the heat of the summer just around the corner, there is no better time to drink Pink!!!!  I know what you’re thinking… Summer… it’s only February!  Well, hello!!!!!  One of the many reasons we choose to live in Miami are the very short winters.  And, as I have told you before, I drink my wines based on the weather.  If the weekend is going to be warm, you better believe I am digging in my cellar (by Thursday morning) for some nice Rosé, pronounced Rose-A, not Rose (like the flower) to chill down.

One of my personal favorites is Jean Luc Colombo (known as JLC for us lazy people) Cape Bleue Rosé.   Hold on… Before you even ask, the answer is NO!!!  It is NOT sweet and it is NOT like a White Zinfandel.  And shame on you for even thinking I would recommend such a wine to you! It’s a Provence style Rosé from Marseille, France.  And what exactly does this mean?  Well… the wine comes from the South of France and the Rosé’s from this region are floral on the nose, but dry, crisp and refreshing on the palate.

JLC Rosé is made up of 67% Syrah and 33% Mourvedre. And yes, the grapes in this wine are red wine varietals.  The way Rosé is made is by using red wine grapes, but only allowing a short amount of skin contact during the wine making process, resulting in only a subtle pink wine.  However, the same grapes can be used to make a very dark and powerful red wine, it just depends on how long the juice is in contact with the thick skins of the grapes as to the final color and flavor intensity.  When the wine is made in a Rosé style it’s dry, with subtle hints of peaches, rose petals and white flowers on the nose.  JLC Rosé is extremely refreshing & crisp on the palate with notes of raspberries, fresh cherries & plump strawberries. Please keep in mind, Rosé’s are best when consumed young.  That means you should be looking for a 2010-2011 vintage right now.  Anything older and it has probably lost all of it’s bright fruit flavors, and the color is probably more of a dark peach than the beautiful, fresh and vibrant pink we love.

Jean Luc Colombo is acknowledged as one of the most progressive and influential winemakers of his generation. His success and his remarkable ability to craft innovative, memorable wines that burst with personality, earned him the title of “Winemaking Wizard of the Rhone Valley”.

Weekend high’s… upper 70’s?  There’s no better time than now to pick up a bottle of Jean Luc Colombo Rosé!  Under $10 a bottle and available for purchase at your local wine shop and several Miami restaurants.  Drink Pink!

Thirsty Thursday Gets Classed Up

Tonight, Kork launches Jazz Thursdays aka live jazz music during Happy Hour!  I’ll be there. Le duh (read below).  $5 Happy Hour from 5-8 pm includes wine, cheese and meat & live music starts at 7.

…

Last weekend, my boo and I tried out something new.  Instead of hitting the Brickell bar scene (gasp!), we ventured a little further north into Downtown.  While nightlife options were few and far between, we found Kork Wine & Cheese (anything with wine in the name gets at least a check in from me!) on the corner of Flagler and South Miami Ave.

BrickGals' Heaven

When we walked in to the upstairs bar, I legit felt transported to Europe (not like Lucky Clover Europe…).  Rustic wooden floors, mahogany bar, minimalistic decor, a helluva lot of wine bottles… I liked.  Then we went downstairs, where the theme continued.  Yes, it looks like Miami does have a scene going down (pun intended).  What was once a 1940s bomb shelter… the underground wine center was BrickGals’ heaven.  Stacked with wine bottles – over 3,000 to be approximate, the cellar featured a large tasting table in the middle of the room and oversized leather couches and chairs.  We grabbed a table in the back (the last one open!) and began to listen to the live jazz band playing on a stage in the corner (a different jazz band plays every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night).

Charcuterie Platter

Now, their bites… While sandwiches, soups and salads are available for lunch and dinner daily (except Sunday), I was totes loving the cheese and charcuterie (obs I don’t need to say the wine b/c that’s a given).  We had parmesan, goat cheese, proscuitto, parma ham… pretty much everything awesome.  From now own instead of churning my own butter to make my own cheese, I will just hop on over to Kork.  I mean, it’s just easier.

** Even though I’m a huge fan of the Metromover, my man is not, so we ended up using the valet ($7 flat rate after 6 pm) in front of Macys, directly across from the bar.  If you’re more of the adventurous type like myself, take the Brickell loop to Riverfront and then walk two blocks.  Kork is right under the Miami Ave Station if you’re on the Inner Loop.

Half Naked People + Tomatoes = Good Time

Ya know, I may have an issue with a few things in my life.  It’s only Tuesday, and I already want to throw sharp things at several people in my general vicinity.  Obviously this means that by the weekend I’m going to need a lot of booze and a lot of weaponry.

Lucky for me, La Tomatina comes to Miami on Saturday.  Lucky for them, the tomatoes probably won’t hurt as badly as, say, knives.

If you’re not familiar with Spain’s La Tomatina that just shows how cultured you are.  Le duh, the event revolves around hoards of people throwing tomatoes at each other.  Sounds awesome, right?  Well, thank the good lord, Tobacco Road has finally got their shit together and rounded up over 10,000 lbs of tomatoes for Brickell’s first Tomato Bash.

This Saturday, February 11th, the festivities begin at noon with food & drink specials, and of course a dump truck delivery of 25,000 tomatoes, ripe for flying through the air.  Registration begins at 3:30 pm, and the tomato fight gets crazy at 4.  For those less brave or unwilling to get sauced, a safety zone will be set up for spectators to enjoy all the action.  Don’t be a pussy.  Come get drunk and throw tomatoes.

Oh yea, and if you can read, you can see there will be a mechanical bull.  I will be voting for a repeat performance of BrickGal Jen Bunny’s last weekend’s festivities on that front…

Wine of the Week: Eponymous MacAllister Red

After spending the last week in Northern CA on a whirlwind wine tour I was reminded about how awesome the wines from Napa and Sonoma Valley really are.  With the down economic times, and international influence of wines we encounter while living in Miami, I have a tendency to overlook CA wines because of how costly some of the wines can be. BUT… While many CA wines, yes, are still expensive, most still over deliver for their sometimes hefty price tag.

One of my personal favs is the Eponymous MacAllister Red wine from Sonoma Valley, CA.  This blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot has something for everyone.  You have the strong, powerful dark fruit from the Cabernet, spicy characteristics of the Cabernet Franc and soft, sweet fruit from the Merlot.  Putting all these varietals and characteristics together in one wine help to make CA red blends some of the most sought after wines in the world.

The Eponymous MacAllister red is from Sonoma Valley, but its close relation to the mountain tops of some of Napa’s finest vineyards makes one second guess the appellation to be Napa.  Eponymous (meaning: one for whom or which something is believed to be named) is a play on words and a great choice by winemaker/owner Robert Pepi Jr. who sold his self named (Pepi) winery to Kendall Jackson back in the 90’s and was left searching for a creative name for his newest project in early 2000.  Under the Eponymous label, Robert Pepi also makes a single vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet and recently started producing small quantities of Syrah and Cabernet Franc that are not to be missed!

The Eponymous wines are focused on quality over quantity, so the production is limited and the wines are mainly found in restaurants and in fine wine shops.  You can also purchase these wines online at www.quintessentialwines.com.  Next time you need a fabulous bottle of wine for a special occasion or gift, buy a bottle of Eponymous MacAllister red wine.  You are sure to please the palate of any wine lover, and introduce them to something new and delicious!

**flwinegal is having technical difficulties with her posting ability so I’m posting the wine of the week on her behalf today.**