Swirl, Sniff and Sip

One of my bestest friends, Maggie (and her husband Jon) own a fabulous wine and gourmet food store in Indianapolis.  Their store is full of all things delicious from the food to the wine, there is nothing in there I do not love!

And you guys are in luck because Maggie is here today to share some of her current favorite wines and also how to appropriately enjoy said wines.  With a little help from their adorable bulldog, Ellie.

Take it away, Mags!

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Somewhere between learning that a zinfandel is a red wine and not a sweet white, and my first trip to Napa, I started to learn how to appreciate wine.  I used to think the drinkers swirling and sniffing their wines were full of it. When I sniffed, I would take long deep whiffs and get a nose full of alcohol. A tour guide in Napa recommended we sniff just like a dog sniffs your hand – in short small bursts (much like Ellie pictured here sniffing the fresh air)

This changes everything. Instead of a waft of alcohol, you will start to smell the layers of the wine, which really gets your mouth watering and preps you for the sip.   The swirl before hand gets all that oxygen in there and opens up the wine. The sip, well, that’s pretty self explanatory.

Here are some wines we are loving for their outstanding value right now:

Heavyweight Cabernet $12.99

Flaco Tempranillo $7.99

Gran Passione Rosso $11.99

Bel Crème de Lys Chardonnay $10.99

Perlage Pinot Grigio $12.99

Salt of the Earth Flore de Moscato $10.99

And for a special night in (because, let’s face it, it’s horrible outside) try Farm Collective $34.99

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Thank you Maggie! And Ellie! I definitely know I need to take some cues from Ellie on my sniffing habits.  I'll make sure to practice that tonight ;)