But when Sunday rolled around, we had time to take a breath. Although we wanted to sleep in, we were promised a food tour of the Lower East Side, once the world's largest Jewish neighborhood community. One of its denizens (actually a junior wine sister who is an art student at Parson’s School of Design and lives with her art school roommates in a “colorful” apartment on Henry Street) promised to show us her favorite places in exchange for a bagel breakfast and shopping in Soho. Who could resist—even if it was a 9:30 wake-up call.

Our tour began with lox and bagels. Destination: Russ & Daughters, a Lower East Side institution. This is a tiny shop, but if you have a craving for real New York bagels and super-excellent Nova, you’ve come to the right place. An amazing selection of schmears (we picked traditional, goat cheese and a fantastic Veggie Tofu spread) and smoked salmon of many varieties.  The dill-cured Gravlax was enticing, but we had to go for the traditional, beautiful Nova, hand-sliced. 

In addition to lox and bagels, there were latkes, herring like no other, smoked fish, caviar, dried fruits, specialty chocolates and candies of all varieties. (That’s a three-course meal, right?) We picked up a dozen bagels with some expertly sliced Nova, some fresh-squeezed OJ for re-hydration, and headed south to The Pickle Guys for accoutrements.

The Pickle Guys have an even tinier store front. The shop basically consists of a bunch of pickle barrels. And yes, they sell pickles—half sour, medium sour, really sour depending on how long the cukes have sat in the brine. But they also sell an amazing variety of other pickled veggies, including okra, giardiniera, tomatillos, sauerkraut, mushrooms and more. We spied a barrel of pink-colored things and asked what they were. Pickled turnips. Having never tasted these, we ordered up a half-pint along with a quart of medium-sour pickles.

On to the famous Donut Plant, where the homemade cake or raised donuts, some filled with house-made jam, are made on the premises. When the donuts are gone, the shop closes. By the time we got there, the Crème Brulee donuts were sold out, but we settled for a raspberry-jam-filled raised glaze to be eaten as an appetizer as we walked to art student’s apartment to set out our bagel spread.

The obvious wine pairing for a bagel brunch is Mimosas made with fresh-squeezed OJ. We didn’t have any Champagne (New York is rough like that at 9:30 on a Sunday morning) but If we had to pick a Wine Sisterhood wine, we’d go for a light, fresh white such as Middle Sister Drama Queen Pinot Grigio or PromisQous White. 

After unlocking a front door, a vestibule door, plus the door to the apartment, we set out bagels, lox and cream cheese for the art kids in their glamorous apartment dining room slash living room slash kitchen. Along with the pickles and the amazing pickled pink turnips for a savory accompaniment, it was a genuine NYC LES spread. 

 Next, we set off west to Chinatown. The Art Student wanted to take me to Quickly, a famousJapanese Asian Fusion cafe franchise featuring an exotic drink called milk tea.

What makes Milk Tea different?  YIt's has balls.  Yes, balls of tapioca. A drink you can chew, and we're not talking chewy tannins.  Milk Tea is odd, but interesting. But odd. The drinks are hermetically seal ed with a super-clever machine-foiler-cup capper.  Then you get an extra-big straw to punch through the lid so you can suck up the tapioca balls along with the tea. O.K. where's my Mimosa?

Next, we stopped at a Chinatown bakery. The shelves were stocked with very colorful cakes, big bags of buns and savory pastries as well. No idea what’s inside the cakes, or what the icing says, but many, many points for presentation.

We walked past open bins of exotic ingredients such as dried shrimp—used in many Asian recipes (Pad Thai, anybody?) At the Wine Sisterhood, we love to cook, but we would definitely need a chef well-versed in Asian cuisine to explain to us what all these ingredients were and how the heck to use them in a recipe.

Here’s a wine pairing note for Asian cuisine. Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Indonesian and other eastern cultures do not have a wine tradition as Westerners know it. This part of the world simply does not have the climate for cultivating vitis vinifera. Although wine is made, it’s most notably from rice or perhaps plum and other fruits. Yeah, alcohol is awesome. You can make it from just about anything. Since Asian cuisine has become so mainstream in America, we still want to enjoy a glass of grape-based wine as we know it with Asian foods. 

Oak, tannin and alcohol, which tend to be prominent in red wines, will fight the flavors. Think refreshing sparkling, white or blush (rosé) wines, which are fresher, crisper and lower in alcohol. They will complement both the lighter taste and texture of many subtle vegetable-based Asian dishes as well as the hotter, spicier flavors often found in Asian cuisine. Light whites also pair with tastes in Mexican, Caribbean, Central and South American dishes which feature chilies and assertive spices. 

Riesling is always a sommelier go-to recommendation for Asian cuisine. We think our new White Haute Riesling fits the bill and it’s got a cute green shoe on the label. It’s not bone dry—it has a hint of sweetness (technically--“residual sugar”-- the natural grape sugar left in the wine when all the fruit sugar in the grapes is not converted to alcohol blah blah blah). The hint of sweetness becomes seemless and invisible when paired with hot and spicy foods.

Very lightly oaked or unoaked, steel-fermented whites (meaning they are neither fermented nor aged in oak barrels which gives a toasty taste to the wine) such as or Middle Sister Smarty Pants Chardonnay or Middle Sister Wicked White (Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay and Gewürztraminer),  will also go well. For Asian dishes which feature lamb, pork or beef, you can go with a lighter red with just a hint of toasty oak such as PromisQous Red (a Zin based blend) or Red Haute Pinot Noir. Save your big Cabs and Zins for steak.

After a hot, smelly, colorful tour of Chinatown, we ran smack into Little Italy. Finally, red wine country! Too full from bagels, we had to resist the promise of a hot Italian restaurateur to buy our meal if we didn’t like it. But it got us to thinking how nice a Cab/Syrah blend like Purple Cowboy Tenacious Red would taste with some authentic Little Italy spaghetti and meatballs.

 

Our table was stocked with Purple Cowboy Tenacious Red, PromisQous Red, Middle Sister Drama Queen Pinot Grigio and Rebel Red and our newest releases Red Haute Pinot Noir and White Haute Riesling.

We wanted to give a shout out to two of our favorite seminars: Brian Duncan’s Pinot Pairing Party and Josh Wesson’s Best Wines for Haute Dogs.These two pros not only know their stuff inside and out but are incredibly entertaining.  (Who says wine has to be stuffy! )

Brian is Wine Director of the famed Bin 36 restaurant group in Chicago where he teaches wine classes. He is also is a hands-on winemaker of Bin 36 wine. If you’re in the Chicago area and want to learn more about wine, we would highly recommend checking out a class or two. 

Josh is founder of pioneering Best Cellars wine shops and Director of Wine, Beers and Spirits for A&P stores in the Northeast. He has long been a champion of wines priced under $15 and “playing” with wine (aka breaking all the rules). If you ever have a chance to attend a tasting or seminar led by Josh, be sure to sign yourself up. You’ll learn a lot and have a lot of fun doing it.

And if you want to read our Wine Sisterhood comments live from the next wine event, be sure to follow us on Twitter or “like” us on Facebook.

Our Wine Sisterhood stars, of course, are you (although if Top Chef's Tom Colicchio wanted to cook us dinner, we wouldn’t mind.) We want to thank all our friends who stopped by the table to taste and chat and voice an opinion or share a comment on packaging or the taste of the wine.

If you’ve ever taken a Wine Sisterhood survey, you know that your feedback is important to us and really is the founding principle of  the Wine Sisterhood. You help us shape the next new wine brands and have participated in the world’s first crowdsourced wines. As much as we love our virtual conversations, however, there’s nothing quite like hearing your comments in person. 

All the wines are conversation starters, but many of you seem to have a particular fondness for Middle Sister. Maybe it’s Rebel Red’s snarky attitude or the fact that there’s a little bit of Middle Sister in all of us, but something about these wines makes people want to share personal family stories.

Some were hilarious and others were quite poignant. We want you to know that we appreciate each and every one of your comments, suggestions and anecdotes. 

Sometimes people ask us why we participate in tastings like Aspen--in other words, what's in it for us. Well, it's a chance for us to have some one-on-one time with not only our trade partners who often attend these events, but also you…our consumer partners. We truly enjoy listening and you really do have a hand in creating the next new wine brand. O.K., time for group hug.

Speaking of voicing your opinion, remember there are only a few days left to take our June survey. Let us know what you think about one of the hottest wines out there, Moscato. If you tell us to make one, we’re gonna make one. Just watch us.

Several weeks ago, the Napa Valley sisters decided to take a break from the clubhouse and trek over to Sonoma County to check out a winery called Bella Vineyards & Caves. We winded our way along the twisty backroads of  the stunning Dry Creek Valley just northwest of Healdsburg . Thanks to onboard navigation, we landed at Bella just in time for our 11:00 tour which included a walk through the wine caves, barrel sampling and a sit-down, guided tasting of the portfolio in the beautiful tasting "lounge", usually reserved for wine club members.  Sure beats standing at the tasting bar!

Bella is primarily owned and operated by the Scott and Lynn Adams family. In 1994, Scott’s father and three brothers purchased the oldest vineyard site in Dry Creek Valley, and Scott and Lynn set off to manage the property and learn everything they could about winemaking from scratch.   Four and a half years and three daughters later, they took on the next challenge: construction of the new winery and caves and hospitality center. 

Alexander Valley, Russian River Valley and Dry Creek Valley have long been known for producing excellent Zinfandel but Bella's winemaking team believes the region can make world-class Syrah as well.  Bella produces a variety of single vineyard Zinfandels and Syrahs and a Grenache from their elite vineyard sites across the three valleys.  Lily Hill Estate, in the heart of Dry Creek Valley and home to the winery, has gorgeous, 85-year old, head-trained, Zinfandel planted on the slopes above the caves as well as blocks of Syrah. The Bella Canyon Vineyard, also in Dry Creek, features old vine blocks of Zinfandel, Syrah and Petite Sirah.  Big River Ranch, in Alexander Valley, has vines planted in 1906.  Finally, Two Patch, while not technically a vineyard, is a blend of two distinctive blocks on the border of the Alexander and Russion River Valleys.

Usually, the Bella tour experience includes an all-terrain trip into the vineyards, but not during rainy season. We did have a chance to visit the caves, tucked into the steep hillside of the Lily Hill vineyard and get a preview of the next vintage with samples right from the barrels. Caves have been used by winemakers for centuries because they provide the perfect environment for aging fine wines. They provide the optimal temperature and humidity year-round.

We tasted through the portfolio in the lovely private tasting room and returned to the clubhouse withordered up a mixed case of our faves including the Lily Hill Estate Syrah, Russian River Valley Zinfandel 2207 and the 2007 Big River Ranch Zinfandel and Big River Ranch Grenache.  Many of these bottlings may be sold out at this time, but you can check out the website for what's currently available.

All in all, highly recommended for a visit the next time you're in Northern California wine country!

 

Back in the saddle after our very first South by Southwest, pouring wine at the fabulous Girl and Boy Party sponsored by our friends at Kirtsy and Alltop.. We learned it is called “South-by” by the locals. Love it when you get the insider lingo! 

We poured Purple Cowboy Tenacious Red Cab-Syrah blend and Night Rider Merlot and Middle Sister Wicked White and Drama Queen Pinot Grigio for about 600 of the interactive world’s movers-and-shakers. The evening was warm, so the whites were very popular, but many good comments on Purple Cowboy, too.

The event was held under a tent  decorated with hay bails and a chuck wagon in back of Allens Boots, which we had visited earlier that day. We were overwhelmed by the incredible selection of beautiful cowboy boots. It’s hard to know where to start when you only get to pick just one. 

We found out later from the Allens Boot ladies (most excellent two-steppers and best boots at the party) that you can actually call ahead and make an appointment with one of them for a personal boot styling session. They’ll help you make your way through the selection and find the boots of your dreams.

Trudy’s Tex-Mex. Drink: Mexican Margarita. Note: Served in milkshake cans and so potent you’re only allowed to order two. Food: Stuffed Fried Avocado. All the things that are not on your diet, fried and covered in suiza (sour cream) sauce. We split one and were full for a day-and-a-half.

 

 

 

Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar. This is a famous joint and rightly so. There’s no cover— you put your request on one of the two grand pianos with a tip and with any luck they’ll play your fave song.

 The guys simply are world-class musicians/comedians/glee club directors/entertainers. We especially enjoyed the “Don’t Stop Believin’” sing-along. The piano boys are apparently (and who can blame them)  soooo tired of this song that they force the audience to sing the whole thing. Amazing how many of the lyrics we DIDN’T know. Luckily everybody else did.

 

The Mighty Cone. Located on South Congress (SoCo) in food trailer row, we again sampled the wondrousness’ of fried avocados in the form of the Deluxe Chicken and Avocado Cone with Ancho Mayo Sauce and Mango Jalapeno. With a side of chile-dusted fries. Are we kidding ourselves when we think splitting these kinds of things make it o.k.? At least we didn’t order a Blue Bell shake.

 

 

Maya Star boutique. Who needs to eat when we’re so full of fried avocados? That was the reason we blew our grocery budget for the rest of the month on some must-have items from this shop on SoCo. Beautiful selection of jewelry, also.

 

Security at Austin airport. One of us forgot we left a wine opener in our carry-on. And since it was a very nice one, forced to go out of security to one of those crazy mailing stations were all the dumb people who leave sharp items in their carry-ons can mail them home instead. Just plain embarrassing.

Also, we never could seem to sit in the right row for some reason. Hey, it’s confusing!

All in all, a great trip. We hope that those of you we met at the party will find that Wine Sisterhood business card we forced you to take before we poured you a glass of wine and visit us. And SIGN up to join our Wine Sisterhood community. We want your opinions!