Ok…I took a detour. The bottle labels get me every time! I went shopping at TOP and started talking to a wine steward. They showed me a NEW Salvatore Principe Sparkling Moscato. It’s exclusive to TOP. The bottle is gorgeous. They went away from the big heart and have a transparent flower with heart flower petals on this label. I had to go with white this week. Let me tell you, this is a must try! So delicious! It’s sweet and juicy with an apricot flavor. I had picked up some thai carry-out from Asian 1 – BEST thai restaurant around and had this wine as my dessert. It was the perfect contrast.

The following day I got invited to a wine tasting and tried Milbrandt Vineyards Brothers Blend 2009 Red Wine. It was really good. I can definitely see myself sitting down with a glass of this. It’s a blend of six wines, in this order, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Petite Sirah, Grenache and Mourvédre. TOP doesn’t have it yet, but they’re getting it in the next couple of weeks. Be sure to try this one out. It tasted like it would be perfect with a steak.

So, for cooking with wine, I’ve found it doesn’t matter how good the wine is. Some people may say otherwise, but if you end up picking out a wine you don’t love…save it for cooking. This was not the case for my meal. I had Naked Grape Pinot Noir already opened, so I used this to make Rachel Ray’s Chicken with Wine. This recipe is soooo good! Super fast and easy too! It’s a figure friendly version of coq au vin. No bacon or slab of butter in this verson! She claimed the wine and strong bursts of flavor would make you not as tempted to reach for the salt. It ended up being true and I LOVE salt. There’s thyme in it which has vitamin K and the calories per serving come in at only 254. I know I say to try a lot of things, but this recipe is worth it. It takes a cup of red wine…so you can get rid of your bad picks. I served mine with mashed potatoes and cauliflower. So yummy!! And what was my desert? Moscato from the day before.

Cheers!