Pop The Cork Wine Tastings

Pop The Cork Wine Tastings Wine Educator 🍷 WSET Level 3 Wines Certified
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For Easter 🐣, since it was just the 2 of us, we decided to go to a restaurant that I hadn’t been to in a while - Spunti...
04/21/2025

For Easter 🐣, since it was just the 2 of us, we decided to go to a restaurant that I hadn’t been to in a while - Spuntino’s Wine Bar in Clifton! It’s about 25 minutes from me so I guess that’s why I don’t go that often?!? I have to change that!

Their wine 🍷 list is crazy good so I opted for a “ European Flight” :
1. Vermentino from Italy 🇮🇹
2. Cabernet Franc from France 🇫🇷
3. Côtes du Rhône from France 🇫🇷
4. Bordeaux Blend from France 🇫🇷 (where is Spain 🇪🇸 and Portugal 🇵🇹 and Austria 🇦🇹? But I’m not complaining!)

My favorite was the Cabernet Franc! I ❤️ the name too - La Cuisine de ma Mère (my Mom’s cooking)! Notes of cherry 🍒, raspberry, blackcurrant, bell pepper 🫑 and violet. 😋

The wine! The food! The service! All great! What a fantastic brunch! I will be back soon!

I forgot I picked up this box of Jelly Belly jelly beans at the store last month! I ❤️ these jelly beans and I used to h...
04/20/2025

I forgot I picked up this box of Jelly Belly jelly beans at the store last month! I ❤️ these jelly beans and I used to hide them in eggs outside when my boys were little! I guess I forgot they are 26 now 🤪😆so it’s all up to me to eat these!

Just for laughs, I googled what wine 🍷 to pair with jelly beans and I came across an article - Wine Education Kit: Jelly Beans - The Vine Times - that recommends using the different flavors of the jelly beans to help you learn different flavors in wines!! For example, for Malbec you would taste blueberry 🫐, plum, raspberry, very cherry 🍒 and French vanilla. GENIUS!!!

My box doesn’t have all of the flavors I need so I can’t check it out! But I love this idea!!

So I said I would start doing a weekly post about a very good AND very inexpensive wine that I had tried. But last week,...
04/15/2025

So I said I would start doing a weekly post about a very good AND very inexpensive wine that I had tried. But last week, I was sick for a few days and only had wine once! I did survive but it was tough!! 🤪

I saw this Sauvignon Blanc on Sunday while at work. Someone had left it in the wrong place, so as I was putting it back, I looked it up on Vivino! This is my go-to app when I have not had a wine before. It got 4 points and was only $11.99! I usually go for a Sauvignon Blanc from France but I decided to try this one from Gambler’s Ghost in CA!

👃🏼- lemon 🍋, grapefruit, melon 🍈 and green apple 🍏
👅 - ripe melon, grapefruit and apricot

This wine was a little fruitier than SB from France and had high acidity. So I probably will pour it next month when I give a class on acidity, tannins, body, alcohol and dryness and sweetness in wines. 🤔

I paired it with a grilled chicken Thai salad with avocado 🥑, cucumber 🥒 carrots 🥕 and peanut dressing 😋. It would also work with shellfish 🦞 and vegetarian food.

What a GREAT find and a GREAT price!!

So the Crazy Lud Red, from Serbia, paired nicely with my healthy Chicken Marsala dinner from my Skinnytaste Cookbook. L...
04/05/2025

So the Crazy Lud Red, from Serbia, paired nicely with my healthy Chicken Marsala dinner from my Skinnytaste Cookbook.

Lud means goose in Hungarian and crazy in Serbian. I think it’s a perfect name for this wine. It’s a crazy mix but it works and is so yummy! My note after tasting it was just one word - WOW!!

There are 5 different grapes - Kékfrankos, Cabernet Sauvignon, Kadarka, Muscat and Prokupac - that are fermented separately and then blended and aged for one year in Hungarian oak.

Notes of cranberry, sour cherry 🍒, tea ☕️, flowers 💐 and spices. I think it could be slightly chilled since it is a lighter red!

This AC/DC song was playing while I was cooking and I think it goes along with the crazy wine! 🤪

I saw that Astor Center was offering a wine class last Friday called “The Remarkable Wines of Eastern Europe” and knew I...
04/04/2025

I saw that Astor Center was offering a wine class last Friday called “The Remarkable Wines of Eastern Europe” and knew I had to go! The teacher - Vitalii Dascaliuc - is great and I only know about the Furmint grape used to make wines called Tokaji from Hungary. I learned a lot!

Wine making is thought to have started in Georgia about 9,000 years ago. It preceded the Roman Empire making the wines very different from Western European countries and the New World. Many of the grapes are unknown outside of this area.

We tried 7 truly unique wines from Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. I purchased 3 OUTSTANDING wines:

1. La Sapata, Feteasca Regala, Petiant Artizanal 2021 from Romania. This is a sparkling wine that spends 12 hours on the skins. The grape: Feteasca Regala. Notes: bread crust, grapefruit, green apple 🍏 and salt. Pair with appetizers, fish 🐟, cheese 🧀 and white meat. So DELICIOUS and UNIQUE!!
2. Túlélö 2.0, Lenkey Pincészet 2014 from Tokaji, Hungary. This is a bone dry white wine with high acidity. The grapes: Furmint and Hárslevelu. Notes: petroleum, beeswax, quince, ginger 🫚 and minerality. Pair with pork, shellfish 🦐 and poultry. Only 860 bottles were made. 11 years old but can age forever (not in my house though)! So SAVORY and COMPLEZ!!
3. Crazy Lud Red, Maurer 2022 from Serbia. The grapes: Kékfrankos, Cabernet Sauvignon, Kadarka, Muscat and Prokupac. Notes: tea ☕️, flowers 💐, raspberry and spices. Pair with salmon 🍣 and chicken 🐔. An elegant, light and fresh red wine. WOW!!

It was Mahjong 🀄️ time again last night and I poured this delicious Zenato Valpolicella Superiore 2020. It was a hit at ...
04/02/2025

It was Mahjong 🀄️ time again last night and I poured this delicious Zenato Valpolicella Superiore 2020. It was a hit at my friend Que’s birthday so I bought it again!

And my friends gave me an idea 💡!! I have found a lot of really great wines at Gary’s Buy Rite for $10-$20 (and these friends have tried A LOT of them!) 😋🍷
So each week, I will post about a wine from Gary’s Buy Rite that I think is DELICIOUS and in that price range!

This beauty was $15!! Notes of black cherry, black currant, spices and a hint of chocolate 🍫. Smooth tannins and full body! It paired perfectly with the Chicken Pasta Caprese I made from Skinny Taste Cookbook 👩‍🍳but I forgot to take a picture of it! 😆😢

Look for a post once a week featuring another hidden gem! And book me for a party so I can share my knowledge of these wines with you personally!!

We are STILL celebrating our 🦅! My Dad is up this weekend and I have been saving this Sauvignon Blanc to have with him. ...
03/29/2025

We are STILL celebrating our 🦅! My Dad is up this weekend and I have been saving this Sauvignon Blanc to have with him. He is a HUGE Eagles fan like me and a HUGE fan of Sauvignon Blanc!

Notes of gooseberry, white peach 🍑, lemongrass and saline! 😋. Dad approved!!

A little PSA - my Dad does not wear sunscreen so unfortunately he just had a basal cell carcinoma removed right by his lip. 10 stitches!! He’s a trooper but wear your sunscreen 🧴!!!

Another fun night at Book 📕 Club at Julia’s house. Julia decided to make Filipino food because the author of the book we...
03/26/2025

Another fun night at Book 📕 Club at Julia’s house. Julia decided to make Filipino food because the author of the book we read - “The Vanished Birds” - is Filipino. I normally do not read science fiction books but I really enjoyed this book and it lent itself to some really thought provoking questions. I highly recommend it!

Julia made chicken adobo and sinangag (Filipino garlic fried rice). I decided to pair these 2 wines with our meal:

1. August Kesseler Riesling Rheingau 2022. Notes of peach 🍑, green apple 🍏, lemon 🍋, floral 💐 and minerality. At 11% ABV, this Riesling was dry. Always look at the ABV percentage on the bottle - 8% ABV tells you it will be sweet - to figure out if the wine will be sweet or dry. Trocken (meaning dry in German) on the label helps too. If you come across a Riesling with GG (Grosses Gewächs) on the label, buy it! These are considered to be the best dry wines in Germany 🇩🇪!
2. Domaine des Chers Vieilles Vignes Julienas Beaujolais. Notes of blackcurrant, raspberry, violet and spice.

Both of these wines paired nicely with the touch of heat in the food and they were a big hit with the ladies!!

So with my birthday coming up and wanting to lose weight, I decided to do more cooking at home, eat healthier and cut ba...
03/24/2025

So with my birthday coming up and wanting to lose weight, I decided to do more cooking at home, eat healthier and cut back on the wine! 🤨😳 The first two are easy but the last one is difficult!

We had bought a bottle of Old York Cellars Merlot at Uncork Spring on Saturday so I got out my “Skinny Taste One and Done” cookbook and made open-faced French onion burgers 🍔! Wow!! Delicious 😋! The Merlot, with notes of plum, oak and spices, paired beautifully with the burger! With smooth tannins and a long finish, it was hard to have just 1 glass but I did 👍🏻!

I chose this song because I LOVE ❤️ Judas Priest and it was playing while I was cooking 🧑‍🍳! I love Rob Halford’s voice and the guitar solo 🎸! It was a nice way to end the day!

Today we went to the Carteret Performing Arts and Events Center for a wine event called Uncork Spring! We tasted a lot o...
03/23/2025

Today we went to the Carteret Performing Arts and Events Center for a wine event called Uncork Spring! We tasted a lot of wines from 11 different New Jersey wineries.

I did buy two bottles:

1. Peaceful Warrior 2020 - 94% Chambourcin and 6% Merlot from Auburn Road Vineyards in Pilesgrove, NJ.
2. Merlot 2021 from Old York Cellars in East Amwell Township, NJ.

It was a lot of fun! Look for a post about these wines when I open them and pair them with food!

Last night was GREAT!! My biggest class yet! We talked about how white wine is made and sampled 4 delicious wines! My st...
03/20/2025

Last night was GREAT!! My biggest class yet!

We talked about how white wine is made and sampled 4 delicious wines!

My students liked the Muscadet from France and the Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. Some students liked the Chardonnay from CA because it wasn’t too oaky or buttery but I wanted more of those flavors to come through to help with finding those notes in the tasting.

The one I LOVED was the Orange wine from Oregon!
33% Riesling, 26% Müller Thurgau, 24% Gewürtztraminer and 17% Pinot Gris

👃🏼- candied orange 🍊, dried apricot, rose 🌹 and guava.
👅 - baking spices, mint and rose 🌹.

Most of my students did not like this wine but I did sell 3 bottles to a friend who felt the same way as me about it! 😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋

And like a Rosé, it can go with anything - pork, chicken, charcuterie board, crab cakes and spicy Indian and Thai food!

And that cheese 🧀 was delicious!! Gary’s Buy Rite has such a great selection!!

Going back to school tonight and teaching how white wine is made and what aromas and flavors to look for in these 4 tast...
03/19/2025

Going back to school tonight and teaching how white wine is made and what aromas and flavors to look for in these 4 tasty wines!
I LOVE Wine Folly and I purchased these pdfs from their website because they are great teaching tools!

We will be trying the following wines:

1. La Pépie Muscadet Sèvre et Maine 2023 Sur Lie from Loire Valley, France. My students will learn about the use of “lees” in wine. What the heck are lees?!?
2. Muriwai Sauvignon Blanc 2023 from Marlborough, NZ. My students will learn about the use of stainless steel vessels to retain the pure fruit aromas and flavors in this wine.
3. Routestock Chardonnay 2022 from Sonoma Coast, CA. My students will learn about the use of malolactic conversion and oak vessels to produce buttery and oaky aromas and flavors.
4. Day Wines Vin de Pays 2023 Orange wine from Willamette, Oregon. My students will learn about the use of keeping a white wine on the skins during fermentation (like red wines) to produce this unique and natural orange wine.

Want to take a class with me? Check out my website and reach out so I can do a wine tasting party for you too!! ❤️ Did you ever have an orange 🍊 wine?

So yes, there is a winery in Hilton Head🍷👍🏻 and yes, we went 😌!The Island Winery purchases grapes 🍇 from renowned wine r...
03/16/2025

So yes, there is a winery in Hilton Head🍷👍🏻 and yes, we went 😌!

The Island Winery purchases grapes 🍇 from renowned wine regions and creates the wines right on Hilton Head Island! Here are the top 4 of the 6 that I tried:

1. Sea Island White - a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, unoaked Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. Notes of lemon 🍋, melon 🍈 and honeysuckle. Perfect on a summer day with seafood!
2. Vintners Blend - a blend of 40% Nebbiolo and 60% Barbera. Notes of raspberry, cherry 🍒 and sour cherry. Great with pasta!
3. American Grenache from Lodi, CA. Notes of baking spices, cherry cola, jolly rancher and watermelon 🍉. This was like drinking a rosé! Perfect chilled and by the pool!
4. Malbec from Curico Valley, Chile. Notes of blackberry, to***co and vegetal. Great with a steak 🥩!

If you are in the area, stop by!!!

So once AGAIN another birthday celebration for Que! There will be more posts, I am sure, because she celebrates the enti...
03/07/2025

So once AGAIN another birthday celebration for Que! There will be more posts, I am sure, because she celebrates the entire month of March 🥰🎂!

This celebration took place at La Cambusa in Wyckoff. I decided to pick up 2 Italian wines while at Gary’s Buy Rite on Sunday - a Valpolicella and a Grillo. Both were loved by the other ladies!

1. Zenato Valpolicella Superiore 2020 - 85% Corvina, 10% Rondinella and 5% Corvinone. Notes of black currant, black cherries 🍒, spices and chocolate 🍫.
2. Feuding Montoni Grillo Della Timpa 2020 - 100% Grillo. Notes of peach 🍑, apricot, jasmine, lime 🍋‍🟩 and lemon 🍋.

What delicious wines at around $20 each!! I will be buying more of these and recommending them to shoppers in the store! 😋😋😋

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the Petite Portfolio Tasting given by Skurnik Wine & Spirits. They are a wine ...
03/04/2025

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the Petite Portfolio Tasting given by Skurnik Wine & Spirits. They are a wine and spirits importer and distributor based in NYC and they represent over 300 brands. There were over 45 tables and over 350 wines to try! Petite is not quite the correct name for this tasting😂!

Since I had to drive back to Jersey, I made sure to eat some cheese and bread, drink a lot of water and try wines that I had not had before. The pictures represent the best of what I tried! Such an amazing day!!

Our second stop on the wine tour was at Driftwood Estate Winery. I sampled 6 wines again:Cuvée BlancDry RoséSangioveseT...
03/03/2025

Our second stop on the wine tour was at Driftwood Estate Winery. I sampled 6 wines again:

Cuvée Blanc
Dry Rosé
Sangiovese
Tempranillo - my favorite ❤️!
Longhorn Red - Cabernet Sauvignon & Syrah
Alamo Red - Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Cabernet Franc & Petit Verdot

The view was amazing and we got to see a Texas Longhorn on the way back to Austin!

Unfortunately, they do not ship to Jersey so I think I need to go back for a bottle of the Tempranillo and drink it on their veranda overlooking that awesome view!

Happy Valentine’s Day!! We always stay home for dinner and since my boys were little, I would make ❤️shaped ravioli , ❤️...
02/15/2025

Happy Valentine’s Day!! We always stay home for dinner and since my boys were little, I would make ❤️shaped ravioli , ❤️ shaped caprese salad and a❤️ shaped chocolate chip 🍪.

Even though my boys moved out years ago 😢, I still make this dinner for my husband. I paired it with a delicious Vino Nobile di Montepulciano from Le Bèrne winery that we visited this past summer.

👃🏼 - cherry 🍒, forest floor and plum
👅 - cherry 🍒, vanilla and oak

Dry
Medium+ tannins
Medium+ acidity
Medium+ body
Long finish

This wine is made from Sangiovese grapes 🍇 like Chianti Classico but it has a fuller body and a little more alcohol. And it is more affordable than Brunello di Montalcino.

I decanted this baby for an hour! So delicious!! 😋

Parfait!!! I saw these books 📚 on Instagram and I knew I had to have them! I was a French teacher a bazillion years ago ...
02/11/2025

Parfait!!! I saw these books 📚 on Instagram and I knew I had to have them!

I was a French teacher a bazillion years ago 🙄and I am always looking for ways to hear or read or speak French. Now I can improve my knowledge of French 🇫🇷 and wine 🍷 at the same time!! C’est génial, non?

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