Champagne Tasting this Saturday at Vine Wine in LIC

The sweet LIC wine shop, Vine Wine, is having their annual Champagne tasting this weekend. From 3-6 p.m on Saturday, take a load off from shopping and stop by to taste some bubbles. They'll pour 3 different kinds of Champagne: Duc de Romet, Pierre Gimonnet, and Vilmart & Cie (2 of those are under $40!). Bonus: they'll be giving away a set of 2 Champagne flutes to the first 10 people who buy one of the featured Champagnes.

Vine Wine
12-09 Jackson Ave
Long Island City, NY

Free Wine Tasting This Thursday at DiWine

Last night Meg, Martha and I went to check out DiWine, which was pretty fun. The atmosphere is chic yet not pretentious and I'd definitely go back for a refreshing glass of vino. I'd say that their drinks are the thing to come for, but don't hesitate to try a yummy brick-oven pizza such as the one we had last night (pictured above). The Gigi, DiWine's most popular pizza offering consisted of smoky flavors from the cured beef, capers, mushrooms and fresh buffalo mozzarella. It was simply "divine" and we loved the brick-oven essence that emanated from the crust.

In terms of the wine, this Thursday presents a perfect opportunity to try it. Below are the details about DiWine's tasting--feel free to check it out and let us know your thoughts.

Free Wine Tasting at DiWine
Thursday, July 16th at 8:00 p.m.
Taste four wines and various pairings of cheeses

DiWine- 41-15 31st Avenue, Astoria NY 11103
718.777.1355
R/V/G Train to Steinway Street
www.diwineonline.com

Winegasm - A Group Tasting Worth Repeating

Earlier this week, Meg, Sooz and I went to Winegasm for a generous tasting of wine and food, suggested to us by its owners. An incredible time was had by all and we'll surely keep this place on our list of favorites. The wine choices were impeccable and the small plates of food were divine. Meg, Sooz and I split everything, which was the way to go--we ate in small portions and sampled a lot. Below you'll find some of the delicious grub we tasted and I'll let Meg and Sooz cover off the wine in a later posting. Enjoy!

Gasm Dip - This caught Meg's eye immediately and it consisted of a puree of beans, carrots and truffle oil with melba chips. It was tasty but definitely not my favorite thing here--partly because of the strange flavoring. I thought that I tasted tarragon or some sort of licorice spice, which I wasn't a fan of. Meg and I were saying that we prefer the carrot dip at Mundo.

Bacon Wrapped Prunes - This sounded amazing on the menu and it's one of my standouts of the night. The exterior was crunchy, smoky and salty from the bacon while the inside was ooey, gooey and sweet from the prunes. It tasted like a dessert and a tapa in one! I highly recommend it, especially if you're drinking red wine.

Fresh Crab Cakes with Arugula Salad - These were suggested by Winegasm and we absolutely devoured them--the crabmeat was super fresh and flavored with lemony parsley and red peppers. The crab cakes were bite sized and their flavor was enhanced when dipped into the spicy mayo and vinaigrette dip. The arugula salad was a nice touch too, providing zest and freshness to the dish.

Molten Lava Cake and Orange Chocolate Mousse - We needed to cap off our night with something sweet and chocolatey so we selected these two favorites. Both were amazing and beautifully presented. The Molten Lava cake was garnished with silky raspberry sauce--it was so soft and rich inside that we had to switch off between that and the mousse. The mousse was also fabulous, with a tart orange flavor from the Grand Marnier. It was garnished elegantly with orange peel and creme fraische. Both desserts were beautiful, decadent dishes that should be tried at least once.

To view some of the other goodies we sampled, click here for a full review.

Winegasm - 31-86 37th Street, Astoria NY 11103
718.932.3331
N/W Train to Broadway
www.winegasmeatery.com

Wine Tasting at Bistro 33

I received this in my mailbox this morning. Wish it was on a Friday, though - it can be hard to recover from all that wine in order to go back to work on a Friday morning!

Join us Thursday, April 17 to taste a selection of wines from around the world and help choose some new additions to our wine list. The evening will include 4 flights (12 wines) paired with four courses of food

Flight 1

Rose wines

Flight 2

Rhone Blends

Flight 3

Sauvignon Blanc

Flight 4

Chenin Blanc

Call or email for reservations

Seatings at 7 pm or 9 pm

$65 per person

Bistro 33

1933 Ditmars Blvd

Astoria, NY 11105

(718) 721-1933

This Week's Vine-Wine Tasting

From LIC's Vine Wine, where they do great wine tastings on Wednesday evenings:

Rich, wonderful and Spanish - a taste of Priorat and Rioja

Let us revisit some old favorites, and maybe find a new, with this trek down memory lane via Spain. The first wine I ever purchased from T Edward Wines was the Rottlan Torra Priorat and I am willing to bet that it is still as good as the first time I tried it.

Wines of Spain

• Garciarevalo Casamaro Blanco Rueda
• Avinyo Cava Rose
• Rotllan Torra Priorat
• Luberri Seis Rioja
• Rotllan Torra Moscatel

Wednesday October 24th
5:30 - 8:30pm
12-09 Jackson Avenue, LIC
718.433.2611