2014 Costa Di Bussia Tenuta Arnulfo Barbera D'Alba

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend, and spent time with their loved ones. My family is currently on vacation in Vail, Colorado, and since my mom and I don't ski, we will have a lovely vacation of relaxing and drinking wine. This week I tried a 2014 Costa Di Bussia Tenuta Arnulfo Barbera D'Alba that my fiance picked up at a local liquor store in Vail. He was looking for a European Pinot Noir, but got overwhelmed by how the  organization and just grabbed this instead. Barbera grapes are primarily grown in Italy and they are know to produce wine that has high acidity, mild tannins, and a rich deep color. This Barbera comes from the Piemonte region of Italy. Due to the high elevation in this region, Barbera D'Alba tends to be bolder than a typical Barbera, and it has a stronger structure. This Costa Di Bussia Barbera seemed pretty typical of the region.

I typically aerate my wine before I drink it, using a simple aerator pourer that just goes into the top of the bottle like a cork. I personally use the Baen Sendi aerator and have found that it works very well. However, since I'm on vacation right now, I didn't have my aerator with me when I tried this wine, and I could definitely taste that it wasn't aerated, so I left the glass out for half an hour before really drinking it.

When I smelled the wine after opening it I got notes of bright red berries, plums, and oak. I poured a glass almost immediately after opening it and attempted to swirl it around it the glass a bit to aerate it, but that wasn't particularly effective. The glasses were too narrow to get a good swirl going. I tasted it after swirling for a bit and it was very acidic with extremely mild tannins. It didn't taste particularly well-balanced. I tasted raspberries, cherries, ginger, with a bit of a lime and orange peel aftertaste. I didn't taste any of the plum or oak that I had originally smelled. Since it tasted a bit off, and I hadn't aerated it, I left the wine out in the glass while I did some other things around the cabin, and came back to it.

When I came back to the wine about half an hour later, it tasted so much better. It definitely just needed time to breathe. It was still relatively acidic, but less so. I would put it at medium-high acidity instead of high acidity, and the tannins were a bit more powerful. The red berry notes were still there but less powerful, and I also got notes of plum, oak, vanilla, and some earthiness. The orange peel finish was still present, but the lime notes were pretty much gone, which I appreciated, and overall the wine was much more balanced and enjoyable.

My mom and I drank this while snacking on some hummus and pita chips, but that was mainly because we didn't have much other food in the cabin to pair it with. I would recommend drinking this with a Neapolitan style pizza or with a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. It's a solid, enjoyable wine, not too fussy or fancy, and it would go great with some simple, but well-made, Italian food. I would probably buy this again for a casual dinner at home. It was a good value, only $14, for a satisfying Italian red wine.

Christmas Eve

Hey guys, so I'm doing my fashion post a day early this week, because tomorrow is CHRISTMAS!!! I'm so excited to spend time with my family and indulge in Christmas cocktails and cookies. The holiday season brings with it some of the most fun and cozy classic styles of the year. If you're in need of some last minute Christmas Eve/Christmas Day outfit inspiration, look no further. I wore this outfit to the Nutcracker with my girlfriends a few weeks ago. It's the perfect mixture of comfortable, classy, and festive. It would be a great outfit for Christmas mass or if your family likes to dress up a little for Christmas dinner. Nothing says Christmas quite like tartan and sparkles!

This top is from J. Crew and I love it. It's simple enough that I can be a bit more daring with the pants or skirts that I pair it with, but not so simple that it's boring. Ruffled sleeves are very in right now, but sometimes I think that the ruffles can get too large and overwhelming, and winds up looking a bit clown-like. These ruffles are moderate enough that they still look classy while being fun. I really like how close together the two ruffles are, so they create a really pretty waterfall type affect. The sleeves end up being about 3/4 length sleeves with the ruffle, and would look great with a dainty bracelet of a simple watch. Additionally, you can't see it in these pictures, but there's some subtle button detailing on the back of the top. It buttons in the back with three vertically aligned buttons that have about two-inch gaps between the buttons, so at certain angles your back peeks out a bit. It's not a dramatic open-back look, but it's a subtle touch that I really like. This top is available in five different colors, and I'm dying to get it in ivory too. One other detail about the top is that it begs to be paired with a statement necklace. The neckline is so simple and classic that it looks great with some extra drama and flair from a fun necklace.

I chose to pair the top with the Delphine Statement Necklace from Perry Street. I love how this necklace incorporate pearls and crystal stones. It gives a sparkly update to a classic look. When I got this necklace I thought that it was perfect for a holiday look. Since my pants are somewhat brightly colored, I didn't want to wear a necklace with a lot of color because I thought it would be too busy, and this necklace offered the ideal balance between neutral colors, while still being a fun, glamorous look.

I love these pants, but I feel like I can't really wear them very often outside of the holiday season, so I try to wear them as much as possible in December. They're Vineyard Vines from a few years ago, and they're wool so they're so cozy and comfortable, without being too casual. The tartan pattern is primarily blue and green, but if you look closely, there are thin red lines going through them as well, which adds an extra touch of festiveness. I like to pair these pants with more simple tops. Since I'm short, too many patterns or bright colors tend to overwhelm my frame. I've worn them with this top a few times, but I also like to wear them with ivory, gray, and navy blouses and simple sweaters. I think they would also look great with a red top if I could find one in the same shade of red as is in the pants. 

Lastly, I went with simple black ballet flats for this outfit. I really wanted the focus to be on the statement necklace and the tartan pants, so I kept my footwear simple. These are the Tory Burch Minnie Travel ballet flats, and they are incredible comfortable. The leather is incredibly soft, and the back of the heels is elastic, so there's no breaking in period or rubbing against the back of the heel. As I mentioned last week, I prefer my logos to be subtle, so I love that the Tory Burch logo here is a matte black and blends in nicely with the rest of the shoe. These are my go to black shoes when I don't want to wear boots.

Top: J. Crew.

Necklace: Perry Street, similar ones at Baublebar and Kate Spade.

Pants: Vineyard Vines from two years ago, similar ones from Talbots here and here.

Shoes: Tory Burch.

Château de Nivelle 2015 Bordeaux

This week I tried another Bordeaux. It's a 2015 Bordeaux from Château de Nivelle. The estate overlooks the Gironde River, and it only grows Merlot grapes.  This particular wine has won gold medals from Concours Agricole Bordeaux, and from the French wine guide Gilbert & Gaillard. My fiance picked up this wine through the NPR wine club. He gets a case of various wines every three months, and some of the proceeds go to support NPR. You can also buy a single bottle, or half a case or a case of just one wine, on their website. We make an effort to get our wine from a variety of sellers, so that we can get a diverse selection.

I really enjoyed this wine. When I first sniffed it I smelled notes of pepper, over-ripe raspberries, and tobacco. When I tasted it, I also got notes of plum, dark cherries, vanilla, and leather. The wine was subtley fruit-forward, with well-balanced tannins. It was a very easy to drink Bordeaux, and was not particularly complex.

As I drank the wine, I found myself struggling to find anything notable or distinct about the wine. It was a good wine, and I enjoyed drinking, but it was just a standard young Bordeaux. There wasn't anything particularly breathtaking about the wine, but there also wasn't anything that made me wrinkle my nose and try to figure out what I didn't like about the wine. It was a very solid, dependable, but average wine. I think this would be a great wine to serve at a dinner party, or at a holiday dinner, because everyone would be pleased by it, and no one would dislike it. It won't rock anyone's world, but it won't offend anyone either. I would be interested to buy a few more bottles and try it again in five or ten years. I think it has a lot of potential to age well and become more complex and present a unique flavor, but it's just not there yet.

My fiance and I enjoyed this wine with a snack of mozzarella and prosciutto roll-ups on toasted rosemary focaccia bread. It went great with our little appetizer. The subtle fruit-forward nature balanced well with the saltiness of the prosciutto. If you're serving this with dinner, I think it would go great with herb-roasted lamb chops, or with hearty mushroom ravioli. The well-balanced tannins allow it to be paired with something a bit robust than just turkey or chicken. I would buy this wine again to serve in a group setting or to keep in a cellar and allow it to age for awhile longer, but I wouldn't buy it for just my fiance and I to drink together soon, I'd rather try something new or find something more unique. 

Christmas Cookies

The holiday season is not complete until I've baked a couple batches of Christmas cookies. I'll bake more with my mom once I'm home for Christmas, but I couldn't wait until then so I took a study break last week and whipped up a batch of Chocolate Candy-Cane Thumbprint cookies and Gingersnaps dipped in White Chocolate. They both turned out so cute and were a huge hit with all my friends.

Before I started baking I got all my "special" ingredients ready. I love to bake, so I have a pretty well stocked baking cupboard filled with standard baking ingredients. For both cookies I only needed to purchase the more decorative ingredients, and I found this adorable festive serving tray at my local Harris Teeter! I know you can only see part of his face in this picture, but isn't the snowman just too cute?!

I always wear an apron while I bake at my place. I don't have a fancy KitchenAid stand mixer or anything, so flour has a tendency to get everywhere once I get my little hand-mixer going. I absolutely love this apron from Kate Spade. It's big enough that it actually covers most of me and I don't end up with flour on my jeans or sweater, and it's festive enough that it feels Christmasy, but since the pattern is just metallic and black snowflakes, I think I can get away with wearing it in January and February as well. Since it's more of a winter print and less of an explicitly Christmas print, it's not relegated to only being used in December. It makes me so sad that all the cute Christmas decorations and clothes only come out for a month out of the year, so I love when I can get away with stretching my festive things into the rest of winter. I have matching dish towels and an oven mitt in this pattern as well, and Kate Spade carries an entire dishware line in it as well, but I don't have enough storage space in my apartment to keep a set of seasonal dishes.

I like to be comfortable when I bake or cook. Being distracted by an itchy top or pants that are sliding down makes baking much less fun. The sweater I'm wearing is from J. Crew factory a few years ago. It's kind of a sweater-sweatshirt hybrid because it looks like a sweater but it's made of sweatshirt material, and it's sooo comfortable. I love it so much that I bought it in cream as well. It's also great because it has a jeweled collar, so I don't even need to think about jewelry when I wear it. I can throw on a simple pair of stud earrings and I'm good to go. I also love it because of the color, maroon/burgundy in the fall and winter is one of my favorite looks. Sometimes bright Christmasy shades of red don't look great with my skin-tone, and burgundy is a great alternative that still feels festive. I paired the sweater with my Madewell Roadtripper jeans. Madewell is my go to brand for jeans. They're high quality and generally comfortable. These particular jeans are the most comfortable pair of Madewell jeans that I own. They are somewhat high-waisted, so they prevent any risk of muffin-top, but they still sit an inch or two below my belly button. The material is incredibly soft, and I often forget that I'm even wearing jeans when I wear them, they feel more like jeggings! They're stretchy, but they don't lose their shape or start to fall down my waist after a few wears. Basically, they're the perfect jeans and they were great for baking in.

I don't always wear shoes in my own apartment, I'm more of a fuzzy sock girl, but when I bake or cook I do like to wear shoes just in case I spill anything on the floor, I don't want any food or ingredients to wind up on my bare feet or stuck in my socks, that's gross. These flats are the Tory Burch Caroline flats from two years ago. I love them because the logo on the toe of the flats blends in nicely with the nude color, so it's not an obnoxious, in-your-face logo. I think the Tory Burch logo is very cute, but I like it to be somewhat subtle. These flats are super comfortable because there's a strip of high-quality elastic around the edge of them, so it prevents any potential rubbing from the leather. I wear these flats all the time because they're comfortable and the neutral nude color goes with everything.

Ta-da, my cookies turned out so cute (and tasty too)! It definitely feels more like Christmas now that I can enjoy a festive cookies or two while I lounge on the couch.

Apron: Kate Spade.

Sweater: J. Crew Factory from a few years ago, they have a basic sweater in the same color here, and Macy's has a similar burgundy sweater with a jeweled collar here.

Jeans: Madewell.

Shoes: Tory Burch Caroline flats from two years ago, they currently have the Minnie Travel Ballet Flat in nude with a subtle logo, which is also a very comfortable style.

Lacrima di Morro d'Alba Rosae

This week I tried a very unusual and somewhat quirky wine that I picked up at my local wine shop, Wine Authorities. The wine shop is great for people just getting into wine, and for people who know exactly what they want. They specialize in estate-grown wine from small family-owned wineries. Estate grown wine means that all the grapes used in the wine are grown on the property, they don't ship in wine from other vineyards. This means that you won't find any typical "grocery store" wines at their shop. They also only sell wine that is less than $50. They try to make wine less stuffy and more approachable. This is great for me because my wine budget is usually $15-$35. Additionally, all their staff are incredibly friendly and knowledgable. They love it when you ask for recommendations and can talk at length about any of the wines in the store without making you feel like an idiot for asking. I ended up with the Rosae because I asked one of the staff for a recommendation, and told him that I usually like Italian reds and that I wanted to try something new and different. He pointed me towards the Rosae, a wine made with Lacrima di Motto d'Alba from the Casalfarneto winery in the Marche region of Italy, the eastern edge of central Italy. This particular wine was a 2013 vintage.

Now let's get to how the wine actually tasted. Like I said, this wine was very unusual, but you wouldn't know that just from sniffing the wine. When I sniffed it before tasting I got notes of fresh red berries, cherries, orange peel, and cinnamon. Nothing that unusual for a fruit-forward Italian red. But when I took my first sip, I felt like I was being punched in the face with how bright and acidic the wine was. Fruit forward was an understatement; fruit forward, backward, and in the middle was more like it. I got the red berries and cherry that I smelled at first, but as I swallowed I was hit with a strong taste of grapefruit, a taste that I usually only associated with white wines, specifically New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. I was incredibly surprised by how strong of a citrus note there was with a red wine. This wine tasted unoaked and had very low tannins. It took what I generally like about Italian reds and pushed it to the extreme. I tried a glass of it again the next day, hoping it would mellow out a bit. The wine did mellow out, but the brightness and acidity were still the stars of the show. Instead of feeling like they punched me in the face, it was more like an aggressive tap on the nose. The flavors and notes were calmer and less extreme, but there were no new notes that I hadn't picked up on the day before. It hadn't really changed overnight.

I chose to try this wine by itself, without pairing it with any food. I didn't really have anything in my fridge that I thought would go well with an Italian red, but if I had known how acidic this wine was, I would have considered making some sort of fish or seafood dish to go with it, like I would a white. The citrusy notes of this wine would go well with a white fish or scallops. I could also see it pairing well with a goat cheese. I would usually pair goat cheese with Sauvignon Blanc, but the citrus of this wine is so similar to the citrus of Sauvignon Blanc, that I think it would also go well with goat cheese. I could also imagine drinking this wine chilled, by itself, during the summer. It would be a great patio drinking wine on a hot day. I wouldn't buy this wine again if I was looking for something more typical of an Italian red, but sometime next summer, if I can't decide between a red or a white, I may pick this up again.

Holiday Tea

My friends and I have a tradition of getting together for holiday tea sometime in December. We use it as an excuse to get dressed up and take a break from studying. We did tea at a nice hotel in town, the Washington Duke Inn in Durham, North Carolina. They offer afternoon tea all year, but it feels so much more special during the holiday season. The hotel is covered in Christmas decorations, there are trees in every room and wreaths all over the place. It feels like a magical Christmas wonderland.

Since this was the first truly Christmas event that I've attended this year, I was so excited to wear my new KJP Cozy Cabin Flannel Dress. The red plaid flannel is so classically Christmas, it just screams festive! I absolutely love this dress. The flannel makes it the softest holiday dress I own, and I love that the skirt flairs out instead of being cut straight like most shirt dresses. A skirt you can twirl in is the best kind of skirt. I paired the dress with my favorite Kate Spade earrings to wear during the holiday season. They look like they should be the bow topper for a present under the tree. They're my go to all December because they're simple enough to match with everything.

I was expecting to wear to have to wear the dress with tights and a coat, but as those of you that have spent time in the South, December can sometimes be just as warm as September or October. The weather was not as festive and holiday ready as I was. Instead, of tights, I was able to wear the dress with just a pair of suede tan booties. I got mine at the Nordstrom Anniversary sale a few years ago, I often pick up staple boots at that sale. I brought my Kate Spade XXX bag along with me. I love how the camel color plays off of the red of the dress.

Dress: KJP.

Earrings: Kate Spade, I got them last year, but currently the Kate Spade Surprise Sale has the same ones but with a little extra bling.

Boots: Nordstrom BP from a few years ago, Nordstrom has some similar boots available here and here.

Bag: Kate Spade from the summer, Kate Spade has bags in the same shade of camel here, here, here and here.

Glasshalfull: Restaurant Review

This week, a group of my girlfriends and I went to dinner at Glasshalfull. It's this lovely little wine bar in Carrborro, NC that serves small plates perfect for sharing. It's the perfect place to chat and catch up over wine and good food. The interior is somewhat dimly lit. To the left when you walk in, there are a few tables, but mostly booth seating. On your right, there are shelves of wine that function as a bottle shop, and a few tables. In the middle, there's a large U-shaped bar, that's great to sit at if you're drinking or dining with just one other person. The restaurant has some fun, wine-inspired artwork on the walls, and the whole effect is very open and welcoming. During the spring and summer, and even on warmer fall nights, there's a very cute outdoor seating area that's lit up with twinkle lights. It's a very cute restaurant in a somewhat small town.

The meal started off with bread and olive oil brought to the table. I was a little disappointed with this. I generally prefer balsamic vinegar alongside my dipping oil, or for the olive oil to have some Italian spices mixed in with it. To me, bread dipped in plain olive oil just becomes a somewhat flavorless blob of carbs and oil, with no sharp flavor to cut through it. This was definitely the case here, the olive oil itself wasn't anything spectacular and the bread was pretty bland. The bread was a bit too chewy as well, so the whole thing was just disappointing.

Luckily, the bread was by far the worst part of the meal, and the quality of food went up from there. Since Glasshalfull's menu consists mostly of small plates, we decided to get a few things to share amongst the table. There were three of us and we got four menu items total. We were satisfied with four, but if we had ordered a fifth item we wouldn't have been stuffed. We ordered a cheese plate to start with. The cheese plate consisted of: Boxcarr's Rocket's Robiola, an ash-ripened cow's milk cheese, paired with orange marmalade; Grafton Village Cheese's Traditional Clothbound Cheddar, a hard cow's milk cheese, paired with apple slices; and Boxcarr's Campo cheese, a smoked semi-firm cow's milk cheese, paired with herb roasted shallots. Additionally, it came with a bowl of lavash crisps. I thought the Rocket's Robiola was the best of the three cheeses. It had the tang of a blue cheese, without being as overwhelming. The orange marmalade that it was paired with had the perfect amount of sweetness to counter the sharpness of the cheese. Next, I enjoyed the Traditional Clothbound Cheddar. It was a relatively average cheddar, nothing special, but I love cheddar so I was satisfied with it. I would have like it to be a bit sharper, but the apple it was paired with added a nice lightness and cut through the fat well. I was not as much of a fan of the Campo. The texture was too rubbery and the smokiness just seemed a bit off. Honestly, I think I liked the shallots it came with more than the cheese itself.

Next, we ordered the Brussels Sprouts. They were served fried, with a lemon-honey glaze, red pepper flakes, and crushed toasted peanuts. These brussels sprouts were fantastic. I love well-cooked brussels sprouts. At home, me and my fiance often saute them with garlic and bacon, and they are absolutely phenomenal. I'm thrilled that brussels sprouts have been in vogue at many restaurants for the past few years. These ones were perfectly fried, they were crispy without being too oily, the lemon-honey glaze and red pepper worked together beautifully and the peanuts added a nice bit of texture. I would definitely order these again. And if you think you don't like brussels sprouts, you just haven't had well-prepared ones yet.

Lastly, we ordered a tray of mini-burgers with a side of hand-cut fries. There were three mini-burgers on the plate, which was perfect for sharing between the three of us, and the fries came in a fun, twirly, metal cone with ketchup at the base. We ordered the mini-burgers medium rare, and they came topped with aged cheddar, applewood-smoked bacon, truffle aioli, and a mini pickle. They were served on house-made brioche style buns. The burgers were heaven, they were pink and juicy in the middle, the aged cheddar was better than the cheddar on the cheese plate, the bun was soft and warm, and the truffle aioli kicked the burger up a notch. The fries were also delicious, they were thin-cut and topped with a four-herb salt. I prefer thin cut fries to thick cut, because I like the crispiness, and like the brussels sprouts, these fries were crispy and not too oily. They were the perfect compliment to the mini burgers.

All together this was a delicious meal, it started out weak but finished strong. I rate it 3.75 out of 5. I would definitely come back to Glasshalfull for dinner again. I recommend passing on the bread, so that you have room for more delicious items on the menu. I also wouldn't order the cheese plate again, it was a decent cheese plate, but so many restaurants have exceptional cheese plates that it's just not worth getting a okish one. I would definitely order the brussels sprouts, they were the best dish we ordered. I would order the mini-burgers if you're in the mood for a burger, they were excellent burgers, but personally I'm not always in the mood for beef. I would also order the fries if you feel like you need a filler, they are good solid fries, but not the star of the menu.

2015 Nouvelle Ère Bordeaux

On a cold November night, I whipped up a batch of butternut squash soup to warm me up. To me, a thick butternut squash soup is hearty and filling, but can be easily overwhelmed by an intensely bold and complex wine. I wanted to pair it with a bright, fruit-forward wine that had strong tannins, and my fiancé helped me pick out this Nouvelle Ère Bordeaux.

This wine is a blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon from Chateau de Minvielle in the Entre-Deux-Mers sub-region of Bordeaux.

We had gone through several bottles of the 2014 vintage last year, and were excited to try to the 2015 vintage. It did not disappoint. Leading with strong blackberry and dark cherry notes, it gave me that brightness that I had been looking for, but it followed up with an earthiness on the back of the tongue, that made you stop, think, and truly appreciate the wine before taking another sip. While I continued enjoying the wine throughout my meal, I picked up additional notes of eucalyptus, red currant, over-ripe raspberries, violet, and cedar.

I wouldn’t describe this wine as “easy-drinking,” because the strong tannins made me stop and think about the wine as I drank it, but it was still a very approachable wine. It paired very nicely with my soup, but I think it would have been even better if I had made a risotto with the butternut squash, because there would have been more textures for the wine to play off of.

My fiancé and I only drank half the bottle with our soup, we saved the other half for the next night. I often like to stretch a bottle of red wine over two nights to see how it changes after being open for a full day. With this Bordeaux, I found that it mellowed out after a day. The tannins weren’t as strong the next day, and the berry notes were more subtle. It would have been fine to drink on its own the second day, without pairing it with any food, since it lost some of its complexity and was gentler on the palate.

I would certainly buy this wine again, however, I think I would pair it with a smoked chicken sausage or a tomato sauce based pasta dish, to give the wine more flavors and tougher textures to interact with.

I got this wine through my Winc subscription box. Last year I bought several bottles of the 2014 vintage through Winc as well, and next year I hope to try the 2016. The wine is currently sold out, but you can read Winc’s description of it here, and I suspect that the 2016 will be in stock late next summer or early next fall.


*This post was not sponsored by and is not affiliated with Winc.