Brew Hops & Wine Stops

In the year 2015, you can have your cake, eat it too and stay on track with your healthy resolutions. Well, maybe you can’t have literal cake and stay on track, but you can still enjoy wine, and to us, cake and wine are kind of synonymous. Whether you’re looking for a dry (therefore low sugar) white wine to sip while you follow your diet plan or you’re trying to make the switch to an organic lifestyle, the following options ensure that fitness and taste remain priorities.  

La Cappucina Organic Pinot Grigio

Made entirely from organically grown grapes, this wine exhibits mandarin orange aromas and citrusy flavors. Pinot Grigio is the lowest in sugar of the white varietals and therefore easiest on the waistline! Plus, organic means no pesticides or herbicides were used in the cultivation of the grapes, which means no yucky chemicals will be flowing through your veins! Pair with a baked filet of sea bass or a crispy appetizer of spanakopita for a fit-minded meal.

Skinnygirl Moscato

Being as sweet as Moscato is, one would normally warn away from this wine during a trial of nutritious eating habits, but Skinnygirl has a knack for solving high calorie wine issues. A little effervescence goes a long way on flavor. Pear, peach and mango make for a gentle and all together refreshing mouthful. An assortment of fresh fruits or a plate of crisp veggies with creamy vinaigrette would complement this moscato in a guilt-free way.

Smirnoff Sorbet Light Raspberry Pomegranate

Infused with natural essences of tart pomegranate and juicy sweet raspberry, this 78 calorie per 1.5 oz. vodka is a must-have for anyone who’s health conscious. It’s smooth enough to drink on the rocks and sweet enough to pour into some sparkling water. This drink might be best all on its own, served as a replacement for diet debilitating dessert.  

Fleur Pinot Noir Carneros or Mondavi Pinot Noir Reserve 2011

A dry, full-bodied Pinot Noir might become your new best friend. Red wine contains the most phytochemicals, antioxidants and flavonoids, all of which work miracles in skin aesthetics, free radical prevention and even helps with boosting metabolism. Pinot Noir, however, contains the highest concentrations of resveratrol. This superstar antioxidant is an enzyme found in grape skins, and Pinot Noir blends usually contain more resveratrol than any other red wine. Drink these with anything from a hearty red sauce dish to seared pork chops or lamb.

Ariel Cabernet Sauvignon Non-Alcohol

Some peopleresolve to drink less alcohol. For those brave souls, I present this Ariel Cabernet that’s brimming with black berry complexity, subtle tannins and a smooth finish. It’s still packed with all the metabolic benefits mentioned above and it’s low in sugar, with 65-80% less calories than other reds.  Grilled chicken or filet mignon serve this wine well.

Allie Smallwood

Picture this: A sunny summer Sunday morning on an outdoor patio, a slight breeze created by the large ceiling fans from the lanai, ready to enjoy your eggs benedict and home fries. Do you pop open your favorite Cabernet Sauvignon? I think not. The other side of this pastoral picture is the muggy sweatiness of a Florida summer, and a heavy red just makes you sweat all the more. Plus it’s early in the day. To better be productive, it’s nice to tone down the alcohol (as well as the tannin). So when I’m asked, “What’s your favorite brunch wine?” I usually shock the questioner with “Moscato d’Asti!”

Do I drink Moscato every day? No. I am not part of that current demographic wave, but I’m a wine lover, and I understand that context is also important. Though I love a deep, dark, brooding red, I also like to feel comfortable. No matter how much seersucker you wear at a charming midday repast, you will feel the heat! And don’t we want to be productive? That’s where the lower alcohol of Moscato d’Asti comes in, usually between 5% and 7%. Moscato d’Astis also have that charming fizz, called frizzante. Not the full jacuzzi bubbles of spumante, frizzante is a delicate bubbling, like the few bubbles that struggle through the fresh-squeezed orange juice in your mimosa.

Perhaps this is also the source of my love for Moscato d’Asti at brunch:  It’s almost a pre-mixed mimosa or Bellini. Most Moscatos have a fragrance that jumps out of your glass with pear and peach blossom, bordering on honeysuckle, backed up by sweetly ripe fruit on the palate. That hint of bubble, and the Italian tendency to allow just a hint of acidity to their Moscatos, stops the experience from being cloyingly sweet, keeping it cool and refreshing.

For years my “go to” brunch wine was a winey concoction or “mimosa bar,” with one bubbly, most often a prosecco, and an array of fruit juices including the “big three” that make up mimosas, Bellinis and poinsettias. I would then add passion fruit or guava or pomegranate juices. Having more than a few choices means you open up the potential for interesting recombinations. I still do this occasionally, but it requires a little more preparation than just opening up one bottle of Moscato d’Asti. Now I’ve found the perfect amalgamation, which is my current top choice for brunch wine: Froot.

Yes, I’m spelling it correctly, “Froot.” This wine is aptly named as both versions provide a fresh fruit quality to their frizzy Moscato base. Froot Peach is like biting into a fresh Georgia peach! The Froot Strawberry smells like a basket of Farmers’ Market strawberries, but has a background of the honeysuckle and citrus blossom we associate with Moscato d’Asti. It’s like a garden party erupting out of your flute, though I often serve them in bigger glasses to better enjoy the aromas. What’s even better about these two Italian Froot wines is their cost at $8 per bottle. Very affordable and with great fruit flavors, so how can you miss? For your next Sunday brunch on the patio, open up some well-chilled refreshment and hearken back to the garden parties of yesteryear where no one seemed to sweat underneath their parasols. A little coolness this time of year is a weekly Sunday miracle! 

Daniel Eddy

Gainesville wine consultant for ABC Fine Wines & Spirits. Follow me on Twitter @abcwinedane.

Wine Pairing Examiner for Examiner.com

In the wine industry we are always trying to figure out the next hot trend. The French Paradox story that aired on 60 Minutes in 1991 catapulted sales of red wine and Merlot in particular. The 2004 movie Sideways is credited with creating huge sales increases  of California Pinot Noir.

The current craze for Moscato is a little more difficult to pinp on one specific event. Certainly pop culture stars have done their share to create"moscato madness." Sales in the U.S. are up a staggering 73% over last year. This has left big wine companies scrambling to make as much as possible with some large producers buying bulk moscato from wherever they can to quench demand.

Long before the current infatuation, moscato was produced in Italy. Moscato is Italian for muscat and I think it is important to know that there are over 50 different types of moscato just in Italy. I won't bore you with the details, but the finest example is Moscato Bianco, sometimes called Moscato di Canelli.

Moscato Bianco is an ancient variety that is planted over virtually the entire Italian peninsula. The best known and most popular is the Moscato Bianco grown in the Asti region of Piedmont. It comes in two forms: the fully sparkling Asti version and the lightly fizzy, less alcoholic Moscato D'Asti.

My favorite producer of these wines is a Azienda Ca' D'Gal. Winemaker Alessandro Boido crafts wines from his vineyards in the heart of the Asti region. His low yielding vines [some are more than 50 years old] produce wines that have the perfect balance of sugars and acidity.

If you are one of those wine buffs who snubs moscato, I'll bet you haven't tried Ca' D'Gal. If you routinely but moscato in a 1.5 liter bottle from the grocery store, treat yourself to the real thing.

Paul Quaglini, SE Florida Wine Supervisor

Follow me on Twitter @abcwinepaulq

  I’m not really sure how some of these things happen. Everything will be right with the world and then for no reason, from out of left field, seemingly with no warning, we are face to face with a…wine trend!! Explaining the Pinot Noir craze of a few years ago is easy--the movie "Sideways." We tried to get our guests to try Pinot Noir for years, without much luck, but Hollywood makes one anti-Merlot, pro-Pinot movie and the world pulls up their Merlot vines to plant Pinot Noir. Now we are faced with another wine fad…Moscato. This is one that I can’t seem to explain how or exactly when it occurred. All I know is that we had to build a new warehouse just to hold all of them…well, not really, but we sure have a bunch of 'em.

 Now ask any Sauternes, Tokaji, BA or TBA aficionado about sweeter style wines and he will go on with poetic eloquence on the virtues of botrytis cinerea. Mention Moscato and watch as his nose heads north with unabashed pretentiousness. The way I see it as a retailer, is that if these legions of Moscato drinkers were not drinking Moscato, they would not be drinking wine at all. It is a good introduction to the world of wine and will almost certainly lead to an introduction to other more substantial or dare I say…respected wines.                               

 Moscato is hardly new; it is grown in most all of the major and minor wine making countries in the world. From the Moscato d’Asti and Asti Spumantes of Italy, Moscatel in Spain, Beames de Venise in France and the sweet wines of the Rutherglen region of Australia--just to name a few--this world renowned grape is deserving of much more respect than it seems to receive from the wine drinking public at large. With the hot summer months about to begin, I’m sure the sales of these sweet-to-really sweet, drink-them-cold wines will grow even more astronomically than they presently are. So to those who enjoy these wines…cheers! To those wine snobs…gulp, like me?? Deal with it, people are laughing at you each time you’re caught swirling and sniffing every beverage you’re served…from water to iced tea!

Ken Amendola, North Florida Wine Supervisor

Follow me on Twitter @abcwinekena