My kind of Valentine’s Day celebration starts and ends with a bottle wine, some good food, and quality time spent with my love. We have decided to forego traditional gifts like cards, flowers, and chocolate in favor of a dinner celebration for two that we truly enjoy and savor. As you all know, we love to eat and try new places.
But cooking a meal is another great option for those of you who love to ‘chef it up’ at home. Paul usually cooks our meals and he’s very skilled plus I get the opportunity to exercise my wine pairing skills (thanks, Wine Bible). Once he starts taking out ingredients for the recipe I look through our wine fridge and bar cart for a suitable pairing.
It’s hard to choose which wines to buy and not; it’s especially hard to reach outside of your comfort zone and try new options. There is so much to choose from at places like Total Wine that it can be overwhelming. That’s what makes our monthly VINOvations delivery such a treat! They send us a box with six new and unique wines to try, some new and some familiar to us.
A monthly wine box is one of the best ways to experience new flavors from all around the globe. From France to Napa and everything in between, we get excited to try a new wine. In fact, we were sent a bottle of wine from MOLDOVA this month which was a surprise to us! There is always a new blend to look forward to and regions to explore.
A bottle of red, a bottle of white. It all depends upon your appetite.
~ Billy Joel
You really never know how diverse the wine world is until you’ve pushed yourself out of the ‘comfort box’ and into new categories. I grew up knowing only a handful of wine brands because they were our family go-to. It wasn’t until I moved out and visited the first winery that I truly understood the history and process that goes into each bottle.
The VINO is Life Boston Wine School Wine Club is the best club I have tried (and I’ve dabbled in quite a few) because of the selection we see every month. It is always different and never disappointing. If we weren’t already members I would suggest gifting ourselves a subscription. We recommend their wine club to everyone because we have been so happy with it up to now.
Sign up for your subscription HERE.
If you are not familiar with wine or are in a place where you want to learn more, VINO is Life runs incredible events out of their Sharon, MA headquarters and around Boston. There are a few coming up this winter and spring that you and your love (or girlfriends) can take advantage of. They provide good wine and accompanying bites + a little education for you.
Upcoming events to take advantage of:
- March 2 | St. Patrick’s Day Wine Glass Paint & Sip
- March 10 | Wine & Food Pairing 101
- April 7 | Going In Blind: The Art of Blind Wine Tasting
Hopefully Paul and I can get to some events in the coming months because we are always open to learning more about wine and food and meeting likeminded people.
Find the full class schedule on their Eventbrite HERE.