What makes a wine cocktail? Is it simply a cocktail with wine in it? Yeah, pretty much. The delicious and exciting trend of the wine cocktail is growing, and we’re really excited about it for several reasons. Most importantly, there are so many types and styles of wine that it opens almost limitless possibilities as the base ingredient of cocktails. You know better than anyone what tastes good to you. Here is a guide to building delicious wine cocktails that fit your preferences perfectly.

First things first, the basic components you’ll find in good cocktails (While many cocktails don’t incorporate all of these, a minimum of two are usually found, helping to create balanced beverages.): Sweet is simply what adds the sweetness to a cocktail. Most commonly used are sugar (often in the form of simple syrup), agave, maple syrup, honey or juice. Wine can also bring the sweetness to a cocktail if it has enough residual sugar. Missouri fruit wines make great wine cocktails. Sour adds the acidity needed for a great cocktail. Citrus such as lemon, lime or grapefruit are fairly obvious, but wine can also add the sour or tart flavors you’re looking for if it is acidic enough. Vidal Blanc for example is a Missouri varietal often noted for its refreshing acidity. Spice doesn’t just mean to heat such as you’d get from jalapenos or cayenne pepper. It also refers to textures that feel spicy in your mouth such as bubbles or higher alcohol content. Sparkling wines or a fizzy mixer such as lemon-lime or club soda can add spicy texture to a wine cocktail. Savory flavors make things interesting. They also help balance out sour or bitter flavors that may show through from some wines. Strong tannins, like the ones found in many Missouri Norton wines for example, may be smoothed out by adding a savory flavor from herbs, vegetables, or spices.

When creating your own wine cocktail, consider these basic components. Mix and match with your preferences for a delicious beverage. If you need some inspiration, here are some tried and true Missouri wine cocktail recipes to get you started: Norhattan Illegal Rosé The Missouri Mule Marking Twain Fox Trotter St. Paul Sidecar Missouri wine pairs well with creating cocktails!

Ordering wine at a restaurant can be intimidating. It’s a little different everywhere you go, and there are so many wines out there to choose from. How do you make the right choice? Most restaurants have “by the glass” and “by the bottle” menus. Purchasing by the glass is a much smaller investment and risk. If you don’t like it, you spent a lot less and there’s not an entire bottle of wine you don’t care for in front of you. However, the “by the bottle” selection tends to be more extensive and you have enough to share with the table. Here are a few tips on ordering wine while dining out:

1. It’s about you and your preferences. Don’t let a lengthy wine list or a seemingly snobby server or sommelier intimidate you. Ultimately, the purpose of buying a glass or bottle of wine is for your enjoyment. The best wine is the wine you like. Everyone’s palette is different. The “rules” are there to guide rather than confine you.
2. Learn the lingo. Knowing how to communicate within the wine world can help ordering go more smoothly. You don’t need to know all the jargon. Focus on some of the basics such as weight (Would you prefer something light-bodied and crisp or full-bodied and rich?), flavor (Do you like wines that are fruity, spicy, earthy, or buttery?), and texture (If you want something smoother, you’d like a wine lower in acid or tannin.). 
3. Be specific. Once you know a little of the lingo, it’s important to be specific. There are lots of wines that fall into the category of dry red. However, if you tell your server or sommelier that you prefer a bold, earthy, dry red, they will have a much easier time narrowing down the wines fitting those criteria. 
4. Select your food first. Good food deserves great wine. The flavors and textures in food and wine affect each other. They can either enhance or degrade your dining experience. The server should be able to help you choose a wine that will pair well, but you can brush up on some pairing preferences of your own with this guide. 
5. Talking price is not taboo. It’s not against the rules to tell your server or sommelier the price range you want to stay within. However, if you are looking for a more subtle way to get your message across, try showing a wine at the price you want and saying “I’d like something similar to this.” while pointing at the price rather than the name of the wine. 
6. Taste before you accept the wine. If you purchase a bottle of wine in a restaurant, the server or sommelier will often open it for you and present you with a taste and the cork. This is to check and see if the wine is “good”. That doesn’t necessarily mean whether or not you like it. Rather, it’s to ensure it has not experienced cork taint, which happens in 1-3% of wines with natural cork closures. You can also ask to have a small taste of a wine that is on the by the glass menu. If you like it, order a glass and enjoy!

*Bonus tip*

Ask if they have anything open that isn’t on the by the glass list. You may get a chance to try something new and unexpected. 

If your favorite restaurant doesn’t serve your preferred local wines, ask your server about them. Who knows, maybe the next time you dine, they will! 

Holiday shopping can be really stressful, but it’s also a great opportunity to share your favorite things with the people you care about and support local businesses. A gift with a story makes a longer lasting impression and shows that you really put thought and effort into selecting it. Gifting locally crafted items you love adds a sense of place, a special connection. So, this year don’t just shop, shop local!

Missouri wineries are a great place to check off your shopping list. You’ll find locally made, award-winning wine, gift baskets, cute novelty items, and unique accessories in the tasting rooms and gift shops of wineries across the state. The opportunity to taste before you buy is rare; take advantage of it. And think about it this way… if you purchase a case of Missouri wine, you’ve just picked up 12 gifts all at once. Well, that was easy!

Wine makes a great gift for loved ones, but it’s also super handy for all the little gifting needs that pop up this time of year… host/hostess gifts, secret Santa, etc. If you have a few extra bottles of Missouri wine around, you’ll never be without a great gift option. There are tons of ways to creatively wrap wine as a gift as well.

Support your local wineries this holiday season. It’s a whole lot more fun visiting a winery to do your holiday shopping than a crowded mall, right?

Drink local. Shop local. Give local!

1. Filter cork pieces out of wine using a coffee filter. 
Did your cork get a little crumbly? Perhaps you got a little overzealous with the wine opener. No worries! Simply, pour the wine through a coffee filter to prevent cork pieces from getting in your glass. 

2. Remove red wine stains with white wine. 
Immediately rinsing a red wine stain with white wine will prevent the red wine from settling in the fabric (or carpet). Find out more ways to remove red wine stains here. 

3. Amp up your pasta sauces with leftover wine.
If you find yourself with leftover wine and aren’t sure what to do with it, add it to your pasta sauce for extra depth and flavor. Find out more about using wine in sauces here. 

4. Chill a bottle of wine quickly. Add salt. 
Ice + Water + Salt = a faster cool down for your bottle of wine. The more of the bottle submerged the better. 

5. Use tube socks to cushion wine bottles during transport. 
Whether you’re headed home from the grocery store or to a dinner party, keep your bottles of wine from clanking and possibly breaking by wrapping a tube sock around them. Keep a pair (preferably a clean pair) with your reusable shopping bags for easy access. 

6. Dry your wine glasses on a toaster oven rack. 
Hand drying a wine glass without breaking it or leaving towel fuzzies everywhere is quite the challenge, place your freshly cleaned wine glasses on a toaster over or cooling rack to dry rather than directly on a towel. This allows the liquid to drain and evaporate. No residue! 

7. Keep your wine cold with frozen grapes.
If you’d like to keep your wine chilled on a hot day, add a few frozen grapes. They act as great ice cubes without watering down your vino. And there’s a nice little snack waiting at the bottom of your glass. 

8. Let your angel food cake cool using a wine bottle. 
If you’ve ever made an angel food cake, you know it can fall-in if not properly cooled. Support the pan on a wine bottle to let it cool evenly. Use an empty bottle so the heat from the pan doesn’t raise the temperature and possibly taint a full bottle of wine. 

9. Reuse a wine bottle to water thick, hard-to-get-to plants.
The long neck is super handy at getting water in the pot and not everywhere else. 

10. Wrap a bottle of (Missouri) wine in a dishtowel for an instant gift. 

We’ve all been there. You need a gift, but you forgot! You’ll look like a gift-giving genius, and it takes very little time and effort. 

The summer is a popular time for grilling and smoking our foods. Anything that allows you to be outside is good, right? These cooking methods add a ton of flavor to dishes, which we can all agree is the point. However, adding these intense flavors means the same wines we would normally pair may not fit the bill. You know what that means… a whole new world of wine and food pairing opportunities.

Grilling (particularly meats) adds somewhat of a bitter taste while smoking adds a sweet and smoky element. Consider this, a roasted chicken breast would most commonly pair well with a lighter white such as Vidal Blanc or Catawba, whereas the toastiness of a grilled chicken breast would be complimented exceptionally by an oaky Chardonel. The same dish, prepared two different ways opens up the pairing possibilities.

Did you know that in Georgia (the country) there’s an incredibly popular dish called shashlik (which essentially just means smoked meat) that is smoked over grape vines? And they’re not the only ones. Smoking with grape vines has a fairly large following in the world of smoking connoisseurs. A couple things to note: Grape vines should be added sparingly if you’re new to smoking with them. They add a fruity flavor, but too many can add a tart component as well. So, until you’ve found the level of tart that is right for you, take it slow. Other flavors can be obtained by soaking the vines in wine, beer or tea prior to smoking.

If you’re more of a griller than a smoker, don’t forget the sauces play a large part in the overall taste profile you achieve. Often the sauces dominate the dish. Here’s a handy guide for pairing wines and sauces. Grilling often imparts a charred taste that can be mirrored nicely by the bitter edge of tannins found in bold red wines such as Norton.

So, when you’re grilling and smoking this season, play with your wine and food pairings, keeping in mind that the dish itself is but a small part of the equations. (The great thing about this equation… there’s no wrong answer!) If you need a good place to start, check out the new Missouri Wines food pairing guide.

Missouri Wine pairs well with food (no matter how you prefer to cook it)! 

Bread comes in many delectable forms, and January is a month devoted to honoring this staple. The first 31 days of the year have been declared National Bread Month. January also includes National Croissant Day (January 30).  Missouri wines are the perfect accompaniment to fête this classic comfort food.

Yeast is an ingredient in wine and many types of breads. The flavors and aromas of bread dough and biscuits can be detected in some varietals. In addition to similarities in taste, wine and bread have a  history together that dates back at least as far as ancient Greece, where wine-soaked bread was a common breakfast. When Greek men got together to recite poems, they drank wine with either bread or cheese. The ancient Greeks also made a bread called psadista from fine flour, oil and wine as an offering to the earth gods and goddesses.

Bread is appropriate for meals at any time of day, which gives wine-lovers many opportunities to try out pairings. For breakfast or brunch, a fruit-forward, Vignoles is a match for French toast. Pour a sparkling wine while indulging in the flaky layers of a buttery croissant or pair a fruity Catawba with a decadent raspberry white chocolate muffin. A light lunch of salad and caramelized onion and goat cheese bread calls for a crisp Seyval or full-bodied Norton. Beat the winter blues with a hot bowl of soup, a slice of old world cheese bread and a glass of Traminette. A dry white wine such as Chardonel complements the cornmeal, buttermilk and bacon drippings in southern-style cornbread. Serve this traditional side dish with a hearty chili to warm up on an icy evening. If you still have room for dessert, satisfy your sweet tooth with banana-apple bread and a crisp Chardonel.

When wine and bread come together in recipes, the results are delicious. Dry red wine, such as Norton or Chambourcin, is used to make the dough for red wine rosemary bread, and sweet and peppery-hot  wine biscuits. Leftover white wine is put to tasty use in savory olive, bacon and cheese bread that’s ideal for a quick lunch, dinner or appetizer.

With so much bread to devour, January is the ideal month to explore the many delightful ways that these diverse baked goods can be enhanced by your favorite Missouri wines.

Missouri wines pair well with celebrating bread!