Heidi and Frank: Stuff from Today's Show

Heidi and Frank: Stuff from Today's Show
While you are Costco picking up your wedding dress (yes, I said wedding dress) you can pick up all the your wine for the reception - Cameron Hughes Wine of course. Costco is trying to create a "one-stop-shopping" experience for your wedding day.

How much wine do I need for my wedding?

I'm on a budget.  So how much wine do I need for my wedding?  That is the first question anyone asks me.  Here is a rule of thumb I use - for the four or so hours your guests will be at your reception, a wine drinking guest will have 3 glasses.  Some will have 2 and some will have 4 glasses.  One bottle of wine holds 4 glasses.  For 100 guests, order 5 cases of wine and for 200 guests order 10 cases of wine.  Order 1-2 cases more just in case.  Any left over bottles are great gifts for those that have helped you with all the planning.  Also save some for your 1-yr anniversary.  40% of the wine should be white and 60% should be red.  The easiest thing to have on each table is one bottle of Chardonnay (white wine) and one bottle of Cabernet (red wine).  Then your guests can help themselves.  For a bit more interest, ask a wine consultant to help you pair wines with your food menu.

When to choose wine for your wedding?

Well, no one ever tells you that you need to think about wine for your wedding.  There is never any mention of it.  Only when to choose a caterer.  I think this detail should be exposed!  When planning a wedding, believe it or not, you should be interviewing caterers 9 to 12 months from the wedding date.  And, at 6 months before the wedding, you should booked your caterer.  Food is always mentioned in the planning but why not wine when there are so many wine lovers out there?  Today's wedding guests will want to have a glass of nice wine that goes with the nice food that you so meticulously choose for your special guests.

Think about flow of the day, when your guests arrive at the reception location.  They are thirsty and want to have a refreshing glass of wine.  Think about having some other white varietals such as Albarino or Torrentes.  These are light and refreshing wines.  Sauvignon Blanc is also a  great choice and a wine that your guest will recognize.  Chardonnay that is crisp with fruit on the palate is also nice.  Leave the creamy, buttery, oaked Chardonnays for the dinner with entrees of fish or chicken.

Pinot Noir is excellent with salmon, chicken or lamb.  It's one of my favorite varietals.  The color of Pinot is beautiful, festive and goes well with a variety of food choices.  Merlot and Cabernet are excellent with fillet or roasted pork with a raisin chutney sauce.
So on my agenda, once the food menu is chosen, pair the wines with the flow of the day and the menus.  Have a wine consultant assist you in the wine pairing and order the wines to be delivered directly to venue.  Now that detail is finished and you don't have to worry any longer about wines, food, etc.  Isn't that a weight off your shoulders?  Great food, great wine - check.

Wedding Cake Wine

Cameron Hughes Wine has a delicious wine to serve with your wedding cake.  Our latest dessert wine is 2008 Antolino Brongo Cryomalus Ice Cider.
Appellation: Saint-Joseph-du-Lac, in the region of the Basses-Laurentides, Quebec, Canada
Apple Varietal: 57% Macintosh, 18% Empire, 18% Lobo, 9% Spartan
Alcohol by volume: 10%
With a rich gold color lightly red, has notes of hazelnuts and apricot at the nose. In the mouth, apple and apricot notes mixed with a long and persistent flavor of honey and citrus.  Cryomalus means frozen.  The apples are frozen and then pressed just like Ice Wine.  This would be an outstanding treat with the wedding cake and used for a toast as well.  So delicious - a refreshing blast to re-awaken your palate and get ready for dancing the night away.

Great Time at the SF Grand Hyatt Wedding Fair on Sunday 3/27

We all had a great time meeting all the brides, bridesmaids, mother-of-the-brides and grooms.  The grand ballroom was a perfect setting to gather all the resources one needs to put on a spectacular wedding day.  Our booth was quite busy - by the end we were out of wine. You can still order the sampler kit of 8 wines for $102.  The best way to sample wines is with friends and family.  You can plan a wine tasting party.  You buy the sampler kit and then have your guests bring a dish each that pairs with the wine.  Call me and I can help you plan your party.  As a wine consultant, I will assist you in your wine choices for your wedding day and can work with your chosen caterer.  I look forward to working with you.  If you send me a picture of you sampling Cameron Hughes Wine , I will send you a bottle of wine signed by Cameron - yes, Cameron Hughes is a real person.  Get your pictures in this week only! Thanks again for tasting with us.
jan@chwine.com

Good Sparkling Wine for Toasting

Unless you are serving the finest of Champagnes, no one really drinks sparkling wines at a wedding.  But sparkling wine is very festival to have for the toast portion of the day.  You can get some very nice ones from $10 - $15 per bottle.  Try a CAVA, the Spanish "Champagne".  These are normally very dry (Brut) and made in the Methode Champenoise style just like the real stuff.  Gloria Ferrer from the Carneros region in California is also a good choice.  These wines look classy without breaking the budget.  Find other well priced sparkling wines at Costco. If you don't drink sparkling wine at all, most people simply pour wine for the toast and raise their glass.  In this case, we can recommend the wines that you are drinking throughout your dinner.  This is just as polite.

Choosing wines for your wedding reception

Don't leave choosing your wine for your wedding reception up to chance.  Even if you don't drink wine, don't know much about wine or only  like certain wines, choosing wine is an important detail that shouldn't be overlooked.  You want the food to be perfect so why not the wines?  Most guests now are wine savvy - so to treat your guests to a wonderful experience, wine and food pairing should be part of your planning.  Once you pick a  caterer and the menu, then a wine expert can assist you in pairing wines for the day.

Typically guests arrive and have choices of white or red.  Depending on the passed around appetizers such as scallops wrapped in bacon, there are a few choice such as Sauvignon Blanc or a bright Pinot Noir.  A good indicator of how much wine and style you should order is typically 40% whites and 60% reds.  There is normally more red wine only drinkers.  But if you are "styling" your wines with your menu, then most people will drink whites with seafood or chicken entrees. 

It is best to make it simple, with not a huge array of choices.  My favorite varietal picks are Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay for starters.  Then move on to Pinot Noir or Cabernet.  Sweet wine is not a good wine to pair the entre.  Although sweet wines such as Late Harvest Viognier or French Sauternes can be delicious with white cake or cheesecake and Late Harvest Zin with chocolate cake, these can be expensive and with all the sugar in those wines and the cake may make your guests feeling ill the next day. 

Again, this goes back to keeping it elegant and simple.  You have enough to worry about; so let a Sommelier assist you with the wine pairing with your menu choices.  If you have questions about wines for your wedding please feel free to email me. And, congratulations and best wishes,
Jan Manni
Certified Sommelier
jan@chwine.com