Happy Thanksgiving! & Project Wine Blog: My Challenge #8 – Piece of Cake

Happy Thanksgiving VS Readers!!

I have A LOT to be thankful for this year, especially for all of YOU! :) This blog and all the relationships, connections and opportunities I have made through it have developed so much since a year ago. I thank you all for your support! And if this year is any sign of what the next year has in store for me, I look forward to all that I will be thankful for next Thanksgiving!

To celebrate with you all, here are a few photos from my Thanksgiving Dinner I made 2 weeks ago for Frenchie le Boyfriend’s family in their hometown of Nantes. (And the dessert/wine pairing is my Challenge #8 for Project Wine Blog!)

My Thanksgiving table, with mini pumpkins, squash, dried corn cobs and orange candles :)

My appetizer: Butternut Squash Trio! Mmmm :) The stuffed mushroom is stuffed with sausage, butternut squash, cream cheese, rosemary, thyme, celery salt, garlic and topped with breadcrumbs. The mini-bruschetta’s are topped with a spreaded cranberry sauce, prosciutto, butternut squash, shredded pecorino romano, walnuts and dried cranberries. The soup is butternut squash, celery, onion, carrot, cream cheese, apple sauce!, thyme, celery salt, rosemary, garlic, topped with Roquefort, sliced almonds, and an apple slice :)

Classic Southern Style Thanksgiving (well one version of it, lol) – Turkey, stuffing, loaded mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, biscuits, gravy and cranberry sauce :)

The wine I paired with the above delicacies :) was one that I bought while in Austria at the European Wine Blogger’s Conference back in October. I was lucky enough to be paired with the winemaker Hubert Sandhofer on a vineyard/lunch visit. I just HAD to have this wine for my Thanksgiving, so I brought back a magnum of it! YUMMMMMM! The wine is called “Triu” (Trio) and it is from Weingut (Winery) Hubert Sandhofer, the vintage is 2006. It is made from, you guessed, 3 varieties – Blaufrankisch, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zweigelt. (The 1st and 3rd varieties being indigenous Austrian varieties). Hubert said he wanted to make a wine that represented the trio a cappella group he sings in called … TRIU :) A MUST DRINK!

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And now for the Challenge #8 for Project Wine Blog (if you are confused what PWB is, read the post here) –

The challenge was to “unleash your sweet tooth and talk about your favorite dessert/sweet wine or your favorite ‘dessert and wine pairing’!”

I must preface this by saying – I am not a fan of dessert or sweet stuff in general (except Frenchie le Boyfriend, awwww!) I know, I know … what is wrong with me? Maybe my sweet tooth fell out with my baby teeth? In any case, I am not grossed out by dessert, I just prefer savory to sweet … and there ain’t nothing wrong with that!

So for me to pick out a dessert that I like … well that’s saying a lot. So the winner for the Challenge #8 – Dessert & Wine Pairing is …….

Drumroll please.

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Pie Trilogy (Apple, Pecan & Pumpkin) – I made the pumpkin and pecan pie, Frenchie la Grandma made the apple one.

AND ….

The ALWAYS crowd pleasing Champagne Tarlant!! We drank the ‘Zero Brut Nature‘, but ALL of their champagnes are a MUST TRY! (FYI, do yourself a BIG favor and find you some of this bubbly goodness ASAP! You will thank me.)

I know they say your wine should be as sweet, if not sweeter, than the dessert it is being paired with, but I think the opposite worked for me here. What I enjoyed best about this combination, aside from being madly in love with Champagne Tarlant, was that the bubbly wasn’t sweet … it was as if after a bite of sweet pie, the Champagne would ‘clean’ my palate of the lingering sweetness and that worked really well for me :) (And that is what ALL wine & food/dessert/life pairings are about, YOUR satisfaction :P )

Now off you go my VS Readers, have a wonderful day celebrating everything you have to be thankful for!