Crios de Susana Balbo

2 Posts Back Home

20 High-Low Late Summer Wines

We have about three weeks until Labor Day weekend, the end of summer. This is my favorite time of year (I love heat) for food and for wine. When the temperature rises I instinctively reach for an aromatic white or rosé. Of all the wines I’ve been drinking this summer, my favorites fall into two distinct price categories: $15 or less, or over $20. Many of my go to wines come from Trader Joe’s and are less than $10.

That got me thinking about fashion, and how the most stylish dressers put together outfits that are high-low combinations. For example, you pair a H&M top at $14.99 with Tory Burch pants that cost $295 and a pair of Michael Michael Kors shoes (his 2nd label, also called a diffusion line) for $120. And you probably get more compliments on the H&M top than you do the pants or shoes.

With high-low wine you can find some fabulous bottles for less than $15 that I bet you’ll get compliments on. But every now and then you want to splurge on a great pair of $300 boots just because. Same with wine, there are just some times when a splurge on a bottle with a price tag of $20 or higher is justified. I’ve made list of 20 wines, with pairs grouped according to the high-low principle. Read more

DRINK – Fragrant summer whites – my favs

With labor day fast approaching, it’s hard to believe summer is almost over.  If you live in northern California, you might think summer started only last week.  As today it’s already over 97 degrees in my backyard, I’m already thinking about what wine to pop the cork on this evening.  I want something fragrant, something luscious.  That can mean only one thing – aromatic white wines. Viognier, Riesling and other varieties come to mind.  Definitely not Chardonnay and probably not Sauvignon Blanc.   These are my top choices: Viognier – I love the Rhone wines, and it’s for the heady perfumed wines that Viognier, and other Rhone varietals have.  I have two choices for Viognier, Cold Heaven, made by Morgan Clendenen, with Santa Barbara fruit, and Skipstone Viognier, Makena’s Vineyard with Alexander Valley fruit.  Each has its own lovely flavors that linger on your tongue, like a delicious nectar.  Makes me…

Navigate