Wine Tasting With The Traders Table

The sun was setting and we were a bit lost on our way over to Marisa's house. My wife and I had been to the neighborhood before, but for some reason, the roads and homes shifted on us.
Walking up the steps, we were excited, but not 100% sure we were at the right house.

But regardless of who lived here, we were going to wine taste. 

However, we knocked, the door opened, and there was Tim... with a hug. And as we sauntered through the house to the kitchen to meet up with Marisa, the smell of great food and the slight crackle of the record player seemed to chip away at our nerves. And by the first sip, if you had asked us how the drive over was, we would have probably said "perfect."

The Traders Table is a site designed to help anyone make amazing meals with simple ingredients you can find at your local Trader Joes. It is run by Marisa Mcbride, a good friend of ours and an amazing host. 


With Traders Table featuring delicious recipes designed with simple ingredients and with Brix and Barrel featuring small batch wines with simple ingredients, it was inevitable that we would join forces.

And with Valentine's Day around the corner, we were excited to work together and create a simple way for you to "Wine and Recipe" this Valentine's day with a meal that was classic, comforting, and thoughtful.

After tasting a number of wines, enjoying some amazing small plates from Marisa, and laughing at bad jokes I made about ponchos, we all agreed that the LoFi Cab Franc was what we had been searching for. Marisa had put together a simple Baked Chicken Parm recipe with pasta and arugula salad, and the Cab Franc was the wine this recipe called for. 

From the presentation to the natural production style, this Cab Franc was both unique and familiar in just one sip.
 
When you breathe in the aroma you'll probably get cherries, which work well with a bottle that looks like a cherry soda. When you sip, it is fruity but not sweet, as well as crisp with a bit of acidity. 

This wine is a great example of the natural winemaking process. All of the grapes were hand-harvested from organic vineyards, to start the fermentation they used indigenous yeast, and the acidity I just mentioned, it comes from naturally occurring lactic acid bacteria and minimum effective SO2. So, when you taste this wine all you have is the grape, front and center.

We know that Valentine's Day can be daunting, but are confident that with this simple wine and recipe combo, you can just relax and just enjoy whatever the evening turns into.

Click here to grab a bottle of the LoFi Cab Franc.
Click here to get the step by step recipe for Baked Chicken Parm, Arugula Salad and Pasta