Crisp, bright white wines become a necessity in the spring, and the need only increases in the hot, humid days of summer. They match all the beautiful veggies bursting forth from the ground, and they cool you down as the temperatures go up. As far as I’m concerned, they’re 100% required. 

I know a lot of you feel the same because when I was working in a wine shop, people would ask for ‘crisp white wines’ left and right in the spring and summer. I absolutely feel you. My one lament is that sometimes people get stuck on just one or two styles or grapes, and yet, there are SOOO many wonderful options out there to try. Better yet, there are lots of incredibly affordable options. Italy in particular offers seemingly endless options of delicious ‘crisp white wines.’ To help you avoid getting stuck in a rut, today we’re going to look for a new candidate for your rotation of crisp whites – Orvieto. 

Once get to know this Italian region a little bit, we’ll explore two bottles paired with easy, quick dinners, because let’s face it, as temperatures go up, we all want to spend less and less time in front of the stove.

A Snapshot of Orvieto

Map borrowed from WineFolly.com

Orvieto is a region in central Italy located predominantly in Umbria, but also spills over into neighboring Lazio. It’s named for a hilltop town of the same name. Orvieto has a rich cultural history. It was an important artistic center in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. In addition, it’s the home of a Papal Palace, one of only three outside of Rome and its surrounding areas. 

Image borrowed from Wikipedia.

The region’s cultural and winemaking history goes back even further to the time of the Etruscans who dug caves into tuffaceous soils and created an elaborate infrastructure for winemaking on three levels, as described by the Consorzio's website:

“In the 1st level the grapes were pressed and transformed into must and it flowed, through earthenware pipes, into the second level, where the fermentation and subsequent racking took place; the wine was thus ready for maturation and storage in the III level. The result was an aromatic, very fragrant drink with a slightly sweet taste and a golden yellow color, testifying to the territory's vocation for white wines.”

The wines continued to be incredibly popular through the Middle Ages and Renaissance. They were a favorite of the Popes that resided in the Palace, and apparently, the wines were used to help pay for the works of art that adorn the Orvieto Cathedral.

Styles 

Orvieto’s wines are always white. (There is a separate appellation for reds –– Orvietano Rosso DOC.) As mentioned above, the region was known for wines with sweetness at varying levels, but as tastes have changed in more modern times, so have the styles of the wine produced, and now the grand majority in dry (secco) and made in a clean, crisp style. However, sweeter styles do still exist: medium dry (abboccato), medium sweet (amabile), late harvest (vendemmia tardiva), and botrytized (muffa nobile) sweet versions.

The dry versions can have quite a mix of fruit notes including peaches, green apple, citrus, melon, and pears. There are also often hints of white flowers, nuts, as well as minerality, and, at times, a pleasant bitter note as well.

Grapes 

The wines of Orvieto are traditional blends, with Grechetto and Procanico (the local name for Trebbiano) playing the leading roles – they must make up 60% of the blend minimum. Grechetto is considered to be the more interesting of the two grapes by far, with notes of citrus, white flowers, chamomile, and even nuttiness at times. It tends to produce small bunches with grapes of concentrated flavor. It also adds structure and body to the blend. High-quality Orvieto blends will tend to have a high proportion of Grechetto, and you will now even find varietal bottlings.

Procanico/Trebbiano is far more neutral in flavor, but it has a couple of things going for it. First, it typically has more acidity than Grechetto, so brings a lift and brightness to the blend. It’s also far more productive, but blends with too much of it risk becoming bland. Its neutral character combined with its high acidity makes it ideal for the production of brandy.

In addition to these two, you might also find Verdello (Verdelho), Drupeggio (Canaiolo Bianco) and/or Malvasia Bianca. International varieties are also grown in the region, which you will find in the Orvieto DOC wines but tend to be used in higher levels in the IGT-level wines. 

Terroir 

The area is known for its tufa soils, a type of limestone that’s desirable for growing grapes and for carving out caves to make cellars in which to store the wines. The tufa soils are volcanic in origin, and you will find other volcanic soils as well, including areas of alluvial soils, clay, and sand with marine fossils mixed in – so eventhough this is a landlocked region, you can bet these wines work beautifully with seafood.

Umbria in general enjoys a Mediterranean climate with dry, hot summers and cold winters. However, this is one of the few areas in Italy that can regularly expect to see botrytis, aka noble rot, which is ideal for the sweeter wines. 

Tiers and Labeling Terms

There are a few quality tiers and labeling terms that you might see on a label to be aware of. 

• Orvieto DOC –  This is the basic/general Orvieto tier. Although the history of the region goes back further, it was originally delineated in 1931 and established as a DOC in 1971.
• Superiore – Wines in the Superiore category (established in 1997) must adhere to higher quality standards with lower production yields and must have a minimum alcohol content of 12%.
• Classico – As is the case with other regions like Chianti or Soave, the term classico indicates the wine comes from the most historic sub-area in the region. Orvieto Classico” sub-area. In this case, it’s the area closest to the city of Orvieto, by the Paglia river valley. 

I received several bottles of Orvieto as samples to try, and we’ll be taking a look at two of those bottles paired with simple dinners – both of which came together in about half an hour. As always,  all opinions are my own, and no other compensation was received. 

Decugnano dei Barbi Mare Antico Orvieto Classico Superiore 2019 with Salmon and a Tomato, Avocado, and Goat Cheese Salad

Blend: 55% Grechetto, 20% Vermentino, 20% Chardonnay, 5% Procanico | Average Price: $16 | Find additional information here. 

Wine has been made at Decugnano since at least 1212, when the lands belonged to the church of Santa Maria of Decugnano and the vineyard produced wines for the Mass as well as for local consumption. The present owner, Claudio Barbi purchased the property in 1973, after falling in love with the property. His son Enzo has since joined him in the project. 

The 30-hectare property sits at an altitude of over 300 meters (1,000 feet), has sand and clay soils that were part of an ocean floor from the Pliocene period, and contains fossilized shells of sea shells and oysters. In terms of farming, they do not utilize insecticides, fungicides, chemical fertilizers, or weed killers. They try to keep treatments to a minimum through careful attention to the vines. 

The grapes for the Mare Antico are a blend from their estate vineyards, from 25-year-old vines. 

Tasting Notes: Salted lemons and white flowers hit on the nose. On the palate, the wine was refreshing and bright, but with a little fleshy fruit on the mid-palate. Lots of citrus flavors continue on the palate, along with hints of white peach, lots of salinity, a hint of cheese rind, almond flesh, and light touches of fresh green herbs.

Pairing: We enjoyed this wine with salmon that was seared in olive oil along with a salad with tomatoes, avocado, greens, goat cheese, sunflower seeds, and a few croutons. Very simple, no recipe needed. Just toss the salad greens lightly in your favorite dressing or oil and vinegar. The wine was an easy match with the salmon and really matched the fresh flavors in the salad. The bit of texture on the mid-palate resonated with the creamier textures from the avocado and cheese. 

Argillae Orvieto Superiore 2021 with Cheesy Lemon Pasta with Shrimp and Broccolini 

Blend: Grechetto, Procanico, Malvasia, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. | Average Price: $15 | Find additional information here. 

Argillae was started by the Bonollo family, who were already well known in Italy for having started one of the country’s major spirits companies. Then in the 80s, Giuseppe Bonollo began purchasing land in Orvieto with the intent to make quality wines as well. They now have 260 hectares, 70 of which are under vine. Argillae sells quite a bit of the wine it produces in bulk to bottling companies, but they keep the best of the best to be bottled under their own label. 

They put a large emphasis on sustainability, which has informed many aspects of their operations from the architecture of the winery, the production systems, agricultural methods, and packaging. As two examples, they use a biomass boiler to produce thermal energy to heat the cellar and surrounding buildings and recycle wastewater for their uses as well. For a more detailed look at their sustainability practices, see here.

Tasting Notes: Lots of lemon and lime on the nose, along with green apples, and flowers. Notes of white peach, pear, lemon zest, and hints of herbs join in on the palate. The zippy fruit notes became more fleshy on the mid-palate, leading into an almost spritzy minerality on the finish.

Pairing: This was the second bottle from the set that I opened and a simple pasta dish formed in my brain to match the flavors we’d been experiencing from the Orvieto wines in general. I flavored the pasta with garlic,  lemon juice and zest and tossed it with a blend of cheeses, shrimp, and sautéed broccolini. The broccolini stems were cut up and started cooking in advance of the florets, and Greg wanted me to mention that he found this extra move to be particularly key to his enjoyment of the texture since otherwise, the stems can be too tough. I loved this pairing! Both the flavors and textures in the wine and food matched beautifully making it as delightful a match as I’d hoped!

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For more posts on Umbria, see these posts:

• Cooking to the Wine: Còlpetrone Montefalco Sagrantino and Pasta with Red Pesto & Truffle Meat Sauce
  
• Memories of an Arnaldo Caprai Winemaker Lunch

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The rest of the Italian Food, Wine, Travel blogging group (#ItalianFWT) is also exploring Orvieto this month. Be sure to check out their posts:

• Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm shares Umbrian Red Wine Spaghetti and a Book Review.
• Liz at What‘s In That Bottle wonders Why Aren’t we all Drinking more Orvieto?
• Robin at Crushed Grape Chronicles writes about Orvieto - the multifaceted white wine of Umbria.
• Lynn at Savor the Harvest focuses on Appreciating an Ancient Italian Wine Made For Today’s Palate.
• Camilla at The Culinary Adventures of Camilla is Celebrating Spring with Vignole + 2020 Barberani Castagnolo Orvieto Classico Superiore.
• Lisa at The Wine Chef posts Umbria’s Famous White Wine, Paired With Spiced Pork Tenderloin.
• Pinny at Chinese Food & Wine Pairings uncovers Orvieto White Wines - Hidden Treasures From Umbria.
• Linda at My Full Wine Glass shares White wines from the heart of Central Italy.
• Susannah at Avvinare will be Getting reacquainted with an old friend: Orvieto Wines.
• Rupal at Syrah Queen shares The Soulful and Unique Wines of Orvieto.
• Gwendolyn at Wine Predator...Gwendolyn Alley aims to Discover the Green Heart of Italy: Orvieto DOC in Umbria Paired with Chicken Cacciatore.
• Terri at Our Good Life pairs Slow Cooker Short Ribs and Elicius Orvietano Rosso: A Match Made in the Heavenly Stars.
• Jen at Vino Travels highlights Orvieto, Italy’s Classic White Wine.

Today we’re going to take a quickie look at another grape you should definitely add to your warm weather repertoire–Vermentino. Like two other grapes we’ve explored recently, Verdicchio and Picpoul, this grape makes really fresh wines available at really affordable prices.

You’ll find Vermentino all around the Mediterranean under a variety of names including Rolle, Rollo, Pigato, Favorita, and Malvoisie de Corse. True to its multiple personalities, the origins of the grape are up for debate as well. Italy, Spain, and Greece all have claims to the grape’s birthplace, and it's even more widely planted in France than in any of the others.

This is a fairly aromatic grape that typically shows notes of peach, lemon zest, dried herbs, with hints of saline. It also has refreshing acidity which it maintains well even in the warm climates it’s grown in. From there, the grape’s personality splits again with wines generally falling into two camps: light and zippy, or richer and more textured.

Today’s falls into the first camp. The 2016 Piero Mancini Vermentino di Gallura comes from the northeastern corner of the island of Sardinia (Sardegna). Vermentino di Gallura is actually the island’s only DOCG appellation. Here the grape must account for 95% of the blend, with the final 5% being made up by less aromatic grapes approved for the region. Grass and flowers are typical of the style here.




Piero Mancini has been producing Vermentino di Gallura for over 30 years. Piero was a dentist before he started winemaking full-time. He planted his first vineyards in the 1960’s and learned from the wineries nearby. He purchased 70 hectares of vineyards in the 70’s, opened the current winery in 1989, and retired from dentistry in the 90’s.

Today the family owns about 100 hectares and the vineyards range in elevation from 50 to 300 meters with mostly south-facing exposures.The soils in the are dominated by granite, which contribute the wines’ minerality. 


THE PAIRINGS

Greg was away for work for an extended period, so I enjoyed this bottle on my own over a couple of nights and got to play with it against two different dishes. 



The wine was definitely on the light and fresh end of the spectrum. On the nose it showed notes of lime skin, green apple, and fresh green herbs. On the palate it was bright and tangy, like lemon-lime soda (but not sweet). There was a hint of white peach, along with a pleasant bitterness and a stony finish. There was a roundness to the texture as well.

Since I was on my own, I didn’t do a full on Cooking to the Wine like I normally do–consider my two dinners here semi versions. The recipes are also more non-recipes–no measurements, etc–but I’ll drop guidelines in at the end.

Given that round textural element, I thought this wine could hold up against a more substantial fish. I happened to have a large piece of salmon waiting for me. I’d also just made a batch of salsa verde, which seemed like a good match for the wine’s herbal qualities. I then proceeded to grab anything in my kitchen that might go in an antipasto platter and sauteéd it all together. I served myself the veggies with half the salmon. I topped it all with pine nuts, mostly because Greg doesn’t really care for them, but there was no Greg around.

This combo worked really well. The wine was really refreshing with the food and the bitter qualities in each kind of smoothed out. The combo brought out the rounder notes in the wine. I particularly liked it with some briny olives I’d add to the dish.

The next night I enjoyed my salmon and wine again, but this time I decided to use up some bok choy that needed eating. I braised it in white wine with garlic and anchovy paste. This combo worked quite well too, but this time the combo really highlighted the savory notes in the wine. Still deliciously refreshing!

 

THE GEEKY DETAILS

A few quick details taken from the tech sheet on Polaner Selections ' (the importer) site:

VARIETALS: Vermentino
VINEYARD:  Sourced from their estate vineyards -- three parcels from the heart of the
Gallura zone:  Balaiana, Lu Scolombrino and Montelittu.
SOIL:  The terrain in Gallura is dominated by large outcroppings of granite which
rise sporadically from the ground throughout the area. The soil in the vineyards is made up of that same granite – weathered and broken down into fine sand.
VITICULTURE: Hand-harvested.
VINIFICATION: Fermented in stainless steel.
AGING:     Aged in stainless steel until January after harvest.

 

MONEY TALK

WineSearcher.com has the average price for this at $15, which is about what I paid for it at my local Whole Foods. This is an easy House Wine.

 

OTHER POSSIBILITIES

For either of these dishes look for white wines that have texture, acidity, and herbal notes. I’ve recently been playing with a few wines in this camp. Check out these recent posts on Verdicchio and Picpoul – I think you could easily do some mixing and matching.

In general, I think Vermentino is an easy match for seafood and veggies. Fuller versions can also step it up to herbal, citrusy, and even creamy preparations of chicken and pork.

Ryme Cellars makes a $15 Vermentino-based wine in their Uphold line that is a go-to for me. You can read more about that wine here .  They also make a higher-end bottling in their regular line which is quite beautiful as well.

Not as a suggested pairing for these dishes, but just for fun, I’m also going to throw in a shot of this dessert version made in a passito style from Uvaggio in Lodi. My friend John who works at Napa Valley Winery Exchange in SF brought this fun wine over to dinner recently. So tasty! Vermentino’s snappy acidity works so well in a dessert style, and the grape’s light bitter notes help to balance out the sweetness in an agrodolce kind of way.

Be sure to let me know your favorite Vermentino matches! 

NON-RECIPES


Like I said, no full on recipe’s today, but here are some guidelines on what I did. Both of these took 20 minutes or less. 

Salmon with Sautéed Veggies and Salsa Verde

You’ll need:

Salmon, skin on
Kale
Tomatoes, diced
Onions and Peppers, mine were previously cooked
Pitted olives
Garlic (Not going to lie, I was lazy and used the jarred version. Feel free to use fresh, of course.)
Salt
Pepper
Salsa Verde
Toasted pine nuts
Oil, butter, or a combo

Here’s what ya do:

- Heat a generous amount of oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add the salmon skin-side down and cook until the salmon is ¾ of the way to your preferred cooking temp. You’ll be able to see the deep coral color turning pink along the edges. Transfer the salmon to another plate.

- Drain off some of the excess fat from the pan. Return the pan to the stove over medium to medium-low heat. Add in the kale and sauté until it’s starting to turn dark green. Add in the rest of the veggies and the garlic, season with salt and pepper,  and sauté until everything warmed and cooked through. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Note: If you don’t have previously cooked onions and peppers, cook them first, then proceed to add the kale and the rest. Jarred roasted peppers would also work very well here.

- Put a little salsa verde on your plate and top with the veggies. Return the salmon to the pan, flesh-side down this time. Finish cooking for about 30 seconds, or until it’s where you like it.

- Serve the ½ the salmon on the veggies and top with toasted pine nuts.
(Reserve the extra salmon for tomorrow.)

 

Salmon with Savory Braised Bok Choy

You’ll need:

Leftover salmon
Bok choy, quartered
White wine
Garlic (again, I used the jarred version due to laziness)
Anchovy paste or chopped up anchovy fillets
Salt
Pepper
Oil, butter, or a combo

Here’s what ya do:

- Heat butter and olive oil in a pan. When the butter is bubbling add in the bok choy. Let the bok choy get lightly browned on a couple of sides, flipping as needed.

- Once the bok choy is lightly browned, add a splash of white wine and deglaze the pan, then add a little more. Stir in the garlic and anchovy paste/anchovies, then season with salt and pepper. Allow it all to cook.

- When the bok choy is nearly cooked through, nestle the leftover salmon in pan and cook until the salmon is lightly re-warmed, flipping once. Serve and enjoy it all together!





Additional resources used for this post:

Fantastic, Underrated Vermentino Wine on Wine Folly 
The Oxford Companion to Wine via JancisRobinson.com



And :

One of the things I’ve been most excited about in moving back to California is the proximity to the Great Outdoors. Of course, there are beautiful trails in the Northeast, but getting out to camp just isn’t quite as easy when you have to rent a car and have no space in your tiny apartment to store camping gear.

Here in CA, and particularly in the Bay, it’s pretty much a way of life. (Sometimes it seems like every other person we meet has hiked Half Dome. Me and my fear of heights will stick to trails that don’t involve a tightrope walk, thank you very much.)  Since we’ve been back, we’ve been gradually building up our gear again and now we’re back in action.

This year we’ve taken camping trips to the Santa Cruz Mountains and up to Humboldt County by the Avenue of the Giants amongst the gorgeous redwoods. (I’ll drop in a few scenery pics at the end.) I know summer has come to a close, but I think fall might be even better for camping in CA–summer days can get so hot and sticky. I’m kind of hoping for at least one more camping trip this fall.

I really love these camping trips, but to be honest, I still want to eat well. I don’t see why we have to rough it when it comes to dinner. If you’re backpacking, of course, you want to keep things light; but it shouldn’t be hard to have a great dinner while car camping. Moreover, a good meal is a reward for all the long hikes we do during the day.

If I do say so, we’ve gotten pretty good at campsite dining. We only have a single burner stove, so we can’t get too fancy–not that you want fancy in the great outdoors anyhow. Nonetheless, we do pretty well with the one burner and a fire pit. It’s also always a great excuse to do some grilling. 




As far as I’m concerned, it’s simply not dining without something good in the glass. Over the last couple of camping trips, I’ve developed a few personal tenets for what to look for in camping wines. Not every wine has to hit all these marks, but these are my personal general guidelines for good camping wines:

    •     Easy Drinking. This is my number one rule. I love a complex, contemplative wine, but this isn’t really the time for that. I just want something refreshing, juicy and delicious. (Cabins are a different story for some reason–then I feel up to busting out some of the big guns.)

 
    •    Under $20. No need to spend the big bucks for this.

 
    •    Versatile. We’re usually cooking on the fly and mixing things up, so it’s good to have wines that will work fairly easily with a variety of foods. 

 
    •    Screw caps are a good thing. We usually have the corkscrew on hand, but it’s pretty nice to be able to just give the bottle a quick twist and done. 

 
    •    Take a chill.  Temperatures while camping at night can drop quite a bit, so you might find your reds have been unintentionally chilled well below cellar temp when you’re ready to drink them. It’s not the most flattering to big, tannic reds, even though that might be tempting for campfire sipping. Suddenly those big guys taste kinda tight, harsh, and little sour. (This has happened to us a few times now.) Reds that can take a chill solve the problem, since they’ll be tasty either way.

These same factors also tend to make these good wines for most other outdoor activities–picnics, BBQs, etc.–and since they’re all pretty inexpensive, they’re great House Wines too.

Here are a few recent highlights.

Uphold White for the Planet 2016

Being out in nature, it only seemed appropriate to have wine that gives back to the planet.

I mentioned the Rosé recently, but here’s a recap–Ryan and Megan Glaab of Ryme Cellars started the Uphold line with the idea of giving back. Profits from the white wine go to support environmental causes. 



The 2016 Uphold White is a Vermentino based white blend that is super crisp and refreshing with citrus and herbal notes, but it also has a roundness to the body. It’s perfect for summer drinking.

Given that round quality it can handle some slightly heftier foods. We had this with a
Pork Chile Verde Greg made in advance of our trip.

We had a stroke of genius in advance of our July camping trip up in Humboldt. We had some stewed meat dishes we’d made and had extras stored in our freezer–this pork chile verde was one of them. (He used this recipe as his blueprint.) We packed these frozen stewy meats along in our cooler while fully frozen and they thawed slowly over the next couple of days. All it took was some reheating in a pot and we got to have a couple of super complex and flavorful dinners while out ‘roughing it’. We enjoyed the chile verde with tortillas with cheese and green onion that we grilled right over the fire.

Hobo Wines Camp Zinfandel Sonoma County 2016

It’s so on the nose, I had to do it.  Plus, I figured it would be a good burger wine–it was.

The 2016 is 91% Zinfandel and 9% Petite Sirah from the Ceja Vineyard in Sonoma County. The fruit is co-fermented using native yeasts and aged in a combo of older  French and American oak barrels.

It’s a juicy zin with fresh bright berry flavors. It’s not overly jammy with medium, smooth tannins. It was on the simpler side, but all-good for sipping with burgers by the fire.

We stacked the burgers on English muffins with cheddar. You gotta have burgers at least once on multi-day camping trip and didn’t want to have to pack an extra bag of buns. English muffins can do double duty at breakfast time. We had Parmesan zucchini spears alongside that I sautéed in our camping pot.

Geyerhof Zweigelt StockWerk Kremstal 2015

This is such a tasty wine. We have this at home quite a bit and we took this on both of our summer camping trips. (One of my co-workers mentioned this also one of her camping go-to’s.)

StockWerk literally means “work on the vines.” The grapes for this wine grow on cool sites south of the Danube river through all organic farming practices without the use of any pesticides, insecticides, or weed control substances.

This is a super easy drinker with lots of blackberry and black cherry notes along with light pepper and spice. Despite the dark fruit flavors it’s medium bodied. It also hits a couple of other camping wine touchstones–it’s under screw cap and takes a chill well.

Because of the wine’s fruitiness it can handle some spicier foods, so we paired it with Andouille sausages grilled right on the fire. (Pre-cooked sausages also keep really well in the cooler.)  As s side, I sautéed some onions with garlic in our little camping pot and added a can of cannellini beans, Parmesan, and salt and pepper, and I left the beans on the saucy side. Super easy and very tasty.

Pfneiszl Birgit and Katrin’s Blaufranker Burgenland 2015

This is another fun wine that again hits a few different camping wine tenets–screw cap, takes a chill, and it’s easy drinking. As a bonus, this wine comes in a liter bottle, so you can keep the good times going around the campfire a little longer.

The wine is made by two sisters (Birgit and Katrin) in collaboration with the Blue Danube Wine Co. The sisters took over the farming of their family’s ancestral vines in Hungary, and have been increasingly involved in the family’s Austria estate as well. They use organic farming practices on old vines and wild fermentations.

The wine isn’t super complex, but it’s a delight to drink. It’s medium weight and has lots of juicy black fruit with spicy black pepper notes.

This was the second meal where we made use of a frozen stewed dish. From time to time, I’ll make a big batch of carne mechada (see the recipe on nibblinggypsy.com) and we freeze the extra. We busted out a batch for the camping trip. We brought along a package of instant rice and mixed that with a can of black beans seasoned with garlic and cumin. We layered the meat on the black beans and rice with a sprinkling of cheddar and sour cream for easy carne mechada bowls.



In addition to wines for meals, camping also requires additional intermittent refreshments. Here are a few more options for those extra moments that pop up:

Le Fraghe Bardolino 2015

Bardolino wines come from a region right near Lake Garda in Italy. (Totally dream of going here, but that’s a tangent.) The region is in the Veneto and if you happen to be familiar with Valpolicella, Bardolino is right next door and made from similar grapes–Corvina and Rondinella. The Le Fraghe is fresh and bright with bright red fruit flavors–bruised strawberry and sour cherries– as well as a little spice. It’s really easy drinking–a perfect afternoon sipper.  We enjoyed this while playing a few rounds of bocce ball. 

Bodegas Olivares Rosado Jumilla 2016

If it’s hot out in the afternoon, a rosé is almost necessary.  This Rosado from Bodegas Olivares has lots of bright fresh fruit notes and hints of floral and at around $10, it’s great deal for sipping on hot days

I covered quite a few rosés this summer, click here, here, and here for a few more options.

 

Deschutes Black Butte Porter

I love hiking. As far as I’m concerned, one of the best things about camping is the easy proximity to trails. After a hike, I definitely like treating myself to a little reward and sometimes you just want a beer. This Deschutes Black Butte Porter went down quite well after several long hikes on our recent trip to Humboldt.  It’s smooth with lots of coffee and chocolate notes, and it’s rich, but it was still refreshing enough to enjoy after all that hard work. 



I bought all of these wines at Bay Grape–admittedly keeping it easy on myself since was there at work already. The beer we bought en route.


Do you have favorite wines to drink in the Great Outdoors? Please share!


And as promised, a few scenery pics to draw you outside.

Humboldt County

Greg took these two as well as the cover photo at the top.

Santa Cruz Mountains

Consider 2 oz Pours our version of Page 6.  Whether through business, friends, or an average night at home, we get to try a lot of wine. Here's where we share little tastes of standout pairing experiences from the many tables we dine at. Please share yours as well!