We’ve been at enough wine events to know that people tend to fall into a wine-drinking rut of drinking what they know they like. We’re guilty of that, too – check my cellar and you’ll likely find mostly rieslings and Napa cabs.

So when we learned Total Wine was offering a consumer class on The Grapes Less Traveled, three of us jumped at the chance to learn and try some new wines. Read the full story

For Part 1 of the BBQ, click here

Now, on to those mushrooms I mentioned in Part 1! Once again, my indecision led me to two different mushroom dishes, instead of having to choose between them.

The first was Marsala-marinated portobello mushroom slices. This recipe produced another pairing conundrum in that the marinade had Marsala wine (a fortified wine from Sicily) blended with honey, soy sauce, olive oil and hot sauce. I wasn’t sure which ingredient to consider most, but had read wine used in cooking should take some precedence when choosing wine to serve.

With my go-to wine assistant Ryan Stanford at the Boynton Beach Total Wine store helping me, we decided upon another Sicilian wine for pairing and pulled a 2007 Cusumano Nero D’Avola ($12.99). This grape was new to me, and being the adventurous type, I was eager to give it a taste. (Cool fact: this bottle is stopped with a glass cork!) Read the full story