Tacos with Wine

As this blog is ever evolving I’m going to write not just about drinking wines, but other uses for wine and about fun liquors and interesting mixed drinks.

Tonight for dinner I made tacos.  The recipe called for beer but I decided to mix things up and add red wine instead.  My husband who is a really good cook always tells me to use a wine that I drink when I cook, so I used Jeunesse.  The mix of the spicy hot sauce and the sweetness of the wine were a great combination.  My husband loved the tacos and said that I should make pasta with this sauce, just use less hot sauce.  He’s a big foodie and loves to experiment when he cooks so a compliment from him is big for me.  Next time I make tacos I’m going to experiment some more and use a drier wine.

For anyone interested here is my taco recipe, but if you have your own it’s fine just add wine to it.  I didn’t use measurements, just eyed everything.

1 Package of ground beef

Salt

Pepper

3Garlic cloves

1 Onion

Chili Powder

Cumin

Wine

Hot Sauce

Tomato Sauce

Heat a large nonstick skillet and add the beef to it, breaking it up.  Season meat with salt, pepper, chili powder and cumin.  Add chopped onion and garlic.  Cook for a few minutes, then add wine.  Add hot sauce and tomato sauce.  Throughout the whole time stir the meat with a spatula or a wooden spoon.  Cover the skillet and let it cook for 5 minutes over low heat.

Sometimes If You Don't Like a Wine Try It Again and Again and Maybe...

Have you ever have anything grow on you.  I mean you start our not liking something and then end up liking it a lot.  Well I’ve had that recently with a certain wine.  For the last few months I’ve been doing tastings of a new wine from Israel, Zmora Cabernet Sauvignon.  This semi-sweet wine is made from young grapes so it does not taste like a regular Cabernet.  It is more sweet than most Cabs, which makes it somewhat unique.

Here is the quote from the bottle label about the wine, “Among the enchanting secrets that often escape aficionados of Cabernet Sauvignon are the youthful nuances of character displayed during the wine's infancy. These characteristics include a vibrant purple color, a soft texture, and a perceived sweetness on ones palate, with fresh berry, cherry and floral aromas. In an effort to produce Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that exhibits this exceptional character, we cold fermented ripe grapes in exclusively stainless steel tanks.”

The first time I tasted the wine I was not a fan of it, it was too sweet.  However with each time I started liking it more and more.  When I do tastings of it people love it, unless they only drink dry wines.  Some store owners are amazed at how much I’m actually able to sell the wine.  I remember one store owner who’s customers mostly buy high end dry wines, told me that he doubts that anyone will buy it because it’s too sweet was shocked that I sold over 20 bottles in just 3 hours.   At my daughter’s birthday party I had it and two other wines.  I made everyone try all the wines and asked which one was their favorite.  I was somewhat surprised that Zmora was the favorite for everyone.  Tonight I actually brought a bottle of it to my parents house and together with my aunt the 4 of us drank the whole bottle.  No there wasn’t a reason for us drinking tonight, we just like to drink wine.

 

So lesson learned, sometimes a wine can grow on you.  If you don’t like it the first time, try it again and again and you might end up loving it.