Posts Categorized: Wine Cocktails

Frosé at Home

July 12, 2019

We were very excited to be the wine sponsor for this year’s Waterfront Blues Fest in Portland. Besides providing our wines for the event we wanted to do something extra special that would elevate the 4-day experience. Since Blues Fest days are usually nice and hot, we created a Frosé drink using slushy machines and it turned out to be a tasty—and popular—cold wine option. So popular in fact that a few people asked for the recipe!

Since we all can’t have a commercial grade slushy machine in our homes we came up with a smaller scale version that you can enjoy at home. All you need is a little time and a blender.

Pour 1 full bottle of Underwood Rosé into a baking dish. Place in the freezer for 4-6 hours (or overnight). While waiting for the wine to freeze, make a simple syrup by boiling ½ cup sugar and ½ cup water, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Do this early enough so it has time to cool.

Once the rosé has been in the freezer for a number of hours, it should be slushy but not completely frozen. Take it out, pour it into a blender with a handful of ice and 4 oz of simple syrup. Blend until completely combined and place the blender in the freezer for another 1-2 hours.

Pour into your favorite Mazama Wares glass and enjoy on a nice day.
Frosé will stay good in the freezer for a couple of days.

What is a Radler?

June 21, 2019

Traditionally a radler is a low alcohol (sessionable) beer-based beverage. Usually consisting of half beer (something light like a pilsner or wheat beer) and half lemonade (grapefruit juice is also common). Originating in Germany, radler roughly translates to cyclist. As the story goes, one hot day in 1922, an innkeeper in the Bavarian countryside mixed lemonade with beer to create a refreshing, quaffable beverage for all the cyclists riding by. Some say part of the reasoning behind this was because the innkeeper was running out of beer and needed to create a product that he could continue to serve.

Another common term you’ll hear referring to a beer based beverage mixed with a carbonated lemon/lime juice is a shandy. The shandy originated in Britain in the 1850s and was traditionally mixed with ginger.

What is our Riesling Radler?

We’re not precious about our wine. Like a traditional radler, ours emulates the flavors of hops and citrus (we use grapefruit puree), yet adds Oregon riesling to bring a crisp and refreshing approach. Our Riesling Radler is gluten-free with a 3% alcohol level, a perfect pairing for the hot summer months.

Learn more about the story behind our Riesling Radler here.

Another way to enjoy our Riesling Radler

While one of the things we love about our Riesling Radler is it’s sessionable quality, sometimes you want a little more to it. Or, if you are running low on the radler, this helps make it last longer. It’s the perfect base for a cocktail and is asking for a spirit with a pronounced character. The smokiness from the mezcal balances well with the sweet notes from the radler.

Serves 2

1 can Underwood Riesling Radler
2 oz Mezcal Unión
Lime and orange slices
Ice

Grab 2 old fashioned cocktail glasses and add ice to each glass. Pour 1oz of mezcal into each glass. Pour half a can of Riesling Radler equally into the glasses. Squeeze a slice of lime and orange into each glass. Top with extra citrus slices, stir and enjoy.

Cheers!

Thanks to our friends at Mazama Wares for the colorful cocktail glassware.

The Perfect Afternoon Drink: Easy Summer Sangria

June 7, 2019

As Portlanders, we often forget that a gorgeous river runs straight through our fair city. We get so distracted crossing from one side to the other that the simple act of sitting on its banks and enjoying an afternoon with a friend can get lost in the shuffle.

There are great hidden (and not so hidden) parks all along the Willamette River from St. Johns to Lake Oswego to Oregon City. We recommend that you do a little exploring this summer and rediscover a few of these locales. And, we would certainly be remiss if we were to send you out on a Lewis-and-Clark-style Pacific-Northwest Expedition without an appropriate beverage to enjoy once you’ve found your spot.

So, allow us to introduce our new favorite summertime punch, the Easy Summer Sangria. We know that life is hectic, and sometimes the best plans are made at the last minute, so this recipe should fit those situations perfectly. With just a little prep the night before you can be enjoying a colorful and fruity glass of this sangria by the following afternoon.

STEP ONE:

In a large Mason Jar, combine:

3/4 C of white rum
1/2 C simple syrup
Juice of 2 limes
Juice of 1 large orange
1 C frozen blueberries
1/2 C orange slices cut into small triangles.
3 sprigs of mint

Let this macerate in your fridge overnight.
Call a friend and tell them where to meet you the next afternoon.

STEP TWO:

Once you’ve found a suitable spot, pull out your Mason jar and add 2 cans of Underwood Pinot Gris. For our less coordinated explorers, feel free to add one can at a time. But since we are pros…

STEP THREE:

Fill two smaller Mason jars with ice.

Pour each about three-quarters full of the sangria and then top off with sparkling water or club soda. Mix well, making sure you get plenty of blueberries and orange slices in each glass. Garnish with a fresh mint sprig.

While you are making up the sangria, have your friend shuffle and deal the cards, and then you are all ready to settle in to a fun round of Go Fish with a beautiful view.

Photography, Recipe and Text by David L. Reamer. (@dlreamer)

Creating the Perfect Springtime Cocktail

May 24, 2019

There is a particular Portland phenomenon we have been noticing for years. Every Spring there is one weekend when, with no conscious cues or communication, everyone in town decides it’s time to cut their lawn. It’s that first perfect weekend, when the rain has let up, the grass is a little too tall and healthy, and so the ol’ lawnmower gets dusted off, gassed up—or charged up (it is Portland after all)—and put to the task.

During that weekend, all of Portland is filled with that unmistakably sweet, musky scent of freshly cut grass. The kids are playing in the yard, the parks are full and Spring has officially Sprung.

Enter Lucas Plant, bartender and cook extraordinaire, Navy man, father, and all-around charming guy. Lucas has worked at many of the best spots in Portland from Clyde Common to Central to Oven & Shaker. Currently, Lucas is a “Luxury Spirits Broker” for Coastal Pacific, but he is also part owner of Bull In China. We asked Lucas to create a cocktail that captured the happiness of the first weekend of Spring and all the nostalgic flavors it evokes.

Lucas set to the task and concocted an intriguing cocktail, (whose name, coincidentally, originated from the memoir, ‘I Couldn’t Smoke the Grass on my Fathers Lawn” by Charlie Chaplin’s son, Michael.)

Grass Clippings

3 1/2 oz Kings Ridge Riesling
1/2 oz Bee Local Honey Water
1/2 teaspoon Bee Local Bee Pollen
1/2 teaspoon Steven Smith Powdered Matcha Tea No. 7

STEP ONE: Combine all ingredients in a shaker with lots of ice.

Lucas uses a professional bar spoon, but a 1/2 teaspoon measure works just as well.

STEP TWO: Shake like your life depends on it!

STEP 3: Strain (to remover solids) into another shaker with no ice.

STEP FOUR: Shake again as if your life depends on it. This step is very important as it aerates the liquid and releases all the pollen and matcha flavors.

STEP FIVE: Pour into a chilled coupe glass and enjoy.

Many thanks to Lucas for lending his time and talents to this post. And, if you dig the custom apron he is sporting, check out Portlands own OROX Leathers.

Also, head over to Bull In China for all your professional (and unprofessional) bar accoutrements.

Photography and Text by David L. Reamer. (@dlreamer)

Mezcal Rosérita

May 3, 2019

Cinco de Mayo is Sunday and we are ready to go with our resurrected—and improved—Rosérita! We’ve updated this cocktail with our team’s favorite liquor: mezcal. If you’ve never tried mezcal, we highly recommend giving it a shot. The smokiness from the mezcal and the fresh, robust fruit flavors of our Underwood Rosé creates a balanced and tasty blended beverage.

Our favorite thing about mezcal is that it can be made from different varieties of agave, while tequila is only made from one. This allows different mezcals to have more complex and unique flavor profiles compared to tequila.

Para todo mal, mezcal, y para todo bien, también.

Cheers!

Mezcal Rosérita

Serves 4

4 cups ice
10oz mezcal
6oz Underwood Rosé
4oz strawberry puree
Juice of 1 lime
Juice of half an orange
2.5 oz Green Chartreuse
1.5 oz agave nectar
10 dashes grapefruit bitters
Salt for your glass rim

Put all the ingredients together in a blender and blend until slushy. Pour into glasses with salted rims and add a lime wedge. Enjoy with friends or co-workers on a sunny afternoon.

Posts Categorized: Wine Cocktails

Frosé at Home

What is a Radler?

The Perfect Afternoon Drink: Easy Summer Sangria

Creating the Perfect Springtime Cocktail

Mezcal Rosérita

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