wine

Cranberry Mulled Wine for Fall Entertaining

November 19, 2018 by Natalie 1 Comment

Warm drinks are so cozy and soothing to the soul this time of year. To be perfectly honest, my soul has been feeling a little down lately so it needs all the soothing it can get. I’ve teamed up with Santa Margherita Wines to share a super easy mulled wine recipe that is perfect for Fall and holiday entertaining. The only thing better than indulging in a warm cozy cup of spiced wine is sharing it with the people you love.

I used Santa Margherita Chianti Classico Reserva for this Cranberry Mulled Wine recipe. An authentic Italian Chianti made from grapes grown in the heart of Tuscany’s Chianti Classico region. The aromas of this complex red wine range from cherries and plums to gladiolus flowers and earthy flint which makes it a perfect pairing for the baking spices associated with mulled wine. In addition to using classic mulled wine ingredients, I also added cranberries to make it festive for Thanksgiving!

Cranberry Mulled Wine, makes 6 servings

1 bottle of Santa Margherita Chianti Classico Reserva
1/2 cup cranberries
1/4 cup honey
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 tsp. fresh nutmeg
1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 small oranges
10 whole cloves
3 whole star anise

First slice one orange into wheels and juice the other orange. If you’re using a vanilla bean instead of extract, split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the bean into the wine. Add your wine, spices, juice and fruit to a saucepan and turn the heat up to medium, until the wine is hot. Reduce heat to a very low simmer and keep warm until ready to serve. Before serving use a slotted spoon to remove all of the spices from the wine, and then ladle into mugs. Garnish with cranberries, a cinnamon stick, and a slice of orange.

Mulled wine has a distinct, spiced flavor brought out all the more by sipping it hot. If you prefer something boozier, you can add a few ounces of brandy, bourbon, rye or even rum! I love the tart and fruity finish that the cranberries added to this mulled wine recipe. Santa Margherita Chianti Reserva made the perfect base for the mulled wine because of it’s bright, round, warm, dry, earthy finish.

It’s been a little hard for me to get into the holiday spirit this year. Even just thinking about making this mulled wine has me more excited for Thanksgiving though! I hope you’ll try this Cranberry Mulled Wine recipe and please send some holiday cheer my way in the comments below. xo

Sparkling Rosé Paloma

November 7, 2018 by Natalie 3 Comments

It’s always rosé season in this house! So excited to team up with 90+ Cellars for this post to share my Sparkling Rosé Paloma recipe with you.

If you haven’t heard of 90+ Cellars, it’s a really cool wine brand that curates a portfolio of wines from all over the globe. They love great wine and their mission is to make drinking great wine easier and more affordable for everyone. They do this by buying wine at a discount from acclaimed wineries and vineyards — then they are able to sell great wine at a reduced price under their label. Thus bringing better wine to more people at a lower price. It’s a pretty brilliant concept!

I’ve used their Sparkling Rosé in this recipe which is lovely in a glass on its own but also works marvelously in cocktails. 90+ Cellars Sparkling Rosé is made with Pinot Noir grapes from Northern Italy. It is pale pink in color, dry, fruity, and has charming effervescence. It’s notes of strawberry, passionfruit, and rose petals make it perfect for complimenting spirits and adding a delightful flavor to cocktails.

Sparkling Rosé Paloma, serves 1

1 1/2 oz. blanco tequila

1 oz. fresh grapefruit juice

1/2 oz. fresh lime juice

1/2 oz. simple syrup (1:1)

top with 90+ Cellars Sparkling Rosé

sprigs of thyme, for shaking with and garnish

grapefruit wedges, for garnish

ancho chile salt, for rimming

First, make your ancho chile salt by combining equal parts salt and ancho chile powder. I also sprinkled in some crushed red pepper for extra texture. Rim the edge of your serving glass by running a lime wedge around it and then dipping it into a bowl of your prepared ancho chile salt.

Next, add tequila, grapefruit juice, lime juice, simple syrup and thyme to a cocktail shaker. Add ice, shake, and then strain into your salted glass filled with ice. Top with 90+ Cellars Sparkling Rosé and garnish with a sprig of thyme and grapefruit wedge.

Have I ever told you how much I love Palomas? I do. I do.

They’re citrusy and oh so refreshing. They’re like little fizzy effervescent grapefruit margaritas. Then I went ahead and added rosé to it and made it 100,000,000x better.

Traditionally a Paloma is made with tequila, lime, and grapefruit soda. I like to make mine with the fresh juice of lime and grapefruit and then I use club soda to add the carbonated element. Here I simply swapped out soda for 90+ Cellars Sparkling Rosé and it truly came out amazing! This Sparkling Rosé Paloma is fruity, juicy, fresh, clean, fizzy and herbaceous. Did I mention delicious? Why yes it is!

I hope you’ll be enjoying one this weekend. You can check out 90+ Cellars website here to view and purchase their entire wine collection online. Cheers everyone! xo

DIY Summer Sangria Bar with World Market

July 24, 2018 by Natalie 1 Comment

This post is sponsored by Cost Plus World Market. All opinions expressed in the post are my own and not those of World Market. Thank you for reading the sponsored content that makes Arsenic-Lace possible!

Recently I was super excited to team up with Cost Plus World Market to create a DIY Summer Sangria Bar. I shopped at my local Woodland Park, NJ store where all the store associates were friendly and accommodating. They eagerly helped me find the products I needed for my Sangria Bar. When setting up a Sangria Bar it is so important to have all the appropriate bar tools and accessories. I found so many affordable, not mention, stylish options in store. Cost Plus World Market is definitely my one stop shop for entertaining essentials!

I developed 3 easy, delicious, and unique sangria recipes using wine from World Market as well. It took me by surprise the wide variety of wine they carried in the store. I picked Radio Boca Tempranillo for the red which is a dry and fruity Spanish wine perfect for a traditional sangria. The Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc for the white which is grassy, herbaceous, and has notes of tropical fruit. This crisp, lush, and floral Rosè from Louis Jadot tastes like Summer and is a great pink sangria option.

I picked items with tropical details for my Sangria Bar set up to get everyone in the Summer spirit! A woven fiber table runner together with palm leaf placemats add texture and style when decorating your table. I also used added gold accents along with a gold pineapple ice bucket, gold and marble tray, gold stemless wine glasses, and gold spoons. These inexpensive glass carafes were the perfect option for having multiple vessels to serve the sangria in. Having extra fruit out for guests to customize their sangria is key and these cute blush bowls completed the look while also adding a pop of color.

Head over to the World Market Blog to see the full recipes and how I put together this DIY Summer Sangria Bar. Overall I’m so happy with how it turned out! I’ve added all my picks that I used from World Market below just in case you want to shop them. If you’d rather shop in person at a Cost Plus World Market near you, you can use their convenient store locator on their website. Happy shopping and drinking! 😉

Tropical Mango Frosé

July 13, 2018 by Natalie Leave a Comment

We all know that rosé and frosé have been pretty much the official drinks of Summer for the last few years now. I love a glass of pink wine on a hot day, so why not make it frozen as well? I’ve teamed up with Kinky Beverages to bring you this delicious and refreshing recipe for Tropical Mango Frosé using their Kinky Pink variety. Kinky Pink is a liqueur made with super premium vodka that has been distilled five times with succulent mango, blood orange, and passion fruit. It is the perfect addition to frosé because it adds so much fruity flavor and a little bit more ABV.

Tropical Mango Frosé, serves up to 6

1 bottle of Rosé (I used Le Grand Noir)

3 oz. Kinky Pink

1 1/2 oz. lemon juice

1 cup of fresh or frozen mango

2 large ice cube trays

blender

Last year I developed an easy frosé recipe on Palm Springs Style. Instead of freezing the rosé and additional ingredients in a sheet pan and scraping it to make shaved ice I made rosé ice cubes. This allows you to blend the frosé to order without the mess and also lets you tailor how many serving you’re making.

First, make the rosé ice cubes by pouring the wine into your ice cube trays. Top each mold with a little bit of water just to ensure proper freezing. I cut my mango fresh and also froze it ahead of time. The key to a great frosé is having as many of the ingredients frozen before blending. That makes the consistency of the frosé more thick and slushy like.

Next, in the pitcher of your blender add 1 cup of frozen mango, 1 1/2 oz. lemon juice, 3 oz. Kinky Pink, and 6 rosé ice cubes (about a half a bottle). Blend on high and then pour into your desired serving vessel. If you want to make 1 serving cut this recipe in half and if you want to serve 6 people double it. Garnish your frosé with an edible flower like an orchid.

Sip and enjoy!

I’m so glad I decided to use this Kinky Pink in my Tropical Mango Frosé. It adds so much bursting, fruity, tropical flavors and compliments the fresh mango and wine so well. I thought this recipe was sweet enough without adding any additional sugar. If you feel that you want this Tropical Mango Frosé more on the sweeter side, I would recommend adding 3/4 oz. of simple syrup to the recipe above. I hope you’re enjoying your Summer and make sure next time you’re sitting poolside to whip up a batch of this Tropical Mango Frosé. Or if you’re like me, just drink it and pretend you’re poolside. Either way, the flavors will most certainly transport you somewhere tropical or wherever your heart desires´. 😉

Food + Wine Pairing for Spring Entertaining

April 30, 2018 by Natalie 17 Comments

I’m so excited to be teaming up with Santa Margherita Wines this year to show you how I enjoy drinking their wines at home. Spring is such a busy time for entertaining. The weather is getting nicer and Mother’s Day, plus many holiday weekends are fast approaching. Having some ideas of what food to serve and what kind of drinks to pair it with is so important.

For as much as I love cocktails, I also love to enjoy a glass of wine. Wine is also so much easier to have on hand and serve especially when you’re entertaining. I’ve put together two easy dishes and paired them with Santa Margherita Sparkling Rosé.

Spring Pea Salad with Strawberries, serves 4

Ingredients

8 cups mixed salad greens

1 cup snow peas or snap peas, trimmed

3/4 cup strawberries, sliced

1/2 cup fresh peas

1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped

For the dressing

3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsp. champagne vinegar

1 tsp. honey

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

Arrange greens, mint, snow/snap peas, strawberries, peas, and feta on a serving platter. Whisk oil, vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper in a small bowl and drizzle over the salad.

Cantaloupe & Proscuitto Skewers

Ingredients

3 oz. package of prosciutto

1 cantaloupe

basil leaves

fresh black pepper

Cut the cantaloupe into bite-sized pieces. cut each piece of prosciutto in half and roll individually. Place a toothpick into each piece of prosciutto and then into the cantaloupe. Sprinkle with sliced basil and fresh black pepper.

These recipes were so easy and they took minutes to whip up. Talk about some super easy peasy entertaining ideas! I love using fresh fruit in salads and appetizers in the Spring/Summer and it really brings out the fruity notes in the wine. Santa Margherita Sparkling Rosé has a full bouquet of pleasing floral aromas with hints of red berry and crafted with a blend of white wine made from Chardonnay and Glera grapes and a red varietal of Malbec. It is delicate in flavor but also vibrant and well rounded which makes it a deliciously easy drinking wine. This pale bubbly pink wine is tasty, aromatic, and a great companion to savory appetizers, salads, and seafood dishes. I absolutely adore how it complemented the spring pea salad and prosciutto skewers.

What’s your favorite food and wine pairing? I hope you will consider these options next time you’re entertaining!

Tropical Rosé Sangria

September 3, 2017 by Natalie Leave a Comment

I’m holding on to Summer for dear life over here. I already see people posting fall cocktails, and drinking pumpkin spice lattes. While I love fall and all the delicious flavors it brings, I’m a summer girl, and it’s so hard to say goodbye. Luckily, this year I will be a bi-coastal blogger. When it’s cold and dreary here, I will still be creating warm weather appropriate drinks for Palm Springs Style, another blog that I contribute to. Dreaming of warm weather will be a little easier this Winter and hopefully, I can arrange a jaunt back to my favorite little city sometime in the new year. It’s Labor Day Weekend and I hope you have something fun planned. I’ve whipped up this fruity sangria recipe to make sure we send Summer off in style. Unlike classic sangria made with red wine, orange juice, and orange liqueur, this Tropical Rosé Sangria recipe is lighter, fruitier, with a tropical and sweet finish.

Tropical Rosé Sangria, serves 4-6

1 bottle of rosé

1/2 cup cognac or brandy

1/4 cup Giffard passionfruit liqueur

1 cup fresh pineapple juice

strawberries

kiwis

mango

lime

pineapple

Slice your strawberries, kiwis, mango, lime wheels and pineapple, then place in a bowl or pitcher.

Add pineapple juice, cognac, passionfruit liqueur, and rosé. Stir and then cover, let steep in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. When ready to serve, add ice and pour into glasses.

I think this is my favorite sangria recipe that I have ever had. Swapping the orange liqueur out for passionfruit liqueur was a last minute decision but a brilliant idea. I’m so happy I did it! If you’re not familiar with Giffard, they make a range of delicious liqueurs for using in cocktails. The Crème de Fruits de la Passion (Passionfruit) was released in the U.S this past Spring. I highly recommend picking up a bottle and trying some of their other varieties of liqueurs that are available. Using fresh pineapple juice instead of the classic orange in this sangria recipe really made the tropical element come to life and complemented the fresh fruit and rosé.

Sangria is so easy to make and that’s why it’s great for large parties or gatherings. This recipe is so good you might not want to share it though. Enjoy your last big weekend of Summer and if you decide to make this recipe, chime in on the comments and let me know how it turns out! Cheers everyone! xo

wine

Cranberry Mulled Wine, makes 6 servings

Sparkling Rosé Paloma, serves 1

Tropical Mango Frosé, serves up to 6

Spring Pea Salad with Strawberries, serves 4

Ingredients

For the dressing

Cantaloupe & Proscuitto Skewers

Ingredients

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