Welcome to Big Blend Radio's wine time with Peggy Show featuring Peggy Fiandaka who along with her wine maker husband Kurt Lawrence Dunham owns and operates L.D.V. Winery in Arizona. Hey everybody, it is time for Wine Time with Peggy here. You know what? It is summer as we all know and it's pretty hot and warm depending on where you are in the country but in Arizona it is definitely hot and it's about a wonderful monsoon season and we're actually in Tucson as we record this. Peggy is in Scottsdale, right? Are you in Scottsdale today? Where are you? I am up in the valley. Yes, I am the valley of the very hot sun. Yeah, but you have all kinds of cool events at the tasting room at L.D.V. Winery.com is the website to go do for that. So what's going on this summer? If you've got more events, I saw you doing a wine and cheese pairing the other day. Right, right. We did that and we have a winemaker talk tomorrow or we do that on Saturdays and so we have that coming up and we have rosé in August that we're going to be talking all about rosé and tasting some different rosés. So we have a winemaker talk so we have a winemaker dinner at the end of August which is a lot of fun. It's very limited to only 20 people and it's four courses paired with our wines and we have a lot of fun and sometimes it's hard to get them out of the tasting room to go home after an evening. Well, I know Nancy and I had dinner and wine with you both, you know, you and Kurt, when we saw you last year and I'm like, that was too much fun. I don't want to go home either and we didn't. We don't know where home is but no kidding but that was awesome because you guys really know the inside of fairings and that kind of leads me into, I know we're going to talk about fruit and pairings today and I want to get into the vineyard report and the term of the month but in pairing, like when you're making wines, yeah, during the wine making part and you guys do your tasting to see is it ready for release and actually even thinking about when you do the harvest which I know is coming soon, right? When you're doing all that, do you start to think, well, we want to go this way with the wine because it will pair well with these foods is that part of your process in how you go and disappear? Absolutely, absolutely. But, you know, as Kurt, more than, more than I, since he's out in the vineyard and touching all the vines on a regular basis but he is thinking about what at this time of year is as we're in variation and so the grapes are changing colors and they're shifting to begin to produce sugar instead of just growing like crazy. They're shifting their energy towards ripening and he begins to start tasting them, of course, smelling the aromas that they're putting off out in the vineyard and he starts thinking about what he's going to do with those grapes and not only what barrel is he going to put it in but maybe what kind of wine profile it will have and then, you know, what he might be pairing that with. So if he's walking through the grandage block, he's thinking different pairings and different thoughts about what what barrels French barrels or American oak barrels he might be putting those grapes and so it's an evolution process but yeah, it's all part of it. Yeah, because I always think because, you know, especially what are popular foods for people to make? You know, so I know that some some things, you know, not everyone's buying guavas, you know, when I'm talking about fruit but I mean, I used to live with those in my backyard. It's just like you just go eat a guava, you know, you're hungry, go to the garden. So, you know, I really missed that. That is so good. However, where we are in Tucson, I'm about to pick a big fat cantaloupe and it's already starting to smell good. So we got to we got to talk about that in wine because yes. Yeah, I like to put pepper on cantaloupe. I don't know if I'm weird or whapper. Well, I put sea salt, but. Oh, okay. Pepper, I haven't tried but that makes sense. Absolutely. Black pepper. Yeah, no. I read about it in Ayurveda. It helps break down the cantaloupe and I like it's on sweet things and so I figured and it just has this whole other taste. I do it with beer too. I put salt in it for a beer. Okay, not IPAs or anything, but if it's like light beer. Yeah, anyway, we went off into a different drink here, you know. Well, it fits, but the salt and pepper, it fits on fruit and it does add a little bit, a little spice or a little brings out the fruit flavor a little bit when you put salt on things. So, yeah, it makes perfect sense. Okay. Well, how's the vineyard? The vineyard is absolutely gorgeous. I mean, this is the time of year to visit a vineyard when the grapes are turning colors and we're going through a variation and and like I said, they're starting to ripen and the gurnage, in my opinion, is the most beautiful as it turns from the green grapes to it's a it has pinks and oranges and reds and purple and everything. On one cluster, you might get all of those colors as it's evolving. It's just incredible. And so when you when verrations stops or as well, it's just probably midway through variation on all of our grape varieties for about 45 days to harvest then, you know. So, it's an important marker in the process of growing the grapes. You know, so what we're doing in the vineyard where we added some trace nutrients and fungicide. Remember, because we have monsoon rain in Arizona and before those clusters really close up tight, we want to put some fungicide in there to protect them from rot and molding when the rains come. So, we did that. It's a preventative measure for us. We turned the bird guard because of course, the because the birds now are very interested in the vineyard because those grapes are getting sweet and they're going to start wanting to partake in the fruits of our labor. So, we have to protect them. Wow. So, what happens? What do you do with that? Like, I mean, I know people that used to shoot off cannons and stuff. Like, same kind of thing. I mean, it's a bird guard. So, we have several of them in the vineyard and they make this unbelievably horrible noise of a raptor attacking another bird. So, it scares them away and it's loud. Right. I don't want to do netting. A lot of people do netting for not only for a bird guard, but also for hail. It helps with hail too, damage. But I don't want to pick out dead birds that get stuck in nets. You know, we did that once when we did seedlings while we were planting a wild flower garden with all these native plants. But the soil wasn't ready. So, everything came out these little anyway. It was interesting. It was a miniature garden, really. And then we learned how to mend soil. But all these desert iguanas got wrapped up in the netting and we were horrified. We, oh, we were devastated because birds, like because we had all the little gold finches. And, you know, we didn't need if we just left them because the gold finches ate the aphids off the roses. It was like this perfect ecosystem later once we got it. But netting is mean, I think. I agree. So, we make a pack with the birds and say you can have the fruit on the first couple layers or rows on either side of the vineyard. You can have those, but stay away from the rest. And they're pretty darn good. But they start realizing learning what that bird guard is all about. And they're not as frightened about it towards the end of harvest or towards harvesting. So, it is one of these, but that's how we manage it. Yeah, you have to, yeah. The spring, you know, Nancy and I pets it as we travel and we were in Petri City. And I don't know if you've been on the show with Andrea, but she has a ceramis studio. And so at the studio, she has all these blue birds nesting everywhere. Oh, wow. And it's awesome. Well, here comes the crows and the ravens going after the little nest because some of them don't go in their old bird boxes. There are other finches. She comes home and it's so like, I was running around in the garden just waving my hands like a crazy person. And then, you know, later I say, okay, Nancy, give me some wine because then I don't look like so crazy running around. She comes home and they have these ergot. It's then it isn't real bullets or anything. It just is the noise. So she comes home and she sees them come towards the birds on the front porch. She comes running out and she's like, crazy woman. I felt like Annie Oakley was out there. Now she goes and then her husband is so cool. He's funny. He says, well, you can't be the only one. He runs out the back and gets the birds at the back when it was the ravens and crows are. Oh, sure. They're really. Oh, yeah, they get bad. Oh, yeah, no, I love them. But yeah, so there's birds. Yeah, birds of a feather, right? But yeah, so how is the vineyard? Because I know with the storms and the monsoons, have you been okay with that? I know you mentioned on the last show that you had some, is it shattering? Shatter. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. From you got it. Yeah. We see some of the results of that. So, it impacts the amount of grapes that we're going to be able to get on some of the vines. But certainly not as bad as we thought it was going to be. And it impacted the granage and the surah somewhat. And the vineyard actually a little bit too. But no, but I think we're going to be talking about the word of the day. And I think we're going to be okay in terms of our yield. Okay. So, I think we're going to be okay. So, yeah, variation is great. The vineyard looks beautiful. Everything's going as we hope that monsoon rains haven't been horrible or unmanageable yet. No hail damage or anything like that. That's awesome. Exactly. So, knock on wood if I could. My table is glass here, so I can't knock on it, but knock on wood for us and keep you in our thoughts that it continues. Yeah. Yeah. You know, because I think the monsoon season has been awesome so far. And the desert needs it. Always needs it. Right. So, we need water. You know, I just wish it would dump a whole bunch in the Colorado River too. Like really, can I just take someone's hose and put it? Yeah. It's not my hose. Yeah. Right. But so, you're looking good. Now, when you are planting every year, like, I know you've got your babies. Did your babies stay okay? You're new? Oh my gosh. The babies are doing great. Yes. So, we're actually training those young vines that we planted this year. We're training them to grow properly onto the fruiting wire. And they're, you know, we pretty much had a almost 100% take of the vines that we planted. So, yeah, we're thrilled. Kurt talks to them, doesn't he? When he goes out there, he does. He is the vine whisperer. Yeah. Now, you see this vine over here? Now, this is what you could grow up to be and follow these steps, right? I know. And you're going to be the most beautiful, beautiful grenage that we've ever made. Yeah. No, he is. Yeah. Well, I think, you know, it's such hard work what you do. And we really respect it. And it's, you know, and when you hear of any kind of storm and damage, like, I just cringe every time I see anything going on across the country with weather. Right. Because I think immediately of people that are in the agricultural world, and of course, parks, you know, anything you would land. Well, there's wildfires right now. Again, of course, hurricanes, which we just dodged. But all of that does do some damage to even fishermen and all of that. So we always kind of like, you know, we grab a glass of wine, take a sip and do a prayer, you know. Yeah, no, thank you. And it helps. It helps. Yeah. I think so. But do you have to kind of go like a rule of thumb? Right. You know, Nancy's always talking about my nana and she always says, you know, you plant one for you, one for your neighbors and community and one for the birds, because the birds will always take it. So if you don't, you know, actively plan for them. Yeah. So do you do that kind of thing when you're planting and also just as, you know, watching the growth and everything, do you go, okay, well, we always know there's going to be this kind of percentage. So just expect that absolutely, absolutely. And it's just the way we chose to grow grapes and not, you know, the birds are going to get some. And that's perfectly fine with us. So yield is our word of the month. And this is the time that we begin to project what, how many clusters per plant we might have. So we can begin to determine how big our harvest is going to be, how many tons are we going to be pulling in on terms of grapes. And so that's really important. So we can make sure that we have enough staff, basically, to do the harvest, but also that we're prepared in terms of the barrels and the space that we might have to have in the winery for pulling in that harvest. So Kurt begins to go through the field and do a field survey of how many clusters per vine there might be. And historically, we know that we have brought in about 3.5 tons of grapes per acre. And as you know, we're about 13 acres. Of course, every varietal, every different, each of the different varietals will produce a different yield per vine. So for example, the Grinache is the most prolific. They are, they produce a lot. Then our Vignet is a heavy producer also usually. And then Saraz typically our lowest yield. And so we really take care of the grapes that we have because we're not taking a bunch of those, but I need to go sing to them. I want to go sing to them. Next I come out. You know, those Saraz are like, they're gold. Yeah, they are. They really are. So yield is very important for us to begin to determine how much we might be getting. And you get about 50 cases of wine per ton of grapes that we produce. So all of that, we're beginning to figure out at this time in the vineyard is what that yield might be. And Kurt's really good at determining yield. And of course, between now and harvest, something can happen that will impact that yield. But right now, and he'll have to make adjustments, but right now he's getting a good feel for the yield. So that's a lot to do. And do you have to kind of, I know we'll be talking harvest soon. But I mean, it's not like everybody's like, okay, we'll ripe on one day. We'll be ripe in five minutes. Everyone get your shears. Yeah. So like what? I mean, so they're all going to stage themselves, right? They stage themselves. Yep. And it's hard to determine like, I have friends that want to come down and help with harvest. And so what date can we come down and do it? And it's like, I can't tell you a date. I don't know what the actual date might be. You have to be flexible. I mean, there's plenty of things for us to do in the winery and so on. But it might not be harvesting that particular day or not. But we'll know as we get into August, we think we're going to start harvesting middle to late August. But it all depends on how the weather, it's been hot this year. It's been very hot this year. It is hot. Yeah, across the country. I mean, it's really interesting going from the back east to here. And we haven't done Arizona heat for a while, like for summer, right? And then the hottest part of summer. And it's, I like it. Like, I don't know, I like the dry heat. I mean, it's dry. It is still dry. But compared to back east and back east is like flooding and been so rainy and so damp. You know, it's like, everybody has humidifiers there because of that. So I think to grow grapes there has got to be like hell, quite frankly, because at least you get some breezes here. Right. Right. Yeah, I always tell people if you're in the south or in the southeast, come to Arizona in the summertime, our resorts have incredible discounts. And you can stay in a beautiful resort with these big swimming pools, where you lazy rivers and everything like that. With a cocktail. Yeah, and the cocktail just stay on the lazy river at a resort. And the weather is so much better than the 100 and 100% humidity and 100 degrees in the south. You can you can deal with summer weather in Arizona. Yeah, you can't, you know, in the mornings. Oh my gosh, I'm, you know, I'm up. I start getting up at one o'clock here because I'm in a different, like, I don't know what my zone is anymore. You know, traveling full type of does it to you, but I'm up and I'm like, I don't need to get up. But then I'm like, yeah, but I could. But then like, forest, when you start seeing it, everybody waking up. The birds start and oh my gosh, and to hear doves again makes my heart happy. I really miss all the doves, you know, get that back easy. They don't, they have doves, but it's like they have more robins and this is different, right? Right. I miss the doves. And so I'm like, oh, and then see the sunrise, but it's cooler and you go out and you check. I'm all into the plant. She has a wonderful garden here. So I'm all like, is everybody getting water? Do you need a little care? And then the evening as it cools down, I mean, it's just, it's awesome. It is awesome, but it is a good time to eat fruit. So let's talk about. Yes. You have a recipe for us. Tell us about the recipe. I do. I do. And actually, I'm having a dinner party and I'm serving this for an appetizer. It's ricotta cheese and roasted grapes and crostinis. So it's very simple. It's made with seedless green and black or red grapes. And you roast them, you put a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, drizzle some balsamic vinegar on. You take DC, well, excuse me, you take the stems off and put them on a pan, toss them with all that little salt and pepper. Roast them for about 15 minutes until they just begin to pop a little bit and make your crostini toast. And of course, I do that with a little olive oil and and garlic and sometimes with butter even and toast those and make those really nice. And you spread it with a little ricotta cheese. Put the grapes on top of that and put a drizzle of honey over top of that, little salt and pepper and rosemary, sprigs of chopped rosemary on top. Just a wonderful little appetizer, a little sweet, a little savory. I like it a lot yummy. So that sounds fabulous. Yeah, I never thought of roasting grapes. Now I want to do it just for the fun of it. Oh, roast, yes, especially if you get those huge things of grapes and maybe you've been eating them and they start maybe not looking the best as they can be. Roast them and they're great with pork, you know, make a little sauce with roasted grapes and put it over your pork. Or again, just roast them a little bit with a little balsamic vinegar or flavored vinegar, put it over cheeses like brie. Just yeah, they're just an easy, adds a little sweetness, a little pop to whatever you want. Why didn't you talk to me the other day? I was finishing off grapes and I've got brie cheese I have to eat such a sad life. Oh, goodness, that would have been perfect. Well, I mean, I can't tell up in three. I don't know now. Mm, cantaloupe and brie. Yeah, I mean, brie goes with anything. Especially if you get that triple brie. I mean, what can I do? I'm not going to lie, but I have been known to even make brie quesadillas. Uh-huh. And I'm going to tell you they're good. Or if you have figs and you want to stop them with a little bit of brie and wrap them with prosciutto. Yeah. Okay, we're back into the figs. Okay, so figs, this, because depending on where you are in the country, figs are a big deal. Right. And if the raccoons got them well, you know, they love them. I'll never forget a friend who had a farm. She did these amazing strawberries, lettuce, all kinds of tomatoes, everything. And I remember one night and she had a bed and breakfast attached and she went, I think we were letting a cat or dog out or something. We looked out and she had her flashlight on and her fig tree was just this sea of eyes and all these raccoons having a fig party. And she's like, well, that's that. But then they had left her some, but she did like figs with like a goat cheese. Yeah, goat cheese or sometimes that that Greek yogurt and honey and honey on it. But what would you do wine wise? Because I would go more. My initial thing first thing was to go for a chardonnay when I thought about that, but now I don't know. I think I would go to a light red, actually. I would go to like our garnish or our blend. Oh, yeah, yeah. Medium blend. I think or a peanut of the water might be nice or a Santa Vacy might be nice with that. Okay. I don't medium-reds. So when you're looking at fruit, are we looking at acidity levels, sugar, sweetness levels, earthiness? Because that's the other thing, earthiness. Yeah, you want to balance the sweetness and the acidity with whatever the fruit characteristics are and the wine characteristics. So you don't want one to be overpowering, obviously. And you don't want to, you want your wine to at least be as sweet as the fruits that you are going to be pairing it with. So yeah, there's that balance always. That's the key thing and anything you're doing. You don't want a wine that is heavily oaked. For example, if you're choosing a fruit that's really fruity, you don't want to overpower it with oak. So I'd stay with more lightly oaked or unoaked wines. A little crisper. Yeah, a little bit crisper. So lighter wines, basically. Yeah, but all fruit, you can find a wine, I believe, to pair with all fruit. And of course, it all depends on how you're cooking or using your fruit. Is it going to be served raw? Or are you going to grill it? Or are you going to saute it? Or are you going to put it in the oven? Like we've talked about with the grapes. That'll all determine also what wine you're going to put in. But you know, I was going to say I've got a great list of tips from you and suggestions, pairing suggestions from you. And recipes too, even the sangria, I'll link in there. So everyone, look in the show notes, the episode notes for the link there, or go to blendradioandtv.com for that. And also go to ldvwinary.com because you guys have all kinds of recipes. Make sure you get the newsletter because that keeps you up to date with events, recipes, your blog, everything that you do on video tips, on video, you know, I always get excited. I'll get my little YouTube subscription and goes ding ding. And I'm like, is it wine time? Yeah. What's going on? So tell Kurt I say hi. Awesome. I will. I will. Yeah. But the I I cracked up because the first fruit you talk about bananas and bananas. So like, how are you going to? Are you going to have them fresh or like, what are you doing with these things? You know, bananas are very sweet, typically, right? And they have that creaminess of them. So it all depends on how you want to cook it. I mean, you can slice the whole banana lengthwise in half, toss it with a little oil and put it on your grill and grill them. Awesome. And serve them with some ice cream and then serve it with a Chardonnay or a Sauvignon Blanc or our vignet. Or you might caramelize them. Yeah. Yeah. Bambayum. Bambayum. And then you might go with a red wine, potentially, with that because of this reel, it brings out the real sugar and caramelly flavors of it. And so Bernage or some Pinot Noir has have that richness that caramelized flavor to them wouldn't pair beautifully with a flumbade banana. Oh, what about plantains? That would be cool to to do that. I think the same thing you would with plantains, even though the texture of plantains are different than I think bananas are, it still has and they're not quite as sweet as bananas are. But I think you could do similar kind of pairings with plantains with that. And grilling and cooking with fruit is so interesting. I mean, when you're talking about roasting the grapes, but grilling, making the kebabs and just getting those grill marks on them, I mean, I want to try and grill mango. People think I'm not, but I love mango. I think you can. No, not a problem. You always want to take a neutral oil a little bit so they don't and toss them with a neutral oil, like olive oil or something. And season them, salt and pepper, a little salt and pepper on them, and then just lay them flush side down on the grill. If you don't want to put them on a kebab stick or something. But yeah, no, definitely. Any kind of fleshy kind of fruit does beautiful peaches and plums and pairs. Oh, see, I want to put some chili powder on them. Yeah, maybe even some iron pepper. So I like that, you know, that spice. So the other ones get black pepper, but now I'll put chili on a cantaloupe. Yeah. And you might want to finish it with some of those herbs so they don't get, you know, burnt in the fire because that can add that unpleasant taste. Would you marinate fruit? Like, you know, how we marinate meat when you would? Absolutely. But one in it. You could. Absolutely. You could. The key is you don't want the, you don't want to marinate it too long because it'll start breaking down the integrity of the fruit. So I would be careful how long you you marinate, but absolutely marinating plums or peaches. Like, but choose, of course, like I always say about marinating meats, choose the wine or the wine profile you're going to use syrup it with. Nothing brings a dish together as if you're marinating, say, peaches with the same wine you're going to drink with the meal. That's what I would, I would suggest. Yeah. And it's peach month. August is peach month. Yeah. Millions of peaches. We got to love peaches. Oh, man. A good and a grilled peach. Oh, a grilled peach is unbelievable. Grilled at it with some ice cream or just cream on top and just and pineapple does beautiful on the grill. That is really. Listen, pineapple upside down cake is like for the gods. That is, that is from the gods. It is important to have in life and you could cook it with a little rum, bake it with a little more. You know, a lot of people forget to grill their lemons and it adds a wonderful flavor. So maybe you're not going to be eating the lemons as dessert, but you're going to serve that or squeeze it over your fish or over your chicken. It just adds an incredible flavor if you grill the grill them along with your protein that you're grilling. And if you use limes and you grill them and you use them for your margaritas, it's a whole other flavor. And that season, aren't we? It's incredible. We're talking about citrus and I have a weird question. Well, it's not necessarily weird, but Nancy used to know the whole fondue thing, right? So that fondue came from selling pots, right? That's how this whole trend was created. But anyway, don't go out. If I ever get everyone into the history of how things trends were started, it was all by the manufacturers and it was. So they're like, what are we going to do these pots? Well, let's teach people how to cook things in these pots and make it a trend. So fondue happened and I'm not an anti-fondue. It's fun. So she used to make in a giant crock pot, she would melt chocolate, dark and milk chocolate, I think, rum or like a rum or a bourbon kind of sauce. Then she would get a little mandarin oranges and angel food cake. Yes, of course. You have your cheese fondue first, but this is dessert and she would dip it in. And of course, this is like with angel food cake, this is heaven now. Yes, this is heaven. Yeah. So what would you pair with that? I was thinking, what's the naughty wine? I always call it the naughty wine. Oh, our epilogue, a dessert wine. Yeah. Would you pair well with that? Yes, you could do that with the fondue. And because ours, our dessert wine isn't really sweet. It's high alcohol, but it is only 4% residual sugar. So it would stand up beautifully, you know, with that because of the chocolate, the dark chocolate and the milk chocolate, our petite sera would be beautiful with that. Oh, yeah. Also, yeah, even though you're it's got a rum in there too. So that would that change it? Yeah. No, I think the rum brings a a bit of toastiness to it, you know, right? I don't think it would clash. Maybe I should get answer to make it. I'm going to make it. I think we need to have some. I'm thinking it's good for the holidays. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. And anytime you do in a fondue, it's it's interactive. I like I like dinner parties and food that is interactive. So people kind of participate and you get conversation going while you're doing it. And you make fun of people when they can't do it properly. It's a lot of fun. Well, well, that's goes to the grilling of the fruit, right? You can get kids involved, but don't stab your hands or anything. But you can choose what fruit you want to grow. Like if you've got the kebab, right? And it's like having taco parties. Like, you know, here's the taco bar. You know, that is fun because people choose what they like, you know, but I would be one of those people who go, okay, I'm going to take and I'm going to take red onion and put it with my fruit because I like it personally, I'm weird, but I like that because it does balance. Like the salsa, fruit salsa is good. Mango, mango salsa is awesome. You I think your profile, love, you love the savory and the sweet mix together, both it. Yes. And spice. And I know next month's spice and everything. So I'm just getting, I'm getting amped up for it. I'm going to start doing it now. But yeah, I mean, the fruit thing, like when you're doing a kebab, like some people put kiwis and I don't know what to do with kiwi. I really, I don't, you know, every time I've had one of them, I'm like, is this ripe or not? Is it I don't know like I don't have a weird relationship with that. Maybe I need to go to New Zealand. Maybe or maybe we don't get them as ripe or as as yeah, I'm not as familiar with kiwis. I haven't had a lot out of them at all. But yeah, it's touching go if it's ripe enough or not. Now, what about berries? Because berries and wines, especially champagne, so you're talking with each. Oh, yeah. You've got to pick your berries wisely, I think, you know, and just don't keep them for days either. They've got to, there's just a picking the right time, the right, you know, strawberries too when they're white at the top. I don't know. You soak them in sugar or what do you do? So come and why? Yeah, you can soak them in wine. Absolutely. I mean, perfect pairing, strawberries and champagne. I mean, how, how, how much more perfect a pairing can that be? But or it was sangria, you know, the beauty of making a wonderful sangria and then putting the fruit in that it just accentuates the taste of it. But berries, blackberries, blueberries, those dark berries are perfect with a sarat or a bolder red wine. And you can either marinate them in them. You can roast those berries just like I was talking about roasting the fruit earlier, love the grapes earlier, you can roast your berries, you can macerate them to put, I'm actually making a cheesecake this week and macerating some berries and wine to put over the top. Did you have to say cheesecake? Seriously, you said cheesecake. Yeah, I, you know, cheesecakes are one of those things you got to learn how to do because you can't buy unless you're in New York or you're near a really wonderful bakery, but you need to make a cheesecake and they're just incredible when they're homemade. It's one of Kurt's favorites. So I, I've been treating him to cheesecake lately. But yeah, we're getting a better harvest. Yeah, we have a dinner party and I'm making a cheesecake. Yeah. Oh man, send it our way. I want to go. You know, when you're talking about using the berries and wine, I know a lady who would do a blackberry pies. Oh sure. And raspberries, because I mean, they'd grow like Marion berries and, you know, we're at that season where you can just, they're everywhere, right? And so she would, you know, maybe sometimes sweet them up a little bit, but she would put some wine in there. I mean, the alcohol does bake out, but of course it does. It gives this a wonderful way of, I don't know, just it unifies everything. I think wine unifies people anyway. Right. It gives it a little bit of depth of flavor. Then you get, you don't get from just adding sugar to it. It adds a little depth of flavor, just like adding a little balsamic vinegar to something. It's like one of those, what is that? I taste something different in there. What is that? And it's usually the balsamic vinegar that might be added or, you know, so. You also bring up cherries. Oh, cherries and Pinot Noir. Oh, oh, I'm thinking I want cherries, and I want Pinot Noir and brownies. Oh, there you go. Yeah. No, the lushness of cherries and the lushness of Pinot Noir. It's like a match made in heaven, like strawberries and champagne, because it's a texture thing too. It's not just this, it's the texture of the wine. Yes. The mouth feels normally say right, but the mouth feel is texture. Yeah. And right now from the northwest, you can get Washington cherries that are just out of this world. And they are really sweet and wonderful. And yeah, I can eat those all day with Pinot Noir. Oh, man, man. And now what about pomegranates? Because that is, you know, number one, it's really healthy for you. Red wine is anti-oxidizing ourselves here. So we're going to all be like, you know, super healthy, but pomegranates are a pain, you know, to eat unless you're just picking out the seeds, you know. Yeah. But it goes, they go well with pomegranate and wine and cheese are like, Oh, gosh. Yeah. Or add them to a salad, you know, they add that punch to an incredible salad. And, you know, they just add a little bit of tartness, a little bit of sweetness. And just adds that little bit of crunch that you might want in a wonderful salad. And of course pairing it with, you know, a medium-bodied red or a fuller body white, I think is more of, I'd say with the Sauvignon Blanc kind of style of a white wine, maybe with that salad with pomegranates. I've taken pomegranate juice and put it in champagne. Ah, for Christmas time. Yeah. You know, that would I would think that would be good. Yeah. Yeah. A little bit of champagne or Prosecco, you know, it's in Prosecco and Kava. That's a little bit different. This is Kava that has bigger bubbles. That's what I like about Kava. Yeah, bubbles. Almost oily, like the, I don't know. It's true. No, no, no, you're right. I think you're right with that texture. You're a texture girl. You can pick out those different textures. I'm, you know, but that's a good thing. Or sometimes it, you know, it can ruin experiences for you, you know. Yeah. Now, what's your favorite fruit of all time? Like your favorite fruit, like, what are you going to have? Favorite fruit. I love a right peach, you know, at the peak of peach season and you just I love grill. Yeah, just picked. I love grilled peaches, just, you know, cut them in half, put them on the grill and then turn them over with and do a drizzle, a caramel drizzle or a just balsamic vinegar in the top of them would be lovely. Put a little bit of ice cream on them, nothing better than ripe peaches that are, have that grilled taste to them, I think. But I also love cherries, you know, cherry pie, anything with cherries. I'm all in, you know. Wow. Wow. This is, this is a dangerous conversation that that cantaloupe's getting hacked open real soon. What about watermelon? We've got to bring it watermelon thing. Yeah, because that's, that's a, that's different because it's so, so watery. Yes, it is, you know, black pepper. Yes, or salt, a little salt, a little that black pepper, you know, pairing it with a champagne or, you know, some kind of sparkling line is beautiful with watermelon. Let's see what else. Even a Grinache, maybe. Yeah, yeah, I would say, you know, maybe a lighter red to done with watermelon. You can't go wrong with watermelon, all by itself. I mean, it's becoming, it's soon, it's not quite watermelon season where we're at, yet, but it's coming soon. And we had watermelon on 4th of July, we had a little gathering and a friend we were pet sitting for just came back from Poland and our pairing. So, you know, Nancy, I have wine. And then she goes, well, here's what I brought from Poland. Oh, you made moonshine. So they give you the base moonshine. And then you make your own blend and then the soak and she kept it while while she was in Poland. Wow. And then she bought all these different distilled, you know, vodka and everything. She was supposed to give a bottle one for her son, one for her daughter and somehow her and her cousin drink it. So no Christmas for you. Oh my goodness. This moonshine that had herbs. And so it had a little bit of teeny bit of cinnamon, some teeny bit of cloves, a little bit of like our like marmalade, it kind of feel to it. I mean, so we went Polish for 4th of July, but I will tell you this, you see, you got to water that stuff down. Everybody's putting ice and everything. And I'm just like, I'm good tonight, man. I'm like, but it was so good. It was like a whole different experience. But it was the fruit that balanced out the cloves and everything. If she didn't have that little bit of orange peel in it, I think it would have been too much. Yeah, but it was this orange in there that really kind of balanced it out. It was pretty darn good. I'd do it again. Heck yeah. And that's something important to think about when you're grilling your fruit too, is what are the spices that you might be adding onto it once you pull it off the grill. So if you're making a fruit salad, are you putting other herbs in with that fruit salad, or if you're pulling your your peaches off and then you're doing cinnamon or something over the top. So depending on what you're finishing, your fruit with will help you determine which wine you're going to choose also. Does that might change? If you're putting some heavy spice on it, you might want to go a little bolder with your wine. Yeah, and taste your fruit too. Taste it first. Yeah, before you do stuff, because that can change as well. One thing I wanted to give a shout out to you in where your winery is where L.D.V. winery is you do have peaches. Yes, we do. We have peaches as apples. Apples, apple and eggs. Yeah, it's a peach season as pastas, at least where they are. I don't think you can still pick the peaches. I think they're done for the season and they had a good season, but we're getting into apple picking here soon. And of course, it's corn season. So bushels of corn on the cob are absolutely incredible. No, so yeah, fun time of year to put black pepper on corn too. Yeah, oh yeah. No, no, that's common, I think. Yeah, yeah. I think so, or a low day. I made a low day, the Mexican style corn is so, yeah. Because again, we've got that little bit of, you know, lime in there and yeah, we got to have those contrasts, you know, they go well together. They do. So apples, when we look at wine, the first thing I would think of doing with an apple, okay, yes, there's apple pie, right? And you can tell me about the wine with that. But I was thinking, if you have apples, you know, keep them real nice and crisp and put them in salad. Yeah, oh boy, that's a beautiful thing to put in salads. Absolutely. Yeah, a little put up or put it with your brie. You know, nothing we like is dipping slices of wonderful apple like a honey crisp apple and brie adjust is wonderful. So yeah, use your apple in a variety of different ways and not just eating it whole but chopping it up in your salad, making apple sauce with your and serving it with your pork that you might be making. Oh, and coleslaw, you can even put it in coleslaw, you know, please make in South Africa carrot salad. Oh sure. Great. Great it. And then some people would put a few raisins. Yeah, you can send your raisins, make them happy raisins. Yeah. And then you put it with, you could put some pepper in there or some spice spice, a little bit of orange juice or pineapple juice. So some people would put slices of pineapple, some would put and just a little bit, right? Yeah. And or a little bit of apple with it. And so I think a nice white wine would go with that. That would be beautiful. Actually, even the branache would go with that, I think. Yeah, Rosé. Beautiful. Rosé. Yeah. A fuller body, Rosé. You know, otherwise it would disappear in the flavors. But yeah, like our rosé of granache would be beautiful with that. What would you do apple pie with? Because, you know, apple pie, again, we love cinnamon. So our apple pie, when we make it, is probably over-cinnamined because we love that spice to apple pie. And so we would put it with, we could go all the way up to a surah with that. So I think it would be great. Yeah, it depends on the sugar. I used to make this kind of like a pie-ish kind of thing. I used to grate apples. Like you would grate them all up and roll them up and mix them with a little bit of like, it was kind of a flowery mixture. And this was not as a kid. I don't know. I did a lot of baking. And cinnamon and a little bit of cloves, teeny bit of nutmeg. And then you wrote with brown sugar. And we have this mixture and kind of like a cakey kind of mixture. And then you baked it in like a pie kind of. It was different. It was different, but it was so easy to make. And it was so good. And your topping is like a brown sugar crust topping. Seriously. Love it. Love it. Boing, boing, boing, a little sugar high. But well, everyone, I think we've covered the fruit loops of the world. Yes, I think so too. And I hope that people tried their fruit in a different kind of way. And it's a great way to get kids to eat their fruit. It's so healthy for you. And we're at the peak of the season. So try some new fruits and have fun with it. Yeah, make little fruit animals and things. That's always fun. Cool. So everyone, keep up with Peggy at LDV winery.com. And when do you open up for shipping again? Because I know it's, you know, bummer. Still ways out October, probably in September, October before we can start shifting. But you can go to the tasting room. But you know, plan, start looking, start shopping. Right. And we have an incredible sale going on through the end of August, up to 50% off cases of wine. And so if you're, yeah, I know 40% for six bottles, 50% for off for a case, we can hold it until we can ship it in the fall. So contact me or get online and take a look at the sale. And you can't get it, can't get our wine any cheaper than right now. So yeah, on good. That's smart. Well, thanks so much, Peggy and Heidi Kurt for my Nancy and I sure will you be safe and stay cool. Yeah, you too. Cheers. Thank you for listening to Big Blend Radio's Wine Time with Peggy Show. Keep up with LDV winery at LDV winery.com. Keep up with Big Blend Radio at Big Blend Radio.com.
