summer sparkler? say PARINGA!

OK so I don’t know what PARINGA means (yet) but what it means to us at sunset at the beach with good friends these first few days of summer is “CHEERS!”

I’ve had the pleasure the last few nights of introducing my friends to sparking red wine from Australia which I bought at the Grateful Palate warehouse sale, and it has been a sparkling success!

On Thursday night with Annie we smiled our way through a bottle of Majella sparkling shiraz (read that post here), Friday night with Kathy and Alan we enjoyed perfect Paringa sparkling shiraz (2004) with BBQ salmon, salad, and rice, and Saturday night with Myr and Charles we had a bottle of Paringa with appetizers–cream cheese and smoked salmon on crackers, and a sundried tomato/pesto/olive torta with bread while we waited for the scallops wrapped in Grateful Palate hickory smoked bacon and tritip. (I’ll write about dinner’s Ebenezer Shiraz 2006 by Chris Ringland in another post!)

Myr and Charles had never had sparkling red wine before (other than cold duck which is no comparison); it is now Myr’s second favorite wine and it may be the Big Monkey’s all time favorite. He even preferred the Paringa over the Magella at half the price! When I asked him why he liked it so much, he said, “First, it’s like Pop Rocks going off in your mouth or like the Fourth of July going off–it’s a good time!”

Charles said it was bubbly and fizzy and like a good red wine but a dash sweeter. “I could have drank it all night,” he said, “Well, if I was 20 years younger!

Next time we need to bring at least one more bottle–to have with our eggs and bacon while watching cavorting dolphins and eating their breakfast!

So if you have any prejudices against sparkling reds, drop them, and try one! Then, share a bottle with friends (at the beach, at home, at a music festival), and watch the expressions of wonderment grow on their faces!

Thanks, Myr, for taking the photos! Say PARINGA!

(Which I found is a road in South Australia and a lake in NZ)