Top Selling Bubblies of 2011

If you've ever perused the bubbly table in the shop you know that we offer a wide selection of price points from many different countries.  I've compiled a list of this years top sellers to help you make selections for your upcoming celebrations.   

Purchasing 3 bottles or more of any of our delicious sparkling wines will get you the discounted price and the deal is good for 12/30 and 12/31.

Friday, 12/30 hours:  11-9pm.  Saturday 12/31 hours 11-7ish...

Here's a list of our best sellers, but we have many more delicious sparklers in stock...

1. Avissi Prosecco - This Extra Dry Prosecco is light straw colored wine with aromas of white flowers and apricots and an avalanche of exuberant bubbles tumbling in the glass. (The name “Avissi” comes from the fizzy sound the bubbles make as they rise in the flute.) $13.99 reg/ $10.99 super discount!!

2.  Graham Beck Sparkling Rose (South Africa) - Watermelon pink color with a hint of silver. Nose offers aromas of yeast, and raspberries.Tiny dispersed bubbles, with a creamy mousse. Fruity, yet dry with crisp acidity. Flavors of raspberries, cherries, with a slight mineral notes. $19.99 reg/$17.99 discount

3. Segura Viudas Brut Reserve (Spain) The gentle sparkle of this wine carries scents of honeyed apple and red-apple skin. It’s fragrant and clean, and lasts on fruit, a rich style with balance. 90 Points Wine & Spirits $9.99 reg/$8.99 discount

4.  Schrambserg Blanc de Blanc (California) - Made from 100% Chardonnay grown mostly in Napa and Sonoma counties, this charming bubbly is one of the best blanc de blancs on the market. It's rich and honeyed and feels so good in the mouth, carrying flavors of oranges, sweet limes, Meyer lemons, vanilla and toasty bread. 94 Points WE, 91 Points WS - $28.99 reg/ $25.99 discount

5. Gosset Brut Excellence (France) - Refined and creamy, with delicate acidity that finds fine balance with the layers of poached apple and pear, lemon cake, ground ginger, smoke and almond cream flavors. Very elegant. 92 Points Wine Spectator - $49.99 reg/ $44.99 discount

6. Laetitia Sparkling Brut (California) - Zesty citrus aromas with hints of lemon curd and minerals. Rich honeydew melon flavors with tart apple and apricot notes. Great acids with a nice minerality, a stunner from California!  $20.99 reg/ $18.99 discount

7.  Monmoussea Brut Etoile (France) -  Light golden color. tiny long-lasting bubbles. A full and frothy up front, with almond, fig and pears flavors, and a soft elegant finish.  $11.50 reg / $10.35 discount

8.  Francois Montand Sparkling Brut Blanc de Blancs (France) - A fabulous deal from South West France, an affordable bubbly that tastes of freshly baked bread, Golden Delicious apples and Meyer lemons. $16.50 reg/ $14.85 discount

9.  Ca de Medici Sparkling Lambrusco (Italy) - Deep raspberry aromatics dominate the nose and are backed by a sweet suggestion of candied plum and dusty stone. The palate is a velvety expression of raspberry and plum flavors with zesty, but not sharp, acidity. $12.99 reg/ $11.69 discount

10. Charles Heidseick Brut Reserve (France) - A great wine, much more than only a Champagne, this is impressively rich and ripe, with crisp yellow fruits, spices and layers of toast. It’s in an opulent style that is round but also very focused on tight layers of fruit, minerality and final vivid acidity.  93 Points Wine Spectator - $49.99 reg/ $44.99 discount

Cheers to You and a Happy New Year!

As we prepare the shop and ourselves for the upcoming week of restocking, selecting bubbles for your New Year's celebrations and the dreaded counting of year end inventory, I just wanted to take a minute to thank all of you for your support over the past year.

We know you have many places to shop for wine in New Orleans and options seem to be increasing rapidly.  Grocery store chains are beginning to realize that New Orleanians are looking for something other than Yellow Tail and Sutter Home and many energetic entrepreneurs are jumping headfirst into opening small neighborhood retail shops.  We understand how easy it could be to fill your grocery cart with wines while you shop or just pop into the closest place with easy parking.

So for those of you who still enjoy the thrill of discovering a new producer or obscure variety, selected by people who truly care about the products we stock or who like to hear the story behind a particular wine on our shelves or who just like hanging out in the shop enjoying a glass with friends, we thank you.  We thank you for trusting us to make your selections, for sharing your company and for supporting us through the years.  And for those of you who haven't been in the shop in a while for some reason or another, come by.  You'll always get the same warm greeting, thoughtful help and quality wine whether you are spending $10 or $100.

Cheers to you, and here's hoping you have the happiest year of your life ahead!

This Week at Swirl Wine Bar & Market

photo by nola defender

Happenings 

Shopping on Ponce Just Got Better!
Everyone coming in to the store is just buzzing about our new next door neighbor, Maple Street Books.  Holding their official opening this past weekend with a reading and book signing by Catherine Campanella, author of New Orleans City Parks, they have turned a vacant residential condo into a beautifully inviting book shop.  Their friendly staff and great vibe are a wonderful addition to our neighborhood and we couldn't have dreamt of a better use for that space.
We ran a little special with them last weekend that rewarded you with discounts for shopping at both of our stores, and I'm already thinking about different wine, cheese and book combinations, so keep an out for more deals! 

5 Great Gift Ideas Featuring Local Merchants 

Speaking of shopping, if you are looking to keep it local, Ponce de Leon Street has a lot to offer! Here are a few gift ideas featuring your Faubourg St. John Merchants:

1.  Cafe Degas' Cookbook celebrates the 25 year old restaurant's food and history and contains one of my favorite dishes, their French Onion Soup.  Let us pick out a nice bottle of French wine and package them together for a great gift!  Buy the book at the restaurant and stop then stop at Swirl and have a glass of wine while we find the perfect bottle!

2.  Lux Salon has a great selection of gifts and products as well as excellent services.  Many patrons come to Swirl for cheese plates and wine to take to the salon while receiving services.  Ask at either shop about our "Spoil Yourself"  gift certificates from both places that are a win, win, win!

3.  Swirl's "Local Gifts with Heart and Soul" take shopping local to a new level! Bottles of wine made by passionate New Orleanians, accompanied by holiday ornaments handcrafted by local artists with contributions to area non-profits, these unique packages perfect for those looking to do something meaningful with their holiday gift giving.  And we have lots of other great handmade gifts by local artists, many accessories for the wine drinker in your life as well and beautiful gold carriers and boxes for you wine selections.  Click here for more photos and info on the packages,  Heart and Soul

4.  Maple Street Books has lots to offer in terms of books by local authors.  Pick up the New Orleans City Park book and combine it with one of our Getaway insulated wine bags complete with corkscrew and a favorite bottle to inspire a picnic in our local jewel of a park!

5.  FSJ Merchants - Give a "Day on Ponce de Leon" with certificates from your favorite merchants!  If you include us and at least 2 other merchants, we'll give you an organza gift bag to put your gift certificates in for festive packaging!

Facebook Specials
Swirl Facebook Fans should keep an eye out for limited run specials we'll be posting on our page.  Our FBE (Facebook Exclusive) post that will run this week will feature a free glass of wine at the bar with the purchase of a cheese plate.  The first 10 fans who say "I want one" on our page the day of the special will receive the FBE the day of the post.  So keep an eye out for my post sometime this week with our first special.  If you have a facebook account you can become a fan here:  Swirl Facebook Page

This Week on Swirl and Savor
Global Mexican Cuisine at Canal Street Bistro "...we've been twice before for breakfast and lunch, but this was our first go at dinner since Chef Guillermo Peters began serving on weekend nights.  Both of our previous experiences were excellent; great, fresh, creative food at good prices in a pretty comfy spot on Canal Street not far from our house..." Click here for the post, Canal Street Bistro 

Friday Free For All!  December 16, 6-8pm
Josh Prados will join us tonight with 4 great wines from his portfolio.  Check out our Facebook page on Friday to see what we'll be serving!

Antonio's Italy
We had so much fun on our tour of Tuscany, we've booked another....May 26-June 2, 2012.  Only 1 more suite is available so if you are considering this trip it's time to book! Copies of our itinerary and pricing can be viewed here:  Antonio's Italy

Upcoming EventsHoliday Yappy Hour at Fetch!  Tuesday, December 13, 6-8pm
More details soon, but I heard rumors about Santa pictures with your pooch!

Wednesday December 14 - Sorry No Flites Tonight!
We'll be prepping for a private after hours party, but the store is open until 8pm!

Friday Free For All!  December 16, 6-8pm
Josh Prados will join us tonight with 4 great wines from his portfolio...Check out our Facebook page on Friday to see what we'll be serving!

Festive Holiday Flite, December 21, 6-8pm
Join us  for a flite of  3 great wines while you finish up your holiday shopping!  You can check out our Facebook page on Wednesday to see what we'll be serving!  Flites are 2 oz pours of 3 really nice wines and are $12-$15.  Cheese plates and charcuterie plates will also be available.  No reservations needed, just pull up a seat at the bar and pick up your boarding pass!

Friday Free For All!  December 23, 6-8pm
We'll be pouring some great holiday selections tonight featuring 4 great wines...Check out our Facebook page on Friday to see what we'll be serving!

Saturday December 24, Closing at 3pm

Sunday, December 25 and Monday, December 26, Closed

Wednesday Nite Flites, December 28, 6-8pm
You guessed it, we'll be pouring flites of our favorite bubblies to bring in the New Year!  You can check out our Facebook page on Wednesday to see what we'll be serving!  Flites are 2 oz pours of 3 really nice wines and are $12-$15.  Cheese plates and charcuterie plates will also be available.  No reservations needed, just pull up a seat at the bar and pick up your boarding pass!

Friday Free For All, December 30th, 6-8pm
Join Greg Knaps from Lirette Selections with 4 wines from one of our favorite all around California producers, Lioco.  This is going to be a great lineup!  Something tells me we might throw in a bubbly for fun too...Check out our Facebook page on Friday to see what we'll be serving!

Saturday December 31, Closing at 3pm

Sunday, January 1 and Monday, January 2, Closed

Tuesday January 3, resume normal hours

Hope to See You Soon!
Beth, Kerry, Michelle, Matt, Michael and Sangi

Swirl Wine Bar & Market
3143 Ponce de Leon Street
New Orleans, LA 70119
504.304.0635

Global Mexican Cuisine at Canal Street Bistro

eco cafe/canal st. bistro, 3903 canal st. 70119

Our plan on Saturday night was to head down to the Bywater to see our friend Fatma at Fatoush for some of that local, grass fed, delicious lamb they serve but our friend Phil called with a plea to join him at Canal Street Bistro/Eco Cafe (I'm still not really sure what the dual name is about...).  We've been twice before for breakfast and lunch, but this was our first go at dinner since Chef Guillermo Peters began serving on weekend nights.  Both of our previous experiences were excellent; great, fresh, creative food at good prices in a pretty comfy spot on Canal Street not far from our house.  So we decided to meet Phil, a regular at the place, and see if deserved all of the hype he'd been giving it.

We've been fans of Chef Guillermo for years, back before Katrina when he was in a stripmall in Kenner turning out the best Mexican food in the New Orleans area.  Cheap, fresh, delicious food in a funky atmosphere, the salsa bar alone at Taqueros made it worth the trip.  In 2004 his hugely ambitious plan to open a two floor restaurant in the city brought him to St. Charles Avenue where Taqueros Coyoacan just never seemed to take off despite his talent in the kitchen.  So we were happy to see his name come up in association with this small, nicely renovated spot in an old house on Canal Street.  What an asset to the neighborhood!

First off, I do really like the atmosphere in the place, comfortable, laid back, casual, but elegant with white tablecloths and nice lighting. We came in jeans, but there were groups of people more appropriately dressed for a Saturday night out and neither of us looked out of place. So we like the vibe, we're fans of the chef, we've had two good experiences previously, needless to say we were pretty excited about what the evening would bring, but...we got off to a bad start when we asked about the price of a corkage fee for the one bottle of wine we had brought.  We were told by the host that Chef Guillermo personally chooses the wines on the list to accompany his food and does not allow guests to bring their own wines...period, end of discussion...ugh! Ok, so I look at the list (the wine list online is not current) to see what Chef feels is worthy of his culinary efforts and I see the word Estancia multiple times accompanied by the words chardonnay, merlot, cabernet, pinot noir...there were at least 6-7 different Estancia wines on the list accompanied by a few other California wines and a few Spanish wines.  And even though the Spanish wines were decent, I was so turned off by the response to my corkage question and the makeup of the majority of the list that chef was so convinced matched the quality of his food, I couldn't even order any wine. So we reluctantly decided on cocktails and the satsuma margaritas were nice and priced well at $7.50.

satsuma margarita

On to the food, we ordered quite a few of the small plates that are priced $6-$18. The large plates ranged from $22 to $34 and since our original plan was the totally affordable Fatoush, I couldn't mentally make the move into fine dining price mode.  Guacamole with tostados was a decent size serving, but at $9 it should have been; shrimp chipotle $9, was 4 gulf shrimp sauteed with red onions and chipotle chiles, served with tostadas and cotija cheese and was just short of being over cooked, but had a nice spicy, sweetness to it; tequila shrimp $9, was 3 gulf shrimp sauteed in a delightful creamy, tangy tequila chipotle sauce that made you want to dip anything you could find onto the plate; esquites $6, featured corn kernels sauteed with red onions, cilantro, jalpeños and a splash of lime juice, served with again with tostadas.  By this point we had been over served with tostados and I was starting to feel like they loaded them on the plate to help make up for the small portions of their "small plates".  We also ordered one of the specials which was grilled cojita cheese served atop a bright red slightly sweet piquillo coulis and scattered with capers; nice texture and good combination of salty/sweet with the piquillo sauce and the capers.

esquites

grilled cotija cheese

Kerry and I ordered the petite chipotle steak $18, that was a petite filet, grilled and served over an open faced quesadilla, topped with chipotle tomato sauce and queso fresco.  The rare meat was fabulously cooked to perfection and would have been an excellent match for the 2007 Cuvelier Coleccion Malbec blend from Argentina that was in my wine bag. Though delicious and cut it-with-a-fork tender, it was a bit overwhelmed by the sauce and the quesadilla underneath got soggy, giving the dish a bit of doughy finish.

petite chipotle steak

Phil ordered one of Guillermo's signature dishes that we've seen different versions of on a few of his menus, the diver scallops $28, poached in olive oil, served over rice and topped with poblano cream sauce. Again, perfectly cooked, slightly translucent with a firm texture, they had a wonderful sweetness that paired beautifully with the poblano cream sauce.  He has mastered this dish many times over and it shows.

So overall impressions:  good, creative food but a little on the pricey side for the portion size; nice, cozy comfortable atmosphere with attentive service but a disappointing sub par wine list that doesn't anywhere near live up to quality of his food.  And the attitude about not being able to bring a bottle for a corkage fee?  I'm not sure we'll be back for dinner, but lunch and breakfast rate high on our list.

KT's Winter Warmer Chili

It was one of those cold dark nights last week that I actually left the shop before 7pm.  As I opened the front door to Sangi's goofy dog greeting, comforting smoky, spicy smells drifted from the kitchen along with the rapidly clicking sound of a chopping knife in action.  Kerry was making chili.  I know if she is cooking the recipe is likely to include lots of peppers and a good amount of spicy heat, but there was another smell, a rich, almost caramel like sweetness in the air...ahh she had added one of her other favorite things in life to the recipe, a good dark beer. 

So we settled down with our delicious bowls of chili and cold bottles of Sierra Nevada beer while Harley the cat and Sangi made their cozy beds beside us to watch a little television.  There's nothing like a bowl of spicy chili in the winter to warm your soul...

Ingredients
    3-4 slices applewood or hickory smoked bacon, cut in pieces
    6-8 cloves garlic, chopped
    1 medium onion, chopped
    1 small green bell pepper, chopped
    1 small anaheim or poblano pepper, chopped
    (combined about 1 cup peppers)
    1 pound lean ground beef
    1 pound ground pork
    1 tbl. ground cumin
    1 tbl. ground coriander
    1 tbl. ground ancho chile
    1 tbl. smoked paprika
    2 tsp. dried oregano
    1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
    ½ tsp salt (add more to taste later if needed)
    3 tbl. chopped chipotle chiles in ancho sauce
    2 tbl. apple cider vinegar
    Ground cayenne pepper to taste
    1 bottle (12 oz.) stout or porter beer
    1 to 1-1/2 c. water
    1 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
    1 15 oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
    Shredded cheddar, for garnish
    Sliced scallions, for garnish

Directions
In large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until lightly crisp, remove & set aside when browned. To the bacon fat add onions and peppers and sauté until nearly wilted then add garlic.

While onions etc are cooking, in a separate pan brown the meat in a tablespoon of oil with a little salt and pepper briefly in a couple of batches and set aside. Finely chop enough of the bacon to get a heaping tablespoon.

When onions etc are done, add the meat to the Dutch oven, stir well. Now add chopped bacon, cumin, coriander, ancho chile, oregano, smoked paprika, black pepper, and salt. Cook for about 5 minutes over med. heat, stirring frequently. Now add crushed tomatoes, chipotle chiles, beer, and enough water to get desired consistency. Mix well, cover and simmer on low heat for 15 mins.

Add pinto beans and vinegar. If needed add a little more water. Mix well, cover and simmer on low heat for 30 mins. – stir a few times.

Taste for seasoning and add salt if needed and a sprinkling of cayenne pepper if more heat desired. Serve in small bowls with shredded cheese and sliced scallions.

Makes about 6 servings.

Local Gifts with Heart and Soul

This holiday season Swirl Wine Bar & Market has taken "shopping local" to new level. Bottles of wine made by passionate New Orleanians, accompanied by holiday ornaments handcrafted by local artists with contributions to area non-profits, these unique packages perfect for those looking to do something meaningful with their holiday gift giving.  

A Gift From the Heart

The 2008 Moises Vieux Carre Pinot Noir is made by local doc James Moises, with 2008 representing one of the finest vintages Oregon has ever seen.  As a tribute to his native New Orleans, James has named this combination of two of his favorite vineyards "Vieux Carre" and only produced 100 cases.  Add a handcrafted wood and glass ornament featuring our treasured fleur de lis from our friends David Porretto and Paulette Lizano plus a donation to Steve Gleason's Initiative Foundation that supports ALS research and give a gift from the heart.$65




A Gift with Soul

The 2009 Vending Machine Wines Double Shotgun is a tribute to the New Orleans architectural icon, the double shotgun house, made by local wine producers Monica Bourgeois and Neil Gernon, from some of the top vineyards in California.  With only 150 cases produced, this blend of Cabernet Franc and Petite Verdot with its shotgun house label by artist Grant Schexnider is unique on its own, but when you combine it with a handcrafted wooden shotgun house ornament by Shaun Aleman and a contribution to the Preservation Resource Center, you have a truly special gift with New Orleans' soul. $60