Is your social calendar full but your wallet empty? Love to enjoy the finer things in life but the ATM just won't spew anything out? The mailbox is full of invites but you don't want to show up empty-handed? Your pockets may be hollow, after all, but you still have social obligations.
Don't despair! You can partake in all the holiday merriment and still afford to keep the lights on with the Mionetto line of frizzante and semi-frizzante wines. At about $10 a bottle, Mionetto offers something different for every occasion, and the varieties are also great for making delicious bubbly cocktails.
Turn to the Mionetto IL Prosecco for weekend brunches, late lunch gatherings or wine and cheese parties. This sparkling wine has fresh pear and citrus flavors that pair wonderfully with frittatas, eggs Benedict, smoked salmon plates and fresh fruits. The IL Prosecco is also a fun way to start an evening; it will open up the palate for light appetizers, salads or seafood entrees.
Have fun with this sparkler and add some peach juice or puree to make the classic Bellini cocktail. Make sure to keep the ratio at 1 oz. peach juice to 4 oz. IL Prosecco; you don't want the peach flavor to overpower the wine. If you can't find peach juice, visit your favorite wine shop and ask for the Cipriani Bellini mix in the iconic small, green cans. Mix one can per bottle of sparkling wine.
Speaking of peach flavors, another tasty wonder from Mionetto is their semi-frizzante (or "semi-sparkling") IL Moscato. The Moscato grape originates in the northwestern region of Piedmont in Italy and is best known for producing Asti Spumante wines. The grape is very aromatic and bright with light peach hints and a crisp, lingering finish.
If your party invite reads "Mexican Fiesta" or "Asian Celebration," then the Mionetto IL Moscato is the bottle to grab. It also pairs well with regular old party foods like chicken wings, coconut shrimp, pigs-in-a-blanket and crab-stuffed mushrooms.
Make a Poinsettia cocktail out of your IL Moscato: pour one shot Cointreau and one shot cranberry juice into a champagne flute, then fill with IL Moscato. This is a fun, tasty and colorful cocktail for the holiday season.
Since we live in Florida, it's likely that a cook-out might be in your future. We may sweat the summer, but it's one of the region's small pleasures that we can fire up the grill practically year round. If host and/or hostess love to entertain outdoors, then presenting a bottle of the Mionetto IL Lambrusco will make you a guest extraordinaire. Bursting with fresh strawberries, this light red wine with a hint of fizz to it has nice acidity and a clean finish.
Lambrusco comes from Emilia-Romagna; one of my favorite Italian regions, it's north of Tuscany and known as Italy's capital of gastronomy — think cured meats (bologna), cheeses (parmigiano), vinegars (balsamic from Modena) and the list goes on. Now think grilled sausages, mushroom cheeseburgers or grilled veggies drizzled with balsamic herb dressing. Extend that thought and pair all these grilled dishes with the IL Lambrusco.
If there is any IL Lambrusco left in the bottle, use it to make a Cosmopolitan martini. Follow the Cosmo recipe but replace the cranberry juice with the IL Lambrusco. You may have to play with the amount you add/subtract in place of the cranberry, but experimenting is half the fun.
Now go get ready, check yourself in the mirror, grab a bottle of Mionetto and join in on the holiday fun.
This article appears in Nov 10-16, 2011.