Beginnings and Endings
The year 2020.
Unexpected, unpredictable, a year of endings and beginnings.
This Terre di Bacco Prosecco brings up a story of endings and beginnings – a chapter in my life.
In 2008 after having a successful business for 10 years, the economy crashed and my business was no longer viable. A Warm Wish was a gift basket business in Las Vegas. We created gifts for conventions and conferences.
With the crash, Las Vegas went through a year with very few conventions or conferences, and I re-re-invented myself, returning to my career as a Theatrical Stage Manager.
This was a career I had left 10 years before to start my business. Another chapter, another cycle. I returned to an extreme version of this career joining Cirque du Soleil, grateful for recommendations from friends from my theatrical touring days. And so, in 2008 I joined the SM team at Zumanity.
The Zumanity team was small, so we employed interns to assist with the workload. They were able to have first-hand experience working with a large theatrical circus show. The first intern that joined us after I became a part of the team, was Robby.
He was with us for just a few months, but he and I stayed in touch, and periodically he would be in town. He would see the show and we would catch up over drinks. His career took him to theme parks and cruise lines and he had been traveling the world with his work.
In 2020 we caught up via Facebook, as Robby posted about him and his partner, who was very involved in wine. One thing led to another and I found a box arriving from Robby’s partner Francesco for a label he represents, Terre di Bacco.
*This wine was recieved as a sample. No other compensation was received. All opinions are my own.
Terre di Bacco
Terre di Bacco means “land of Bacchus”. The label is inspired by the Roman God of Wine.
Created as a “by the glass” style wine for restaurants, Terre di Bacco has found vineyards and wineries across Italy to create quality wines that are elegant, simple and genuine.
Terre di Bacco Prosecco DOC Treviso
This wine from Veneto is pale lemon in color with a nose of citrus, pith and lemon. There are apple notes as well. It tastes of bright lemon and citrus. The mouthfeel is lively and dry.
It is, of course, primarily made from the grape Glera.
It sits at 11% abv and is $13.99 so you can buy a case and enjoy a bottle every evening if you like!
Terre di Bacco Prosecco Paired with Chinese Long-Life noodles with stir-fried vegetables
As our COVID numbers went up, our Governor encouraged us to stay in if possible and order groceries for delivery. So, we returned to weekly orders from Sun Basket. These are meal kits that are Organic and Healthy. We paired this with the Chinese long-life noodles we received. It is a delicious dish that had me cutting vegetables for a bit, with shiitake mushrooms, scallions, bok choy, and carrots, cooked with fresh ramen and eggs in an oyster sauce.
The umami in this dish was lovely with the Prosecco. Stir-fry dishes can have a bit of fattiness and can get heavy as you eat them, but the Prosecco cleaned my palate after every bite (I soooo love bubbles).
Dessert Pairing – Hungarian Nut Cake with Caramelized Apples and Crème Anglaise
I had made walnut cake for another recipe (you will see that soon enough), and thought this would be great with this pairing. I caramelized apple slices in butter and brown sugar, laid them across the top of the cake and drizzled it with crème anglaise.
Now I have been watching The Great British Baking Show for a while, but I have never, myself, made a crème anglaise. I read several recipes and watched a few videos and prepared myself for potential failure (there is a trick, if you scramble your eggs that I learned, to save your crème anglaise). I worked slowly and patiently and it came out perfect. Oh, and delicious! Where has this been all my life?
The bit of apple note in the wine came forward with this pairing and again, the Terre di Bacco Prosecco made each bite with that luscious crème anglaise as good as the first!
Endings and Beginnings
So here we are in 2020. Zumanity, after 8 months of being on hold, is now officially closed, and I am on to another chapter, another cycle in life. The connections here were not lost on me. Another cycle has started, paying homage to the previous cycle. The endings make us nostalgic, and their connections to the beginnings give us comfort and hope.
So we celebrate our 12 Days of Wine this year and look to the future. It’s uncertain. It always is. But it is also filled with endless possibilities. So I raise a glass of Terre di Bacco Prosecco to you, to the end of 2020 and to the beginning of so many things! Saluti!
Want to find some?
Terre di Bacco Prosecco di Treviso is available currently in 31 states. You can find more information on their distribution on their website https://www.terrebacco.com/shop-now
Sources and Resources
Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.
When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.
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