Jen and I simply have too much wine stored at both of our houses – that’s a good problem to have, though, don’t you agree? Still, wine is meant to be shared, not solely guzzled alone in quarantine.
The current situation has prevented us from throwing the large backyard wine parties we usually host all summer long. We needed to make room in our wine cellars, so we’ve been hosting small gatherings, opening up several intriguing bottles of Woodinville, Walla Walla and Lake Chelan wine, and sending recorked wine bottles home with our guests when they leave.
So on a recent sunny autumn afternoon, we invited just four friends over to drink Rosé in the backyard, all of us wearing masks when possible and coats for sure.
Our social distancing parties are short notice and often at the spur of the moment, so we keep things simple. We kind of have party-throwing down to a science, so we don’t stress about it and quite look forward to drinking wine with our friends.
When you keep things simple, it doesn’t take long at all to set up a little table full of lovely things to delight your guests. I pulled a couple glass and copper pumpkins out of my autumn decor storage tote, grabbed a pink and white pumpkin themed pillow off my couch (dusting dog hair off it quickly, as you might imagine) and dug around in my linen closet for a pink table runner to cover my teak outdoor bar table. I’d put away most of my pink glassware that I use for Spring parties, but it only took a moment to retrieve a couple serving pieces from my curio cabinet.
I made a quick trip to Metropolitan Market for strawberries, flowers, cheese, a mini confetti cake, and darling little sparkly autumn sugar cookies from Little Rae’s Bakery. Jen brought easy-to-serve lemon bars and cranberry pie from Trader Joe’s that don’t take very long to defrost.
We were so excited to open, and finally taste, Cave B Estate Winery’s sparkling Rosé! (We’d been saving it for a special occasion.. and a sunny crisp autumn day like this feels right). We also offered guests sparkling “Adulting” wine in both Sparkling White and Rosé from Alexandria Nicole Cellars. We couldn’t forget to open sparkling Pinot Noir Rose from Lachini Vineyards, too.
Are you drinking Rosé this autumn? What winery’s pink or sparkling wine have you opened and enjoyed recently?
-Carrie
