This is a sponsored post in collaboration with ALDI USA. However, all thoughts are my own.

I’m still dreaming of the two days I spent in wine country, on a vineyard with ALDI last month. The scenery alone was incredible, but experiencing the many tastes of ALDI, from foods to wine, was amazing. ALDI is already known to the rest of the country as being the grocery store that gives you the best bang for your buck. Now that it’s opening in Southern California, in various locations throughout 2016, us West Coasters are jumping for joy and not just for the prices.

I shared my Taste of ALDI experience, and how you could taste the freshness in every meal. We also had a wine tasting session with the dualy certified Sommelier, Leslee Miller of Amusée Wines. Armed with some ALDI private label wines, she took us through the wine tasting process, step by step.

• When tasting wines, it’s best to use all your senses: sight, nose and palete
• Tilt wine away over a wine background to see color best. Whites and roses grow darker with age, reds get lighter.
• Smell is the most important aspect of tasting because it accounts for 90% of taste.
• Always swirl the glass, it releases flavor elements attached to the wine molecules in the wine.
• Smell and try to identify flavors- fruits, citrus, wood, and vanilla are common.
• The wine glass is important as it highlights where on the palete certain wines should be tasted.
• Foods can highlight or change the flavors you taste in the wine.

Speaking of foods…that’s one of my favorite parts of wine tasting. Finding the right cheese, meats and food to pair with a delicious glass of wine can make or break a gathering. With ALDI being your one stop shop, you can grab a great wine and pair with an ALDI exclusive cheese, like my favorite, the Happy Farms Preferred Brie Cheese Round. Here are a few additional tips for a great wine pairing:

1. If you can smell/taste the flavor in the wine, you can pair it with the same flavors in a dish. Example: The melon and citrus taste in the ALDI Broken Clouds Chardonnay can be paired with a summer citrus salad or a prosciutto wrapped melon (which are amazing!).
2. Compare/contrast when it comes to the weight of your food. Example: the ALDI Trece Ranchos Cabernet Sauvignon has big berry and chocolate flavors, which would be great with braised ribs, a rack of lamb or dishes with a rich sauce.
3. Sweets need sweet. This one confused me cause you would think sweet cancelled the other sweet out, but so not true. Example: the ALDI Moiselle Moscato would be a great pairing with a peach cobbler.

And… if you still aren’t sure about a pairing, just set a number of different wines out and let people decide for themselves! Thanks to the great tasting wines and food from ALDI, your wine party will be a hit without breaking your wallet. I expect to see my invite soon!

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