2010 Standing Sun Chardonnay with Sage Pork Chops and Parmesan Rice

Wow, it's been too long!  So, tonight while cooking my Sage Pork Chops, I realized I needed wine to cook ~ you know the old adage - "I love to cook with wine, sometimes I even put it in the food."

So, tonight's dinner was Sage Pork Chops, it's a Martha Stewart Repice.  Here's the link ~ http://www.marthastewart.com/343467/sage-pork-chops.  Within that, is the link for a recipe for the Parmesan Rice.  I'm not sure I follow that recipe.  I have a rice cooker that I bought through Pampered Chef, so it's 20 minutes to cook the rice, then I throw in some butter, shave in some fresh parmesan and toss in the parsley.  Delicious, good to go.  Not that hard.  The whole dinner takes like 20-25 minutes to cook, so perfect for my Wednesday night  =)   So, as you'll see in the recipe I needed 1/4 cup of wine to make it, and I certainly wouldn't make a substitution in my recipe, so I needed to open up a wine.  It's a tough life!

I happened to have the 2010 Standing Sun Chardonnay already chillin' in the fridge.  So, why not, I'll open it up.  I poured out my 1/4 cup for the recipe, and then, of course, I poured some into a glass.  The color is a golden yellow.  Because it's a California Chardonnay, I went in expecting not to like it.  I'm one of those ABC (Anything, But Chardonnay) wine drinkers. 

The bouquet gave off a crisp apple scent.  When I first tasted it, I thought it to be slightly sweet, but really not overpowering.  Now, I get this fabulous combination of apples and peaches.  I have to say (for an ABC drinker) I really enjoy this wine!  I'm enjoying now, on it's own, as well as I did with my dinner.  It's a really nice balance of acidity and fruit.  Oh, look at that, the kids are making popcorn now.  That should go well with it, too, YUM!

So, now I'd like to thank my Mom for buying this for me.  I received a package in the mail of 2 bottles of wine from this Vineyard with no card and assumed it could only come from her (or my sister, but my first thought was my Mom).  This vineyard is run by an actress from my favorite soap, General Hospital.  Bottles were signed was Laura Wright - many reading this won't know who that is, but it's the current Carly from GH.

Lastly, I just want to mention how excited I am that NJ is now a direct ship State for wines.  =)

In Vino Veritas!