I’m getting excited about the week after Mother’s Day. Why… well, first, I know I will be enjoying my new wonderful Mother’s Day gift. Second, Parker Carlson from Carlson Vineyards in Colorado will be visiting all of our stores

Parker Carlson

to sample his wine. Lucky for us, Parker and his wife Mary love Wisconsin and come here every spring for a vacation. They kindly stop and visit us on the way to their fishing destination, probably a top secret spot.

When not vacationing in Wisconsin, Parker is known for his award-winning Riesling and tasty fruit wines, including Peach, Plum, Cherry and his recently re-released Apricot  & Pear-Apple. In these parts, he’s quite famous for

his Sweet Baby Red,  Sweet Gewurztraminer and Unoaked Chardonnay.

I hope that you can stop in, meet Parker and try his wine . If you twist his arm, he may even tell you a few fishing tales. Cheers!

We hope you can join us April 26 – April 28 for Brennan’s 1st Annual Cheese Curd Days!

• We’re giving away a free 1 lb bag of Brennan’s Squeaky, Fresh Curds with a $40 purchase*.
• Free Balloons for Kids!
• Help us choose our next great cheese curd flavor by tasting three new flavors and voting for your favorite
• Sample wine and micro-brews.
• Jacobson Brothers Brat Tasting
• Brat and Hamburger Buns – Buy One Get One Free.
• Prize drawings and more!

So, come to Brennan’s & Get Your Squeak On!

*While supplies last. Excludes gas purchase in Monroe. Mixed curds only. In store purchase only. 1 per customer, per purchase.

Our Holiday Gift Guide is available in stores or check it out here to see our fantastic selection of  Wisconsin Cheese Boxes, Fruit Baskets, Specialty Wine Wine Baskets and More! Our Cheese Gift Boxes can also be purchased online.  Tis the season!

So I decided that is was time to write a blog about Thanksgiving. After about 10 minutes of struggling to come up with some new thoughts, I looked back on what I had written in the past. Have you ever done that? I usually think, “B0y, I used to be smart.”  Turns out that I really liked the blog I had written 2 years ago, so I have decided to use again because really not too much changes about my Thanksgiving meal. I may try a new stuffing recipe or have pumpkin cheesecake instead of pie, but fundamentally the meal is the same. I have changed the wines to include a few new wines.

Admittedly Thanksgiving is all about the side-dishes for me. The turkey plays only a very minor role on my plate, usually found buried underneath some cranberry sauce or sweet potato casserole. I don’t think that anyone who knows me would argue that I will take squash casserole over turkey any day of the week.

I would have to say that second to side-dishes on my Thanksgiving scale is wine. While this time of year many wine writers delve into finding ideal pairings, I simply say drink what you like. Thanksgiving is such a diverse plate of sweet, savory, buttery, rich, and spicy (think sage, cinnamon and nutmeg) flavors that perfect wine is elusive to say the least. That being said, I do have a few favs that I go to year after year and a few new wines that I’m looking forward to this November 22, o’ holiest of side-dish lover days.

Secreto Viognier (Chile): Floral and fruity with peach, mango and pear flavors combined with low acidity and no oak make this wine a great T-Day pick

South Island Riesling (New Zeland): Off-dry with crisp lemon and lime flavors make this a crowd-pleaser. Sweet enough for sweet wine fans, but not too sweet as to put of most dry wine fans.

Carlson Gewurztraminer (Colorado): The heady, captivating aroma notes are lime candy, spice and rose. The taste is tropical fruit, honey, and oriental spice. Wonderful with the chaos of a T-Day plate.

Villard Pinot Noir (Chile): Fresh berries such as strawberries and raspberries. Good complexity between fruit and a touch of oak, finishing with extremely good length.

Cooper Station Zinfandel (California): This Zin opens with luscious, concentrated blackberry aromas and has flavors of rhubarb, strawberry and vanilla with lingering hints of toast and smoke.

Perini Perini Malvasia Sweet Sparkling (Italy):  This sweet sparkling has a straw yellow color with hints of gold and aromas of peaches and apricots. Sweet, soft, fruity taste with a crisp, good structure.

Well, that was more wines than I had planned on listing, but I had a hard time narrowing them down. My point being, that no matter if you’re all about the turkey, side-dishes, or the desserts, there’s at least a wine or two for you.

Happy Thanksgiving from Brennan’s!

South Island wines from New Zealand’s South Island (shocker!) has been one of our best selling brands  for the past 7 years. Why? Fantastic quality and a terrific price- $9.99. South Island Pinot Noir is our top Pinot and the same goes for the Sauvignon Blanc. So, we are super excited to introduce a new wine to the collection- South Island Pinot Gris.

Pinot Gris/Grigio originated in France and is now planted pretty much any place that isn’t too hot in summer and that has long, cool autumns, like New Zealand’s South Island. Pinot Gris from Alsace, France, tends to be full-bodied and oily, full of spice notes and peach and apricot flavors; Northern Italian Pinot Grigios are bright, light and zippy, with white peach or nectarine flavors and tingly acidity. New World versions are essentially divided into these two styles, and the wines tend to be labeled Gris or Grigio accordingly.

South Island Pinot Gris is aptly named because it has hints of ginger spice and pear drop aromas and flavors long with peach. Fruity with zesty acidity, it has crisp, yet lingering finish. Pair it with Swiss cheese, Gouda, salmon, grilled pork, grilled chicken or enjoy in as an aperitif.

Cheers!

The great thing about Easter is that the menu is that no one expects you to reinvent the wheel. Most people want a ham, lamb or brunch. It’s tradition, right? So, I’m not going to post a bunch of complicated recipes. In fact, I usually don’t. Instead, here are some very delicious, easy  recipes that we cooked up for a segment on NBC15 and the wines (and beer!) that go with them.

Of course, there’s going to have to be a cheese tray. This is Wisconsin. For ours we selected 3 cheeses that will also be great on leftover ham sammies. We paired World Champ Havarti with Brennan’s Apricot Spreadable Fruit for a tasty combo, and Marieke’s Foenugreek Gouda with it’s mapley characters is another World Champ. Our best-selling Sweet Swiss perfectly rounds out the trio.

For the cheese platter, I recommend a Prosecco like Italia or La Corte. I think of these wines as work-horse wines because they could really take you all the way through  the meal, including dessert. Light, and refreshing, with low alcohol, you create sparkling cocktails like Mimosas or Bellinis or enjoy simply chilled. If want a drier style Prosecco, the Italia Prosecco is rich with lemony notes. The La Corte is a bit lighter and a bit sweeter, but not overly so.

In my family there wasn’t a choice between ham and brunch; it was both, so that’s what we did here. We made an Apricot Mustard Glazed Ham, Lemony Asparagus, Crustless Quiche and a Strawberry Spinach Salad. Again, could do Prosecco , but if you want to mix it up Riesling is a great choice here. Try Tarkine Forest Riesling is a sweeter style. If you love Rose, try Viu Manent Malbec Rose which pairs nicely with the fruity elements of the glaze and the strawberry salad. If you simply must go red, try a lighter-bodied red like Pinot Noir (Tarkine Forest).

Now I would be remiss if I left out micros because we have a brew from Scuttlebutt Brewery that tastes like it was made for Easter– Scuttlebutt Belgian-Style Tripel. It has huge aromas of pear and clove (yes!). Very much a chameleon beer, it will easily adapt to different foods with ease and your Uncle Larry, if necessary.

I hope that try some of these yummy recipes and pairings. Let us know what you think. Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Happy Spring Solstice!

Hard to believe that Christmas is over. What a whirlwind day! Luckily there are still more celebrations to come with New Year’s, The Rose Bowl and hopefully the SB (sorry, I  don’t want to spell it out and jinx it).  So, here are my picks for “cheers” sparklers and big RED wines.

Cooper Station Zinfandel

This California Zin is the perfect wine for hearty game day faire. It opens with concentrated blackberry aromas. Flavors of rhubarb, strawberry and vanilla with lingering hints of toast and smoke make this wine a great match for grilled or roasted meats, pizza, sausages, ribs, hambugers, jambalaya and chili.

La Corte Prosecco

A light, aromatic and crisp bubbly with overtones of citrus, especially lemon, melon, almonds and honey. Yummy in wine cocktails like Orange Cream Mimosas or a Pomegranate Bubbly Cocktail. Perfect with hors d’ouevres like an anti-pasto platter. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will all need a little extra Sparkling wine left after New Year’s to toast a Bucky win on the 2nd.

Polkadraai Road Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon

This South African Hermitage- styled blend offers exceptional fruit that is complemented by white pepper, spices and a subtle smokiness. Ripe fruit and acid blend with big tannins for a complex and rich red wine with a long finish. Great with ribs or ribeye.

Casali Viticultori Lambrusco Amabile Frizzante

Frizzante means slightly sparkling, and Amabile means semi-sweet. So this Lambrusco is effervescent much like a Moscato d’ Asti, but not as fully sparkling like a Prosecco.  So, this semi-sweet Italian red is packed with aromas and flavors of plums.  A wonderful match for pizza, BBQ and red-sauced pasta dishes.

Have a safe and Happy New Year’s! Go Badgers!

Thierry Villard

This week we have 2 wine visits, both at our Madsion locations. First, Thierry Villard from Villard Esate Winery in Chile will be visiting us early in the week to spotlight his wine collection from Chile’s Casablanca Valley. The Casablanca Valley is the Sonoma of Chile with warm days and cool nights producing wonderful Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Thierry’s wines reflect his French heritage and training along with Chile’s New World style.

Thierry is here for a very short time and will only able to visit our Madison locations this time.

Tuesday 10/25

11:00am – 2:15pm University Avenue

3:00pm – 5:30pm- Watts Road

Lauren from Spurgeon Vineyards will be sampling our Wisconsin Cellars Collection this weekend at Watts Road and University. Try our N.T.S and N.T.D White, Raspberry Wine, Riesling and more paired with Wisconsin Cheeses. Join Lauren and our wine selectors for a day this Saturday.

Saturday 10/29

10:30am- 1:30pm- University Ave

2:30pm – 5:30pm- Watts Road

Mark Jones

Last week we had Tony Soljan from New Zealand’s North Island . This week the South Island is representing. Mark Jones from Sherwood Winery will he here tasting the South Island collection they make exclusively for Brennan’s. He’ll be sampling his best-selling Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and more. Stop by our to meet Mark and learn more about New Zealand wine!

Friday September 16

11:30am- 2:30pm- University Avenue

3:00- 5:15pm-  Watts Road

Saturday September 17

11am- 1:30pm- Brookfield

2pm- 4:30pm- Oconomowoc

Tony Soljan of Soljans Estate Winery

That’s right. Tony’s coming back to see us!  He hasn’t been here in 2 years,  so please join our wine selectors in giving him a big welcome back to the Badger state.

Now, I think listening to his accent is one of the best things about his visits, but then (duh!) I remember his great lineup of New Zealand wine. While his Legacy Brut Sparkling is my favorite,  his Pinotage is full of berry, cherry and mocha flavors. His Gewurztraminer is spicy and citrusy with just the right amount of sweetness. While he’s here, you can pick your own fav! Plus, Tony and his wife Colleen will be taking a site seeing trip around Wisconsin after their visit with us. So, bring your Wisconsin travel tips!

Friday September 9

11:30am-2:30pm: University Avenue

3:00pm- 5:15pm: Watts Road

Saturday September 10

11:30am – 5:30pm: Oconomowoc

Sunday September 11

Noon – 5:00pm- Brookfield