Wine Wednesday: Barefoot Bubbly Fusions are Surprisingly Delicious, Food Friendly & Affordable

A few weeks ago, I took a road trip up to San Jose, CA (#CaliBloggerRoadTrip) to attend the 10th anniversary of BlogHer with a fabulous group of women. BlogHer is probably the biggest blogging conference in the US and it attracts a wide cross section of mostly female bloggers from all over the country to come and learn about the latest and greatest on the blogging landscape, network and connect with brands that want to work with bloggers. I was fortunate enough to take a fabulous road trip from LA with social media powerhouse Kitty Bradshaw (pictured below) her Aunt Mitzi and my blogging sista Stacy Cox, and as you can imagine lots of fun adventures ensued!

However, one of the highlights of this roadtrip took place after BlogHer, when we headed up to Healdsburg,CA in the heart of wine country, to meet and have brunch with the amazeballs Jen Wall (aka Pinky Toe) the Barefoot Winemaker since 1995. We met Jen at a delectable gorgeous foodie restaurant called Barndiva (yes, it’s an actual barn but very modern & chic inside) in the adorably quaint town of Healdsburg to enjoy brunch and sample Barefoot Wine’s Barefoot Bubbly Fusions and get a sneak peek of their newest flavor release Peach Fusion.

Barefoot Wine is the most awarded wine brand in US competitions and their Bubbly Fusions have been wildly successful and award winning as well. These impressive sparkling wines come in four flavors (Berry, Tropical, Citrus and Peach) and are infused with gorgeous full-bodied slightly sweet combinations of natural fruit flavors that unfold beautifully on your palate. And the best part is that you can find them almost everywhere and they are unbelievably well priced at around $10.

And can you imagine what an absolute treat it was to have the winemaker herself, pouring her creations, sharing her stories and inspirations and partaking is this beautiful food and wine experience with us? AMAZING! And what I loved most about Jen, was that she kept repeating that she is all about creating wines that are accessible, approachable, food friendly and unpretentious and it’s no surprise that’s exactly what Barefoot Wines are all about!

The #CaliBlogger Gang & Pinky Toe (left to right) Mitzi, Jen, Me, Stacy & Kitty

Let me tell you a little bit more about my fav Barefoot Bubbly Fusions and what I loved about them

Barefoot Bubbly Peach Fusion is the newest Fusion flavor and it was just released on August 1st, 2014. This peach sparkling wine is sweet and juicy with aromas and flavors of a ripe just picked juicy peach, dripping, off of the tree. It fills your mouth with the flavors of perfectly ripened stone fruit at its peak in the summer. I loved how effortlessly the Peach Fusion paired with our appetizer cheese course. It complimented rather than competed with the flavors and this is true for all the Fusions.

Barefoot Bubbly Citrus Fusion is sweet and vibrant with aromas and flavors of blood orange, passion fruit and sweet peach. This was definitely my favorite Bubbly Fusion because it had more flavor complexities going on like bright refreshing citrus, slightly tropical flavors and a luscious hint of juicy sweet peach. IMO it tasted like a much more spendy bottle of wine.

Barefoot Bubbly Prosecco ($11.99) Prosecco is a relatively well-known Italian sparkling and it’s an exciting offering from Barefoot Bubbly. Their Prosecco has notes of vibrant pear, apple and peach with a zesty lemon finish. I was very impressed by this wine because it seemed very finessed to me, and I really enjoyed the soft citrus flavors and delicate bubbles. This sparkler pairs well with fresh fruit, hors d’oeuvres, or spicy dishes. I will definitely keep of few bottles of this Prosecco on hand for brunch or unexpected guests.

Needless to say, we had ourselves a good ol’ time imbibing a few bottles of Barefoot Bubbly Fusions that afternoon (and yes there was a dump bucket)

As well as savoring the gorgeous inspired wine country food from Barndiva like my melt-off-the-bone Crispy Duck Leg Confit with potato hash, caper berries, olives, fresh figs, watermelon, calabrian chili, topped with a farm fresh sunny side up egg – isn’t the plate just gorgeous?! And it was a flavor explosion in my mouth, sooooo good! Nom-Nom! I really liked the pairing of the Berry Fusion with this dish

Overall, I was grateful to have the opportunity to meet Jen Wall and really experience how special these wines truly are. Since admittedly, I am a bit of wine snob and tend to prefer a drier less fruity type of bubbly, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed these fusions and how easily they paired with all of our brunch foods. These bubblies tasted much better than I thought, they had beautiful surprising flavors going on, they complimented all our food quite nicely and the price point is accessible to almost everyone. Cheers!

What are you drinking tonight?

Disclosure: I want to thank the uber fab Kitty Bradshaw for opening my eyes to the approachability of Barefoot Bubbly and for introducing me to the amazing Jen Wall. And thanks to Barefoot and Jen for the amazing food & wine brunch, I loved every morsel. All opinions are my own, swayed only by my inner oenophile.