How to Enjoy Little Ripples Wines This Summer

It’s an Australian tradition familiar to all of us.

Christmas in summer.

Besides the warm weather, this period is famous for bringing with it the hosting of many a summer barbecue, the explosion in visitations to the beach and, most importantly, the switching of peoples’ vino-of-choice to be White and Rosé instead of Red wine.

Bearing this in mind, and as we head further into summer, we think it’s now the best time to explore all of the different ways that you can drink and enjoy our wines, besides cracking open a bottle and pouring yourself a glass of course (sometimes it’s all you need).

Read on to discover all of the different ways that we know our range of Premium White Wines and Rosé can be served on their own or with food this summer, helping you to maximise your drinking experience and giving you some drinks inspiration.

Have You Met Our Summer Wines Yet?

For those who are already familiar with our range of wines, you’ll know that we currently have two premium white wines, our Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, as well as our recently launched Premium Rosé.

If you’re just joining us, however, let us briefly introduce you to your new best friends this summer.

Little Ripples Sauvignon Blanc

Coming from the Hilltops region in Northern NSW, our Sauvignon Blanc is a cool climate favourite.

To craft this special wine, we selected grapes that were sourced entirely from a single vineyard location cared for by our winemaking partners, the Cassegrain Family, who have a long history of producing premium Australian wine that stretches all of the way back to 17th century France.

Flavourwise, our Sauvignon Blanc is intensely crisp and refreshing, with notes of fresh cut grass, zesty citrus, and vibrant passionfruit, making it one of the best wines to drink this summer.

Little Ripples Chardonnay

Ah, Chardonnay.

Not only is it the most planted white wine grape varietal in the world, it’s also one of our personal favourites.

Our particular example of it is made to be drunk young, fresh, and well-chilled, with clean flavours of green melon and zesty citrus making their way through in a wine that finishes with a subtle hint of oaky and buttery smoothness, making it easily enjoyed in so many different ways.

Curious to know where the butteriness in white wine comes from?

Read this explanatory guide to oaked and unoaked Chardonnay, which will give you the low down.

Little Ripples Rosé

What’s pink, refreshing, and features a fancy new outfit?

Why, it’s our new Premium Rosé of course.

Something new to even our existing customers, our Rosé represents much more than just a pretty picture.

In making it, we once again used grapes harvested from the Hilltops region in Northern NSW (if you can’t already tell, it’s one of our favourite places), with the grape of choice being Sangiovese, a popular Italian grape varietal.

In terms of taste, our Rosé is an example of a dry and savoury wine with flavours of caramelised orange, turkish delight, and crisp red fruit, making it a wonderful companion to a host of different food options.

How to Enjoy Our Wines with Food

It’s a combination almost as old as winemaking itself, pairing wine and food.

As many of you are probably aware, however, it’s incredibly easy to get it wrong and often very tough to know exactly what works best.

To help you to enjoy our wines properly this summer, here’s a couple recipe ideas that we think work wonderfully well with our White wines and new Rosé.

Recipe One: The Big Vegan Bowl

Here’s a vegan recipe that we know will work perfectly with our entire range of Whites and Rosé wines this summer:

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 can of chickpeas
• 1 cup of uncooked quinoa
• 1 large carrot
• Purple cabbage
• Hummus
• Avocado
• Olive oil
• Sea salt
• Garlic powder
• Chilli flakes

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200℃ & line two baking trays with parchment.
2. Place chopped sweet potato onto one of the baking sheets and drizzle it with olive oil & a couple of pinches of sea salt.
3. On the other baking tray, place the chickpeas after they’ve been rinsed with water, removed from their skin, coated with olive oil, & sprinkled with garlic powder & chilli flakes.
4. Once complete, place both of the trays into the oven together & leave them there for 15 minutes, removing them after this & turning both the sweet potatoes & chickpeas before placing them back into the oven to cook for another 15 minutes.
5. At the same time that the roasting of the sweet potatoes & chickpeas is going on, rinse the quinoa with water using a sieve before placing it into a pot & adding 1.5 cups of water, bringing this to the boil before reducing this to a low/medium heat & allowing this to cook for around 14-17 minutes or until the quinoa is fluffy & water is gone.
6. After all of this is cooked, place your desired amount of assorted vegetables into a preferred bowl & add all of the now cooked ingredients into it as well, adding any dressings that you might want.

Recipe Two: Thai Red Curry with Chicken

Whilst this recipe can be paired beautifully with our entire range of Whites wines, we think it works best with our new Sangiovese Rosé, which is a varietal known for being bold enough in flavour to match with some of the more difficult pairing options:

Ingredients:

1. 5-6 tablespoons of red curry paste
2. 2 large cloves of garlic
3. 2 tablespoons of ginger
4. 1 tablespoon of lemongrass paste
5. 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
6. 1 cup of chicken stock
7. 400 millilitres of coconut milk
8. 6 kaffir lime leaves
9. 1 tablespoon of sugar
10. 1 teaspoon of fish sauce
11. 350 grams of boneless chicken thigh
12. 150 grams of pumpkin squash
13. 120 grams of green beans
14. 12 Thai basil leaves
15. Chopped fresh chilli
16. Fresh coriander leaves

Instructions:

1. Pour oil in a large pan over medium heat.
2. Add the curry paste, garlic, ginger, & lemongrass paste & cook these for 2 minutes.
3. Add the chicken broth, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes before also adding in the coconut milk, kaffir leaves, sugar, & fish sauce.
4. Once all of this is mixed together, add the chicken, increase the heat & bring to a simmer before reducing the heat down to medium once again & allowing to cook like this for 8-10 minutes.
5. Once the chicken is cooked, add in the pumpkin squash & green beans & cook for an additional 3 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft & the sauce is thickened.
6. After this is done, remove from heat & add in the basil leaves, stirring as you do.
7. Serve this now finished curry over jasmine rice, garnishing with sliced chilli & coriander leaves if desired.

In the Mood for Some Bubbles?

Whilst you’ll be quick to note that we don’t have a bottle of sparkling wine as part of our range (yet!), it’s still possible to get your fix of something bubbly right at home with any of our White wines or Rosé.

How?

Why, a soda stream of course.

Available in different shapes and sizes, a soda stream is a little known but incredibly useful kitchen device that can be used to easily add bubbles to plenty of typically still beverages, including wine.

One of the most popular and locally owned soda stream brands, SodaStream Australia retails for around $140, with a variety of colour options and accessories also available.

Whatever brand you go with, however, you might be wondering which of our wines works best in a soda stream, with the answer to this being our Rosé.

Head to our shop page now and fill your basket with any of our White or Rosé wines to help celebrate in style all summer long.