Low Sugar Wines And Winter Wellness Recipes

Winter is all about wellness and filling our cups. While it is the season of shorter days and longer nights, it also comes with the opportunity to pause, reflect & recharge. It’s the perfect opportunity to get back into the kitchen and cook up some great meals with loved ones. We’ve compiled some of our favorite healthy recipes from the test kitchen with some of our tastiest low sugar wines that change the world. All of the 5 delicious wines below have less than 2 grams of sugar per 5 ounce glass. And now that we are fully in soup season, we’ve included not one but two amazing recipes here. One is hot, and one is cold. Let’s take this time to toast to life’s big and small moments and to being the best versions of ourselves.

Melon Ball and Prosciutto Salad with Lemon-Mint Vinaigrette

Serves 4-6   |   Time: 30 minutes

Wine Pairing: Vintner Rose

Ingredients

Vinaigrette

• ½ cup fresh mint leaves
• 2 lemons
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Salad

• ½ small seedless watermelon, balled
• ½ cantaloupe, seeded and balled
• ½ honeydew melon, seeded and balled
• 1 8-ounce container pearl-sized mozzarella balls
• 8–10 slices of prosciutto, torn into large pieces
• 4 cups fresh baby arugula

Instruction 

1. To make the vinaigrette, add the mint, zest from 1 lemon, ¼ cup lemon juice, and honey to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the leaves are chopped.
2. Slowly pour the oil through the feeder tube with the machine running. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. In a large bowl, combine the watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, mozzarella, and prosciutto.
4. To serve, spread the arugula on a large platter and arrange the melon, mozzarella, and prosciutto mixture on top. Pour the vinaigrette over and serve immediately.

Kale & White Bean Soup

Serves 8-10   |   Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Wine Pairing: Vintner Pinot Noir

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 spicy Italian sausages, preferably pre-cooked 
• 8 carrots, cut into ½ inch circles
• 6 celery stalks, cut into ½ inch pieces
• 2 yellow onions, large chop
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 (32 ounce) cartons chicken broth
• ¾ cup barley
• 10 ounces shiitake mushrooms, halved 
• 5 ounces kale leaves, stems removed and torn apart
• 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, liquid removed and rinsed
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt 
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper

Instructions:

1. Place a large soup pot over medium heat and drizzle olive oil into the pan. Place sausages in the pan and cook for 12 minutes until browned, flipping every 4 minutes. Remove from the pan, cut into ½ inch slices, and set aside.
2. Add in carrots, celery and onion to the same pot used for the sausages. Saute for 8 minutes, add garlic, basil, oregano, parsley, and bay leaves and continue to saute for another 4 minutes until the vegetables are slightly soft. Next add chicken broth & barley, and cook for 20-30 minutes, until the barley is tender.
3. Add sausage, mushrooms, kale, beans, salt & ground pepper into the pan and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Dan Footnotes:

-If spicy Italian sausages have too much heat for you, sweet Italian sausages work great here instead. Also, even if you use pre-cooked sausages, browning them in the pan for just a few minutes will provide great flavor to the veggies being cooked in the pan after them.

White Gazpacho

Serves 5   |   Time: 20 minutes

Wine Pairing: Vintner Sauvignon Blanc

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces day old bread, crusts removed (preferably sourdough or french)
• 1 ½ cups water
• 1 english cucumber, peeled and cubed
• 2 cups green grapes + 4 grapes for garnish 
• ½ cup blanched & slivered almonds (skins removed)
• 1 shallot, chopped
• ¼ cup sherry vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt, separated
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions:

1. Set bread on a baking tray in an even layer and pour water over top. Let sit for 5 minutes, until the bread is softened.
2. Combine bread, cucumber, 2 cups grapes, almonds, shallots, sherry vinegar and ½ teaspoon of salt in a blender and blend for about 1 minute, until smooth and pureed. Refrigerate for 1 hour, until cold. To serve, ladle 1 cup into each serving bowl and garnish with sliced grapes, a drizzle of olive oil and use the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt to add a pinch of salt on top.

Sugar Snap Pea Salad

Serves 6   |   Time: 10 minutes

Wine Pairing: Vintner Pinot Grigio

Ingredients:

• ½ cup apricot jam
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground pepper
• 24 ounces sugar snap peas, rinsed and dried
• 8 ounce chunk of parmesan cheese, cut into rough chunks (TIP: use the tip of your knife to “chisel” 1 inch chunks off of the block of parmesan)
• 2 ounces arugula leaves

Instructions:

1. Add apricot jam, lemon juice, honey, salt & ground pepper to a medium sized mixing bowl and whisk until combined. Add in sugar snap peas and parmesan chunks and toss until they are coated in the jam mixture. Add in arugula last and lightly toss together.

Cabernet Pot Roast

Wine Pairing: Vintner Cabernet Sauvignon

Serves 4-6.  |   Active time: 45 minutes    |   In-Active Time: 3 hours

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 (3 pound) beef chuck roast
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground pepper
• 1 yellow onion, large chop
• 6 carrots, peeled and cut into ½ inch slices
• 4 celery ribs, cut into ½ inch slices
• 8 whole garlic cloves, peeled, slightly crushed open with the flat side of a knife
• 1 pound baby red and gold potatoes, about 1” in diameter
• 1 cup cabernet sauvignon
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 (14 ounce) canned diced tomatoes, including juice
• 4 fresh thyme sprigs, tied into a bunch with cooking twine
• 2 bay leaves

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F.
2. Heat a large oven-safe soup pot or dutch oven over high heat. Let the pan get very hot, and then add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan. Season pot roast liberally with salt & ground pepper all over two flat sides, and sear for 2-3 minutes on each side until lightly browned, using tongs to flip over. Remove from the pan, place on a plate and set aside.
3. Lower the temperature to medium, add onions, carrots, celery, and garlic to the pan, and saute for 5 minutes stirring regularly, until slightly softened. Add potatoes and deglaze the pan with cabernet sauvignon. Scrape the brown bits off of the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Make a well in the center of the vegetables and nestle the seared meat in the center. Add beef broth, tomatoes, thyme and bay leaves. The liquid should come up about 1 inch onto the meat. Cover with lid and place in the oven for 3 – 3 ½ hours (until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 135°F). 
4. Remove the roast from the pot and let rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing. If the vegetables aren’t fork tender by this point, continue to cook them on the stove over medium-high for 15 minutes, uncovered. This will also reduce the cooking liquid and make a delicious gravy. If the vegetables are already tender, remove with a slotted spoon and put onto a serving platter, then reduce the cooking liquid. Remove the thyme and bay leaves from the pot. Serve pot roast alongside vegetables and pour gravy over top both.

Dan Footnote:

​​The best way to check the doneness of meat is with a meat thermometer. We recommend cooking to medium, (140°F). That said, remove from the oven when the meat reaches between 130 – 135°F, to give a little wiggle room for carry over cooking.