Using my wine cabinet in real life + Two easy wine pairing recipes!

Hey, welcome back everybody for the final part of this Wine Guardian wine cabinet review series. So in parts one and two of this review series, I ordered the cabinet and took delivery, gave you my first impressions. In part three, we did a real deep dive and took a look at the fine details of the cabinet. You can see them right here. At this point, it's time to have a little bit of fun. So I've decided to invite some friends and family over and we're going to have a little wine tasting party. And in this video, I'm going to show you two of my favorite easy to make appetizers that are going to pair perfectly with some of the wines in your collection. But before I give away my trade secrets and show you those recipes, I want to share a couple of observations now that I've had a chance to live with this cabinet for a couple of weeks. So this is probably going to sound a little strange, but for somebody who loves wine like I do, making an investment like this can change your day-to-day life. One thing that I'm finding is that with my collection front and center like this, I'm more inspired to enjoy a glass of wine on weeknights. And even more so, I'm thinking about food pairings and what to make for dinner based on what's within view. A lot of wine professionals will tell you that they start with the wine first and then cook the meal around it. Another cool added perk is that the cabinet actually helps me with my business. So when I do my smaller wine tasting events, I can store the work wines in the bulk storage drawers and then just pull them straight from the cabinet, pack them up in a cooler, and go. Having the Wine Guardian cabinet has also really leveled up the look of the living space. I find myself wanting to entertain at home more often. It's a lot of fun cooking a healthy and delicious meal at home for my guests, and pulling straight from the cabinet to the table makes the experience a lot more interactive. And lastly, one slightly less obvious benefit to owning this cabinet is that I expect to see my electric bill come down in the future. The prior fridge that I was using to store my wines was very inefficient. It was running all the time, whereas this one here is very efficient. So in the long run, I expect to see my utility bill come down. Okay, so let's go to the kitchen now so I can show you these two super easy to make appetizers. One is going to pair perfectly with almost any white wine and the other almost any red wine. These two appetizers are so simple to make. Each one uses less than six ingredients. Easy, wholesome food items that you can locate in almost any store. Both apps use slices of bread as the base. A nice French baguette or a rustic Italian loaf work best. For the white wine app, brush your slices with some olive oil and toast them up under your oven's broiler. Slather those slices with a generous amount of ricotta cheese, drizzle with honey, top with some fresh lemon zest, microgreens or arugula, and some roasted pistachios, seasoned with salt and pepper. Now this app is going to pair with any dry white wine and the sweetness of the honey in there combined with the lemon zest is going to be especially delicious with a really nice dry champagne or a sparkling wine. For the red wine app, we're going to start with about five garlic cloves, a cup of fresh basil, and some strained sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil. Mix those three ingredients together. You can also use a food processor if you have one. I'm using ricotta cheese, but goat cheese would work too. And top the slices with that tapenade, an extra drizzle of the reserve oil, season with salt and pepper, and garnish with more basil. And this dish is amazing with almost any red wine, but in particular, I find it goes well with Italian reds like a Chianti or a Bernardo di Montalcino. Okay, so in just a few minutes, my guests are going to be here, so I'm going to go get cleaned up and I can't wait to pair up these appetizers with the wines in my collection. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. So I often say that drinking a great bottle of wine is like taking a little virtual journey that can transport you to another place in time in the world. And when you pair it up with an excellent meal and great people too, it becomes a full sensory experience. In that spirit, collecting wine is like having your own little library of adventures just waiting to be unpacked. Wine lovers give a lot of thought, a lot of time, and often we spend a lot of money choosing those bottles for our collection. So it makes sense that you want to keep them somewhere equally as worthy. In my opinion, the perfect storage solution should be so reliable that you actually don't have to think about it. But at the same time, having it makes the passion of collecting and enjoying wine that much more exciting. So I have a feeling that my new Wine Guardian cabinet is going to play an integral role in my love for wine for many years to come. Thanks so much to Wine Guardian for the opportunity to review my cabinet and also for a pathway to step up my collection. I'm extremely happy with mine and I know that if you buy one for yourself, you're going to be happy with yours too. And thanks to all of you out there for watching and joining me along on this adventure. And if you're thinking about getting your own Wine Guardian cabinet now, be sure to contact them directly. Tell them that you've been watching these videos and they'll give you their best prices available. So where will wine take us next? New Adventures wait just on the other side of that door. Cheers, everybody.