Better than an advent wine calendar: Be Bougie Tasting Party
The holidays are a time to sparkle. That's why we put the best and newest Duplin wines all into one sweet package that you can tie up with a bow, share at a party with friends or turn into your own advent wine box with an extra bonus item.
The 2022 Be Bougie holiday bundle is packed with eight of our preminum wines, one alcohol free cider, fixings for spiced wine, everything you need to make festive wine slushies and two delectable Duplin Gourmet nibbles.
You get new Peppermint Cotton Candy blush, bursting with frostily refreshing sweetness, and ulta-preminum Queen Anne's Revenge red, bold and full-bodied with a bite. Christmas Wine red and Naughty & Nice white, both sporting new label designs, are included as well as seasonal, cozy spiced Pum'kin red.
Elegant Midnight Magnolia, traditional Mothervine, both whites, and fizzy Sweet Rosé round out the classy wine list. Muscadine Cider and Jingle Spice spiced wine mix are here for stirring up warm spiced wine. Use berry yummy Jolly Juice Sweetzer to whip up the perfect holiday wine slushie in your blender.
For nibbles, we've added Duplin Gourmet Christmas Wine Jelly, delightful on cheese boards or for making our popular Christmas Wine Jelly Brie Bites. We also popped in a bag of crispy cheese straws.
The Be Bougie combination is all you need to throw a party for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanzaa or New Year's Eve. Make it a formal or casual wine-tasting party with the tasting sheet included in the package or by following along with the video above.
The bundle also makes a so-tinsel gift for sweet wine lovers. With 13 items in the Be Bougie box, you could easily repackage it as a wine advent box with a bonus gift.
How to taste wine like a Duplin pro
See. Swirl. Sniff. Sip. Savor. Use this 5-step system for each wine on the tasting sheet included in your kit. Here's how.
See: First, hold a glass of wine up to a light and look at the color. It will allude to the variety of grapes used and what the wine will taste like. Is it Scuppernong? Nobel? Carlos? Another? Color also indicates flavor. A bright, saturated hue often means a more intense flavor. See if you can guess the grape and flavor before you sip.
Swirl: Consider the wine's body next. Swirl the wine in your glass to determine if it is light or heavy. You're looking for the viscous streaks running down the side of the glass after you swirl. They're called "legs." Sweeter wines will leave streaks to cling or move slowly. That means a heavier body.
Sniff: After you swirl, really dip your nose into the glass and inhale the aroma, which wine pros call the "bouquet" or "nose." Pausing to experience the bouquet heightens your senses and anticipation of the first sip. Think about what you are smelling. Is it fruity? What kind of fruit? Berries? Ripe banana? Musky honeydew melon? Pure grape? Are you getting floral notes like honeysuckle or gardenia? See if you pick up unexpected smells like pine or fall leaves. Describe the bouquet and discuss it.
Sip: Take a sip slightly larger than normal and hold the wine in your mouth for 3-5 seconds. Let the wine coat the tongue and the inside of your mouth. Wine releases more flavors as it warms on your taste buds. Before swallowing, purse your lips and breathe in gently, allowing the air to travel across the wine in your mouth to get the full flavor profile.
Do the flavors you're experiencing match the wine's nose? When and where are you tasting those flavors? Are you getting, say, banana bread on the first sip and then astringency or acidity at the end, which is called "the finish." Where do flavors hit you? On the tongue? On the side of your mouth.
Think back to the wine's body. Compare the texture of different wines, how they feel in your mouth. Light as water or heavier, like the texture of sweet iced tea? If you're sampling a sparkling wine, do the bubbles feel fine or medium in size. Compare your experience to the wine's description and see if it matches.
Savor: As you continue sipping, note how the sensation is slightly different from what you experienced when the wine was resting in your mouth on the first sip. This is the point when you taste and feel the wine's finish. As you continue tasting, note how the wine pairs with the Duplin Gourmet crackers and Muscadine Pineapple Habenero dip. See which wine you like best with those snacks and others you may be enjoying during your at-home or virtual tasting. Cheers!
Now, let's begin your wine tasting!
Midnight Magnolia
Midnight Magnolia is Jonathan Fussell’s personal favorite wine.
One of our three estate wines, Midnight Magnolia is made from estate grapes that are grown within four miles of our winery.
Close your eyes as you take your first sip and experience the elegant fruity start, then the crisp finish.
Mothervine
New World explorers of the 1500s couldn’t believe so many wild grapes grew along the shore of what would become North Carolina. That same century, someone on Roanoke Island planted what has been named the Mothervine, a Scuppernong thought to be America’s first cultivated grapevine. Duplin acquired cuttings from the nearly 450-year-old vine in the early 2000s and released this sweet, fruity wine in 2008. With just one vineyard of Mothervine grapes, Duplin releases a limited amount of this wine.
Naughty & Nice
The Christmas wine Naughty & Nice is a white made with a special blend of Scuppernong and Niagara grapes. This white has less alcohol kick than many of Duplin's other wines. Each sip goes down smooth and mellow.
We like to joke that this wine is so good that it can make naughty people nice; nice people naughty; or it can make you both at the same time!
Queen Anne's Revenge
Blackbeard, the scourge of the Carolina shores, was a scoundrel of the highest order. You can almost hear the mighty timbers of his flagship Queen Anne’s Revenge’s, creaking and cracking as you pour a glass of our complexly sweet, slightly tart Queen Anne’s Revenge red wine. This bold-bodied wine, with a bite at the end, is made with the muscadine grape variety Nobel. The wine shows up only once a year because of the special process used to make it. Grapes are fermented on the skins in outdoor tanks exposed to Mother Nature’s irregular temperatures. Those temperature shifts add to the wine’s complexity.
Christmas Wine
One of Duplin's most beloved Christmas wines blends North Carolina muscadines that bring the taste of a true Southern Christmas. Sweet with hints of berry to start followed by a touch of spice, this red easily moves from cocktail hour to holiday dinner table. Try it with Christmas cookies, especially gingerbread, molasses cookies, chocolate chip and gooey butter cakes.
Sweet Rosé
Sweet Rosé is incredibly refreshing with a delightfully crisp flavor. This blush enlivens your senses with its vibrant and fruity aroma. Each sip is one to be relished and shared with good company.
Muscadine grapes for this wine are pressed, cool-fermented, cold treated, blended, filtered and tested before the wine is carbonated.
Pum'kin
Chilled Pum'kin is the perfect sipper right now to get you ready for cool September and October days. Come tailgate season, add Pum'kin to steaming mulled wine. It's just as tasty in iced coffee or our creamy "Pumk'in-spiked latte." When you're gathered with friends and family around the fire pit, there's nothing better than Pum'kin and s'mores.
Peppermint Cotton Candy
Frostily refreshing and full of twinkling sweetness. Extra-festive poured over crushed ice with a splash of sparkling water. Even more magical blended in a Chocolatini Sweetzer wine slushie.
Muscadine Cider
Duplin Winery's Muscadine Cider is the only alcohol-free drink that does not go through the fermentation process. Cider is made from fresh noble grapes that are cold-treated and pasteurized. Get that old-fashioned cider feeling with Duplin's Muscadine Cider.
Jingle Spice
Cinnamon, nutmeg, a burst of apple and just a hint of citrus blends oh so smoothly with a little Duplin Christmas Wine and a little Duplin Muscadine Cider.
This spiced wine could not be easier to make. Stir it together in a large pot on the stove or keep it warm all day in your slow cooker.
Jolly Juice
Duplin wine slushies are called "Sweetzers," and you can easily make them at home. This mix's flavor is a delicious fusion of grapes and berries. Whizz Jolly Juice mix in a blender with Christmas Wine and plenty of ice. The flavors co-mingle and create the most scrumptious frozen concoction. Sweetzers are great refreshers for ending any wine tasting.
Christmas Wine Jelly
We put everything sugar, spice and Muscadine nice in this festive jelly inspired by our famous red Christmas Wine.
Savannah Grace Traditional Cheese Straws
Cheddar Cheese and lots of it in these delightful pastries. This is a traditional flavor that will please just about any cheese lover. The perfect entertaining snack or everyday treat.
