My friend Sara, from Saving For Someday, has written this wonderful review on a few of the wines we had at our party, A Social Soiree, last month in San Diego.

I wanted to share it with y’all, because she knows much more about wine than I do, for sure!

This summer I had the opportunity to try two new wines, one a just released Sauvignon Blanc from Nine Walks and the other a Rosé Sparkling wine from Yellow Tail. Both wines can usually be found for under $10 and easily transition from summer into Fall. Perfect for a casual dinner, the Nine Walks Sauvignon Blanc is from New Zealand. The Yellow Tail Sparkling Rosé Wine is from Australia.

If you’re not familiar with Nine Walks, that’s OK. It’s a new wine, recently brought to the US from the Marlborough region of New Zealand. It has a crisp, citrusy flavor and worked perfectly for Social Soiree in San Diego. Our food was casual – chicken satay, spinach and feta pinwheels, bruschetta; the atmosphere upscale. We needed something that would marry the two. Nine Walks, or sometimes written 9 Walks, was served chilled and was perfect for a refreshing drink with the variety of foods served. Serving a new wine can be a challenge, especially with a discerning group of bloggers. There are so many different palates to satisfy and with a brand few may have heard of there could be some resistance. We took the chance for several reasons. Besides wanting a fun and refreshing wine, the message behind Nine Walks is something we could really appreciate. Matt Michelle created the brand to showcase his country’s amazing 9 Great Walks that include some of the most gorgeous land on earth. He also brings a message of sustainability with his winemaking.

And what is a fancy party without a little bit of bubbly? In keeping with our theme which incorporated pink, we went with the [ yellow tail ] Bubbles Sparkling Rosé Wine. With it’s light pink color it added flair and a unique touch to the event. It is an estate-bottled wine, which means that the winemaker maintains a high level of control over its production. Many sparkling wines can be dry, but this one is soft, fresh and fruity. It went perfect with our light fare. And while it wasn’t an initial concern what to do with any sparkling wine we didn’t finish, we did have a few bottles that were not finished. Usually that would mean throwing out good sparkling wine since it’s not meant to be consumed flat. However, [ yellow tail ] has included amazing new technology for their sparkling wines. The Zork cork! This reusable cork for sparkling wines means you can reclose the bottle for future use, something usually unheard of with sparkling wines. This would be perfect for home use if you’re having an open house or extended event and the sparkling wine may be out for a few hours. Just reseal it with the very easy to use Zork cork and it’ll stay bubbly from the first pour to the last! Talk about innovative, especially for such an economical sparkling wine. Nectar Wine Blog has a nice video showing how the Zork works.

Even though summer is almost officially over, keep these two wines in mind as you move toward the holiday season as well. They are both very good and well priced and can easily be enjoyed with a nice meal with friends or even a bigger dinner such as Thanksgiving.

Sara Hawkins blogs about her life, saving money, new products and how to improve her life and fulfill all her hopes and dreams. At Saving For Someday she’s decided to ‘stop wishing, start doing’.