In 2009, when the Junior League of Boca Raton was celebrating the tenth anniversary of its cookbook, Savor the Moment: Entertaining Without Reservations ($29.95), member Stephanie Miskew (right) came up with a savory plan to promote it: Cook all 275 recipes in the James Beard Award-winning book.
A wine lover, she paired dishes with vino and documented her culinary journey on a blog she titled Stephanie Savors the Moment—which has since snowballed into a whole new passion for the former speech pathologist.
Now under the alias The Glamorous Gourmet and The Wine Atelier, Miskew’s blog has become a resource of recipes, wine reviews and travel articles along with an online store of wines Miskew has personally sampled and recommends. She also offers a monthly wine club, is a contributing writer for Fox News, hosts private events and is launching classes and a video series this fall.
Now, wine is “my passion. It’s what I absolutely love to do in life,” she says.
Her everyday wine: “Since I like bubbles, Mionetto Prosecco Brut and Simonnet-Febvre Cremant de Bourgogne Brut. We live in white wine country, so I generally rotate between different whites.”
Her favorite local wine spot: “I love The Grove in downtown Delray Beach. The wine list is beautiful. The prices aren’t too crazy, either.”
Wine she recommends for hostess gift-giving: Sparkling wine because of its versatile taste. “If they want to open it, it goes with anything; you don’t have to know about the menu.”
The wine that changed her life: “Krug Champagne. Champagne and bubbles are my favorite genre of wine. We got to visit Krug in 2012, and I met Maggie Henriquez, the president. That was the highlight of my life so far [laughs].”
Her best wine-pairing tip: Select the wine and then the food. “Try the wine before you bring the food into the mix, because food changes wine so dramatically. Pay attention and enjoy that interaction between food and wine. You might not like the wine at first—especially red wines can be really tannic when you first drink them—but the minute you add a nice steak, you might fall in love with the wine because the two come together. Then you learn about how to pair food and wine.”
A wine she recommends for September in South Florida: Rosé. “Everyone thinks of it as a summer wine, but let’s face it: September in South Florida is pretty much like summer. Rosé walks that line between white and red. It’s such a great choice for [this] time of year.”
Pair it with: Salad niçoise. “That’s about as perfect as it gets, I think.”
Her one piece of advice for wine tasting: “Just because someone gives a wine X amount of points doesn’t mean you have to like it. Everyone’s palette is different, and nobody’s is wrong. … Just let your palate be your guide, and try different things. Don’t get stuck in a rut. Embrace wine, be adventurous and like what you like.”
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