Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups Hummingbird Ridge Pordevino, Reserve Red, or Hummingbird Red
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup dark chocolate chips (melted)Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325º F.
2. Line 2 cupcake pans. (Tip: After you line the pans, spray the liners with some non-stick spray. It will keep the cupcakes from sticking to the paper.
3. In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Mix everything so that it is evenly distributed.
4. Make a ?well? in the center of the dry ingredients.
5. Into the well, pour in the wine, vanilla, oil and eggs.
6. Mix on low speed until combined and lump free.
7. Pour in the melted chocolate chips and mix until thoroughly combined.
8. Fill lined cupcake pan. Fill each liner to the top.
9. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. The cupcakes will puff quite a bit, and when done should be slightly firm to the touch, but be able to spring back.
10. Let cool slightly before dipping in chocolate wine topping.

Chocolate Wine topping
This makes a lot, but the leftovers can be used as a topping for ice cream and other sweet treats.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup red wine (same as used in the cupcakes)
1/2 cup karo syrup
4 tsp balsamic vinegar

Directions
1. Microwave everything in a microwave safe bowl for two minutes.
2. Remove from microwave, carefully, and stir until smooth and shiny.
3. Let cool, and dip cupcake tops into the chocolate.
4. Repeat after they?ve set up a bit

- Wine Tip: When pairing wine with chocolate, typically the wine should be at least as sweet, if not a touch sweeter, than the chocolate you are serving it with. Otherwise, the taste may quickly veer towards bitter or sour.

White chocolate tends to be more sweet, mellow and buttery in flavor and generally pairs well with sweet white wines. Milk Chocolate generally pairs well with semi-dry reds and some whites, and Dark chocolate generally pairs well with Dry reds and Port wines. But these are just general suggestions. Dare to be bold and experiment. You will find that the perfect wine and chocolate pairings bring out the best in both the wine and the chocolate!

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- Do you save the corks from the wines that you drink? There are many uses for corks. Here are a few: 1.Napkin Ring, Drill a hole in the center, thread pretty ribbon through and tie. 2. Cork Wreath, Look online for instructions. 3. If you do scrapbooking, you can carve your own stamps into corks. 4. Cork Tabletop, Look online for instructions. 5. Fishing Bobber, put a staple in the cork and pull the staple back out a little bit & put your line through. 6. Pin Cushion 7. Glue thin slices of cork on the bottom of tables, chairs, pottery, etc. so they don't scratch the floor or other surfaces. 8. If you've lost the cap to a soda bottle, use a cork. 9. Cork and Bead necklaces or curtains, Drill holes in corks and string beads through the corks. 10. Door Stop 11. Trivet (Pot Holder), slice corks in half & frame with wood for a place to put hot pans. 12. Put small pieces of cork over the ends of knitting needles, fishing hooks, or any sharp object to protect it and you. 13. To decorate a potted plant, lay corks on top of the level potting soil in patterns. 14. Wrap a cork with sandpaper for a Sanding Block for small sanding jobs. 15. Key Ring for boaters, if your keys go overboard, the cork floats. 16. Wall Border 17. Fill holes in floors left by previous tenants. So go and put your used corks to good use!


- Recipe:
Super Tender Beef Tenderloin: Ingredients: 6 cloves garlic, peeled & slivered; 1 cup soy sauce; 1/4 cup olive oil; 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce; 1 cup (plus 2 glasses for the cook and some for your guests) Hummingbird Ridge Pordevino port wine; 1 teaspoon black pepper; 1 teaspoon dried thyme; 1 bay leaf; 5 lbs beef tenderloin


Directions: Pour a glass of Hummingbird Ridge Pordevino port wine for the cook. Take a sip of port. Make small slits in the tenderloin and insert the garlic slivers; set aside. In a large bowl, (or a Reynolds turkey oven bag for easy clean-up and marinating) combine all of the remaining ingredients; mix well. Take a sip of port. Add tenderloin. Take a sip of port. Cover and marinate the tenderloin OVERNIGHT & finish the glass of port.


The next day, Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Pour a glass of Hummingbird Ridge Pordevino port wine for the cook. Take a sip of port. Coat a roasting pan with non-stick cooking spray. Take a sip of port. Remove the meat from the marinade and place on a rack like broiler pan. Folding the ends under roast so tenderloin is of uniform size. Discard the marinade. Take a sip of port. Roast the tenderloin for 45-55 minutes for medium- rare or to desired doneness (watch carefully- oven temperatures can vary). Take a sip of port. Allow to sit for 15 minutes before slicing crosswise to serve. Serve with Hummingbird Ridge Pordevino port wine. Enjoy!!!

- Winemaking Term: Rack: To draw off from the lees or sediment, the term has its roots in Biblical times from the word raca meaning “worthless” or lowest parts. When winemakers say they are going to “rack” the wine, they don’t mean that they are going to put the wine in a wine rack or that they are going to torture the wine, they mean that they are going to carefully siphon or pump the wine to separate the sediment at the bottom of the tank created from the fermentation and clarification process from the clearer wine above the sediment. The racking process normally begins after fermentation is complete and the wine is racked at periodic intervals until clarified to the winemakers liking.

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- Recipe: This recipe is a unique, flavorful and easy Holiday Party drink recipe made with Hummingbird Ridge Winery’s “Hummingbird White” wine. We have been featuring this Warm Holiday Cider Wine recipe at the tasting room for the Holidays and everyone has just loved it! And it’s sooooooooo easy!

In a crockpot or coffee warmer, mix half “Hummingbird White” wine and half Apple Cider (our friends at Triple A Acres make the best fresh apple cider! You can find them at the Newberrytown Peddlers Market [our neighbors] on Saturdays & Sundays). Warm it up and ENJOY!!! It’s that simple, and your holiday guests will think that you slaved for hours preparing it. Optional: Add cinnamon stick or spice bag to your taste.

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- Wine Q & A: Why is wine with little or no sugar content called “dry wine”? We get asked this question a lot at the tasting room and the origin of the term “dry wine” is unfortunately, not easy to explain. In researching the question, the best answer that we can find is the following from a Word Origins Discussion Board: "In medieval times (and pretty much up to the advent of modern winemaking), wines were typically drank young, since it was difficult to keep them from spoiling. Any aging that was done would have been done in wooden barrels, since the bottle- and cork-making techniques of the time weren't good enough to permit long-term storage in the bottle. (The ancient Romans and Greeks had airtight containers for storage, but these methods were lost during the dark ages.) So although it's possible to age the astringency out of modern wines, in medieval times there would have been a tradeoff between sweetness and astringency. As a general rule, non-sweet wines would have been more astringent ('dry' in the mouth) and sweet wines less so. From this, it's not surprising that 'sweet' and 'dry' would have come to be regarded as opposites in wine, and that non-sweet wines would continue to be called 'dry' even when improved methods of winemaking led to the production of non-sweet wines that weren't particularly astringent.

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- Recipe: This recipe celebrates Autumn and is for all of you dessert-lovers out there. This Pumpkin Bundt Cake is so moist and delicious, you won’t be able to stop at just one piece:
Ingredients:
1 cup vegetable oil or Canola Oil, 3 eggs, 1 can (15-oz. size) pumpkin, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 cups white sugar, 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1 teaspoon ground allspice, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup chopped nuts (0ptional)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease one 10 inch Bundt or tube pan. Cream oil, beaten eggs, pumpkin and vanilla together.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and salt together. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix until just combined. If desired, stir in some chopped nuts. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake at 350degrees for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 5 minutes then turn out onto a plate. Let cool and dust with powdered sugar. (Or, frost with cream cheese frosting or a powdered sugar glaze). This goes great with Hummingbird Ridge “Sweet Dreams” wine. ENJOY!!!

- Winetasting Tip: If you can never seem to find a dry red wine that you like, maybe you are not giving your reds enough of a chance to show themselves at their best. Remember that many red wines need to be exposed to air and allowed to “breathe” a bit before they become their best, especially if they are newer vintages. Just letting the wine sit in your glass (or decanting the wine into a decanter or glass pitcher) for as little as 30 minutes allows the alcohol aromas to “blow off” and also starts a reaction that softens and smooths the tannins and “unwinds” the tightly bound flavors in red wines. So give your red wine a chance to show itself at its best and “let it breathe”!

- It's often hard to pair Holiday meals such as Thanksgiving with wine, not just because of the variety of foods presented, but also because of the variety of people at the table. Trying to please a variety of people can be hard, but here is a possible solution. Present several wines at the table in different styles that guests can choose from. A nice sparkling wine is always nice, as well as a fruit-forward dry red, and perhaps a semi-dry white and of course, a sweet wine for those that are not big wine drinkers. Fortunately, Hummingbird Ridge Winery is your one-stop shop for Thanksgiving wines. From our Hummingbird Red & Semi-Dry Riesling on the drier side to our Sweet Dreams & Ruby Elixir on the sweeter side, you can present your guests with the perfect wine for your Thanksgiving celebration. Stop in our tasting room for more advice on pairing wines with Thanksgiving dinner or any meal.