Brazil’s wine industry is more than 100 years old, but until recently, very little of its wines have left the country. However, for the past five years, the South American nation’s vintners, with government support, have ramped up their export efforts. And their three major targets are the United States, China and the U.K.

“The U.S.A. is our No. 1 target export country,” explained Diego Bertolini, director of marketing for Wines of Brasil. “The fact that more than 120 million Americans drink wine, and the market continues to grow, makes the U.S. an ideal export destination.” But Brazil faces several challenges, none more significant than Americans’ unfamiliarity with Brazilian wine.

“Brazil is a country more famous for its colorful culture, rain forests and pristine beaches than the quality of its wine, although this is quickly changing,” said Master Sommelier Ian Cauble, cofounder of a digital wine merchant. “A dedicated wine-producing community, centered mostly in the Serra Gaúcha region, is producing delicious wines in many styles and colors.”

Brazil’s wine industry dates to the 1880s, when a handful of wineries were established by northern Italian immigrants, but has now grown to more than 1,100 wineries. During the past decade, the wine industry has expanded, with revenues increasing from US$213 million in 2007 to more than $640 million in 2017. Production was 33.7 million cases last year, according to Wines of Brasil. Today there are 195,000 acres of vineyards in the country.

Close to 90 percent of Brazil’s wine production comes from the Serra Gaúcha region of southern Brazil. The lead grapes there are Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for sparkling-wine production. Farther south, near the Uruguay border, Cabernet Franc, Marselan and Merlot are popular varieties. Asti-style sparkling Muscat and sparkling Glera (the grape in Prosecco) are other growing categories.

“Our expertise is sparkling wine,” said Bertolini. “We have been making it for decades, and it matches our culture of celebration. We make all styles of sparkling, from high-end méthode traditionnelle aged for years on the lees to semi-sweet sparkling Moscato.”

Some industry experts agree. “Sparkling wine is a particularly bright spot on Brazil’s diverse and far-flung vineyard landscape,” said Doug Frost, a Master Sommelier and wine consultant. “There are worthy red and white Brazilian wines, but I think that there is value and even novelty in offering Brazilian bubbly.”

That focus on sparkling wine is the foundation of Brazil’s export strategy. They’re hoping to take part in the growth in sparkling wine sales around the world and continued growth in the category in the U.S. market—according to Impact Databank, a sister publication of Wine Spectator, sparkling wine sales grew 3 percent in 2017, compared to 0.3 percent for all wine. And Brazilians believe bubbly sets them apart from the two leading South American wine-producing nations, Chile and Argentina, which are best-known for still reds.

Currently only 11 Brazilian wineries export wine to the U.S., primarily to cities on the East Coast, such as New York and Miami. But Brazilian wine remains relatively unknown among American consumers. And the wines are still arriving in small numbers, with only 16,739 cases of Brazilian wine shipped to the U.S. in 2017, according to U.S. Customs reports. So there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.

“It’s not that we don’t want to have wines from Brazil,” said Wine.com founder Mike Osborn. “We simply don’t seem to have suppliers or mainstream wholesalers making them available nationally yet.”

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I remember being a little girl and sitting in a corner with an almost empty can; munching on salty morsels of corned beef and hearing my mom in the background telling me to be careful and use a spoon.

As a child I had a joyful experience with corned beef. I say joyful because I really don’t have words to describe my childhood experience with food generally. I think my joyful experience stems from my mother being adventurous with food. She made corned beef sandwiches, she added it as a protein to salads and used it as a substitute for Nigerian meat pies and sausage rolls.

My first adult experience with corned beef was in Jollof rice. I had once heard you could cook Jollof rice with corned beef and without asking questions, I went home to make mine. I cooked an average pot of Jollof; then I added the corned beef to the cooked rice and it tasted like Jollof rice and Corned beef and not corned beef Jollof rice. After the disaster of a pot of Jollof, I decided to figure it out on my own. So, how does one get to cook the corned beef in Jollof sauce so it’s one with the rice? By frying the corned beef with your tomato sauce before adding the rice. I fried the corned beef with my jollof sauce and added the rice, had it cook together and viola!

Now for me, I like corned beef in anything and everything. I still like it plain but using it in my cooking is even more tasty.

I love this sauce because it’s very easy, and you can make it with ingredients from your pantry.

Imagine waking up on Christmas morning and just whipping up a pot of corned beef sauce to pair with yam, plantain, pasta, bread; even potatoes. It’ll keep you going until dinner time.

Savory Corned Beef Sauce….Because Christmas Mornings

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

Author: Nma

Serves: 8 people

Ingredients

• 1 can corned beef
• ½ to 1 cup cooking oil(use palm oil of you like)
• 2 cans chopped tomatoes
• 1 red bell pepper(tatase)(optional)
• 1 medium sized onion
• 1-2 habaneros(eye ball according to heat tolerance)
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp white pepper
• ½ tsp thyme
• ½ cup meat stock(optional)
• bouillon(optional)
• salt

Instructions

1. Drain and blend tomatoes(or leave chopped) with tatase, onion and habaneros until smooth.
2. heat oil, add the tomato blend and stir. cook until the oil has risen to the top then season with black pepper, white pepper and thyme, add meat stock and cook until the oil has risen to the top(this step is optional. I usually do this to ensure that my tomato mix and herbs are well cooked and for a more thin sauce ). Cook for 2 more minutes; then add your corned beef. Check for seasonings before adding salt and or bouillon (corned beef has a tendency to be salty). cook until the oil peeks from the sauce. Enjoy with any starch; except eba

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