TagCloud:
Wine Ebooks:
| | The Complete Grape Growers Guide. |  | | A Complete Guide For Growing Grapes. Converts Very Well At A Reasonable Price! Growing Grapes And Making Wine Is A Very Popular Topic Right Now.
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| | Fool-Proof Wine Values. | | | Learn How To Easily Find Wines Of $50 Quality For $10 Or Less. Impress Friends With Your Expanded Wine Knowledge. Eliminate Your Dependence On Wine Salespeople. And Take The Hassle Out Of Buying Wine.
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| | Making Wine From Home. | | | A Fun And Very Informative Book On Home Wine Making. The De Facto Standard For All Home Wine Enthusiasts With Recipes, Advice And Tricks.
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Blogs & Sites:
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[11/06/2006, 21:59]
Wine Coolers: What?s so great about flavored malt liquor anyway? | | Itching to try the latest flavor rage in wine coolers? It came to my attention recently that many people don?t know that wine coolers are simply flavored malt liquor. It surprises me even more that that info itself doesn?t seem to mean much to many people. What?s wrong with pina colada flavored malt liquor wine coolers? Well, nothing, unless you want to drink more than one or two. If you?re anything like me, more than one or two wine coolers will leave you with hangover symptoms later on that day or the next. If you really want a strawberry daiquiri or pina colada, why not just buy the fixings to make those mixed drinks? Of course if you?re on a budget it?s probably better to just buy the wine coolers. But if you?re planning a big party or otherwise have a bigger drink budget, I strongly suggest making your own mixed drinks rather than buy a huge lot of wine coolers. Malt liquor is notorious for producing headaches and all the other hangover symptoms. Mixed drinks don?t have to be all that expensive to make either. If you plan ahead a little you can decide on a few different mixed drinks to have on hand at your next party and save some money by using the same base liquor. For example, rum is a great liquor for fruity drinks. Pina coladas, daiquiris and many other drinks call for rum, so that?s a great standby as far as liquors for mixing go. And of course vodka is a good all round liquor that can make many types of less fruity drinks. So, a trip to the liquor store to purchase a bottle of vodka and a bottle of rum will yield all kinds of mixed drink options. There are some excellent bartender and drink mixing websites out there that can help you make the most of your next mixed drinks occasion. There are even websites where you can input all the ingredients you have on hand and it will spit out a list of drinks that you can make. Webtender.com is just such a site. Go to http://www.webtender.com/cgi-bin/imbselect to input your available ingredients. Chances are you?ll be surprised to discover all the possible drink combinations using only the ingredients you have on hand. | | | |
[08/11/2008, 00:00]
Drink-Drive deaths down 18% | | | Last year fatalities resulting from drink-drive accidents fell by 18% according to Government statistics. | | | |
[10/23/2008, 22:13]
I'm a maverick too | | | Just like John Maverick McCain, I am sort of a shoot-from-the-hip guy. A bit rash and impetuous and all too ready to shoot off my mouth in some backfiring attempt at humor. A feature of this personality type is to be a bit sloppy, and rather disorganized. We need handlers, Johnny Mac and me, but I'd like to hope they'd be more astute and even-handed than Steve Schmidt and the rest of those gorillas. Even Sarah Palin, deplorable as she is, has acquitted herself a good deal more coherently than... | | | |
[10/20/2008, 16:53]
Campbell & Lanegan | | It was  another surprising detour in a career composed almost exclusively of detours: Isobel Campbell, former Belle & Sebastian member and sometime solo act, teamed with Mark Lanegan, taciturn former Screaming Trees singer and serial collaborator. With the release of their Ballad of the Broken Seas, the "Beauty and the Beast" lines came fast and furious. So did the Nancy and Lee comparisons, which were probably welcome. The pairing of Lanegan and Campbell may have come as a shock to fans of the latter (and maybe even the former) but the music itself was less than revelatory. Indeed, the Lee Hazelwood/Nancy Sinatra template is iconic for a reason, and to borrow it means to risk imitating them. It also means treading closely to Leonard Cohen, Scott Walker, or any other somber, late-1960s orchestral pop act.
Still, the results were beautiful and brooding, with Campbell's songwriting significantly enhanced by this very specific setting. Sequels, however, are inherently built on familiarity and a sequel to the solid yet by-the-books Ballad of the Broken Seas could be as problematic as the Hollywood models are. Yet while Sunday at Devil Dirt may be more of the same (with glimpses of Tom Waits' junkyard blues tossed in to good effect), Campbell and Lanegan were never out to do anything different. Once again, melancholy, minor-key folk melodies, and bits of spy-theme and spaghetti-western cool color the album, typically enhanced by only the classiest of accompaniment-- upright bass, strings, brushed drums, twangy electric guitars, and other chamber-pop mainstays. And once again, Campbell works better as a supporting player on her own record than as a leader, cooing and chiming away in the background. Sure, she provides most of the songwriting, but it's Lanegan who provides the gravitas.
 Fortunately, Campbell seems to realize her place here as writer and arranger first and foremost, generally ceding the spotlight to Lanegan on the likes of the bleak (of course) "The Raven" and "Back Burner", the somewhat lighter country-blues of "Salvation" and "Sally Don't You Cry", and the spare folk of "Something to Believe". Compared to Lanegan, Campbell sounds thin singing lead on "Shot Gun Blues" or as duet partner on "Who Built the Road" and "The Flame That Burns". Her vocals are almost like post-production special effects.
In a lot of ways that's what makes the disc such a good, breezy listen. Campbell's turn on "Come On Over (Turn Me On)" aims for sultry yet can't get beyond sweet and innocent; in Lanegan, however, she's found a substitute singer that's a perfect match for the strength of her compositions, a rumbling, grumbling vessel through which to channel her songs, themselves channeling the vibe of a lost but not forgotten time of smoky bars, scratchy jukeboxes, convertibles, open roads, broken hearts, cheap motels, and cheaper thrills. It's a bit like a dust-specked and flickering faux Super-8 road trip reel, with Campbell manning the camera and sitting in the director's chair and Lanegan glowering away in the uncomfortable glare of the sun.
.Info stolen from; Pitchforkmedia
Links;
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Keep Me In Mind Sweetheart (ep)
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Sunday at Devil Dirt
Isobel Campbell
Mark Lanegan
V2 Records
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[10/17/2008, 17:18]
Rediscovering Riesling at COPIA Class and Tasting | | THIS SUNDAY FOLKS!
 Class occurs 10/19/2008, 11:30-01:00 pm
Panel discussion Riesling is currently the fastest growing white varietal in the US, increasingly sought out for its food friendliness and its aromatic, vibrant character, however, its variety of sweetness can make it a challenging purchase for the consumer. Join Riesling producers for a discussion of this versatile grape and the new ?Riesling Taste Scale,? read more. Rediscovering Riesling Walk Around Tasting
Sunday, October 19 ~ 1:00 - 4:00 pm
Elegant, aromatic and food-friendly, Riesling?s making a comeback! The perfect pairing for Asian, Indian, and of course, German and Austrian cuisine, ?The Other White Wine? abundantly deserves its growing popularity. Taste dozens of domestic and international dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling Rieslings paired with artisan foods ranging from sausage to sushi. You?re sure to find the perfect match! read more
Pub.: 2008-10-08 09:18:37; Udt.: | | | |
[06/03/2008, 05:02]
Friday night tasting | | Domaine Daniel-Etienne Defaix Chablis Grand Cru Les Blanchots 1997
Oxidised, very tired.
NR/100 Tyrrells Vat 1 Semillon 1999
So young! Appealing nose of lemon and quince. Structured palate with a great line of acid and very good length. Plenty of potential to improve and develop here.
92/100 Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin Village 2002
Quite “new world” in style with cherry and strawberries on the nose. The palate is on the thin side, with the flavour slightly dilute. Decent, drinkable, but uninspiring.
86/100 Ksara “Cuvee du Troisieme Millenaire” 2004
From Lebanon, made from Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah. Interesting nose of Raspberry, herbs and spices, ceder, smoke and cherry. The palate is well structured and balanced, with medium intensity of flavour, a supple texture and good length. Will improve over the next 5 years.
89/100 Seppelt St Peters 2002
Spice, red berries, some vanilla and some hinted floral characters. Concentrated palate, quite bold and ripe without being overwhelming. Tannins are quite soft, I wonder if they’ll hold up. Good, but not nearly as good as a bottle a couple of years ago that was exceptional. Might just be in a bit of a awkward spot at the moment, I will leave the next bottle for 4-5 years before trying again.
89/100 Clonakilla Syrah 2006
Complex, bright nose of floral elements, five spice, chocolate and bacon fat aromas. The palate is charming and almost impossible not to love, great length and balance between oak, fruit and acid. World class and a brilliant wine.
95/100 Domenico Clerico Barolo Pajana 2001
Nose of tar, pine, roses and cherries. Required food to tame the tannin on the palate. The fruit on the palate is bold and serious without being too over the top. Very good now, but patience will be rewarded.
91/100 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Auslese 2006
Honey and a touch of spice to the nose. The palate is not as sweet as I expected, quite refined, minerally and subtle. Tasty and easy to drink.
90/100 Inniskillin Vidal Sparkling Ice wine 2004
Unusual if nothing else! Peaches, nectarine, honey and pineapple aromas on the nose. The light spritz cut through the sweetness somewhat but it still finished sweet. I think I’d rather it without the bubbles but glad to have tried it.
88/100 | | | |
[04/23/2007, 06:44]
Not ink, not alcoholic, no wood | | | Whilst in Bordeaux I took the time to speak to Thierry Manoncourt at Chateau Figeac to ask him about his life and how things have changed during his stewardship of the estate since the 1940s - he will be ninety in September this year. The interview will be podcast in the near future (in [...] | | | |
[07/02/2008, 20:15]
Au Jardin Les Amis - Singapore | | Au Jardin Les Amis (”The Friends, In the Garden”) is situated in the tranquil Singapore Botanic Gardens, on the second level of an 1920s home. We were seated on a glass enclosed balcony with a relaxing view of the gardens. It is a wonderful setting and was a great place to spend some time on my last day in Singapore. The service was attentive, professional and was invisible except when needed. The food was very good, it wasn’t innovative - but with clean, elegant and pleasing flavour profiles it was memorable for the taste and technique. I have read that this venue can have good and bad days, and I think this must have been a good day as everything seemed to go well. Like Iggy’s, the price was more than fair - the meal consisted of an amuse bouche, an entree, consommé, main course, dessert, les mignardises and coffee and cost $52 AUD (including 7% GST and a mandatory 10% service charge) per person plus wine. I guess when every corner of the city has wonderful (and cheap) food, you have to be fair to stay alive. The wine; The wine list is extensive and full of very special bottles, as well as being generally well above my budget! Donnhoff Oberhauser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett 2006 (Nahe, Germany) - 8.5% alcohol -
Donnhoff is very quickly heading toward the top of my favourite Riesling producer list. This had aromas of sea salt, pears, tea leaves and mandarin. Delicate and long on the palate, there is some lovely fruit sweetness balanced by superb acidity. Lovely drinking now, but will age well over the next 10 years.
91/100 Bonneau Du Martray Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 1992 (Burgundy, France) 375ml - 13% alcohol -
Golden straw coloured. Butter, sesame, toast and honey aromas on the nose. Rich and creamy mouthfeel, with enough acid to keep the palate from being flabby. Very good length and texture. Drink now and over the next couple of years.
91/100 The food; Prawn with Basil and Berry Foam with Apple juice
 Cougette blossom stuffed with crab meat
 Hon maguro with horseradish and roasted sesame dressing
 Vine ripened tomato consomme with basil
 Lightly smoked ocean trout with apple and fennel salad
 Roasted flank steak and braised oxtail in red wine with seasonal vegetables
 Kirsch parfait with cherry
 Lychee jelly with lychee sorbet
 Les mignardises with Coffee
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[01/25/2008, 00:00]
2005 Ponzi Pinot Noir | | 2005 Ponzi Pinot Noir
The 2005 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley offers toasty cherry and strawberry aromas leading to a medium-bodied, structured wine with spicy flavors and a slightly tannic finish. Drink this tasty Pinot Noir over the next 4-6 years. Ponzi Vineyards began in 1974 making them one of Oregon?s pioneers. Dick and Nancy Ponzi, the founders, remain very much involved although winemaking duties were turned over to daughter Luisa in 1993. In addition to remaining a reference point for Oregon Pinot Noir, the winery fashions excellent wines from Italian varietals including Arneis and Dolcetto in honor of their heritage. Not yet released. Tel. (503) 628-1227; www.ponziwines.com
Rating: 89 Estimated Cost: $29-$40 | | | |
[11/06/2008, 13:11]
Beetroot and orange salad | |  There's nothing particularly hard about this. It's a play on the age old theme of sweet and sour. First cook your beets (I used 4 medium ones, scrubbed and baked for 90 minutes in an oven @ 200C), then once cool enough to handle, remove the skin and cut into bite size wedges. Segment two oranges and add to the beetroot. Then - add a few handfuls of walnut fragments, a scattering of fresh herbs (parsley plus or minus coriander), a splash of olive oil and salt and pepper as desired. Leave for a few minutes, so the colours can bleed and combine, then serve. | | | |
[10/31/2008, 18:37]
From an Acorn a Mighty Wine Grows | |  The wrong Acorn has been in the news lately. The tiny Sonoma winery called Acorn was news to me as I tasted the wines for the first time at the first (annual we hope) Wine Bloggers Conference held in Santa Rosa last weekend. Betsy and Bill Nachbaur’s Acorn Winery is very good news indeed.
In a California wine world dominated by squeaky clean, but personality-free wines, the wines of Acorn are packed with personality. Producing wines exclusively from their estate vineyard in the Russian River they once again challenge conventional wisdom on so called “warm” climate varieties. In the cool Russian River Valley, which is known for its pinot noir, the Acorn Vineyard is planted with syrah, zinfandel, sangiovese, petite sirah and other varieties that aren’t usually associated with pinot territory. It seems zinfandel and syrah like a little fog too. Acorn is doing some things that seem cutting edge in the new world, but actually go back to the very first wines. They are co-fermenting field blends instead of picking and fermenting each variety separately. There is no doubt that varieties that are co-fermented together have different characteristics than a wine made from those same varieties made separately then blended. The chemistry that takes place during co-fermentation is just different. For example, their 2005 Heritage Vines Zinfandel (1005 cases) is 78% zinfandel, 10% alicante bouschet, 10% petite syrah and the remaining 2% includes carignane, trousseau, sangiovese, petit bouschet, negrette, syrah, muscat noir, cinsault and grenache. All of these varieties were harvested and fermented together. The wine is rich, but with a firm backbone of tannin and acid and loaded with layers of flavors and aromas like coffee, chocolate, porcini and deep ripe blackberries. The 2005 Sangiovese (1022 cases) is easily one of the most interesting New World examples of this variety I’ve tasted. Produced from 98% sangiovese (7 different clones), 1 % canaiolo and 1% mammolo, which is a blend I wish more Tuscan wineries would use instead of overwhelming their sangiovese with the strong varietal character of cabernet sauvignon. This is a decidedly robust, California style wine, but like their Zinfandel it has the zesty backbone to carry the heft. It is interesting to note that while these wines come from an Acorn they are blessedly not over-oaked. They are also not overpriced running around $30 a bottle. All of the Acorn wines have just the right touch of what I call a rustic character. While being very well made they have just a bit of wildness or sauvage, as the French call it. Rustic does not mean brett or other wine faults, but means that the character of the varieties and vineyard really show through in the wine and are not polished away leaving only artificially gleaming simple fruit flavors. With this edge of wildness, the wines of Acorn are not only delicious, but interesting, which is just the way I like them. Acorn may be small, but they’re making some mighty fine wines. | | WorldWine Tags: California, zinfandel, sangiovese, wine, | | | |
[09/30/2008, 03:00]
Best Wine Blog Posts for September 12th through September 29th | | Best of the wine blogosphere for September 12th through September 29th: - WBW #50 Announced: The Great Outdoors
- Pinotage Old and New: Tasting Notes and Thoughts from South Africa
- Some Thoughts on South African Wine
- Toss out your wine charms and try chalkboard glasses instead
- SFGate: Wine : The Chronicle Wine Selections: Napa Valley
- Spiffy new update with lots of great content
- Personal Hygiene
- My Web 2.0 Keynote in NYC
- Tasting the Red Wines of Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa
- Über Bargains
- The River of Skulls: A Halloween Tradition, Since 2008
- The most important 18 wine blogs
- Wine Blogging Wednesday #49: End of an Era?
- Facts and Opinions about High Alcohol Wines
- A Symposium on Roussanne (AKA three days spent with an infuriating, unpredictable, enticing, lovely grape)
- And My B.S. Detector Goes Berserk
- SFGate: Wine : Pick your pleasure: Harvest festivities abound - here are the best of the bunch
- Sommeliers Takes on the The 3 Tier System
- Harvest 2008 (Week of September 8th): Viognier, Syrah, Vermentino, and Chardonnay
- Wine 2.0 Event and Tasting: September 18, New York City
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[09/29/2006, 20:51]
Short pours | | It's official. Millennials are a major force in wine. Why we needed a study to tell us this, I'm not sure. We millennials are hip, sophisticated and reliably swayed by marketing. Sigh. At least we have the good sense to like wine.
Who doesn't like SPAM with their greens? Vineyard Spam Salad.
Quotable: "Connoisseur, n. A specialist who knows everything about something and nothing about anything else." - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
 Caberiffic: Delectus 2001 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Stanton Vineyard Oakville ($50). Tobacco, mushroom, black cherry, plum. Decant, my friends, decant.
Splurge worthy: Philip Togni Vineyard 2003 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (online prices vary widely, between $80 and $150). Blackberry, dusty chocolate, plum, great acid on the back end.
Tags: wine, marketing, quotes, cabernet sauvignon, recipes | | WorldWine Tags: wine, marketing, quotes, cabernet sauvignon, recipes, | | | |
[10/19/2008, 02:54]
Chateau Lafon 2003 wine review by (PB) | | 
This Sauternes is light golden wine with a wonderful bouquet of spicy citrus and grapefruit with a honey nose.
In the mouth this desert wine is velvety with stewed apricots and honey with a rich sweetness that lingers. Finishes long and sexy. I paid $13 for the 1/2 bottle and if they have more when I return, it shall be purchased! Raise a glass! | | | |
[11/06/2008, 05:00]
Mapema Malbec Mendoza 2006 (Wine Spectator) | | | Ripe and forward, with dark licorice, fig, currant preserve and chocolate notes riding along round, rich tannins. Rock-solid finish. Drink now through 2010. 2,000 cases made. | | | |
[11/19/2006, 07:26]
What You Should Know Before Buying a Wine Rack | | For some people, the storage and acquisition of wine is more than just a hobby, it is an art.
Wine connoisseurs all know that the proper storage of wine is important to its final flavor. Once it is already bottled, wine will still mature and gain body and flavor. Proper care should be taken when handling wine, or else its potential for greatness will go to waste. To keep their wine well preserved, the discriminating connoisseur will choose a proper wine rack.
How to Buy a Wine Rack
The Build
Wine racks can be made of so many different materials and styles. You should consider which material and style fits your need and preference. You could have wood, glass, alloy, or metal racks. Some people try to choose materials that match their living rooms. There are a variety of styles of wine racks, find one that if convenient for you. The popular styles include counter top racks, diamond bins, cabinets and others.
The Essential Elements
A good wine rack will ensure that the following elements are strictly controlled. Light, humidity, temperature, stability. If you want to keep your wine well preserved and ready for ambush party, you need to make sure they are not exposed to light, moisture, extreme temperatures and shaking or vibration.
Cabinet wine racks are good at keeping wine bottles safe. They can emulate the conditions at a wine cellar best. These condition include moderate humidity, cool temperatures, and little light
We try to control the humidity so we can avoid getting the wine cork from accumulating moisture. This will lessen the chances that the wine will get contaminated or oxidized.
Keeping the correct humidity or appropriately moist environment will keep the wine cork damp, reducing the chances of contamination and/or oxidization. Warm conditions will accelerate wine aging. You have to keep this in mind when you consider which wine rack to choose.
Things to Remember
Don’t place wine cellars above or near refrigerators. Refrigerators generate heat and this heat could ruin you wine collection. Buying and installing a good wine rack would be useless if that happened.
Your rack has to be smooth enough that when the wine bottles are put and taken, they will not get scratched and damaged. Bottles and labels are also important parts of the overall value of wine.
A wine cellar is great but not necessary to store your wine in the correct environment. But since not everyone can afford a wine cellar or has space enough for one, you could opt for a wine rack instead. Wine racks function a lot like wine cellars, but they are smaller and are more accessible. They are also a lot cheaper and easier to install.
Believe it or not, ultraviolet light can affect and ruin wine. That’s the reason wine cellars are so dark and that’s why you have to keep your wine in a dark safe place. When you store your wine bottles, make sure they are stored sideways; this ensures that the wine is always in contact with the cork to keep it moist.
Once again we cannot express how important it is to maintain the right conditions for your wine to mature nicely. Your wine rack system has to maintain the right amount of humidity and temperature to keep your collection going. Bear in mind that wine is something you keep for a long time. Keep your wine racks pumping a temperature range of 55-60° F. Also make sure the humidity is in the 50% to 75% range. Adjust these settings according to the needs of your wine.
Start Planning for Your Wine Rack Now!
Well, now you have pretty much gotten everything in order. When a party comes crashing through, you can whip out the grade A wine and celebrate to your hearts content. Pour out the good times to the tune of the compliments and admiration your friends will throw your way all because of your fine wine rack.
About the author:
For more great wine rack info and advice check out: http://www.rack-hq.com
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[04/28/2007, 16:15]
Wine, Whisky & All That Jazz | | | This cool combo of fine wines and classic jazz is one of Toronto?s premier events. Energy Savings Group Wine, Whisky & All That Jazz is set for Wed., June 20 at the Liberty Grand. Recapture the golden age of jazz... | | | |
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