Archive for the 'Anything Wine' Category
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Holiday Wine Deals
The month of November has now arrived which is exciting as the holidays are around the corner. This is the time for family gatherings, good food, gift giving and naturally good wine. Even though the next eight weeks can be a bit hectic it always feels like the pressure of everyday life relaxes a little, the year winds down and we begin to look forward to a new year and what it may bring. I also look forward to the winery specials that are offered as the holiday season begins, and this year looks like it may be good for the consumer. I have recently received holiday offers for wine at sale prices as well as reduced or even free shipping. The economy has hit all of us hard and I am sure that includes our favorite wineries. I don’t mind paying for wine I love including whatever the shipping costs in order to get it to my door, but it is nice to get a break now and then, even if that break is a side effect of a bad economy. I would imagine that the discounts are a result of a drop in sales wineries may have experienced and while I don’t get any satisfaction gaining from another’s misfortune, I do think wine prices have skyrocketed a bit. Maybe this will bring them back to a more reasonable price range, possibly a positive of the bad economy will be stabilized prices. Regardless, I will continue to support my favorite wineries and purchase the wine no matter what kind of offers I receive. However, if you are looking to purchase a great gift, start shopping the wine deals now in order to have them shipped and wrapped up in time for your favorite holiday gift giving season.
Published by admin on November 3rd, 2009 | Filed under Anything Wine | Comment now »Indoor winery table top waterfall
I recently found this really nice indoor wine bottle table top waterfall. The water cascades down from a vintage wine bottle across a wine glass and grapes. A great gift for any wine lover and very reasonably priced! Check it out at the link below.
Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator
On our recent trip to Napa Valley I purchased a wine gadget I had noticed in many of the wineries and wine shops we have visited. As a true believer in decanting wine I finally decided I had to try one. The Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator for red wine is in my opinion one of the few “wine gadgets” that actually lives up to its claims. The small hand held unit is designed to aerate wine poured through it, by drawing in air through two air tubes as the wine flows through it. As described on the Vinturi web site. “When wine is poured in the Vinturi its internal design creates an increase in the wine’s velocity and a decrease in its pressure. This pressure difference creates a vacuum that draws in air which is mixed with wine for perfect aeration.”
I was more than surprised when I arrived home with my new toy and tried it out by pouring a young tannic Cabernet I had already tasted through it. While subtle the change in the bouquet, flavors and finish were very pleasing. Not sure if I was ready to believe, I tried another selection and again was impressed. It has been several months since our trip and Vinturi purchase and I can honestly state the little tool that could is now a permanent staple of our wine drinking. In fact I love it so much that my next purchase will be the Vinturi for white wine, yes white wine can also benefit from aeration.
To purchase your own Vinturi click on the link below:
Published by admin on September 29th, 2009 | Filed under Anything Wine | Comment now »White Wine Sale
Well, I saw a sign today that read 15% off all white wines and to me that means the summer has truly come to an end. It might not have been the intent of the sale and it may not mean the same to year round white wine drinkers, but to me it signaled the end of the hot season here on the East coast. Don’t get me wrong , I don’t dislike white wine and depending on the menu I may start my evening with a white wine, but I always switch over to red rather quickly. I sit here thinking about that sign and wonder what the store owner intended to do. Was he simply appealing to the white wine drinkers, will he have another 15% off sale and target red wine drinkers? Maybe, but it is interesting to me to think of all of the ways one may interpret that sign. It is odd, sort of like our taste for wine. You can be a white wine drinker and not love all white wine. Possibly you like the heavier oak flavored chardonnay wines, or you could be a fan of the crisper, lighter whites. The heavier white wines extract some of their flavors from the oak barrels they were aged in, while the lighter, crisp, clean whites aged in stainless steel tanks do not pick up additional flavors or tannins from the vessel they are aged in. The thought process here is endless, both about the sign and about each of our tastes in wine. There is no right or wrong, it is simply our own thoughts, our own choices in wine and our own tastes. However, being the red wine drinker I am, I think I need to inquire when the 15% off red wine sale will be.
Wine Grape Harvest Season
Another summer is coming to a close and the fall season is around the corner. While I always hate to see summer go fall is one of my favorite times of the year. Everything just appears to slow down a bit from the hectic rush of summer, the heat and humidity dissipate and the air is clear and crisp. As a wine lover this time of year is exciting in that the harvest of wine grapes for a new vintage begins.
Yes, every year at this time the harvesting of grapes usually starts with sparkling wine producers who pick in mid to late August. Labor Day is usually the start of harvest for early ripening varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc. Depending on the weather harvest can continue on through October with the big reds like Cabernet left to hang as long as possible to get full ripening. Weather is always a major factor determining when the grapes are picked; cold, heavy rain or frost could destroy a crop. It is always exciting to know that a new vintage of my favorite wine will be bottled after the wine makers spin their craft. I can’t wait to hear the reports of barrel tastings of these new vintages. While as a consumer I am aware most of these new wines will not hit the market for a couple of years, I am sure some more excellent wine is waiting to be tasted.
I have not yet visited my favorite place, during harvest as I can’t take crowds; I have been to a few grape crushing events and can imagine the smell of grapes in the air and the celebration as tons of grapes roll up to the crush pad. Yes another harvest season has begun and if you are a true wine lover go visit your local vineyard, some even allow volunteers to help pick the grapes and the crush is an experience you won’t forget.
Published by admin on August 30th, 2009 | Filed under Anything Wine | Comment now »Zinfandel
I am an avid reader of Wine Spectator and several other wine related periodicals that led me to this next article. The June 30, 2009 edition of Wine Spectator just arrived dedicated a great section to Zinfandel wines. I am a big fan of Zinfandel as a red wine lover. I must add the deep red selections of Zinfandel; not the white, pink colored sweet versions. Although in their article “The ABC’s of Zinfandel, Wine Spectator does state that “Ironically, white Zinfandel has been both a savior and a curse. Without it, many of the now cherished old vine Zinfandel Vineyards may have been ripped out, and yet in the minds of many consumers Zinfandel will always be that sweet and simple rose”. Okay, but in my mind if white Zinfandel saved many of the old vine Zinfandel vineyards around the Napa Valley area from sure destruction, it will always hold a special place in my heart. Just don’t expect that you will read about me drinking it anytime soon. In California Zinfandel happens to be one of the most widely planted wine grapes with some 50,000 acres planted as of 2008. Why? It is a vigorous producer capable of yielding 8 tons or more of fruit per acre. Most top Zinfandel makers will keep loads much smaller in the 2-3 ton an acre range to achieve better depth and intensity. There is an ongoing debate over whether the old vines make the best Zinfandel and my answer is give them due respect, after all they are our vineyard senior citizens. I read with interest the “Zinfandel For Every Taste” article with some great recipes. I just wondered why no one ever pairs Zinfandel with one of my favorites, and I know I will take a lot of heat from the “experts” on this one. Yes my favorite pairing is a great Zin and Pizza. You heard me right “Pizza” a food that has become as American as apple pie. A good Zinfandel with a nice peppery finish stands up well in my opinion to the tomato, cheese and acids of the pizza, and the wine won’t fill you up like beer. Don’t take my word for it, purchase a good selection of Zinfandel and a pizza and do your own test, I bet you will have found a new love. Check out Wine Spectator’s August edition or visit them on line at www.winespectator.com for the complete stories, and check out the Q and A article with Dave Phinney of Orin Swift Cellars, very informative. By the way as I write this I am enjoying a pizza from our favorite local shop along with a Venge Vineyards Scouts Honor, a blend of 68% Zinfandel, 15% Petite Sirah and 17% Charbono. Ah, can life get any better?
Published by admin on June 5th, 2009 | Filed under Anything Wine | Comment now »Memorial Day Celebration
This past weekend included Memorial Day; a national holiday here in the United States designated to commemorate U. S. men and women who gave their lives for our freedom while in the military service. Many people observe this holiday by visiting cemeteries and memorials. Volunteers will often place an American flag on each grave site at National Cemeteries, as well as the graves of serviceman in cemeteries around the country. In addition to a day to remember, it is also used as a day for parades, family picnics, barbeques and gatherings. The weekend of Memorial Day has also become for many the unofficial start of summer. I know my wife and I feel it begins our summer and we usually celebrate on the first day of the weekend which for us began on Thursday with an extra day off on Friday. Thursday evening we sat by our outdoor fireplace with some snacks and a bottle of Chateau Montelena 2000 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon. This was an excellent and specific choice to start our summer as we will soon visit Napa Valley again in July. The wine was big and bold with a deep garnet color, a nose of raspberry, and cassis and a hint of cedar and pepper. I found the wine to have a long smooth finish of berries with a supple tannin structure and a hint of oak. We both enjoyed our beginning of summer wine choice as our thoughts slipped forward to our 2009 Napa trip. We also raised a glass to those who lost their lives making days like this possible. Wish I could say the rest of the weekend went as well, but that is another story.
Published by admin on May 26th, 2009 | Filed under Anything Wine | Comment now »How to save for wine purchases
We all know the economy and wine enjoyment are directly related today. The economy is in shambles, they say it has hit bottom, but to me that remains to be seen. With that in mind my purchasing power has dropped in the last year. I am presently furloughed (or whatever you call it) every other Friday, in effect, a 10% salary cut, and my wife’s salary was also frozen. All while living expenses increase. My retirement account has diminished at a rapid rate and my high yield savings account has gone from 6.3% interest to about 1.5%. Are you wondering what this has to do with wine? Just humor me, I will get to it. In an effort to trim costs in our everyday life I reviewed all of our monthly expenses. Naturally our wine expenditures needed some attention, yet one of the big stand outs was our home and auto insurance policies. I am not one to jump from one company to another to save a few bucks, but what bothered me is that we never had a claim, and the policy kept increasing each year. I requested a few quotes to lower our cost and was pleased to find the same coverage for around $700 dollars a year savings with a reputable company. You can buy a lot of wine with that money, I said to myself. The switch did require a home inspection, but we were not too concerned. Well, long story short a new roof that we did know was in the near future along with a few other minor issues and we will see our monthly savings in about 10 years! I did increase the value of my home, but I feel it backfired on me somehow-the story of my life! Another idea I had after reading an article about making money in a volatile stock market was to open an online trading account and try my luck at that. I have to make back that wine money somewhere, right? We have seen some success and made far more than the high yield savings account would have, and that helped to cut some of the insurance loss in the process. Good news, right? Today I was watching one of our stocks closely as it was climbing. I called my wife who was home and walked her through the sale of that stock and were both excited with the profit of the sale. That is until I came home and tried to verify my sale and found my very smart wife was having one of her moments when she was not so smart and did not complete the sale. My wife had never hit the place order box, as she said she did not want to place an order, just make a sale. Hmmm! Somehow when I have a moment, it is not usually good luck, my wife has a moment she gets lucky. The stock continued to rise throughout the day to an even greater profit, so I placed a limit order on it and we should sell tomorrow at a much higher rate. More wine money thanks to my smart wife!?
Published by admin on May 6th, 2009 | Filed under Anything Wine | Comment now »Spring Wines
Living here on the east coast can be hard if you are not a fan of winter, which I am surely not. You might ask, why not move? The answer is income, the north east is an area where until lately jobs were plentiful and the pay is great. That is not the point of my writing though, it is all about spring which has arrived and begun teasing us with some nice warm weather. There are occasional steps backwards to some cold days, and rain is plentiful in the 10 day forecast. No matter, this time of year for me is always exciting as the flowers and trees begin to bloom and the grass greens up. I can dig out the shorts and tee shirts. It also reminds me the time has come to dust off some warm weather white wine favorites. I won’t deny my love of red wines, especially the big bold Cabernets and when winter rolls in they are always my first choice, but I do look forward to some crisp fresh whites. In the colder season there will be some Chardonnay with a certain dish or special friends, but for the most part winter for me is all red wine. Much like the comfort foods we also trend towards during winter months, hot soups, chowders, chili, and stew, all dishes one would not normally make on a hot summer day, you get the point. Well, when the warm weather breaks I check out the cellar inventory of what I call my summer wines such as Rose, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling, just to name a few. I am sure there are some that will read this and say, we drink these wines all year, and that is fine. Although, I will bet that sales for these types of wine increase quite a bit in the summer season. Just like lemonade is associated with summer and I am sure ice cream sales go way up! I know on a hot summer day when I don’t wish to fill up on beer, a nice cool glass of Sauvignon Blanc just hits the spot. So, if you get the spring bug like I did stock up on some nice light whites, sit back and enjoy the warm days.
Published by admin on April 4th, 2009 | Filed under Anything Wine | Comment now »Wine gift giving
We all know that wine is such a huge industry these days that it is a real easy gift to buy for almost anyone. I know some folks may be intimated to purchase wine for others because they feel they don’t understand, or aren’t confident in what they are purchasing. That is understandable, but you can also have fun with it. For example, take a look the next time you are in the store, how about Fat Ass Cab? Or Old Fart wine? If it is a 40, 50 or 60 year old birthday party, how about gifting a bottle of Old Fart? Hey, it may not be the best tasting wine, but who knows, it could be and regardless, it is a unique gift for a wine lover. My husband recently got a bottle of an Australian wine called Ball Busters accompanied by a card that showed a guy kicking around baseballs, soccer balls, basketballs and footballs, so along with the wine it was all about balls! Now, that is fun. There are also wines that popular sports figures lend their names to that the proceeds are donated to youth organizations. How about a Yankee such as Jorge Posada on the label, or a Met fan might like a Jose Reyes Cabernet cleverly called Jose Cabareyes. There is also the Mommy’s time out wines, a line of wines geared towards the mothers of young children who put their children into the popular punishment “time out” for a few minutes. The Mommy’s time wine is the opposite, it is her reward, not her punishment. Check it out, you can purchase a wine to go along with almost any theme and have fun with it.
Published by admin on March 29th, 2009 | Filed under Anything Wine | Comment now »
