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[05/05/2008, 10:08] Does Napa's Best Cabernet Live in Oakville?: A Recent Tasting

While often referred to as a single "place" when it comes to wine, Napa is hardly a single monolithic growing region. Each of its 14 established AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) lays claim to a separate identity, characterized by geology, microclimate, and different histories of production.

The Oakville AVA has one of the most storied of such histories. It is home to the famed To Kalon Vineyard, purchased by H.W. Crabb in 1868, shortly after the installation of a railroad stop made the tiny village of Oakville spring to life. In 1876 Crabb's neighbor John Benson bottled his inaugural vintage of Far Niente wine just down the road.

By the year 1880 the Oakville area had 430 acres under production, and these would nearly triple to more than 1000 acres in the next 10 years and continue to grow until Prohibition turned off the spigot in the 1920's.

In 1965 Heitz Vineyards made the first vintage of Martha's Vineyard Cabernet, a wine that Robert Mondavi probably tasted around about the time he established his own winery a year later. Over the next thirty years, Oakville would gradually become home to some of the best wines on the planet. Acre for acre, the Oakville appellation may be the 70s evening hairstyleheaviest hitting single wine region in the western hemisphere. It is home to many of the highest scoring and highest priced wines in America, including Harlan Estate, Screaming Eagle, and Dalla Valle, to name just a few.

Oakville is ground zero for Napa Cabernet, and with good reason. Year over year it produces some of the most tremendous wines in the valley. It's hard to say that one particular area of Napa truly produces the best Cabernet, but it's also hard to find someplace that has more claim to that title than the Oakville AVA.

Last week the Oakville Winegrowers Association put on its annual Taste of Oakville event, which gives members of the wine trade and the press an opportunity to sample wines from its members. This meant an opportunity to taste through a lot of excellent 2004 and 2005 Cabernets (as well as a few other reds and a few random whites), most of which I enjoyed greatly. There were a few wines at the tasting which I didn't get a chance to taste, as they had run out of wine by the time I got there, but the list below represents all but a few of the wines poured. The tasting took place on the upper level catwalks of the Robert Mondavi Winery surrounding their large oak fermentation tanks, which you can see in the photo.

WHITE WINES
2006 Flora Springs Winery & Vineyards Soliloquy White Blend. Score: 9. Cost: $25
2006 Cosentino Signature Winery Oakville Chardonnay. Score: 9. Cost: $30
2005 Kelham Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc. Score: 9. Cost: $30
2006 Oakville Ranch Chardonnay. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $48
2007 Swanson Rosato. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $18
2004 Teaderman Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $28
2007 Saddleback Cellars Pinot Blanc. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $24
2006 Robert Mondavi Winery Fume Blanc Reserve, "To Kalon Vineyard." Score: between 8 and 8.5. Cost:$20


Now that we've gotten those out of the way, let's move on to the main event, shall we?

RED WINES WITH A SCORE BETWEEN 9.5 and 10
2005 FUTO Red Blend. $250
2004 Harlan Estate Red Wine. $450?

RED WINES SCORING AROUND 9.5
2004 BOND "Vecina". $400?
2004 BOND "St. Eden". $400?
2004 Dalla Valle Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. $150
2004 Sophie's Rows Bordeaux Blend. $75
2005 Rudd Winery Oakville Estate Proprietary Red. $105

RED WINES WITH A SCORE BETWEEN 9 and 9.5
2004 Enzo Wines "Saunders Vineyard" Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon . $75
2002 Atalon "Beckstoffer Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon. $80
2006 Casa Nuestra Winery & Vineyards Tinto Classico - Old Vines Red Blend. $40
2005 Detert Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. $75
2004 Emilio's Terrace Cabernet Sauvignon. $50
2005 Flora Springs Winery & Vineyards "Holy Smoke" Cabernet Sauvignon. $85
2005 Gargiulo Vineyards 575 OVX Cabernet Sauvignon . $??
2005 Gargiulo Vineyards 575 OVX G Major 7 Cabernet Sauvignon. $??
2005 Nickel & Nickel "Martin Stelling Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon. $135
2004 Opus One Red Blend. $165
2005 Showket Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. $85
2005 Swanson Merlot. $38
2005 Tierra Roja Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. $110

RED WINES SCORING AROUND 9
2005 Enzo Wines "Tierra Roja" Vineyard Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon. $85
2005 Far Niente Estate Bottled Cabernet Sauvignon. $125
2005 Gargiulo Vineyards "Money Road Ranch" Cabernet Sauvignon. $54
2004 Kelleher Family Vineyard "Brix Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon. $65
2005 Kelleher Family Vineyard "Brix Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon. $75
2005 Nickel & Nickel "John C. Sullenger" Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. $90
2005 Nickel & Nickel "Branding Iron Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon. $90
2005 Oakville Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon. $65
2004 Paradigm Merlot. $44
2005 Showket Vineyards "Asante Sana" Red Wine. $50
2005 Showket Vineyards Sangiovese. $35
2005 Stanton Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. $75
2005 Swanson Alexis Cabernet Sauvignon. $75
2002 Teaderman Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. $80

RED WINES WITH A SCORE BETWEEN 8.5 and 9
2005 Cosentino Signature Winery Oakville Estate Cabernet. $75
2005 Ghost Block Cabernet. $55
2004 Oakville Ranch Robert's Blend, Cabernet Franc. $90
2005 Paradigm Cabernet Sauvignon. $62
2005 PlumpJack Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. $74
2005 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve . $125
2005 Venge Vineyards, Family Reserve, Merlot. $45

RED WINES SCORING AROUND 8.5
2005 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville. $57
2005 Hoopes Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon. $65
2002 Kelham Vineyards Merlot. $45
2005 Oakville East "Exposure" Cabernet Sauvignon. $100
2005 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville. $45
2005 Tamber Bey Vineyard Estate Cabernet . $65

RED WINES WITH A SCORE BETWEEN 8 and 8.5
2002 Kelham Vineyards Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. $100


RED WINES SCORING AROUND 8
2002 Kelham Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. $45



[04/30/2008, 11:18] 2006 le Rosé de Mouton Cadet
70s evening hairstyleI rarely pass up a dry rosé, so I was pleased to find the 2006 le Rosé de Mouton Cadet from Baron Philippe de Rothschild at a grocery store in Twinsburg, Ohio for around $12. You have to dig a bit to get the info, but it's 65% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc. "...entirely vinified and blended at the Saint-Laurent-Médoc Winery" in Bordeaux.

Good dry rosé, very light aroma of black cherries, slightly crisp acidity on the palate with a smooth cherry cream finish. Enjoyed with a tuna salad sandwich and some fruit for a light dinner.

I'm excited to see that good rosé wine is becoming more easily available around the country and is more prevalent year-round. While I normally associate it with summer, there's no reason why you shouldn't enjoy it at any time of the year. And there are some higher-end rosés coming out, breaking the $30 mark.
[05/15/2008, 18:26] Ban Lifted, Foie Gras Is Back on the Menu in Chicago
Foie gras, run out of town with great fanfare two years ago, is being allowed back.

70s evening hairstyle
[04/01/2008, 04:26] Out Like a Lamb

70s evening hairstyleWhat an absolutely gorgeous day. Enjoy this lovely orchid I stashed in a used Jurancon bottle, in celebration of a mellow March departure. On, April!

[01/01/1970, 02:00] Mild Mannered: The W5?
[06/13/2007, 08:47] Double blind dinner of a lifetime
…Big Boy style Rob had been planning this event seemingly all his life, and twelve very fortunate guests were invited to the private room at Cru one innocent Spring evening for this once-in-a-lifetime event, making me the resident Chesire Cat. For those of you that might not know or forget, double-blind means you do not know [...]
[09/12/2006, 04:36] Monday, September 11, 2006
Pomegranate wine

A few weeks ago someone came in and said, ?I have this new wine from Armenia you have to try?. So, with much hesitation I went over and tasted this Armenian wine. I was even less excited when I saw the label and realized that it was a pomegranate wine. It was pretty nasty I must say. But, the folks in Isreal didn?t think so and they made their own version.


70s evening hairstyle Several years before the trend got started, a family in Israel's Upper Galilee region began working to create a tastier and healthier version of the ancient fruit, only to cross their way into yet another huge food market. Their product: the world's first pomegranate wine fit to be sold to international wine connoisseurs.

The craziest part though, in my opinion, is that Pomegranate doesn?t have enough natural sugars to ferment to alcohol. The majority of the time it has to be tampered with to even get it to the alcohol content that it needs to be a wine.

In general, pomegranates don't have enough natural sugar to ferment into alcohol on its own," Leo Open, Rimon's director of international marketing, told ISRAEL21c. "In the past, some people have added alcohol to pomegranate juice to create a form of liquor, but no one has successfully made wine. Our pomegranates are the only ones in the world that have enough sugar to do so naturally."

Hmmmmm.

"Like with all wines, the fermentation process is totally natural," Open says. That being said, pomegranate wines clearly belong to a different class than the typical reds and whites, and Rimon recognizes that the market has to treat it as such, Open says. "We consider it a fruit wine, definitely not a liqueur, and it has to be appreciated in this way."

If you have to tell me that your wine is a fruit wine and not a liquor, that?s probably not a good sign. Here?s my advice, make wine from grapes. That?s it?.it?s simple. Wine= grapes!!

http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El1419&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Culture



Bigger may not be better

So, in Illinois a police chief has a big beef with big beers. Apparently 22 ounce beers are ending up as trash all over the city and the chief is fed up. He even goes so far as to say?

70s evening hairstyle Police Chief Rich Miller wants to outlaw the sale of beer in 24- or 32-ounce cans, saying those sizes are preferred by trouble-making drunks.Miller says stores sell them in paper bags that conceal them perfectly and end up as litter, and that Granite City would be better off if stores just didn't sell such beers.

So, lemme get this straight, only drunks drink 22 ounce beers?? http://cbs11tv.com/watercooler/watercooler_story_254120050.html


Science Rocks!

Check it out. I found this clip on You Tube for a new robot created by Asahi that pours your beer for you. Sure I have no idea what it is saying (probably something like Americans are retarded) and it takes a little over 3 minutes to pour the damn thing but cool nonetheless. If you?re wasted, or if you?re name is Kipp and are obsessed with beer gadgets I am guessing that it is a necessity!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tXmGYk_A_c&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egadgetell%2Ecom%2F2006%2F09%2Fasahi%2Dbeer%2Dpouring%2Drobot%2Don%2Dvideo%2F

Damn you Torii Mor

Dear Torii Mor,

70s evening hairstyleFor years I have loved you. I have sold your wine to people who don?t even know how to pronounce your name yet they always come back for more. I know the quote on your bottle ? ?Through this earth gate, this Torii Mor, we step, to make glad the soul with wine?. I have visited your winery and tasting room, I have bought your expensive single vineyard wines. I loved you Torii Mor. I loved you even after Patty Green left you to make her own winery but I should have known. I should have known that one day one of my undiscovered baby wineries in Oregon would sell its soul for cash. Premier Buying Group from Napa has been buying vineyard land in Oregon in a very deceitful manner and Torii Mor owner Jim Olsen has been the man behind the scenes. Expect a ?Mondavi? like venture that whores out cheap ass pinot noir in your near future.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003251947_vineyards10.html



A Bubbly Personality


70s evening hairstyleI went to New York last week and had a great time. I went to the Bubble Lounge which is a restaurant that serves over 350 champagnes by the glass. I was in heaven. I drank the Veuve Cliquot MV "La Grand Siecle". Yep that's right MV - not NV. MV means that they blend vintages. This particular wine was '88, '90, and '95 vintages from Veuve single vineyards and it was well worth every penny I paid for it. Here's a picture. I'd post more pictures but the night went downhill from there and while the pics are very funny, they are also very telling!!!



That's about it!!

Cheers!
[05/13/2008, 20:40] Changing CEOs is a Saavy Business Move

When I read Inertia Beverage’s announcement of a change of CEO it was not only interesting but actually a very wise move by the current CEO and a friend of mine Paul Mabray.  I don’t want to get into a long post on my business philosophy but I thought I should post a short commentary as I saw some conversation breaking out that made it seem as if this was a negative thing.

I know many times press releases put alot of spin on a bad situation to make it seem like a good one.  I know because part of my role in various marketing jobs had been to do just that and I always put out the story before someone makes a "scoop" and spins it negatively first.  Thats just good PR.

But I view Paul’s announcement differently.  I’ve been in High-Tech since the 1980’s even before I was in college (when I was working for a software retail company).  But more importantly, my view is shaped by something my mentor, Don McKinney, imparted on me when I first moved to Silicon Valley.  Basically, if you want your company to really succeed you first have to recognize that the company will require different CEOs and RARELY does the same person have the personality to be all of these.

  1. the "$0 to $10M" CEO - this CEO thrives on the startup situation.  Risk taker, entrepreneurial, big-game hunter, and business developer (as well as visionary and marketeer), this CEO is usually one for the founders.  The key here is to have a sales person in this role and drive the initial products to be customer-oriented with a saavy product team.  This CEO recognizes that getting A+ players on the team is more important then having the right structure or hierarchy.
  2. the "$10M to $100M" CEO - This CEO can take those first few BIG customers and nourish them such that they can be cash cows for the company.  At the same time he/she starts to pull in trusted sales and business development folks as well as marketing folks to compliment development and empowers them to do their job.  What can happen to a company that may cause it to fail is if CEO #1 thinks he/she is CEO #2 but isn’t really and has trouble either getting help to create new business, create a polished brand, or both because he/she still thinks he/she has all the best ideas and no one else can do it for them.  Its the beginning of scaling the company.
  3. the "$100M to $1B" CEO - This CEO recognizes that the company is going to go BIG TIME and needs processes that allow the organization to scale.  Oh the dreaded "P" word, but its true.  At this point, customer care is still job #1, but setting up the structure to scale operations is becoming more and more important and this CEO needs to allow that to go to a professional A+ COO type.  Again, failure can happen here when a CEO doesn’t appreciate what an operationally oriented person’s value is (i.e. can make the organization scale in ways the CEO never dreamed up).  This CEO also has to be able to attract the investment levels that typically the founding CEO doesn’t have access to.  This is usually when you see a CEO finally step aside but it can be too late.
  4. the "$1B to $10B" CEO - Now your talking about the professional CEO that you see at the top of Cisco, GE, and companies like that.  Charismatic and oozing leadership that can rival Bill Clinton in his prime.  This CEO still focuses on his top customers but there usually are so many that the top 10 are likely the only he/she gets to visit.  This CEO could be very very smart but is really removed from day-to-day so is fed development information and status from a staff of A+ lieutenants but likely has a big company filled almost 50% with B players (inevitable at this size).  The hope is that CEO #3 created solid enough processes that the company will thrive and compensate for some incompetence that has inevitably creeped into the the ranks of the company.

Thats the idea in a nutshell.  You can move the revenue bands up and down a little but this is generally true.  I had this wisdom passed on to me in the early 1990s and I’ve seen it proven out time and time again.  What I see in the Inertia announcement is a smart man that wants to see his company do great things.  But I say "smart man" because from my conversations with him, he intuitively sensed he wasn’t CEO #2 or #3, checked his ego at the door, and did the right thing.  He’s still working in there directing strategy and given his history in the wine business thats probably a good move.

The employees of Inertia should be excited.  As a Silicon Valley veteran, I can tell you more often then not that a move like this initiated by the CEO prevented this from happening later in your lives when the Board of Directors forces this decision (and they always do) because the CEO isn’t scaling the company for the big time.

Cheers!

70s evening hairstyle
70s evening hairstyle
[05/15/2008, 23:33] CHARLES KRUG WINERY CHARITY AUCTION
70s evening hairstyle
Big Bottles Fetch $35,500 for Make-A-Wish Foundation

Four custom-etched bottles, each containing 27 liters of 2005 Charles Krug Vintage Selection Cabernet Sauvignon from Charles Krug Winery-Peter Mondavi Family, raised a total of $35,500 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

[01/01/1970, 02:00] Trio of Petite Sirahs
[08/27/2007, 01:42] 2003 Embriux Priorat de Vall Llach
2003 Embriux Priorat de Vall Llach $35 Wine label said: Wrong language! The bottle is no help! Vineyard66 says: This another of my series of Spanish wines, as we will be there next year and I’m doing my homework. The web tells me that Embruix means “betwiching” in Spanish, but also that it is primarily Cabernet and Grenache blend [...]
[12/23/2007, 14:48] BearBoat 2005 Pinot Noir Sebeka Cabernet Pinotage 2006
BearBoat 2005 Pinot NoirSebeka Cabernet Pinotage 2006 $15.99 - BearBoat Pinot Noir $6.99 - Sebeka Cabernet Pinotage WebWino says: Even though I’ve been slacking off with my Vino Keeno site, I most certainly have not been slacking off in the drinking department. However I haven’t been taking notes, so these two get lumped together because they both deserve mention, [...]
[09/18/2006, 18:48] Inspiration among the shelves
Monday blues? Here at Vin Vini Vino, we've got Monday Hangovers, a weekly dose of headaches, hangups and how-not-to's. Consider it your worst-case-scenario guide to wine. Grab an aspirin - we'll try not to yell.

OK, so this weekly feature hasn't been so weekly lately. Frankly, I haven't been all that snappy with the posts, either.

Like any passion (cross-stitch, anyone?), wine has a habit of getting lost in the shuffle when the stampede of daily life comes barreling through. We've been painting our office, landscaping, working, entertaining. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.

But how do you pick up with your passion once you find the time again?

How do you get inspired? How do you find the energy?

If wine is your cup of tea, er, juice, you go to the store. That's right, when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. Even if you have a cellar full of drinkable bottles, shelf browsing can be quality time. There's nothing like a few hundred brand new, shiny bottles lined up like soldiers to remind you that there's a world of wine out there - and that what you've tasted wouldn't fill a bucket.

Something to try at every turn. Single-varietal gamay, beerenauslese, pinot blanc from Sonoma, muscat, ripasso, Douro, Kongsgaard, vernaccia.

I'm excited already.
[05/14/2008, 17:28] wine and music?
If music be the food of love… This is a post from: Burgundy-Report wine and music…
[01/28/2008, 23:12] WLT Badge Gallery coming online!

You know those cool “Digg This” badges on a whole bunch of sites? Pretty nice viral marketing huh? What they serve to do is create a way for cross promotion. We’ve had success using the Feedburner “Toast This!” link but it has cause problems that require attention from time to time (you may notice them disappearing occasionally).

Well, I’ve created a WLT Chicklet/badge gallery that I’ll be adding simple Javascript code and badges to. This will allow you to add WLT vote counts and links into every post. I’m also working on a Wordpress plugin to make this a no-brainer for Wordpress. I’ve also e-mailed “AddThis.com” to see if I can get into that little widget they have. We’ll see about that.

I have to give credit to Strumerika on the small chicklet design. Her graphic was cool. I haven’t reached her yet so I may be violating some kind of copyright in which case I’ll take it down (you won’t have to do anything, the graphic is server-based) and change it.

If you want a custom one, they’re pretty easy for me to change. Just make one in Photoshop (including the words), send me the source files, and I can implement it pretty quickly.

Enjoy the Wine Life…Today!!!

Cheers!

70s evening hairstyle
70s evening hairstyle
[12/10/2007, 02:03] A Taste of Argentina: Two Wines from Patagonia
This was originally going to be one of those quick and dirty reviews. Two Argentinean wines, a snack provided by Chef Tim (that would be Tim Ellison, one of our favourite local sommeliers and co-founder of the BC Wine Appreciation Society), followed by a fast dash through the Cambie Liquor store to stock up on a few winter staples like Cognac and Champagne. Oh well, things change.

70s evening hairstyleUncharacteristically for a Saturday, there was plenty of parking ? must be something to do with the snow. Vancouver + Snow = Mass Panic.

Tim and I do our usual three-kiss-on-the-cheek greeting ? that?s right cheek to right cheek, left to left, and right to right in case you?ve ever wondered. The beef he?s carving with Melissa Popp from Hills Foods smells wonderful and the Chimichurri Sauce looks even better. Both wines on offer are from Bodega del Fin del Mundo from Patagonia, Argentinean ? Southern most White and Southern most Red. Hmmm. White and Red. That tells me a lot, but what the heck.

Turns out our white is a 60/40 Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay blend. Surprisingly crisp with a pleasing length to the finish ? not huge but pleasing. Today, however, this wine seemed just a bit too citrus without food ? or maybe I?m just cantankerous from the snow. Still, at the price point of $12.95, this is one worth stocking for when you need a sipper with light nibblies. I?m already thinking summer sailing and it?s only December.

The red is 70/15/15 Merlot, Malbec, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Once again priced at $12.95, this is one good value. A hint of tobacco and a nice, round mouth feel. I was surprised I liked it as much as I did. And it went fabulously well with the beef ? although I had to check that particular pairing twice just to be sure. Tim and 70s evening hairstyleMelissa Popp from Hills Foods were happy to provide a photo op for the results of their combined cooking talents.

Tasting Aftermath at the Computer

Arriving home, I thought it would be fun to find out 70s evening hairstylemore about a winery located ? literally ? at the end of the world. One thing lead to another ? like good surfing usually does. I spent, let?s just say ?a while,? including a browse about through the Hills Foods site (who generously provided today?s beef) ? some great recipes and cool organic meat products. But here?s the summary about the wines.

Bodega del Fin del Mundo was founded in 1999 when the owners planted vines on a deserted plot of land in Patagonia, Argentina. First problem ? no water. From the pictures on the website, there?s not only no water, there isn?t much of anything here ? think bleak, windswept, and desolated. Twenty kilometers of irrigation canal with computerized pumping system later, there was water, but now each plant needed its own windbreak to protect it from the gales that swept across the land on a seemingly daily basis. These folks clearly have plenty of the stubborn gene.

In 2002, their first vinification produced 30,000 bottles and netted a silver medal for Malbec. The owners began constructing a new, contemporary winery so they could move out of the small warehouse they?d been using to date. By 2004 were winning gold and silver medals at the Brussels Wine Expo and the Mondial du Pinot Noir in Switzerland, and their list of medals gets longer every year.

Also interesting, Bodega del Fin del Mundo continues to consider itself an experimental vineyard and is researching the viability of grape varieties seldom associated with Argentina ? Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Aspirant Boushet, and Viognier.

And here?s a bonus, Tim even shared his recipe for his Chimichurri Sauce. Check it out. Thanks Tim!


TIM'S ARGENTINEAN CHIMICHURRI SAUCE

A light oil and vinegar sauce with chopped parsley, cilantro, and garlic. Use as a garnish on your favourite cut of grilled beef. Makes 1 cup and would be wicked with fish and chicken too.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil
1/4 cup red wine or sherry vinegar
1 med white onion, minced
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
2 tbsp oregano, fresh, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp chili pepper flakes
1/4 tsp black pepper, coarse grind
1 tsp lemon juice
salt to taste

Method:
Whisk together oil and vinegar in non-reactive bowl.
Add the rest of the ingredients and combine thoroughly.
Season with salt to taste.
Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours to allow flavours to develop.
Serve as a garnish with all types of grilled meats and fish.
Will keep covered in the fridge for 2-3 days.
[05/12/2008, 15:08] Wine Blogger Challenge - Dig deep and investigate

70s evening hairstyleImage by jezkerwin via FlickrSorry to our readers of Iberian wine news, because today, is a blogger show. I listen to TWIT religiously. If you are even tangentially interested in the online tech world, I highly suggest it. Each week, they talk about gadgets, websites and online issues, and occasionally, it directly applies to my life.

A few weeks ago, TWIT featured an episode on “The Death of Journalism”, asking the following guest speakers to chime in with their educated thoughts and opinions: Leo Laporte, Steve Gillmor, Mark Frauenfelder, and Molly Wood. Now, although I’ve heard this argument several times before, I usually consider it “the sky is falling” rhetoric, where we all complain about how everything is changing and nothing is good in the world. But during this episode, I actually let down my guard and heard a suprisingly compelling argument.

If big media fails, specifically newspapers, and replaced by online streams, such as blogs and distribution devices such as Twitter, will investigative journalism suffer? In the past, a newspaper could hire a reporter to spend a week on one story, digging deep and looking for the meat, bolstered by their impressive budget. While today, TWIT presented the argument that people with blogs tend to react without reflection, riff on a news story for a few lines, smear a little gossip around, and then try to call it journalism.

Generally, I agree with this argument, or at the very least, that it could lead to a problem if we are not careful. If we never look any deeper than what we think of a particular wine, or rehash the wine encyclopedia’s definition of a region, what are we accomplishing? Some may debate that the role of a wine writer is only to educate and expand knowledge, but shouldn’t we also help create change? Should wine writers/bloggers take and expose issues, challenge ideas and report on news? Or are we only here to taste a new vintage and report only on its positive/negative elements?

Currently we play the editorial section of the wine worlds newspaper. Off the cuff responses to the latest news and events, regurgitating. But can we be more? Catavino is as guilty as the next person when it comes to spewing something out without fully digging into it. Reacting off the cuff without fully analyzing. Granted, we’ve been fighting this issue ourselves over the past year, and for example, I know that Gabriella dug deep into the history of Patxaran to get the full story, and I commend her for it. Dr.Vino is another blogger that comes to mind in conducting investigative reporting with his look at wine’s carbon footprint. Granted, he’s really an exception, considering that his research resulted in a book. What I want to know is whether Wine Bloggers can make a difference, showing that we can professionally fill in the gap when the major wine rags finally collapse (though I would say that many wine rags wouldn’t know good fact checking journalism if it bit them on the nose). 70s evening hairstyle

I’m sure these pieces already exist out there, and if so, please link to them in the comment’s section. And while Gabriella’s Pataxaran article was investigative, it is not exactly what I’m talking about. What are the topics that need investigating and can a blogger that doesn’t blog for a living really afford the time to dig deep. What are the questions that we should be asking? What are the stories that still need to be told? Or is wine journalism only about vintages, tasting notes and historic profiles?

Leave your ideas below!

Cheers,

Ryan

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[01/01/1970, 02:00] Wine Reports: "The Life of Riley" 2005 Western Australia Semillon Sauvignon Blanc ($14.99)
Rich-textured, mouth-filling, white fruit, melons and pears and zippy lime, all wrapped up with bracing acidity.
[01/01/1970, 02:00] Learn to Talk Pinot Talk (PinotFile)
If you want to talk Pinot talk, you need to be versed in the language of Pinot Noir. Listed here are the most frequently used words and their definitions.
[04/10/2008, 02:15] 
A friend sent this to me today and I can't help but share this.

For those who don't want to be caught, even in the deepest woods, without. ;) I guess the Swiss really do think of everything; but now I wonder why they have a corkscrew on the Swiss army knife...
[01/01/1970, 02:00] Pabst Beer Can Coffin
[04/05/2008, 18:01] Finger Lakes Wine Competition Winners

More than 2,350 wines, from nearly 500 wineries, spanning 39 states, and 14 different countries, were entered into the recently...

[08/09/2006, 02:03] Leelanau Cellars Autumn Harvest

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Another summer is quickly coming to an end, and I hope everyone got a chance to visit their favorite local vineyard for a tour or a wine tasting. The highlight of my summer is always being able to visit the northern Michigan wineries. This summer, I got a chance to go up to the Leelanau Peninsula several times, and each time was memorable.

Leelanau Cellars is, by far, my favorite place to visit up north, especially because of the tasting experience. You don’t feel limited of how many wines you can taste, and the staff working the tasting room are VERY knowledgeable and friendly. I left with about 16 bottles of wine the last time I visited! If you are looking for some odd fruit wines, this is the place to go.

The wine:
I shared a bottle with my new roommates in Grand Rapids. All three of us loved it.

Matt: “Delicious with chips and dip”
Casey: “It would be a good winter wine. Surprisingly smooth!”

I enjoyed this 5 dollar bottle of wine with a thin-crust pizza and it was great. The wine was rich, and had a lot of flavor. I could taste the typical hints of cherry that most Michigan wines boast.

Summary: Great job, Leelanau Cellars! I look forward to coming back next year!
Rating: 9/10 - Excellent!
Price: 5 bucks
Winery Information: Leelanau Cellars
Leelanau Wine Cellars
12683 E. Tatch Rd
(County Rd. 626)
Omena, MI 49674
(231) 386-5201

[01/01/1970, 02:00] Saludas Rose 2006
[08/29/2006, 05:23] Monday, August 28, 2006
Dutty Wine

When I first saw this link, I didn?t quite understand what they were talking about. But, never fear my friends, I did the research and am now perfectly prepared to tell you about the Dutty Wine Dance.

There is a Jamaican rapper who wrote a song entitled ?Dutty Wine?. To the best that I can decipher dutty should translate to dirty. The basis of the song is that he is poor and can only afford dutty wine that gets him very?.um?inebriated. Apparently it also gets the women he is with very drunk as well and this is the dance they do for him while drinking it.

The middle class is in an uproar. All their little girls are doing the 'Dutty Wine'.
From left, right and centre, even disabled children, everybody is doing the 'Dutty Wine'.


Disabled children? Did they really go there?

Not wishing in any way to detract from the suggestive nature of the dance, I must point out that it is impossible to do it without long tresses. If you can't get your hair to swing round and round your head while you get down on all fours on the ground, you're not doing the 'Dutty Wine'. It requires supreme flexibility. Consequently, there's not a child who hasn't been stopped from doing it by a parent in the last few months

OK, why are CHILDREN in Jamaica doing this dance. I mean, it sure doesn?t sound like the hokey pokey to me.

The ones I feel sorry for are the disabled children. They don't have legs, so it's perfect for them. They can wine their little hearts out. But even when they do it, it's suggestive if not more so. All the adults hurriedly put a stop to it. Poor little children.

LOL! OMG, did I read that right? Why do they keep picking on the disabled kids? Are there just tons of disabled kids sitting around in Jamaica waiting to do a dance?

What?s worse is that I went on You Tube to see what it was all about and when I searched Dutty Wine I got like 50 million results. Here is one of the first ones I found but the most important question is ?How in the hell could a disabled child do this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv4_EqjmOUk

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060827/cleisure/cleisure3.html


Enjoy!

PS-New season of Weeds has begun. Best show on TV. Check it out.

Cheers!
[05/07/2008, 08:53] offer of the day?
Today, another offer to ‘pass on’: Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé 2006 CHAMBOLLE-MUSIGNY 75cl 99.50 Swiss Francs CHAMBOLLE-MUSIGNY 1er Cru 75cl 189.00 CHAMBOLLE-MUSIGNY Les Amoureuses 75cl 398.00 BONNES-MARES 75cl 398.00 MUSIGNY Vieilles Vignes 75cl 498.00 Villages wines for 100 francs - I ask you… This is a post from: Burgundy-Report offer of the day…
[01/23/2008, 11:34] A Lambrusco for Wine Lovers

70s evening hairstyleYou cannot have a better match with a plate of salumi than with this wine. Chill it up a little bit, and start your engines. From the Grasparossa grape, I took a bottle over to a chef from Emilia-Romagna the other day. He has known me for years, but has rarely if ever acknowledged my presence in his world. When I handed the bottle to his son to give to him, you?d think I was his long lost cousin. His eyes lit up, he smiled, he liked me. He really, really, liked me. I owe it all to this friendly little Lambrusco.

Served slightly chilled, it is frizzante, and enters with a burst of slightly under-ripe dark cherry notes. Then the fruit kicks in and there, all of a sudden, you have a party on your palate.

Note: this wine is bone-dry.

Get yourself hooked up with a Lambrusco like this. It takes the snob off the table. It?s subtle and bold, delicate and a romp. It?s a serious wine that laughs at itself. Go get yourself some.

In the U.S. it retails for under $20.

Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro from Tenuta Pederzana.

[11/22/2007, 14:52] Not Good with Turkey

This time of year the wine lover is inundated with T-day wine recommendations..."German Riesling is perfect with turkey"...."A Beaujolais is a sure bet on Thanksgiving"...."Burgundy, both red and white are ideal on your Thanksgiving".....etc. etc.

I for one am tired of staid poultry & stuffing wine pairing suggestions. 

How about something different to eat and drink on Friday - the day after turkey day?  May I suggest a Vermentino, not from the sardinian coast, but from Lodi, California.  Who knew the California version of this hefty-spicy-herby-citrusy grape could be so true to its Italian roots?  After racking up mo' mo' credit card debt on Friday, take the edge of with a plate of turkey enchiladas paired to Uvaggio Vermentino 2006 ($10).   It will be the best wine-food match you will sample all week.

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