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Classic Australian Wines Australian Wines Posted by admin Good Australian Wines Some Australian wines have become highly prized for their excellence and are sought after not just for their taste but for their potential as investments. The most well-known is the Penfolds Grange and this and some of the other classic Australian wines are discussed in this article. Penfolds This is a preview of Classic Australian Wines
Classic Australian Wines Australian Wines Posted by admin on May 16, 2008 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) Good Australian Wines Some Australian wines have become highly prized for their excellence and are sought after not just for their taste but for their potential as investments. The most well-known is the Penfolds Grange and this and some of the other classic Australian wines are discussed in this article. Penfolds This is a preview of Classic Australian Wines
Classic Australian Wines Australian Wines Filed Under (Food) by admin on 16-05-2008 Good Australian Wines Some Australian wines have become highly prized for their excellence and are sought after not just for their taste but for their potential as investments. The most well-known is the Penfolds Grange and this and some of the other classic Australian wines are discussed in this article. Penfolds This is a preview of Classic Australian Wines
Yountville - What The Wine Spectator Missed Our June 15th edition of the Wine Spectator arrived in our mailbox with a special wine country section focusing on five different California wine venues including the town of Yountville in the Napa Valley. We happened to have been there last week taking advantage of a $150 a night mid-week special at the Yountville Inn. After reading the Wine Spectator article we thought it would be a good idea to add our ?two cents? to Wine Spectators take on Yountville. One of the great things about stayi
Buying Guides Dave asked me what review sites I use as he uses Consumersearch.com, I use a different site for each specialty area. And some notes on what?s the right buys? 1. Camcorders.info. The best reviews on video cameras. Canon HF-10 looks like the winner as HD camcorder 2. Dcviews.com. An overview site with links to the very best photography sites. Dpreview.com is the best amongts them. Recommend the Nikon d40x, Nikkor 18-200 lense 3. Gameranking.com. Another overview site for pc and console games. 4
Snippet: Wine Spectator He sat on the other side of the table. He was a handsome man, talking confidently. But I saw him. He was empty and scared. The Wine Spectator had given him all he needed to know so that he could talk of wines and forget that inside he was falling apart for lack of simple human interaction.
Wine.com 1 cent shipping! Wine.com is offering 1 cent shipping for orders of $99 or more! They've also conveniently made some Wine Spectator suggestions rated 90 or above. This is great for those of you that don't have a car or just need to load up on some vino!
Antiyal receives accolades from Wine Spectator in recent article: ?Chile Returns to its Roots? receives accolades from Wine Spectator in recent article: ?Chile Returns to its Roots? The Flash Player and a browser with Javascript support are needed.. ¶ Posted 14 May 2008 ? derek § Antiyal in Pictures § Criticism & Accolades § Wine Spectator ? Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , Antiyal, cabernet, chile, Kuyen, maipo, syrah, Wine Spectator
Chuck Does Wine Spectator! Does Wine Spectator! I?d like to thank everyone for the enthusiastic response for guest authors! The very first guest is Charles Moncrieff III, owner of Vegas Wine News (http://www.vegaswinenews.com). This is Chuck pictured in front an Italian villa taken during one of his many travels. Yes, that?s said with a great deal of envy! First, a little bio info about Chuck. He grew up in Southern California and graduated from UCLA, receiving both a Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctorate. For wha
My Encounter with Emeril Lagasse Jody?s post reminded me of my brief encounter with the wonderful Emeril Lagasse . It was News Years Day at the Rose Parade where he served as Grand Marshall. We had the lucky good fortune to sit at the USMC Military Unit located in Sierra Madre which was the end of the parade route. Since my Hubby is a Marine he was able to sneak me over to meet Emeril. Wow what a wonderful man - he is a real supporter of our Troops and that was so evident by just the look of sincere appreciation on his face. E
My Encounter with Emeril Lagasse Jody?s post reminded me of my brief encounter with the wonderful Emeril Lagasse . It was News Years Day at the Rose Parade where he served as Grand Marshall. We had the lucky good fortune to sit at the USMC Military Unit located in Sierra Madre which was the end of the parade route. Since my Hubby is a Marine he was able to sneak me over to meet Emeril. Wow what a wonderful man - he is a real supporter of our Troops and that was so evident by just the look of sincere appreciation on his face. E
More red wine health benefits used whatever time I had this (late) evening to peruse some wine blogs and other wine related write ups but sadly came away with nothing of special interest to write about. I considered writing about the wonderful wine tasting I led last night for a group of about thirty 20 & 30 somethings, [...] SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "More red wine health benefits", url: "http://winetastingguy.com/200...} );...(read more)
More red wine health benefits red wine health benefits May 14th, 2008 I used whatever time I had this (late) evening to peruse some wine blogs and other wine related write ups but sadly came away with nothing of special interest to write about. I considered writing about the wonderful wine tasting I led last night for a group of about thirty 20 & 30 somethings, but the truth is the event was a fund raiser and the guests were more interested in mingling & DRINKING the wine, than hearing some dude talk about wi
An Evening at Greystone Gabriele and I are just back from a visit to San Francisco. Of course we did a Napa Valley day, and that will soon provide content for a nice long post. We finished a fun day of vineyard visits and tastings with dinner at Greystone restaurant, a fantastic place operated by the Wine Spectator and the Culinary Institute of America: http://www.culinary.edu/restau... Close friend and noted local gourmand Manik Rath strongly suggested we have dinner there, and we?re glad he did. The beauti
Bordeaux wine scores: 2007 and before is always interesting to see what critics may write of the Bordeaux vintages, if only to remark on the disparity of their opinions. To save one... [[ This is a headline summary only. Visit www.wineindustryreport.com for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Cheap Wine Lover Wine Lover Seattle University's The Spectator gave "Cheap Wine and Poetry" some love for our National Poetry Month reading on April 24. Posted by Brian
Wine In Moderation Does The Body Good Gary Vaynerchuk (VAY NER CHUK), a 32 year old self-trained wine expert who is revolutionizing the wine industry. His webcast, The Thunder Show, on WineLibrary attracts over 60,000 viewers each day and his email queue typically holds 1,000 messages from obsessed fans, self-named ?Vayniacs." Gary?s cult-like following is the result of his unconventional, often irreverent commentary on wine. He routinely pans popular wines (even ones he sells at his 3-story New Jersey store, Wine Library). He inte
Wine In Moderation Does The Body Good Gary Vaynerchuk (VAY NER CHUK), a 32 year old self-trained wine expert who is revolutionizing the wine industry. His webcast, The Thunder Show, on WineLibrary attracts over 60,000 viewers each day and his email queue typically holds 1,000 messages from obsessed fans, self-named ?Vayniacs." Gary?s cult-like following is the result of his unconventional, often irreverent commentary on wine. He routinely pans popular wines (even ones he sells at his 3-story New Jersey store, Wine Library). He inte
Dégustation: Fransola 2006, sauvignon blanc, Torres Chaque année, je guette le retour sur les tablettes de la Société des alcools du Québec du Fransola de la maison Torres, un vin de sauvignon blanc avec un brin de parellada (5%, en 2006, contre 10% dans le millésime 2000), tiré du vignoble du même nom, dans le Penedès. De ces 25 hectares où l?utilisation d?insecticides et d?herbicides est exclue, Miguel Torres tire depuis au moins une vingtaine d?années un vin exprimant de façon très franche et rigoureuse la nature du sauvignon blanc. Le vin
Why Does The World Actually Need Wine Spectator Publications? Does The World Actually Need Wine Spectator Publications? ? May 2nd, 2008 by muna2 | ? No Comments » The earliest known production of wine Georgia and Iran. For a long time now wine has been made from natural fermentation of grape vine juice. Today, there are other different types of wines made from different fruit juices. Some of the most famous being the apple juice wine, elderberry wine, barley wine and rice wine. All these ingrediants for making wine have naturally occuring starch,
Merlot Made From Hamptons Vineyard for $100 Beats Saint-Emilion By Gillian Wee URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601093&sid=a4UjlGU.8GKw&refer=home
May 9 (Bloomberg) -- After making wine since 1992 surrounded by the mansions of the Hamptons, Roman Roth got the ingredients for the ideal vintage last summer: steady sunshine and little rain.
``It was a dream year,'' said Roth, 42, the German-born winemaker at Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack on Long Island's South Fork, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) east of New York City. ``The growing conditions were close to perfect. You knew when you started picking grapes. So we made really ripe, great lush wines.''
Roth's most expensive product, a 2004 Premier Cru -- or first growth -- Merlot sells for $100 a bottle at his tasting room, which is preparing for its peak period from Memorial Day, the May 26 U.S. holiday marking the start of the summer season, to October.
The 2007 vintage follows one in 2005 praised by Wine Spectator magazine Executive Editor Thomas Matthews. They show that Long Island's boutique winemakers can compete with U.S. West Coast and European producers, Roth said.
``I think 2007 is going to be the exciting year,'' said Gary Vaynerchuk, 32, who runs Wine Library, a retailer in Springfield, New Jersey, and hosts a Web TV show on winelibrarytv.com. ``Weather has everything to do with everything when it has to do with wine.''
While New York is the country's third-largest wine-and-grape producer behind California and Washington, two-thirds of the harvest is turned into grape juice, said Jessica Chittenden, a spokeswoman for the state agriculture department. Long Island's vineyards produce only 1.19 million gallons of wine, worth about $100 million annually, equivalent to 0.2 percent of California's output, said Steve Bate, 49, executive director of the Long Island Wine Council.
3,000 Acres
Long Island's first vineyard was started with 17 acres (6.9 hectares) in 1973 by Louisa and Alec Hargrave. Sixty vineyards, many former potato fields, now cover about 3,000 acres. They benefit from growing conditions similar to the Bordeaux region, Bate said. Long Island's largest winery is the family-run Pindar Vineyards, sitting on almost 550 acres.
What sets Long Island wines apart from California offerings is how well they pair with food, said Jim Trezise, 61, president of the New York Wine and Grape Foundation. Grapes grown in New York's cooler climate produce vintages that are light and acidic, he said.
The island, known for its white beaches, relies on summer visitors who buy wine where it's made.
`Attractive Region'
``They are such an attractive region for tourism that they're able to sell a large percentage of production from the wineries,'' said Matthews, 54, whose favorites include offerings from Wolffer, Pellegrini Winery and Bedell Cellars, owned by Michael Lynne, a former head of Time Warner Inc.'s New Line Cinema. ``That has allowed them to flourish without being forced to compete on retail shelves and restaurant wine lists with wines around the world.''
Read the rest of the story at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601093&sid=a4UjlGU.8GKw&refer=home
If you're a wine-loving meat-eater, you'll want to pay a visit to the new Fogo de Chão Brazilian steakhouse that just opened in downtown Indianapolis. (Welcome, race fans!)
Located in the newly-renovated Broadbent Building at 117 East Washington Street (aka The Building Formerly Known as The Zipper), the restaurant is contemporary and elegant, with a large central dining area, a bar and a private dining room. This Fogo de Chão (which translates to "fire of earth") is the eleventh link in a chain of restaurants started by two brothers in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1979. They opened their first U.S. location in Dallas in 1997; by the end of this year there will be 13 Fogos in this country and five in Brazil.
In the approximate center of the dining area is a massive salad bar brimming with all kinds of greenery, fresh vegetables, cheeses and a few meats. An entire wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano, carved out and filled with chunks of itself, anchors one end.
After the buffet comes the main event: Meat, and lots of it! Each diner is provided with a small round disk that is green on one side and red on the other. Turning the green side up provokes a flurry of service, as waiters armed with skewers of various flame-grilled meats descend, asking "rare, medium rare or medium?" Some customer participation is occasionally required, as some tongs are provided so the diner can grab meats that are sliced off the skewers. It doesn't take long to figure out that the best plan is to flip the disk to red after two or three items accumulate on your plate ? which is to say about a minute or two.
There are 15 different meats to sample, including various cuts of beef, lamb and pork, as well as chicken legs and bacon-wrapped breasts and some fabulous little pork sausages called linguica. If you identify one thing in particular you want to focus on, all you need to do is make your wishes known and an entrée-sized portion will appear on your plate. Bread and side dishes of garlic mashed potatoes, a yummy polenta and grilled bananas are served family-style.
Wine lovers should be delighted with the selection and service as well as the dining room decor, which consists mainly of the restaurant's wine collection, much of which is on display. Chances are you'll be able to find something suitable for your taste and budget on the extensive and well-organized list, from a glass of White Zin ($7.25) to a bottle of Château Haut-Brion Pessac Leognan ?00 ($925). As you would expect at a steak house, there are twice as many reds on the list as whites, including no less than a dozen from Bordeaux. There are also 11 splits available (reds and whites) and several by-the-glass selections. We drank glasses of Cono Sur Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile (also available at $28 per bottle), which turned out to be an excellent match for the flame-grilled meats. Wine pricing is fair at about twice retail for most wines, and as you move up the list in price the markup moves down. Their wine glasses are of high quality and generously sized ? a good thing, since a by-the-glass pour is a quarter of a bottle. This restaurant has earned six consecutive Awards of Excellence from the Wine Spectator for a good reason!
Beer enthusiasts don't fare as well, since just the usual suspects are available and no microbrews. However, at least one Brazilian beer (Xingu, I think) is on the list. The well-stocked bar includes several after-dinner drinks and a few single-malt Scotches. They also of course stock Cachaça, and although I didn't sample a caipirinha there, Feed Me / Drink Me reports that they make good ones.
For the quality and service (and potential quantity) that Fogo de Chão delivers, its prices are reasonable: $38.50 for dinner, $24.50 for lunch, plus drinks and dessert. The salad bar is available by itself for $19.99, so even the wayward vegetarian who happens to wander in should be able to leave happy and sated. And for the meat-loving omnivore, Fogo de Chão is simply a must-go.
Fogo de Chão 117 E. Washington Street Indianapolis, IN 46204 317-638-4000
Just in case? you were wondering; Matt Kramer (winespectator.com) writes:
You've probably been in this situation yourself. You're the one choosing the wines for a dinner with friends. You look at the menu and perform the usual mental matchups about what goes with what. But then, much more subtly?even furtively?you also do a mental matchup about which wines go with, ahem, the guests.
If you're a lover of Italian wines, especially traditional-style? versions, you might find yourself in this situation more often than most.
This subject is not much discussed because it makes you feel like, sound like, or realize that you actually are, a snob. Nevertheless, most people who know their way around wine pay as much attention to the "who's drinking" as to the "which dish."
This lesson is often first (painfully) learned at the family Thanksgiving table. You trot out some of the treasures you've been hoarding for that special moment. Big? mistake. Emergency wards are filled with wine lovers traumatized by watching guests guzzle their prized bottles like elephants at a watering hole.
I thought about this when deciding recently which wines to bring to a high-end Italian restaurant. A good host, by definition, wants his or her guests to feel comfortable. Our guests were, thankfully, wine lovers. However, that's not the same as wine savvy. No crime there, of course. But when the time came to reach for Barolo or even Barbera, my hand hovered over those bottles and then, Ouija board-like, moved to red Burgundy and California Pinot Noir.
Now, maybe it was timidity on my part. Perhaps I've lost my belief in the redemptive, even transformative, power of fine wine?never mind the grape variety? or region?. Surely a traditional Barolo can move not merely the uninitiated but even the unreceptive, especially when served with the right food.
I used to think so. Ask any of my long-suffering friends who have been subjected to my evangelical enthusiasm for, say, Gattinara. Or Recioto? della Valpolicella. Or more bizarrely yet, the caramel-colored, sediment?-rich delights of Italy's new-wave/old-way whites, fermented with skin contact?, from Radikon, Massa Vecchia, Castello? di Lispida or Josko Gravner, among others.
But now I find myself hesitating. I've come to the conclusion that really characterful wines?none more so than traditionally made Italian wines?often require a certain receptivity, maybe even a little study. That you can't just spring upon an unsuspecting, not-especially-interested-in-Italian-wines guest the magnificently traditional likes of, say, Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo or even the easier to understand but still true-to-its-old-school Brunello di Montalcino from Tenuta? Il Poggione.
This flies in the face of today's wine democratization?a belief that anybody should be able to understand, without any fuss, any wine put in front of them. And if they don't, well then, it's the wine's fault, not theirs.
This, of course, is why so many Italian reds today are so modernistic, slathered with the creamy? vanilla? toastiness of new French oak??, miscegenated with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah and practically hot-waxed to a tannin?-free smoothness. Do they sell? They sure do. They're easy to understand, familiar-tasting, and?here it comes?you can serve them to anybody.
Do these wines represent the best of Italy? For me, they do not. But they are ambassadors of Italian wines, and for that reason alone they're worthwhile. Italian wines at their best?the reds especially?are different from all others. And this difference, which lies at the very root of Italian wine greatness, is not an instantly seductive one.
The taste? of France is rich and smooth? in the mouth (think foie gras) while that of Italy?classically anyway?is about a slight, mouthwatering bitterness (think Campari). It's easy to see why France's seductive model has become universal, including in Italy. The rigors of traditional Barolo, Brunello, Barbera and Aglianico, among others, are formidable and not immediately come-hither.
So that's why I stayed my hand in choosing the traditional Italian reds I've come to love when deciding what to serve my guests. They're not instantly likable (the wines, not the guests). Of course, I could have chosen modern-style Italian reds, wines that I know are made for just this very easygoingness. You can use instant polenta? these days, too.
Maybe I didn't give my guests enough credit. Or maybe?just maybe?it's fair to say that some people just aren't ready for some wines. Is that snobbish? Or is it a fair reality?
I'd heard about Bern?s Steakhouse from a few people, so when I was in St. Petersburg last week I made it a point to go across the bridge to Tampa and try the place out. Here's the executive summary: If you're a wine enthusiast, you should definitely give the place a try.
"Over the top" is the phrase that kept coming to mind, from the decor (which I've heard described more than once as "19th century New Orleans brothel"), to the management of their food sources, to the 172-page wine list. Bern's boasts an impressive collection of awards from the Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, and other magazines, and it's easy to see why.
The restaurant started in 1954 in one small space in a strip mall. As the steakhouse became more and more successful it took over all the other spaces in the mall, and the original location is now just one of several dining rooms. A second story was also added, as well as a huge kitchen space.
After dinner (I'll get to that in a moment), diners have the option of touring the kitchen and wine cellar, and if you're a wine or food geek you should definitely do that. If you do, you'll see the computerized command center; the humongous charcoal grill that can accommodate up to 200 steaks at once; the areas where they bake their own bread; their onion ring production system; and where they raise the sprouts that they put on their salads (from seeds imported from England). At the top of the stairs to the wine cellar is the wines by the glass station, where one busy bartender pours from a selection of around 150 different wines.
Then it's down into the cellar, which isn't fancy but is nonetheless impressive. There are about 100,000 bottles down there and 8,600 different selections, ranging in price from about $20 to $10,000 and in age from centuries-old vintages to quite recent. Bern's backup inventory, which totals somewhere around 500,000, is stored in three different nearby warehouses.
My two dinner companions had mostly gone along to humor me, so I ended up ordering a Martini (regular Bombay Gin, straight up with olives and three drops of vermouth from the eyedropper our waiter carried) and two reds from the by-the-glass list. I chose a Père Anselme Crozes-Hermitage 1978 ($6.50) and a l?Aventure Optimus 2005 ($16.50) to accompany my aged, one-inch-thick Porterhouse, and both wines, while very different, were quite good. The ?78 was medium-bodied and had plenty of fruit still, but paled in comparison to the Optimus, which was huge, rich and satisfying, and an excellent match for the steak. I spent a good, long time with my nose in the glass, inhaling its wonderful bouquet.
I wish I could say that I was as blown away by the food as I was by the Optimus, but it was just a steak. There wasn't anything wrong with it, but it wasn't exceptional, either; I can make a better one at home. Still, it was a very nice meal, and not outrageously priced ? my steak was $52.48, and came with French onion soup, a salad, baked potato, onion rings and a medley of vegetables raised at Bern's own organic farm. We didn't have dessert, but if we had we would have gone upstairs to the Harry Waugh Room to select from 39 different desserts and who knows how many dessert wines and after-dinner drinks.
Would I go again? You bet I would, and I'd recommend the experience to any wine lover. Just go with the expectation that wine is the star and food is the accompaniment, rather than the other way around.
The strength of Italian wine lies in the large number of its producers rather than in the big? numbers of just a few large multinational companies. It is these producers ? most of whom are very small in size ? who represent the force and vitality of the nation?s varied but extremely high-quality viticultural terroirs. The major changes that have taken place in international wine production and trading ? for example, the acquisition of brands by large financial/commercial corporations and the setting-up of huge vineyards run according to "industrial" principles in Asia, Latin America and Australia ? will not ultimately destroy Italy?s special viti-vinicultural heritage.
This is the ? highly optimistic - opinion of Angelo Gaja, one of the main producers responsible for saving and re-launching Italian wine in the 1980s.
"The Italian wine system consists of 33,000 businessmen and women running wineries that vary in size from large to tiny".
Is this extremely high number of producers an important resource or is it a stone round? the nation?s neck??
"This fragmentation - Gaja underlines ? is the result of a historical and socio-economic process that is part and parcel not only of Italy but of Europe as a whole: it?s part of our D.N.A., it makes us what we are. Fragmentation, though, has not prevented Italy from becoming the world?s leading wine-exporting nation, leaving France a very distant second: the result isn?t really that bad at all".
"It is amongst the 4 thousand or so small and tiny companies that export regularly that one finds a great many of the wineries which, thanks to the ratings their wines have received from international guides and wine-writers, have had a positive influence on the image and prestige of Italian wine, leading to beneficial effects for the sector as a whole".
So what does the future hold for small wineries?
"The Italian wine system is extremely well-integrated?. A capacity for working side by side links together companies of different sizes and with different production philosophies and marketing strategies. The smaller producers will help safeguard individual terroirs. They will welcome wine tourists. They will sell wines in bulk to the bottling firms, whilst maintaining the goal of higher quality. They will succeed in grasping consumers? imaginations by explaining their wines and their history. They will learn English. They will think of the whole of Europe as their own country and as the market to conquer, and the number of them who have learned how to sell their wines outside of Europe will also continue to grow? The real great wealth of Italian wine lies in its entrepreneurs, whether large, medium-sized, small or tiny. Together with their wineries, they constitute the motor for building demand for Italian wines. The terroir? and indigenous varieties count for less: these are factors that the producer has the opportunity to underline to a greater or lesser degree. It is logical to imagine, however, that there will be a process of aggregation involving both large and small producers, but if ? taking an educated guess ? there are still 28-30,000 wine producers in fifteen years? time , Italy will continue to be the country with the most sizeable treasure house of people who really know the business of wine. And that is my main reason for looking towards the future of Italian wine with great optimism".
How do you keep up to date with the wine world these days? I’ve found out what works for me although I still suffer from information overload some times. My interests are as follows ?
current hot topics such as closures, global warming, harvest expectations and so on
recommendations on wines to try and buy
educational material especially anything that helps me towards my WSET Diploma
I’ve found the following sources really help me
Harpers magazine. I wish I could afford their annual subscription but it’s just too much. However I subscribe to their daily bulletins via Google’s reader and this really works for me. I see a couple of lines summarising news items when I’m on the computer at home or work and I can always click the link to go their web site if i wish to read more
an unusual source of news items is South African Wines. They send out regular emails which summarise the key stories from around the world by directing you towards the various publications, web sites, blogs etc which have something interesting and relevant
there is no substitute for a monthly magazine which is good for those train journeys commuting to work. Decanter and Wine and Spirit are my favourites. I was working in the US last summer and enjoyed Wine Spectator and thought about taking out a subscription but the cost including mailing back to the UK was prohibitive
I love reading other people’s blogs. People like Jamie Goode and Andrew Jefford talk about people they have met, wines they have drunk and places they have visited. The problem with blogs is that there are so many (and yes I have one also) that it’s possible to subscribe to too many of them using Google’s reader that information overload soon takes over.
Podcasts are great for car journeys if you put them on a CD or train journeys if you play them on your phone. I’ve learned a lot from some of the podcasts from Grape Radio
For bedtime reading or sitting in a chair (with a glass of something nice of course) there is no substitute for the hard stuff ie: books. You can’t go wrong with a copy of the Oxford Companion to Wine by your side. I also try to look up every wine I try in at least one reference book such as the World Atlas of Wine, Wine by the Label or Oz Clark’s pocket wine book. These often give the context for the wine leaving the label to give the detail (unless of course it’s French!).
I may occasionally suffer from information overload but I do learn a whole lot of interesting stuff about wine which vastly increases my enjoyment of the stuff.
So, when Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston split, he had to sell his Frank-Gehry designed wine cellar. But, he?s not moping around.
It's rumored that the movie star, who was adept at stomping people in Fight Club and Troy, could soon be stomping grapes, thereby putting him among the ranks of celebrities with their names on wine labels.
Pitt stayed in a village in the Piedmont (Italy that is) and visited 2 different wineries that were for sale.
Monica Tavella, spokeswoman for the Fontanafredda estate in Piedmont, told the newspaper that Pitt stayed there after the Winter Olympics and expressed interest in the art of winemaking and viticulture.
Holy Jesus. Brad Pitt and super exclusive cult Barolos?? Shhhh?. I need a moment to myself.
Okay, let's move on............
A Votre Sante
In France when you want to ?cheers? you say A Votre Sante which translates ?to your health.? Over the past 5 years we have heard a lot about compounds in red wine which are beneficial to your health, specifically resveratrol. Studies have shown that moderate consumption of red wine can reduce the likelihood of a heart attack. But check out the other things they are testing it for look at how good it actually is. Also, in the quote below MDWD refers to a moderate daily wine drinker. While our doctors and government don't recommend wine, British health officials routinely do. A growing mound of studies, reflecting sources such as the American Heart Association and The New England Journal of Medicine, confirms wine to be precisely the potent and nutritious medicine our ancestors assumed it was. Besides the magic in polyphenols, which you could get from grape juice, and in alcohol, which you could get from gin, wine adds up to more than the sum of its parts. In contrast with bingers and abstainers, as well as beer and spirits drinkers, moderate daily wine drinkers (MDWDs) are better-educated and earn more. Their higher cognitive skills propel them through the Alzheimer's years with a 50 percent lower risk of dementia, one reason they're half as likely to end up in nursing homes even though they live longer, succumbing to cardiovascular diseases at half the rate of abstainers and heavy drinkers. Since moderate daily wine raises "good" cholesterol and reduces inflammation and clotting, MDWDs recover better from heart attacks and surgery and have a lower risk of stroke. They also have a 30 percent lower rate of Type 2 diabetes. Both red and white wine pack powerful, cancer-fighting antioxidants. Incidence of endometrial cancer is 83 percent lower in female MDWDs. Wine with meals halves your risk of colorectal cancer. Wine even eases blood-vessel constriction in smokers, while its polyphenols alleviate certain lung diseases. MDWDs get fewer colds with lighter symptoms. Their bones are denser, and they have nicer teeth, due to wine compounds that zap gum-disease bacteria. But wouldn't all that alcohol play havoc with your liver and kidneys? Nope. In fact, MDWDs have 30 percent lower risk of kidney dysfunction, and liver disease decreases as wine consumption rises. MDWDs have narrower waists and half the obesity rate of bingers and abstainers. Mysteriously, adding wine to a diet appears to melt pounds. It could be antioxidants and flavanoids speeding the breakdown of fat. It couldn't hurt that red wine, at 1.37 grams per liter, provides 8.5 percent of recommended daily fiber. It might have to do with metabolism or pleasure centers, which might explain why wine also helps with anorexia.
Craziness. Not only are wine drinkers cooler, more educated, and more successful, we?re also tons healthier. Now, drink up!
English Lit, Geometry, and Vinology?
How cool is this? In Australia high school students can actually take a class to teach them how to make wine. The rules are that they cannot taste or drink wine at any point in time during the class, nor can they attend events where their wines are tasted out (bummer). But they actually get to go through the process from start to finish of making their own wine. Even cooler is that the school has now gotten their proper licenses so that they can sell and market the wine to the public. At my school the electives were art, French, and agriculture class.
Viticulture started at the school in 2000 with the planting of 450 vines on four old sand tennis courts, comprising 215 durif vines, 175 shiraz vines and 70 viognier vines. The course, designed for year 11 and 12 students, was developed by the Wine Industrial National Education Training and Advisory Council and is competency skills-based with students achieving an Australian Qualification Framework Certificate I in Food Processing (wine). Mr Adamson said students worked in the school vineyard and then did placements at local vineyards. Wine is stored in barrels at the school and bottled at Cofield?s. Mr Adamson said the proceeds from the sale of the wine would be used for further equipment for the course.
He said the course had plenty of success stories to day with graduates doing well in the field. One is former student, David Whyte, now assistant winemaker at Cofield?s. ?David is our technical adviser and I take samples to him for advice when we make our wine,? Mr Adamson said. ?Now he?s the teacher and I?m the student.?
Um, is it just me or do they look like something more than just "student and teacher"? Cool concept, gay picture.
I, for one, think that it is incredibly important and hip as hell to be teaching these kids a craft that they can take into the real world and be successful with. I wish they would do that more in American school systems. If there was such thing as a mini-homebrew kit for toddlers I know that my husband would have already bought one for my son. Hmmm? maybe we can just send him to school in Australia. Ha!
Anheuser Busch? new seasonal beers? The latest trend in beer drinking in America has been that drinkers are opting for hand crafted, more flavorful beers from micro-breweries. With that, Anheuser-Busch? market share has decreased so we knew it wouldn?t be long before they tried to up the ante.
Budweiser. Michelob. Natural Ice. Busch.
What do these beers all have in common? They are all brewed by Anheuser-Busch and are beers most craft beer drinkers would not think of imbibing unless there was absolutely nothing else available.
I?d go for water first. But Anheuser-Busch, at least on a small scale, is trying to change the minds of craft beer drinkers.
They have released Demon?s Hop Yard IPA, brewed in the company?s Portsmouth, N.H., brewery and only sold in New England on tap.
McGualey said, "These are just a fun way to let people take a peek inside what our company is doing. It?s all about consumers today. I think consumers are looking for products like these."
I don?t know about you guys but the tap handle alone is frightening. I can?t imagine what the beer is like. I mean on one hand I?m glad that they are paying attention enough to know they need to step up their game, but on the other hand, my opinion of their company is so innately flawed that I probably won?t even try their new seasonals. Oh, BTW the new seasonals are the Jack?s Pumpkin Spice Ale, the Winter?s Bourbon Cask Ale, the Spring Heat Spiced Wheat and the Beach Bum Blonde Ale. If any of you get to try them email me with info. I am super curious about them.
Today is hump day and I am on coast until I get outta here. My last day is tomorrow so as soon as I finish some filing I'm done!! I've got some web surfing to do do I'm out! Cheers!
Don Ziraldo is the founder of Inniskillin Winery in Canada and is credited with bringing ice wine to the forefront. If you?ve never had it, you should try it. It?s expensive ($100 for a half bottle) but OMG it is divine. I had the Cab Franc Icewine and it tasted like a liquid strawberry shortcake. Anywho, Ziraldo got married this past week to Anna Netter. But here?s the good part. The couple did a press release and here are just a few snipits from their article. The 58-year-old Mr. Ziraldo met his bride on the ski slopes of Whistler, but they lived apart for some time, "each continuing to travel and learn from other cultures. Gradually, thanks to their mutual interest in Buddhism, both learned that "there is no fear, only love." At the 2004 Olympic Games in Greece the couple exchanged eternity rings. Remember that kids ?there is no fear, only love?. WTF? I love it, they exchanged ?eternity rings?. Is that just basically what millionaires call a wedding band? And OMG, that hat and those shoes do not scream millionaire. I do like her dress though.
More details on the wedding: It took place at the jet-set Hotel Traube-Tonbach (Traube means grape in German), which "prides itself on its strictly enforced peace and quiet, and the glamour of its very upscale clientele." The wines were Inniskillin -- natch -- and the dinner menu featured venison and pike. The couple is honeymooning in the Bahamas with friends.
Does it strike anyone else as odd that they took ?friends? on their honeymoon?
Fact #1 JD Wetherspoon?s is a chain of pubs in England. There are 650 in operation.
Fact #2 Constellation Brands is a wine GIANT. They sell more than 80 million cases a year. They own Alice White, Almaden, Arbor Mist, Cook's, Covey Run, Inglenook, Vendange, Dunnewood, Farallon, Great Western, J. Roget, Marcus James, Paul Masson table wines, Taylor California Cellars, Viña Santa Carolina, Banrock Station, Hardys, Leasingham, Barossa Valley Estate, Chateau Reynella, and Nobilo just to name a few. Seriously, they own hundreds of wineries.
Fact #3 Constellation often does ?private labels?. This means that they take one of their wines, let?s say Alice White for example, and they put it in a bottle with a different label on it. So, if you were a mega retail store *cough Total Wine cough* you could take that Alice White and call it Blue Flame *cough ass in a glass cough* and when people want more, they can only get it at your store b/c the consumer doesn?t know it?s Alice White?.for example.
Fact #4 JD Wetherspoon?s let several different companies compete for their house wine. Whatever wine was the most popular for the trial period would win an exclusive with all of the pubs for a contract valued at nearly 150 million dollars.
Okay, now that we know the facts, let?s look at what really happened. It seems that an email was leaked from the Boss of Matthew Clarks Brands (a division of Constellation Brands) to all of their employees (around 300 people).
Wine distributor Matthew Clark emailed staff asking them to buy up to eight bottles of wine each at JD Wetherspoon's pubs in Bristol - and then claim it back on expenses. Employees were told to buy Nottage Hill Chardonnay and Shiraz, and Echo Falls - all of which are produced by Matthew Clark parent company Constellation Europe. If each of the firm's 300 employees had "done their bit" and splashed out on eight bottles of wine, it would have increased sales by 2,400 bottles in the city's pubs - potentially tipping the balance in its favour. The plan to artificially enhance the wine's popularity was devised as Constellation battled with rival firms for the exclusive rights to supply wine to JD Wetherspoon's 650 pubs.
Nice. I?d love to buy wine and expense it back to my boss. Somehow I don?t think he?d go for it. I have to say though, this doesn?t shock me so much. I wouldn?t put anything past Constellation Brands. So I guess my point here is know your brands, and know what you are buying. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1200200.ece
When pigs fly?I mean drink beer
So, in Tasmania (off of the coast of Australia) there is a local tourist attraction that has been getting a lot of flack lately. If you go to the ?Pub in the Paddock? you will find Prescilla and PB and they chug beers. But get this, Prescilla and PB are pigs. Yep, people can pay to ? and I quote ? ?pour bottles of beer down the willing throats of resident pigs?.
Dude, I would totally pay to see that. But PETA would like to go on the record and state that they are not down with it and they want to have the pigs rescued.
Tecnorati
If you're a wine-loving meat-eater, you'll want to pay a visit to the new Fogo de Chão Brazilian steakhouse that just opened in downtown Indianapolis. (Welcome, race fans!)
I'd heard about 
