December 2009
0 posts
November 2009
38 posts
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Does a Bottle a day keep the Dr. away?
Dr. Arriola’s study found that drinking a bottle of red wine reduced the risks of developing heart disease by 50%. So, while a bottle a day may keep the Heart Dr. away, you might want to prepare for the some help with your liver or brain.
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Vinography Aroma Card →
Nice tool that Vinography offers to give you a quick easy pocket sized guide to aromas and flavors.
Quick easy download available in 7 languages.
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French wine TV - Will we get access? →
French wine TV, Edonys, is about to launch. It will be focused on wine culture and tourism. Including visiting to vineyards, details on wine regions, tastings, etc.
Edonys is trying to get rights to broadcast across Europe in French & English. Follow @edonys on twitter to see how they progress.
Will you watch if we get access?
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Wine Specator 2009 Top 100 - What's your favorite?
Wine Spectator has released their 2009 Top 100 listing of this years most existing wines.
Check out their pdf listing with rankings and price for more details.
Do you have a favorite? or…disagree with any picks?
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Empress Josephine responsible for French Bourdeax...
Empress Josephine was one of the first French royalty to favor Bourdeaux wines. Louis XVI did not have even a single bottle recorded in his cellar.
Josephine’s handwritten cellar inventory was found after her detah in 1814. The special listing of 13,286 wines along with her stemware and other treasures are display at Le Cave de Josephine through March 2010. Her collection included wines...
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Grape Update: Gamay
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, a quick lesson on the Gamay grape, the grape famous for Beaujolais wines.
The Gamay grape is an ancient natural clone of Pinot Noir, and its full name is Gamay Noir a Jus Blanc. Wines from this grape has a distinctive “Pear drop” aroma. Three types of Gamay wines are typically made.
Beaujolais Noveau - Producted in the Beaujolais region in France,...
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$200 Million Wine Arsonist gets 15 yr prison... →
Mark Anderson, Berkley native, destroyed over 6 million bottles in attempt to hide the huge oenophilic pyramid scheme. While the pyramid is alleged, Mr. Anderson did choose to plea out, instead of the possible 70 year sentence he was facing.
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The greyer the berry the sweeter the juice?
Have you ever enjoyed an Auslese or Beerenauslese wine from Germany or even an Italian Amarone? If so, then you’ve probably consumed wines that are derived from grapes with a grey fungus called Botrytis cinerea. A botrytized wine comes from grapes covered in grey mold and is commonplace, especially in German wines. Boytris is caused by a continually humid environment that can lead to a...
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“The best use of bad wine is to drive away poor relations.”
– French proverb
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Endangered Wine — Preserving a Future for Classic... →
thefoodoffrance:
Almost every wine aficionado knows about the divide between “modern” and “traditional” winemakers in Piedmont. But far less has been written about a similar clash of philosophies in the Northern Rhône. Both disputes date back to the 1980s; yet, the results have been very different.
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Airplane Wine Picks Evolving →
Many airlines still offer the best wines to only their premium class fliers. This is especially true for the American based airliners. But, time are changing and airlines are realizing the may have a bigger opportunity here.
Starting next month, Air Nippon Airlines, a Japanese airline company, will be selling coach passengers the same wines served in business class on international flights.
...
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Is Wine Your Aphrodisiac?
Florence study found that women sexual desires were higher for moderate red wine drinkers, compared to others who preferred other alcoholic drinks or none at all.
How, you ask? Researchers are not really sure. But, the current guess is that antioxidants contained in red wine help widen the blood vessels which increases blood flow to many key areas of the body.
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“In vino veritas.”
– [In wine is truth] -PLATO
a.k.a Truth Serum!
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Top 3 Wines to Pair with Sushi
Sushi and wine are one of the harder pairings. To add to the challenge, many sushi restaurants are also just as baffled and have a very limited wine menu.
Pinot Noirs - Pinot’s are known to be a softer wine with more moderate tannins which combine well with heavier sushi fish, like Maguro (tuna).
Beaujolais - This is another softer red that is also not usually overly oaky to...
“My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne.”
– John Maynard Keynes (via wineandworld) (via wisdomofwine)
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Is Wine Terroir Disproven? →
US geologists claim the flavors in wine are not related to the minerals in the soil from that vineyard.
‘If wine lovers are going to talk about a mineral taste in wine, they should acknowledge that we don’t at present know its cause”, geologist Alex Maltman told the conference.
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3 Tips to Exploring South Africa Wines
Look for wines from Stellenbosch and Paarl. Hermanus has recently been up and coming as well.
Cabernet blends are ranking as one of the best in South Africa. (Check out the Anwilka)
Try a Pinotage grape, which is unique to South Africa. It is a mix of Cinsault and Pinot Noir, but while a mix of two old french grapes, this is very much a new world styled wine. It has mixed reviewed over...
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Red Wine prevents Swine Flu
Yes, its really true! A red wine chemical, resveratrol, can help prevent a virus from cell replication.
Check out this article for more details on the Italian study.
Other studies have also shown this and similar chemicals in red wine to help your heart and digestion too.
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What Wine are you taking to Thanksgiving?
Have you decided what wine to take to your Thanksgiving dinner? Assuming you are having the standard menu, What kind of wine works best?
For Reds, look for softer tannins and wines that are not too heavy or over oaked to pair well with the Turkey. Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, Zinfandel, & Rhone style wines are good ideas.
If you prefer White wines with your Turkey, look for mineral or earthy...
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$3 Million to save Bourdeaux Sales →
thefoodoffrance:
A new Web site set up by the promotional body for the Bordeaux wine region of France will allow wine drinkers to get a little practice the night before, in the privacy of their own homes. On the site, people can post questions to a panel of sommeliers, who answer via video chats. The site, www.enjoybordeaux.com, is part of a €2 million, or $3 million, campaign by the Conseil...
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“Wine is sunlight, held together by water.”
– Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) (via annaetc) (via wisdomofwine)
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25 brilliant wine bottles designs! →
While a well design label does not always give you a good wine, many of these live up to both! Check out these wine bottles, labels and packaging that made the top 25 best designs listing.
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What Wine are You?
Check out this Wine Profile wheel from a Texas wine site (page 7).
What wine are you? And, what about your women? or man?
Be honest…you know you know which one they are. Share with the group!
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5 Portugal Wines to Try - What are your Favorites?
As a follow up to our post on Portugal grape post, Here are a few Portugal wines that will help you try out some of those grapes.
Douro Palestra 2007, Encostas do Douro $10 / 91 Points Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca. (Nov 2009 Wine Spectator Best Value)
Vinhos Douro Superior Douro Castello d’Alba 2007 $10 / 89 points Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz and Touriga Franca
Quinta...
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Top 10 Wine Vacation Spots in North America
TripAdvisor has recently released a list of North America’s top 10 wine destinations after seeing a 10% rise in searches for “vineyards.”
The results are….
1. Napa Valley, California
2. Sonoma, California
3. Willamette Valley, Oregon
4. Yakima Valley, Washington
5. Roseburg, Oregon
6. Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
7. Finger Lakes, New York
8. Traverse City,...
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6 Best Portugal Grapes
If you have not already tried a Portugal wine, you should start now. Portugal has been known for great Port wines, fortified wines, and Madeira for a long time. But, now we are starting to get some great red wines from the many old vine grape varietals that you may have never heard of before.
Six Best Port Grape Varietals:
Touriga Nacional - produces rich tannic fruit forward wines with...
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Ordering Twitter Wine?
The news is out - Twitter has launched a Fledgling Wine through a partnership with Crushpad, a San Francisco based winery.
All proceeds go to charity Room to Read, an organization that encourages literacy for children around the world. Their first wines will be a Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, selling for $20 a bottle or $240 a case. For each bottle purchased, $5 is donated to Room to Read.
...
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WatchGary Vaynerchuk’s book Crush It! is doing great! While ranking top sales in NYT and WSJ , he has commented that his advertising budget was $0. This goes to show how powerful a social media business can be!
gary:
Social Media = Business In my book I asked people to email me if they wanted me to expand on Social media= Business and so I did, and here is it.
Having trouble viewing this...
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“Good wine ruins the purse;
bad wine ruins the stomach.”
– Spanish saying
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The Next Pandemic...Do you have the symptoms?
I went to a dinner party last night, where I and other guests enjoyed copious amounts of alcohol and I awoke this morning not feeling well, with what could be described as flu-like symptoms; headache, nausea, chills, sore eyes, etc. From the results of some initial testing, I have unfortunately tested positive for what experts are now calling Wine Flu.
This debilitating condition...
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October 2009
14 posts
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Desperate for a Home Wine Cellar?
Ever dream of having a wine cellar in your home?
Check out some very creative architecture ideas on how to add one at My Dream Wine Cellar.
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2005 Bordeaux - Living up to the hype?
A small tasting organized by Executive Wine Seminars held a small 100 person tasting for a “small’ fee of $795 per person to take part in a 2005 Bourdeaux tasting with Robert Parker.
Dr. Vino’s wine blog quotes Parker as comparing the 2005 vintage to the past great Bordeaux vintages including 45, 47, 59, 61, and 82.
Here is the line up!
Drumroll Please! Here is the line up...
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7 Deadly Wine Glasses...
If ever there were wine glasses made to spark up some interesting dinner conversation, these would be them! And, no need for wine charms, each glass is personalized to sin of choice - Wrap, Greed, Pride, Gluttony, Lust, Envy, & Sloth.
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Are you ready for Orange Wine? →
Ever had one? If not, you are among the majority. And, no, it’s not made from Oranges.
Orange wines are essentially white wines that have been left in contact with the skins longer, giving it an orange coloring.
Tastings from New York to California are popping up with a lot Orange wines reviewed to help you decide if you want to be part of the Orange wine exploration.
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Are you the Average US Wine Consumer? →
As wine consumption continues to grow in the US, its always interesting to take a look at what the majority is drinking.
Did you drink any of these in the last year?
1. Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay, Vintner’s Reserve, CA 2. Cavit Pinot Grigio, Italy 3. Beringer Vineyards White Zinfande, CA 4. Sutter Home White Zinfandel, CA 5. Inglenook Chablis, CA 6. Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio, Italy ...
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Modern Art of a Tempranillo
2005 Artesa Alexander Valley Tempranillo Reserve
We bought a case of this wine on our trip to Napa in August. 2005 Artesa Tempranillo was aged for 18 months in French oak, which helped keep that over oaked taste you get in so many American oak barreled wines today.
This wine has dark black and cherry fruits flavors but is not a fruit bomb at all. It’s still rich and spicy characteristics...
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Devil got the best of this one....
2007 Casillero del Diablo Gewurtzraminer - Maule Valley
We love many of the Casillero del Diablo wines - but this one is not one of them! It has a crisp citrus nose, but the color is pale yellow - with almost not color at all. It has a lot of acidity with green apples and grapefruit trying to come thru. Even thou this is a very cheap wine, for $8 there are many other options I would look to.
...
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Merlot worth giving a chance....
2004 Calistoga Cellars Merlot Napa Valley
This wine is actually 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, plus its aged 18 months in French oak. This combo does not make it your typical merlot.
The nose has casis fruit with smokey leather undertones. The taste pulls that thru with strong earthy, pepper and spice flavors.
Price: $15 Rating: 86