Learn about the Wine For Wheels program. Winemakers provide funds to buy wheelchairs for people around the world.
Category: Wines And Spirits
Wine For Wheels
Posted by on November 15, 2009
Learn about the Wine For Wheels program. Winemakers provide funds to buy wheelchairs for people around the world.
Wine and Food Pairing
Posted by on September 30, 2009
The process of matching food and wine is highly subjective and inexact process.
The old rules like having red wine with red meat and white wine with fish and poultry do not hold well these days because in this fast moving world experimentation regarding the match of wine with the food recipes and no one follows these hard and fast rules. The pairing could be on your own will and wish. You can hear the suggestion about the new mix and match suggestions on an everyday basis.
Vineyard tours and wine tastings are a great way to try to try the different wines and learn more as to which wine you favor the most. Then you can begin with trying the foods and wines you favor the most.
While pairing food and wine, the goal is synergy and power. The wine should not overpower the food, and even the food should not overpower the wine.
Try and match the food with the wine in such a way that it flavors the food in a better way. Wine in itself tastes better than the food; wine has a similar significance as that of spice in food. Wine when drunk along with your food produces different sensations.
A good match can bring out the nuances that can enhance the flavors and bring very good characteristics of both the food and wine.
Good food and wine pairing is achieved when there are similarities and contrasts between the taste and intensity.
Rule of thumb that will help in better pairing of wine and food
In case you take a wine for a gift to a dinner party, then there is no need to worry about the matching of the wine with the food. A good wine to be taken as a gift to a dinner party is a very good idea. A grand party deserves better wine than hamburgers and chips.
When you serve wines it is important that you serve lighter wines before full-bodied people. It is important that you serve dry wines before the sweet flavored wines. Lower alcohol wines must be served before higher alcohol wines.
Try and balance the flavor intensities. Serve light wines with light food and serve heavy wines with heavy food.
While pairing wines with the food consider the preparation of the food, serve the lighter wines with food that is steamed. The wines which have strong alcohol content should be paired with food that is grilled, roasted or sautéed.
Pair cheese and wine. In some European countries the best wine is reserved for cheese course. Red wine goes well with mild to sharp cheese. Intensely flavored cheese goes well sweeter wine.
So before you decide on the pairing of wines with the food course it is always important that you taste the wine.
Shijina is an expert SEO copywriter for Napa valley wine tours. She written many articles like Napa valley articles, wine country tours, napa valley tours For more information visit our site Wine country tours. Contact her at shijinaseo@gmail.com.
Wine Snobs Versus Wine Connoisseurs
Posted by on September 30, 2009
A common wellspring of confusion is wine literature. Many excellent wine books are currently available to lay readers. Most of them praise the vintages of individual regions, debate wine’s subtle food harmonies, or relate pleasant sojourns among the vineyards enjoyed by the authors.
Although always delectable reading, they rarely spare space to rehearse the ABC’s of wine. When an occasional writer does discuss the subject in grade-school terms, he leaps so abruptly to the post-graduate level that the novices among his readers are left completely befogged. Wine volumes heretofore published have thereby helped to create the need for the present one.
From the various sources available, largely gourmets and writers in Great Britain, but also in recent years from those of the United States, have also come many of the rules which surround fashionable wine selection and service. These rules did not come from the wine countries of Europe, where the average citizen consumes his wine as freely as most Americans gulp their ice water. The ordinary Frenchman, Italian, Spaniard, or Portuguese, to whom wine is among the staple necessities of life, is happily ignorant of its abracadabra, and if he ever were told that red wine should not be served with fish, would regard it as so much nonsense.
American winegrowers have done little to clear up the maze. Most of them would be happier if their product could be freed of the enigmas and paradoxes which hinder its broader sale. Yet few would be willing to strip wine of its noble traditions and its undeniably valuable romantic atmosphere. Half-hearted attempts have occasionally been made to depart from the time-honored, but ambiguous, wine-type nomenclature inherited from Europe, only to be frustrated because the Old World wine names have become permanently anchored in the English language. And European vintners, whose principal customers already know how to buy and enjoy their merchandise, lack any motive to change their perplexing labels.
All of this confusion helps to make wine more intriguing than if it were simple. It also helps to account for the growing numbers of wine snobs. For on a subject as tangled as wine, almost anybody can expound safely, because hardly anyone else knows what is right or wrong. What is wine snobbery? Let’s first get the terms straight by distinguishing among wine experts, wine connoisseurs, and wine snobs.
A genuine wine expert is one who can readily distinguish among the world’s principal wines without reading the labels-a Tocai, http://www.wineaccess.com/wine/grape/Tocai/, from a Trebbiano, http://www.wineaccess.com/wine/grape/Trebbiano/. The number of such people is surprisingly few. You can become one, if your senses of taste and smell are keen, by sampling a sufficient number of wines with an open mind and a retentive memory, and by learning, at the same time, about the principal wine grape varieties and how wines are made.
To be a wine connoisseur, it is not necessary to be such an expert. Surely you are already a connoisseur (that is to say, a critical judge) of steaks, roasts, coffee, cheese, and also, perhaps, of liquor and cigarettes. In fact, we are all connoisseurs of the things we especially enjoy in food, drink, and entertainment. We are not shy about discussing our likes and dislikes among such items. Why be suddenly shy about our likes and dislikes among wines? Your taste is unique just as your thumb print is. You alone are the judge of what pleases your discriminating palate. It should be maintained that you are a connoisseur of wines when you have sampled enough of them to know which ones please you and which do not.
You are a wine snob, on the other hand, if (a) you look for a wine’s faults instead of its virtues, if (b) you behave like an expert when you are not, if (c) you are influenced by a wine’s price instead of by its flavor, if (d) you turn up your nose at bottles that lack famous names or vintage dates, if (e) you belittle wines simply because they do not come from Europe, or, in general, if you drink the label instead of the wine, whether it be a Merlot or a Viognier. More information on these grape types can be found at http://www.wineaccess.com/wine/grape/Merlot/ and http://www.wineaccess.com/wine/grape/Viognier/.
From the above distinctions it is readily apparent that while wine snobs are not necessarily experts or connoisseurs, you are likely to find many connoisseurs and some experts behaving like wine snobs.
Yet there is no particular harm in wine snobbery. In fact, it is fun, and might even be recommended as an easily acquired mark of gentility. Other cultural endeavors get welcome support from art snobs, book snobs, and music snobs, to name a few kinds. All of them enjoy themselves and derive benefit there from.
Sarah Martin is a freelance marketing writer based out of San Diego, CA. She specializes in the history of wine, vineyards, and Viognier. She especially enjoys a great glass of Trebbiano. To learn more about different grape types, please visit wineaccess.com/wine/grape.
Handcrafted Wine Room Doors
Posted by on September 25, 2009
A wine cellar needs temperature and humidity control. Good insulation, a vapor barrier and a climate control system are all major components, but a big part of climate control comes in selecting the right wine room door. The wrong choice can force your wine cellar refrigeration system to work more and allow undesirable warm air inside your wine room, nullifying the rest of your cautious wine room construction and design.
The correct wine cellar door maintains a seal on the entryway when the door is closed, allowing the wine cellar cooling unit to circulate temperature and humidity-controlled air through the total wine room without battling with air leaking into the room from outside the door. Whether you buy a pre-made standard door, or have one built to your desired specifications, all good wine doors have specific qualities that make them perfect for the climate control demands of your wine storage room.
Wine Cellar Door Construction
Custom wine cellar contractors recommend using exterior grade wine doors, which are powerful enough to withstand temperature fluctuations and keep outside air from trickling in. An excellent exterior grade wine cellar door should be weatherproofed and acclimatized to the level of temperature and humidity in the environment where it will be used; the humidity factor should not be ignored when picking a door. The recommended humidity for a wine room falls roughly between 50% and 80%, with 70% being the target level. If a wine room door can’t survive 70% humidity without warping or additional issues, it isn’t worth the money you paid for it.
Wooden wine doors should have rock-hard construction; by no means use a cavernous door as the entrance for your custom wine cellar. If you use a glass wine cellar door, it should be double-paned to help keep exterior air out. The recommended thickness for wine room doors varies according to who you ask, but the bare minimum you should install for your wine cellar is one and three-quarter inches. If your wine cellar door is accessible to children or if you just want some extra security for your wines consider adding a lock to your door specs.
Wine Room Door Materials
Wine cellar doors are available in a variety of materials; wood, glass, even wrought iron. Options consist of standard doors, carved wood doors or carved wood and glass. You can also get beveled glass doors or wine cellar iron doors.
When purchasing a wine cellar door, the condition of your wine cellar may dictate your purchase to a certain point. Is the wine room already built? Do you need to buy a door to fit your existing entryway? Or do you need a complete set with the door, doorjamb, weather stripping included in a package? Wine cellar doors may come in “door-only” versions or as pre-hung doors. A pre-hung wine room door comes to you installed into a frame which you set up into the entryway. Pre-hung doors speed up the installation process if you are doing the work yourself, but you may need an extra set of hands to help get the door in position and correctly attached.
Some wine cellar doors contain optional wrought-iron attachments which are set up on top of your door once it has been installed in the opening, but these don’t have anything to do with climate control issues in your cellar; the wrought iron add-ons are purely decorative. If you add these ornamental designs, it is vital to fasten them securely to the door to eliminate the potential for damage to the lacquer finish of the wood.
Wine Cellar Doors vs. Entryways
Many wine cellar door manufacturers offer custom-designed and built entryways. What’s the difference between an entryway and a wine room door? With a custom entryway you are having the entire section of door, doorjamb and related construction included in the package. This can allow for the construction of a more stylish look for your cellar and offer some additional custom options for the area. If you order the door only, you can set it up in your existing entryway, which is helpful for situations where you are already happy with the surrounding wine cellar construction.
Miscellaneous Concerns
Wine cellar doors should come with a threshold, door sweep and perimeter seal. These seals permit the door to be weather-stripped on all three sides to keep out drafts when the door is shut. Weather stripping is a necessity for the entrance to your wine room, or else your wine cooling system works less efficiently and your climate controlled air will move into the area outside the wine cellar.
Are you buying a custom wine room door? You will need measurements of your door jamb or entryway and you must decide whether you want handles or locks. Some vendors will not supply locks or pre-drilling. If you want to install a lock in these cases you will have to do the job yourself based on the design specifications of an exact lock.
Sometimes the direction your doors open might be an issue. When deciding which way your wine room doors should hinge, think about the placement of your wine racking or accessories around the doors, and how wide you need to open the doors should you need to add in a crate or case of wine bottles. If you need more clearance than the inside of your wine room can provide, make sure your doors can swing open to the outside, and don’t forget a doorstop or additional add-on to prevent the doors from striking the wall.
A wine cellar door is a significant part to your wine room. Selected wisely the doors can help your wine cellar work properly and create a great first impression to your visitors.
Ben Adams is the marketing director for Vigilant, Inc. a luxury goods manufacturer in Dover, NH. Vigilant is a premier manufacturer of wine cellars, wine racks and wine cellar doors as well as cigar storage equipment. Vigilant partners with homeowners and businesses to create wine storage spaces to fulfill the need for complete and precise protection for collections of fine wine. Please visit them at www.vigilantinc.com for additional information or to learn about any of their wine storage or cigar storage products.