Wine Aerator Air-Off

Wine Aerator Airoff - The contenders!As a certifiable (different from certified, mine requires a psychiatrist!) wine geek, I get a lot of questions about serving and preparing wine so that it can be happily sipped. One of the biggest questions concerns the aeration of wine...how do I like to aerate my wine, whether young or old and what do I like to use to do so? For the most part, I tend to decant my wines, but that isn't always the easiest thing to do every time I open a new bottle. Sometimes I might only want part of a bottle and then the wine is hard to store once decanted. Or, I might just have more than one bottle open at a time and I'm pouring like crazy because I have some thirsty friends, ready to partake. In that case, I find that a wine aerator tends to do the trick, i.e. a wine gadget that actually works on a per glass basis and usually by being inserted into the bottle. The larger question looms...which one is the best?? This article is here to try and tackle that vinoquery!

Trefethen 2009 Oak Knoll District Fallow: "Bottled Estate"

2009 Trefethen Oak Oak Knoll District FallowThe French have been rattling on and on for years about their winegrowing concept of "terroir." Ostensibly, it means a "sense of place;" whereby you gain a sense about the climate, soil, water, air, sun and just about everything else that helps to grow the grapes in a particular region. While I also believe this to be true and the source of the winemaker phrase "winemaking begins in the vineyard," I've been frustrated by what I've viewed as the continued inability to truly bottle the terroir of a special vineyard. A white Entre-deux-Mers that tastes slightly salty because it's next to the sea? Sure, but then a whole lot of other vineyards around the world are near the sea, too!

Brixr + TinyBottles + Me = Tasting Video Fun!

BrixrWhat is the single biggest problem about wine clubs for both the wine producer/wine store and the consumer who receives the wine? The wine itself! The wine producer or wine store owner usually has to send out new wine releases blind to their wine club members and the members just have to hope that they like the wine that they receive, even though it might be very unfamiliar to them as an average wine club member. What does all of this mean? A lot of wine bottles that are sent out are not the style of wine that a member enjoys. This results in frustration, wasted money and sometimes even the cancellation of their membership. Now there is a solution, one that actually solves the REAL problem that plagues wine clubs...and it's called Brixr!

Vintners Hall of Fame 2010 Inductee Luncheon

Vintners Hall of Fame - CIA GreystoneLast year in late November, I had the very fortunate opportunity to attend the 2010 Inductee Luncheon for the Vintners Hall of Fame at The Culinary Institute of America, Greystone in St. Helena. CIA Greystone is the premiere college for the culinary arts, with the main campus at Hyde Park, New York. They also have additional campuses in San Antonio, Texas and in the imposing former Christian Brothers stone building in St. Helena, California. It is here at Greystone that they have converted the old winery Barrel Room into a an impressive showcase of the many men and women that have shaped the wine industry in America.

Pre-WBC09: Twisted Murphys Wine'n!

Twisted Oak Winery - Pre-WBC09 Murphys/Calaveras CountyWhat happens when you get bunches of wine bloggers all together to take over a small wine country town? Mine cave-ins, death, destruction and mass group arrests! OK...that didn't quite happen, but mass chaos, super amounts of fun and the realization that Calaveras County is an up-and-coming wine region with Murphys leading the charge as a boutique wine destination definitely DID occur. The Twisted Oak Winery Pre-WBC09 Murphys/CalaCo wine event had dropped, and there was no going back!
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