By now I am sure you have heard the basic principle that you should not cook with wine that you would not drink. However, there are probably a few other guidelines to master before you audition for the next season of Top Chef.
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The answer to this question is a resounding YES! I might not choose the real stuff from France for this venture, but sparkling wine is very food friendly. Here are a few tips for matching sparkling wine with food.
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Happy New Year, Everyone. This is a continuation of the Champagne 101 post you can find in the archives. Just a few extra fun and maybe even informative facts on sparkling wine as we approach Wednesday evening’s festivities.
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Wassail (Spiced Wine)
Contributing Author
Edward - The Wine Wizard
Wassail is a hot, spiced punch often associated with Christmas. Particularly popular in Germanic countries, the term itself is a contraction of the Middle English phrase wæs hæil, meaning “be healthy”. While the beverage typically served as “wassail” at modern holiday feasts resembles a mulled cider, historical wassail was completely different, more likely to be mulled beer or mead. Sugar, ale, ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon would be placed in a bowl, heated, and topped with slices of toast as sops. Wikipedia
On-to the recipe…
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Of course, the obvious gift for your beloved winos would be wine - DUH. However, if you have been there and done that or, you are just not confident on what wine to buy, the Wine Witch suggests you consider a book on the subject.
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Well the Holidays are fast approaching and if you are like the Wine Witch you are probably in a panic for some last minute gifts. I am here to help. This week look for several posts on what to get the wine enthusiasts on your list.
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Red Table Wine
The Magnificent Wine Co. (Columbia Valley) $7.99
I have not had this wine myself and therefore will not be rated until I have. At it’s sub $10 price it does seem to get some nice reviews. This wine is comprised of Merlot 95%, Syrah 5%. (more…)
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The Wine Witch is always trolling the internet looking for news to share on this blog. Two stories struck me as very telling in these economic times. (more…)
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Before you all get too excited, this is all very prelimnary information. However, researchers in France have just published a study about the effects of SRT1720 on obesity in mice. SRT1720 is an artificial drug which mimics the effects of resveratol. Resveratol is the component in red wine thought to be beneficial in controlling weight. Whew! Got all that - red wine pills.
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There is nothing official from Amazon yet, but word on the street is that the online retailer is going to add wine to its offerings before the year is out. The most recent issue of Wine Spectator reported the story, and I doubt if they would have unless it was a done deal.
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It has been long known that a glass or two (no more or you get into liver and other health issues) of red wine is good for your heart. White wine supposedly had no health benefits other than the enjoyment of the tipple. Well white wine drinkers can now rejoice because a recent study conducted by the University of Connecticut shows the same beneficial effects.
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The Wine Witch is always cruising around the web gathering info for this blog. Just came across something very cool on the Dry Creek Vineyard site. In case you are not familar with them, Dry Creek Vineyard is a Northern Sonoma Country winery run by second generation familty. They make some excellent wines in a very personal style. Best of all many of them come in right around this blog’s $15 price point. Anyway, you are now able to post your own reviews of their wines, right on their website, for the whole world to see, without any editing or intervention on their part. Do you think they have faith in their product?
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If you read my earlier post this week on the Robert Mondavi Private Selection Vinetta, you saw that future vintages are going to be renamed Meritage. OK - that’s nice enough name, but does it mean anything? Actually it does.
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The Wine Witch had a totally cool experience the other night. I was fortunate enough to attend the 13th annual Harvest in the Square event hosted by the Union Square Partnership. This was a fundraiser to support the maintenance and beautification of Union Square Park which is a vibrant oasis in Manhattan. There is always something going on there from superb people watching to the magical Christmas Market. Harvest in the Square is the premier event.
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One of life’s great pleasures for us winos is working our way through a progressive flight of wines. You could organize your own event with friends or attend a wine dinner sponsored by a local restaurant. However, the very best way to do this is a winery tour.
There are over 6,000 wineries in the United States. I believe just about every state has at least one. Since wine is an agricultural product requiring certain growing conditions, wineries tend to be conveniently clustered together - think Napa Valley. This allows you to make a day of it and sample the wares of several labels. To get the most of your experience, here are a few tips.
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Pardon the alliteration - couldn’t resist. What we are talking about here is a solution to the age old problem of serving wine in the great outdoors. The Wine Witch has discovered GoVino wineglasses (www.govinowine.com).
If you are like me, you have always been reluctant to bring some of your better wine to outdoor events. How many times have you endured sipping from paper cups, flimsy plastic, or worst of all styrofoam. You simply cannot subject good wine to these conditions. GoVino has come to the rescue with a brilliant solution.
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No, this is not an homage to Kermit the Frog. It’s just that there are a lot of “green” words being thrown around in the wine world right now and it can be pretty confusing to wine drinkers that care about the planet. The Wine Witch is going to try and sort this out.
There are three main concepts - Sustainable, Organic, and Biodynamic. Within Organic and Biodynamic, the winery can be either non-certified or certified. My head is already spinning and I have done the research for this blog.
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Well the Wine Witch just returned from a Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas. It was fabulous. Went with the extended family which made it even more fun.
This was our very first cruise so you need to understand that any comments here are from a narrow perspective. Many of the seasoned “old salts” that we spoke to told us that we would get “ripped off” with the cost of booze. I have to tell you that I did not find that the case at all.
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This is a tough question. Typically these boxes contain 3 liters of wine which equals 4 regular bottles. You usually pay about the price you would for 3 or less bottles, so it is like getting a bottle free. The boxes come with a handy little spout, which make them ideal for parties. Probably, the best feature is that the wine inside the box is in an air tight plastic bag so any leftovers stay as fresh as they started. However, it the wine any good? After all wine in boxes has always been a source of ridicule among “serious” wine lovers.
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This is going to sound like a lot of nonsense, but the Wine Witch recommends getting one of these gadgets - especially if you like red wine and are on a budget.
I came across this quite by accident. Being a dedicated internet shopper you can well imagine the amount of catalogs that come to my door. One of them is Herrington which has a real mixed bag of stuff. Anyway, I was paging through around the holidays and of course anything that references wine catches my eye.
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We have all been there - alone in the wine shop - no particular wine in mind - many, many choices - not a clue what to buy. Hark! what’s this? A shelf card with some enticing descriptions of the wine before you. Salvation!
Beware!
The first thing you need to keep in mind is that these shelf cards come from the wine producers. Most times - they write them. Do you think they are going to tell you their wine tastes like vinegar or that it has “a bracing acidity”? Sometimes they do have scores and comments by third parties. Make sure it is a reputable source like Wine Spectator and not the winery’s own tasting panel.
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OK - the first thing that needs to be cleared up is the use of the word Champagne. All Champagne is sparkling wine, but very little sparkling wine is Champagne. You may recall from other posts that the French name their wines after where they are grown and not the grape in the bottle. Champagne is a rather small wine region in France, and technically only wines that come from there have the right to be called Champagne. Wine makers outside of France (especially the U.S. and Southern Hemishpere) hoping to cash in on Champagne’s mystic often call their sparkling wines Champagne. They shouldn’t, but they do and the Wine Witch is not going to start swimming against the tide here. If you see sparkling wines in this post or other reviews called Champagne when they are not, just relax and go with it. We all know what we are talking about here.
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The wine suggestion posts include a “safe” choice for your gifting. Merlot in general is a “safe” choice for the red wine drinker on you list. The good news is that it seldom offends - the wines tend to be soft and round with no prickly edges. The bad news is that although it seldom offends, it often bores. The following are some Wine Witch recommendation all of which have been reviewed here.
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Chardonnay is probably the premier white varietal - certainly in the U.S.. There is almost a limitless range of Chardonnay styles and almost every wine producing country or region has Charonnay. One of the biggest factors impacting the final result is the age old question - To Oak, or Not to Oak. If you have a dedicated Chardonnay drinker on your gift list, the Wine Witch is going to guess that they fall on the “to oak” side of the question. While there are some lovely unoaked Chardonnays out there, most Chardonnay has seen some wood.
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We are all down to crunch time dashing about trying to find gifts for our ever increasing lists. The Wine Witch would like to suggest that as long as your recipent is over 21, not pregnant or coping with any other health or personal issues, wine is the ideal gift. Why?
1. You spend exactly what you want for each person given the range of prices out there.
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