Archive for April, 2009
Wine glass or colostomy bag?
Source: dvice. Miraculous wine glass holds drinks galore in its gravity-defying reserve tank. By Charlie White. April 20, 2009.
As the designers say in simple terms, “It is a glass for drinking a lot.” We’re just wondering, is this a design that was created while drinking a lot? The designer says the glass never overflows “because of air pressure and water pressure.” Insert miracle here. Is it us, or is this impossible?
-S.S.
Muslim nations uneasy about wine production.
Source: The Independent. Moroccan Islamists demand crackdown on drink. By Elizabeth Nash. April 19, 2009.
It’s an uneasy balance between time-honored religious teachings and a flourishing wine-production industry.
By Elizabeth Nash
The Independent on Sunday
19 Apr 2009
The Islamic world has long had mixed feelings about wine: Muslims are supposed to abstain, but countries from North Africa to the eastern Mediterranean and beyond have for centuries cultivated vineyards. And today, wines from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia,…read more…
–S.S.
Red wine + cola = yummy?
Source: The Age. Secret alcopop pleasures. By Matt Preston. April 18, 2009.
Cheap red wine and Coke. It was popular in Spain in the 70’s and now it’s spreading throughout the world. Have you ever tried it? Would you? Even with the fancy lime and blackberry liquor?
The traditional way to drink “kali” at these parties is to buy a two-litre bottle of Coke, pour half away and then fill the empty space with cheap red wine and mix.
We would never advise this, given the pain of the ensuing bonce-crunching hangover as well as the acts of gross sugar-rush and red-wine-fuelled stupidity that you might commit and then have to face up to in the morning. Having said that, next time you are rustling up a few dishes from Frank Camorra’s MoVida cookbook for friends, why not treat your guests to this most trailer trash of cocktails?
Just serve it in small glasses with crushed ice. Add a slice of lime, or even a splash of blackberry liqueur (such as a cassis-like creme de mure), if you want to be unnecessarily fancy.
You’ll find it is a surprisingly refreshing tipple and that the acidity of the cheap red is mellowed by the sweetness of the cola and that it all slips down rather well.
-S.S.
Costco or Sam’s Club for wine?
Sources: Consumer Reports. Costco vs. Sam’s Club: New reasons to join or switch. May 2007. And Wall Street Journal. Costco Cabernets. By Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher. Nov 15, 2008.
Which is the best place to buy wine, Costco or Sam’s Club?
Costco has higher-end wines, even $1,750 bottles of Château Cheval Blanc Premier Grand Cru Classé. It sells more wine than any other store in the U.S. Sam’s Club is trying to catch up, but still lags behind. Prices are reasonable at both stores, but Sam’s sells primarily lower-end wines, while Costco sells wines in all price ranges.
WSJ wine writers bought every American-made Cabernet in both stores (40 different types) and did a blind tast test. Their conclusions: most were lackluster. However, their criticisms were as much about the state of American Cabernets as they were about these stores.
Overall recommendations are that both stores have good wines and good bargains, but you’re mostly on your own in making your purchase decisions.
–S.S.
Soccer star Beckham gets ID’d. Waiter refuses to serve him wine.
Source: Reuters. Book tells Beckham’s LA story: from star to unknown. By Claudia Parsons. April 14, 2009
Do soccer players like wine? The answer is “yes”, if you go by David “Bend it like” Beckham, soccer superstar. Last year he bought a vineyard for his wife, Victoria, and hired laborers to produce “Chateau Posh” wines, which are not intended for public sale, but rather for personal consumption.
Now, a new book about Beckham tells all, including the story of how Beckham got carded and was refused wine service when he failed to produce an ID.
The Beckham Experiment,” by Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl, features interviews with 33-year-old Beckham and other major figures in Los Angeles Galaxy, the soccer team he joined in 2007 after a stellar career in Europe.
Anecdotes include an occasion when Beckham was denied a glass of wine because he could not produce an ID document for a U.S. waiter who did not recognize him…
–S.S.
Mix medicines with wine? The ancients did it.
Source: Forbes. Pharoah’s Wine Jar Yields Medicinal Secrets. 04.12.09
And we always thought you were NOT supposed to mix alcohol and medicine! Little do we know. The ancient Egyptians did it and look where it got them. In fact, one guy, Scorpion I (must have been a wrestler), kept a few jars of his wine/medicine concoction in his tomb, just in case he woke up from the dead with a tummy ache.
Sophisticated analysis of residues found in wine jars left in the tomb of Scorpion 1, perhaps the first pharaoh, shows that the wine had been steeped in herbs including balm, coriander, mint and sage, according to a report published in this week’s issue April 13 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
That tomb dates back to 3150 B.C., explained lead researcher Patrick E. McGovern, a senior research scientist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology.
“This is the earliest evidence we have of herbs being added to wine,” McGovern said. “The earliest previous evidence we had was an alcoholic beverage from China from around 1200 B.C. That one had possibly wormwood or chrysanthemum in it, or a tree resin.”
— S.S.
Ladybugs love aphids. Aphids love wine. There’s a wine called “Ladybug.” It’s beautiful, dude.
Source: SF Wine Examiner. Fine wine gets help from friendly predators. Julia Hollister. April 8, 2009
To kill those pesty, uh, pests that were eating up his vineyard profits, Lolonis Vineyard imported ladybugs. Not just a few, mind you, but 5 million ladybugs. That’s at least a shopping bag full.
Since 2000, seven Lolonis wines have scored 90 or more points in Wine Spectator ratings. They harvest 80% of their grapes by hand. Must be crunchy walking through the vines.
Here’s to Lolonis Ladybug Wines!
Read the article here.
— S.S.
Library guides for wine research
Librarians love to compile the best resources on any topic. Check out a few of these guides to wine information.
Note: Don’t be discouraged when you discover some of these resources are restricted to specific library users. Keep looking for the guides with public websites, or ask at library near you for access to some of the restricted resources.
- Cornell University. Enology & Viticulture. http://guides.library.cornell.edu/enology_viticulture
- CalPoly Kennedy Library. Wine, Viticulture and Enology Research Center. http://libguides.calpoly.edu/agbusiness_wine
- Wake Forest University. Business of Wine guide. http://guides.zsr.wfu.edu/content.php?pid=40339&sid=296937
- George Brown College. Wine & Winemaking. http://georgebrown.ca.libguides.com/wine
- Ocean City Public Library. Wine Subject Guide. http://reference.oceancitylibrary.org/wine
— S.S.
Circus haters, grab the next flight to Gladstone for free wine!
Source: The Observer. Gladstone, Australia. Circus guaranteed to be thriller. April 8, 2009
GREG Hall is betting Gladstone people are in for an “I can’t believe it” experience as a spectator at the Great Moscow Circus.
And the show’s general manager is offering a bottle of wine to anyone who’s not satisfied.
“The show still has all the fun and laughs, but we’ve added a little bit of devilry, a little bit of thrills and spills excitement,” he said.
“It’s got an edge of having to close your eyes. In the finale we have the globe of death where four motor bike riders, inside a four-metre steel globe, are all travelling at 80 km/hr at the same time.”
Mr Hall isn’t letting on what happens.
— S.S.
Chinese wine drinkers are an adventurous lot, and their numbers are growing
Source: Agence France Presse (AFP). Wine producers pin hopes on China in tough times. by Julie Desne. April 7, 2009.
No longer a luxury just for foreigners, wine has become a status symbol among China’s fast-growing middle class.
“China was one of the ten biggest wine consumers in 2008 and should be ranked number seven by 2012,” said Xavier de Eizaguirre, president of Vinexpo, the world’s biggest wine and spirits exhibition, which takes place in Bordeaux in southwest France.
In 2007, Chinese wine consumption topped 800 million bottles, according to Britain’s International Wine and Spirit Record Institute.
Between 2003 and 2007, wine consumption in China grew 61 percent and is expected to grow a further 36 percent between this year and 2012, according to the study.
And Chinese wine drinkers are becoming increasingly adventurous.
“Chinese have come a long way in being open to trying new wines,” said Vance Yeang, sommelier at Napa Wine Residence, a Shanghai restaurant that allows valued customers to store wines in private cellars on the premises.
— S.S.
Wine Teasers Wine Game 