Wine Reviews and Accessories

Home Wine Making

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:48:59 +0000

Making wine at home has not been taken very seriously in the past. When you want a good bottle of wine, you would not choose a homemade wine over your favorite bottle of Vino. Homemade wine use to taste like fruit juice, or in some cases, fruit juice that has gone bad. Who wants that?

Well, home wine making has really come a long way. Good wine starter kits are readily available, and they are really pretty good.

The benefits of wine making kits is that you can easily prepare your favorite wine at home. You can make the wine suit your preferences and taste, and wine produced at home is a lot cheaper than what you pay at your local spirits shop. Another benefit is that home wine making can be a great hobby that can turn into a passion and possibly a profitable home business, or at the very least you can end up making great gifts for your friends and family.

Orchard Breezin Mist Blackberry Merlot Wine Kit

Merlot is the favorite wine of red wine lovers, but the Orchard Breezin Wine Kits come in a variety of flavors including, Strawberry Riesling, Raspberry White Zinfandel, Cranberry Chianti, and Peach Chardonnay.

Wine making kits include pure grape juice to make sure you have the correct base to get your wine started. The wine kits also contain enhancers; concentrated grape juice which is crucial to the flavor and aroma of the wine. And most of the home wine making kits make 6 gallons of wine at a time.

Wine Making Equipment Kit with Chardonnay Ingredient Kit

This Chardonnay Wine Making Kit has it all. Like most home wine kits it has all the ingredients; 7.5 liters pure varietal juice and juice concentrate, wine yeast, clarifier, stabilizer, oak because it’s Chardonnay, and detailed instructions. Then it goes many steps further by providing all the equipment; 7.9 gallon plastic wide mouth fermenter with a lid, 6 gallon better bottle plastic carboy with stopper, airlock, hyhdrometer; racking tube with anti-sediment tip, 5 ft flexible tubing; bottle filler, carboy and bottle washer with a faucet adapter, easy double lever corker, 30 wine corks, starter booklet, and sanitizer. This equipment will last for years, and can produce any flavor of wine you prefer.

Good equipment is essential, because bottling is extremely important to the success of homemade wine. An inferior bottle could destroy the fermenting process, and it my burst under the pressure fermenting can produce. Proper storage of your newly bottled wine is also important so the fermentation process can proceed in the proper manner.

The new generation of home wine kits can easily produce good wine. Professional winemakers have put time and effort into making sure that these home wine kits do not disappoint and deliver a satisfying product, and that the acids, pH and sugars are all properly balanced.

So it’s the perfect time to dive right in and start bottling your own Vino home.

Cheers!

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Wine by Vending Machine

admin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:00:59 +0000

Pennsylvania shoppers just got lucky. They can buy wine through vending machines. Some connoisseurs may shun something like this, but if they are selling good quality wine, then the convenience can’t be beat.

Pennsylvania is one of nine state governments involved in retail alcohol sales, and this is one way to allow the sale of wine in grocery stores.The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) is testing these wine vending machines. An ID is required, and you even have to submit to a breath test by blowing into a tube at the machine before it will dispense the wine.

Pennsylvania is the first state in the nation to try out these wine kiosks. Go Pennsylvania!

All transactions are captured on a surveillance camera, and monitored by state employees who approve the sales remotely.

The wine vending machines hold more than 700 bottles at one time. They were introduced in grocery stores in Harrisburg and Mechanicsburg, and if successful, there are plans to add approximately 98 additional kiosks statewide.

“These kiosks fill a void and serve consumers at the supermarket without having to go to another store,” said Patrick Stapleton, chairman of the PLCB.

Let’s hope this experiment goes well. Wine lovers need more options to purchase wine without a hassle. Anything that moves toward removing complications around the sale of the wine is a good thing.

Cheers!

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Keep Your Wine Chilled From the Refrigerator to the Table

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 03:49:59 +0000

If you think using a wine cooler or wine refrigerator is a waste of time, it’s really not. Wines taste best when served at the right temperature. Different wines need different temperatures, and wine coolers are the best way to keep your wines chilled just right and ready to serve.

The best thing about wine coolers these days is that they now come in all different shapes and sizes – some are designed for your tabletop, some for your kitchen counter, and others are full-fledged wine refrigerators.

Tabletop wine coolers are great for keeping wine at the right temperature while you’re serving it – say at parties or picnics. There’s a limit to how long a tabletop wine cooler will keep your bottle ready to serve, but that’s all you really need at social gatherings. If it’s a good bottle of wine, it probably won’t last anyway.

The larger wine refrigerators are useful for collectors who don’t have a wine cellar, and are great at keeping wine at designated temperatures. No one wants to lose a good bottle of wine to humidity or any enviromental fluctuations.

With the wide range of wine coolers and wine refrigerators come different functions. Some wine refrigerators have separate chambers with separate temperature controls so you can store several different kinds of wine all in the same wine refrigerator.

The desires of wine lovers are all over the map, and so are your options when shopping for wine refrigerators and wine coolers. Even the most hard to please wine connoisseur can find the right wine cooler. Here’s just a few that I think are great.

This is the Cooper Cooler Rapid Beverage Chiller, Brushed-Silver.

It chills any beverage, not just wine, by rotating and spraying the bottle with cold water. It can chill a bottle of wine from 77 degrees to 43 degrees in minutes. Awesome – Just Awesome!

This is one of those great tabletop wine coolers. It’s the Vacu Win Prestige Stainless-Steel Tabletop Wine Cooler. It can chill your wine in five minutes and keep it chilled for 4 hours.

This is for the serious wine connoisseur. It’s the Haier 18-bottle Dual-Zone Wine Cooler with Touch Screen Controls. Dual chambers make it perfect for red and white wines. This is your modern-day wine cellar.

These are just a few of the many, many great wine coolers and wine refrigerators on available today, and quiet frankly, they just keep getting better and better.

Cheers!

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We All Scream for Wine Ice Cream

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:29:59 +0000

This is the answer to every wine lovers dream. Wine Ice Cream by Mercer’s Dairy in New York.

Mercer’s calls it “The Ultimate Pairing.” I have to agree. Mercer’s has been producing ice cream for over 50 years, but they mastered the art of blending ice cream with wine in 2006. Needless to say, they are pioneers of this unique dessert.

It’s not wine flavored ice cream. It’s real wine, with 5% alcohol, so you must be 21 years of age to partake.

There are six wine ice cream parings – Port, Merlot, Cabernet, White Zinfandel, Chardonnay and White Riesling.

Ala Port
Cherry Merlot
Chocolate Cabernet
Peach White Zinfandel
Red Raspberry Chardonnay
Royal White Riesling

They left no favorite wine unchurned, and they plan to add more flavors, so stay tuned.

Cheers!

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How to Buy Good Inexpensive Wine

admin — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 14:04:59 +0000

Buying bargain wine doesn’t have to mean cruising the sales bins hoping to find something drinkable. Food and Wine editor Ray Isle shows you how to impress your friends and dinner guests with a bottle that tastes expensive but really is a bargain wine. And if these wines are not available at your local wine and spirits store, Wine.Com is sure to have them, and they are running a 10% discount sale this month when you use promo code TENGIFT at checkout. Hurry, because this offer expires 7/31/10.

Cheers!

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Duration : 0:2:26

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Cool Summer Wine Dessert

admin — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:01:59 +0000

This is a wonderful idea to zest up your summer desserts.

New York Daily News.Com

It’s a fruit cup made with jellied wine called, “Broken Jellied Wine with Summer Fruit.” It was created by Chef Deborah Madison, author of “Seasonal Fruit Desserts: From Orchard, Farm and Market.”

What is jellied wine? You are literally making wine based gelatin, with lots of other lovely ingredients of course. You then slice the gelatin into slivers, and mix it with your favorite summer fruits.

It’s a light, refreshing, wine dessert that is easy to make. The jellied wine can also bring a little sparkle and pizzazz to you summer desserts, because when you slice the jellied wine into slivers or cubes, it looks like its sparkling in the glass.

The suggested wines to use for this wine dessert are Marsala, Sherry, Riesling or even Champagne. Search for y our favorite wines here.

The Ingredients for Chef Deborah Madison, Broken Jellied Wine with Summer Fruit are:

1/4 ounce envelope unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup organic sugar
1/2 cup wine or water
1 1/2 cups sweet and/or sparkling wine
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 to 1 1/2 cups fruit, cut or sliced into small pieces and lightly sugared

The following directions come from the New York Daily News.Com.

1. Sprinkle the gelatin over ¼ cup cold water and set it aside to soften. Combine the sugar with the ½ cup wine in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the softened gelatin. Stir until it’s thoroughly dissolved, then pour it into the rest of the wine along with the lemon juice. Mix well, then pour into a bowl or a compote dish and refrigerate until set.

2. Wine seems to take longer to set than cream or fruit juices, so plan on at least 6 hours, or even overnight for a firm set. Chop the jelly into cubes, then serve it in the compote or in wine or Champagne glasses interspersed with fruit.

dessert.html#ixzz0qnQ2yjIP

Cheers!

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Fine Wine for us all!!

admin — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 00:25:59 +0000

Here’s a quick video on Tuscan Wines and the difference between Tuscan and Super Tuscan Wines.

Cheers!

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Duration : 0:2:7

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Don’t Give Dad a Bad Father’s Day Gift

admin — Tue, 25 May 2010 22:55:59 +0000

Skip the necktie and socks. This year, what Dad really wants is some good wine! Father’s Day is June 20^th. That gives all of us plenty of time to give Dad something worthwhile, and something he will really enjoy.

One of the most common complaints that most Dad’s have is that sometimes the gifts they receive are less than impressive; especially on Father’s Day. If this sounds like you, make a difference this year. No more goofy ties. It’s an old gag, and it really only works once. He has enough cologne, and don’t you dare give him socks. This year show him that you wanted to make sure you gave him something he can really appreciate.

Wine.com has gathered a selection of wines, collections and baskets perfect for any father. Is your Dad a golf lover? Try the Golf & Wine Legends Gift Set. Is your Dad a collector? The 90-Point Wine Club is a great choice, or just browse the selection of fine wines to find his favorite label.

This is the Golf & Wine Legends Gift Set

This wine gift set Includes:

Sleeve of three Wine.com logo golf balls

Arnold Palmer Cabernet Sauvignon
Golf legend Arnold Palmer, in collaboration with Luna Vineyards, has expanded his portfolio of privately branded offerings to include Arnold Palmer Wines. This is a classic California Cab – rich, smooth, and tasty!

Greg Norman Limestone Coast Shiraz
Fine wine is one of Greg Norman’s great passions, and Australian wine in particular. This passion and curiosity led him to launch Greg Norman Estates, a collection of wines from his native Australia. From the beginning, I have been committed to the promise that every bottle of my wine delivers exceptional quality and value.

Guardian Peak Frontier Red or Shiraz
Ernie El’s is a true connoisseur of South Africa’s finest wines and has formed Guardian Peak with renowned winemaker Jean Englebrecht.

This is the perfect gift for the golfer who already has everything.

And if your Dad is more the collector type, take a look at what’s included in

The 90-Point Wine Club.

This exclusive wine gift set includes:

Kenwood 2005 Jack London Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
91 points The Wine News
Rich and complex aroma with notes of boysenberries, mint, and chocolate covered cherries; a full-bodied wine with well structured tannins and an excellent finish.

Lake Sonoma 2006 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
91 Points Wine Enthusiast
Flavors and aromas which are synonymous with Alexander Valley Cabernet such as cedar, tobacco, olive, licorice, cocoa, cassis and raspberry are all unveiled with this release. Solid and lengthy tannins with balanced acid support and provide structure for complexity and aging.

Geyser Peak Cabernet Sauvignon
90 points The Wine News
Supple and ripe with accessible black fruit flavors laced with soft tannins and tempered acidity.

Wine.com Gift Wrapped Box

Treat him special. Get him something good. Buying wine online couldn’t be easier, but it shows you have good taste and know how to select a great wine gift with him in mind.

Cheers!

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Last Minute Mothers Day Wine Gift Baskets

admin — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 22:02:59 +0000

Did you wait this long to think about the gift you’ll send for Mothers Day? It’s ok. Some people need a real deadline, and nothing’s wrong with that. There is still time to look like you planned ahead, because when you are looking to buy mothers day wine gift baskets, this years selections are really outstanding.

Just look at this 90 Point Spring Duet.

This gift includes:

Crios de Susana Balbo Torrontes
Crios de Susana Malbec
Crackers
Beef Salami
Napa Valley Mustard
Torani Biscotti
Monbana Chocolate Noir
Smoked Almonds
Cabernet Cheddar

And with all of these goodies this wine gift basket is still priced under $60 dollars. Just think of how good this wine gift makes you look. This the kind of gift basket that makes it easy for you to give a great mothers day gift.

Or how about this mothers day wine gift basket featuring Kendal-Jackson Chardonnay.

Kendall-Jackson 90 Point Chardonnay Basket.

This gift includes:

Kendall-Jackson Grand Reserve Chardonnay
Crackers
Brie Cheese Spread
Spicy cocktail almonds
French country olive mix

This is a very special mothers day wine gift basket, and it’s priced under $50 dollars.

Wine.com has a two page spread featuring irresitable wine gifts, and if you hurry now, you may still be eligible for the 10% off sale.

Cheers!

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Summer Pinks from Wine Spectator

admin — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:56:59 +0000

What’s the perfect wine for a hot summer afternoon? Pink, of course! They’re crisp with berry fruit and spicy finishes. Kim Marcus describes a few of his favorites; two that are easy on the wallet and a surprising rose that will set you back $100.

Cheers!

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Duration : 0:4:11

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