Wednesday, December 28, 2011

How To Finding Good Tasting Wines

Finding good tasting wines that don't cost a fortune is not easy. I have been tasting and selecting value wine for my gourmet pizza shops, Bene Gourmet Pizza, for nearly 10 years. At first it was difficult, but over time it has gotten easier.
In light of these economic times, it makes more sense to search out value wines, so I'm going to throw you a bone. Here are 10 great wines under $12.
Red Wines
1. Falesco Vitiano Rosso 2007 aE" The Falesco is a young Italian wine from southern Italy that is a blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet, and Merlot. It can be drunk with a wide array of food, especially pizza.
2. Maipe Malbec 2008 aE" The 2008 Malbec is packed with black cherry and raspberry flavors with some good tannin on the back-end. Perfect with steak or dark chocolate.
3. Sierra Catabria Rioja Tinto 2006 aE" The 2007 Tempranillo has a nice balance between fruit and spiciness. Great value!
4. Perrin Cotes du Rhone Villages Rouge 2007 aE" This Rhone blend is made from mostly Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvedre. This full-bodied wine is great with steak and mashed potatoes.
5. Tin Roof Merlot 2005 aE" The Tin Roof is a silky Merlot from California. Get over the bashing of Merlot; this wine is versatile and stunning for the price.
White Wines
6. Los Vascos Sauvignon Blanc 2008 aE" This Chilean Sauvignon Blanc has a nice blend between fruit and minerals. Easy to drink.
7. Freixenet Sparkling Cordon Negro Brut aE" The non-vintage Cava from Spain is great for everyday drinking. It tastes like a $30 bottle of bubbly.
8. Bogle Chardonnay 2008 aE" The Bogle Chardonnay has all of the buttery goodness of $25 California Chardonnay at under $10. Great for parties.
9. Placido Pinot Grigio 2007 aE"This refreshing Pinot Grigio is from the Veneto region of Italy. This balanced white is great with seafood and poultry.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Delicious Ice Wine Of Canada

How much you know about the Ice Wine especially of Canada? Well, you must have been aware of numerous kinds of wines available in the market but if we talk about the Ice Wine then it must be said that it is a type of dessert wine made from frozen grapes in extremely cold climatic conditions. It is a popular statement that people assert about Canadian Ice wine is that it is a rare gift from a magical winter in Canada. But it is worthy to mention here that there are various kinds of Ice wines produced from different grape varieties. Though the most famous producer of ice wines is Germany but in Canada also there are several regions which favor the production of Ice-wine and one of prominent among them is Niagara.
How Ice-Wine is produced?
Because ice-wine can made in the season of winter only, it becomes a challenge to produce it and process is also labor-intensive. But fruit of that labor is very sweet and of rare quality. One needs to undergo following procedure in order to make best ice-wine:
Grapes are cultivated first
Ice making process can be possible only in the area of which climate can allow the grapes ripen on the vine and let them remain there until there is a hard freeze.
Thereafter harvest those frozen grapes.
Then press the frozen grapes and it is the most crucial stage in making it as most of the water containing in grapes remains behind as ice crystals and obtaining a drop or two from frozen grapes is actually very concentrated.
This juice is then fermented for a period of two weeks or few months and is finally bottled.
Typical grapes which are used in the making of ice wine are Riesling, considered to be of highest noble variety and Vidal is the most popular in Ontario and Canada. It is important to note that the coldest the grapes the higher will be the percentage of sugar in its juice, exactly as you could desire.
Why ice wines are so popular?
Ice wine usually has mild alcohol content than regular table wines.
It is of very rare quality and taste is exceptional.
It is very sweet wine made in an exclusive manner and gives the feel like of nectar.
It is manually produced from naturally frozen grapes.
If you really wish to taste pure Canadian ice wine, then Peller Estates Icewine can duly fulfill your desire as it is the famous ice-wine producer in Canada offering Vidal, Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Oak aged and Ice Cuvee Ice wines.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

How Many Different Styles, Sizes and Designs Luxury Wine


Luxury wine refrigerators are available in a number of styles, sizes and designs to fit your needs. Whether you are looking for fancy wine coolers that could add up to your room’s furnishing or a plain model with quality features – you can easily avail them. Moreover, there are larger as well as smaller compact luxury wine coolers to meet your needs.

You can choose from built-in cabinets, mounted under a kitchen or bar counter and from freestanding models.

These elegant wine refrigerators can be placed almost anywhere in your house – basement, dining room, in your kitchen or garage. Most of them feature solid or glass panel doors.

Regarding the size, it is always wise to buy a capacious wine refrigerator. As you add to your wine collection, you would require more space for storage.

If you are a beginner, a refrigerator with capacity ranging between 6 to 20 bottles would be ideal. In the medium sized units you would be able to store up to 60 bottles. However, for a larger wine collection you can opt for refrigerators with 110 to 500 bottles storage space.

The price of luxury wine cooler refrigerators can be quite high yet reasonable, given the unique features, high quality of materials and the dependability they offer.While price of larger units is a couple of thousand dolalrs. Price also depends on extra features and customization options.

Serious collectors might want to install a complete walk-in wine cellar within their homes to provide proper storage for their numerous wine bottles and to impress their guests.

Friday, December 16, 2011

The Storage Of Brandy Wine

Maybe you've heard the buzz about "heirloom" tomatoes and want to get in on the action and try growing a few of your own. The Brandywine tomato variety is a great place to start. These plants are slightly different from the ones you might be used to growing, and benefit from just a little more attention. There is a misconception amongst the majority of people that self storage facilities end up making a person spend much more than what he has planned in the beginning. The reason is not due to any mystical nature of self storage facilities or the fact that these facilities charge exorbitant prices; it is, in reality, just the fact that a lot of people do not know how to optimize the self storage unit that they are renting. As people are not sure with the space in their self storage unit, they end up getting another one or shifting to a bigger one. Optimizing the space available to a renter by various methods is the best way to cut costs of renting a Brandywine storage unit. The following are some of those methods.

Once the inventory is ready, the renter needs to make a digital or paper based layout on the basis of the self storage unit's size and start placing items on it. This is called layout planning and is one of the best ways of handling any spatial problem. This technique, by itself, will reduce the actual time and effort that a person spends on placing his items in a self storage after taking it on rent. Also, empty niches, drawers, and any other vacant space should also be stuffed with smaller items such as picture frames, knick-knacks, books, etc. This would, based on the exact quantity, considerably reduce the number of cardboard boxes at a later stage. Finally, the important and more frequently used items should be kept near the entrance of the Brandywine storage unit. This makes these frequently transferred and returned items to be the most accessible and does not require the renter to wade through multiple items to get at them. Also, if the renter is using cardboard boxes, he should look to stack the cardboard boxes on the basis of descending order of size to impart stability to the tower.

The company reported funds from operations (FFO) of $60.3 million or 41 cents per share in the third quarter of 2011 compared with $45.6 million or 32 cents per share in the year-earlier quarter. Funds Fom Operations, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs, is obtained after adding depreciation and amortization and other non-cash expenses to net income. Brandywine Realty is one of the largest, publicly traded integrated real estate companies in the United States. Brandywine owns, develops, manages and has ownership interests in a primarily Class A, suburban and urban office portfolio comprising 311 properties spanning 35.5 million square feet. Once you hit Route 30, the Lincoln Highway, you have to make a choice. Go west, and you head into Pennsylvania Dutch Country, a charming frolic into days gone by. Or, turn east, and hit a few more wineries on the Brandywine Trail. Other fun excursions in the area include West Chester, a lively college town with fun shops and lively restaurants. Just a bit north of the Brandywine Valley is Valley Forge, where Washington and the Continental Army camped over-winter during the American Revolution. With so much to see and do and drive, the Brandywine Valley will definitely be a repeat destination!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

What's So Special About Wine ?

Due to various chemical reactions, all wine will eventually go off, this is accelerated by storing it at the wrong temperature, the wrong humidity or worse still, the wrong temperature and the wrong humidity - to delay this you must store your wine correctly. After all, it doesn't matter if you have spent a few pounds on a bottle of wine, or thousands of pounds, you do not want to store it, only to find that when you come to drink it, it has gone off. Storing it correctly will ensure that your wine will last longer. The wine fridge stores the wine at the correct temperature and humidity until you are ready to enjoy it. This is vital if you are storing it for personal consumption at a later date, or if you plan to store it as an investment - the right wine fridge will replicate the temperature and the humidity of a traditional wine cellar. Wine fridges range from counter top fridges that contain a small number of bottles which can be positioned virtually anywhere, fridges intended to be integrated into your kitchen, through to large free standing fridges intended to store many bottles for the serious wine connoisseur or a hotel or restaurant.Wine fridges are specifically designed to help you to store your wine correctly and mimic the conditions of a cool damp cellar.

This can potentially be a confusing topic, so let's discuss the features that you may want to consider when deciding what fridge to buy. What features your wine fridge has will determine how effective it is at storing your wine, as well as how easy it is to live with on a day to day basis. Choose the wrong fridge and you could very soon regret your decision. Choose the right fridge and you could have many happy years of use. Free standing fridges can be easily positioned in any available space or used to proudly display your wine in the middle of your lounge or restaurant. Built in fridges form an integral part of your kitchen, and as such your kitchen would need to be modified or designed accordingly. Finally, the counter top fridge is a simple addition to you existing space and can be added virtually anywhere. To give you a little background on how this wine tradition started, Beaujolais Nouveau was first introduced in France in 1951 following a decree on that year which allows wine makers and producers to sell their wines that were made on the same year. The starting date was originally in December, but the growers in the villages were able to push the start date to November.

However, these are generally just small versions of your domestic fridge - that is they are too cold. They do have the advantage that strong flavoured and smelling foods are not generally stored in them, however they do not generally have racks inside them to ensure that wines can correctly be stored on their side and do not control humidity. The celebration for the new Beaujolais before were just held in the local bistros and wine bars found in Lyon, which later became the center of all Beaujolais parties celebrated around the world. This once little city is located at least 30km south of the villages where the Beaujolais were produced. Today, this is where the midnight festivities for Beaujolais Nouveau starts and then followed by the rest of the world. Today, even with the introduction of newer wines that also came from Italy or France, wine enthusiasts in the U.S and around the world still look forward to hearing "The New Beaujolais has arrived!" which has become the mark of a new wine year. French red wine is well known and loved the world over, and if you are a wine lover then you should certainly consider adding a few bottles to your cellar.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Knowing How to Choose The Right Sweet Wine

When you find something that you like very much, of course you want to keep on exploring that specific taste. That is why so many people try sweet red wine once and then end up looking for an entire list of sweet red wines. The great news is that there are tons of options in this domain, ranging from a semi sweet red wine to dessert wines that really pack a strong and sweet punch. There is a big difference between dry red wine and sweet red wine. The difference is confusing at times. This article provides a definition of the two and more information on those wines in between. There is also confusion around sweet red wine vs dessert wine. Some people think they are the same, but there is a difference between the two. Port, sweetened Sherries and late harvest wines are different types of dessert wines.

During the wine making process, sugar is converted into alcohol. The amount of residual sugar left in the wine during the wine making process is what determines its level of sweetness. Most of dessert wines have higher alcohol content than regular sweet red wine and just a touch of sweetness. The official regulation in the US is that a dessert wine is any wine that is between 14 and 24% alcohol. Most wine stores and websites will have separate areas for desert wines, which are going to be higher in alcohol and also extremely sweet. Typically they also come in smaller bottles and you'll accordingly want to pour smaller glass sizes. Also look for the term late harvest wine, which implies a sweet, desert-like quality, or alternatively the term ice wine.

Of course, you don't have to limit your choices for the top sweet wine to only reds. There are many wonderful sweet whites, such as Riesling. As mentioned, be sure to check out the labels to help narrow down your selection and consider branching out to any of the above choices from the list of sweet red wines given. Tannins which comes from the skin of the grapes are a kind of leftover used in the production of wine. On the other hand, acids of different types are present in the wine and are the most important ingredient for the wine's longevity. Excessive amount of acids can spoil the wine and very little amount of acids can affect the quality of wine. The higher percentage of acidity makes the wine tart and sour whereas the low acidity makes the wine's taste flat. To find a sweet wine you will enjoy the first thing you need to be able to do is distinguish between sweet wines and dry wines. This is relatively easy to do. In simplest terms, a wine that is not loaded with sugar or is not syrupy sweet is considered dry. Now the range of sweet to dry is very broad and encompasses several levels of sweetness but suffice to say if it's not noticeably sweet, it's dry.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

To Store White Wine Correctly

White wines are some of my personal favorites.To store and serve white wine correctly, there are some unique characteristics that need to be considered. Important factors to consider are the type, the storage and serving temperatures, Yellow or golden in shade, white wine tasting is a sensual and gratifying sensible expertise. Pair the wine with any kind of white meat and transform your dinner into anything at all astounding. Don't know a thing about white wine? We can repair that. Every last single wine has a individual shade, which depends on the grape set to use and the duration of time the skin's pigmentation is in talk to with the juice (that's why red wines are redder when the skin is fermented with the juice longer). Some Champagnes include select juices from red or black grapes, despite the fact that omitting the skins in the fermentation technique.

Some the most common white wine grapes include Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. Other popular white wines include Semillon, a favorite dessert wine, and Viognier, primarily grown in France and California. California is the primary state where white wines are made, but other important growing states include New York, Oregon and Washington. Lots of countries from all around the world produce and export wine, while others produce the wine but decide to keep it within their own country. We all know the most popular countries for producing wine, places such as Italy, Spain, France, New Zealand and Australia and other countries which have a warmer climate. Regardless of whether the wine is for sipping while you relaxing in the garden or trying to find the perfect wine to compliment your meal, everyone enjoys a bottle from the wine merchants.

The storage location should be vibration free and provide protection from light and UV rays. Temperatures should be stable and optimally range from between 42 to 58 degrees F. with red wines stored at the upper part of the range and white wines the lower. Ideal storage would be in an environment where relative humidity is at least 70 percent. Finally, do not store wines where their corks can pick up strange odors from a source like a stinky cheese or worse. Most of us in the United States do not have caves handy for this use. Manufacturer's today offer many different styles and sizes of wine coolers and wine refrigerators that can provide a stable temperature, provide for horizontal wine bottle storage, reduce UV rays and run with little or no vibration. Wine coolers are also made that can provide dual temperature zones to store different classes of wine at their respective optimum temperatures.

Friday, December 2, 2011

I Love French Wine

French wines dates back to pre-roman times and the responsible of spreading wine culture and wine making all over France are the Romans. They said French wine are one of the best wines it is also one of the greatest national treasures of France. French wine is produced in various regions all around France, it is estimated that between 50 and 60 million Hectolitres per year or 1 billion bottles are made. France has the second largest vineyard area behind Spain and rivals Italy as the world's largest wine producer. Wine making is a delicate process for example the same grape variety can yield various different results depending on the soil and climate conditions. The French like to eat cheese with wine, maybe you would like to try this if you are staying in one of the many villas in France as it is a unique cultured experience that you may not be use to, If you ask me France has a great variety of wines that comes from different regions. As each of them have their own unique and is specific to them.

When you know what you want to buy them you could search in your local store or online. Finding gift baskets online is fast and easy, but you need to be careful for there is a lot of fake website on the net. First you have to know something about wines before you go shopping for it. Important information that you could use, like their ingredients, which wine has the best quality etc. You also have to know what type of wine the person you want to give it too wants and likes. Do they prefer red wine, white wine? By knowing this information you'll know what wine you need to buy for him or her. Perhaps you've always wanted to be but never really had the time or the knowledge to know where to begin? No matter where you fall on your wine sensibilities, there is an easier way of getting the best French wine or Rhone wine to celebrate most any occasion.

Matching the perfect French wine to ideal food selections, French wine or Rhone wine are classy beverages for most any occasion, but they go specifically well with certain foods. Based on taste and texture, the robust flavor of a crisp French wine comes out even stronger when matched to the appropriate food combination. But if you are a novice, it can be hard to tell, and you don't want to doom the experience before you've even had the chance to know how best to experience it. However, doing so can get quite expensive, and it's not beneficial unless you know what you are getting is a quality selection. Seeking the expertise of quality specialist French wine merchants means that you can often find opportunities to sample new selections with ease and convenience through carefully selected assortments that are made ready for delivery, so you can take advantage from virtually anywhere in the world. If you are serious about your wine hobby, you will want to follow along, see what they have to say, and before you know it, your own tastes will start to benefit.