Wine Enthusiast coupon – 10% off $75 or 15% off $175 (Link-activated coupon) Learn how to store and serve every wine varietal and vintage imaginable with the great products available at Wine Enthusiast! Whether you need aerators, decanters, wine racks, refrigerators, stemware, or just have some questions about all things oenophile, they’re happy to help. And during their Christmas in July sale, when you shop through this link, you’ll receive 10% off orders over $75, or 15% off orders over $175! This link will activate the coupon, and you’ll see the discount in step 5 of checkout.

2008 Dubini Bianco 2008 Palazzone Dubinibianco White Wine; other white varietal; Umbria; $8.98 Gosh, I sure loved Peter’s Rose write-up ! There is something magical about discovering a wine while traveling and then re-creating that excitement at home with a bottle from the place you visited. It’s a wonder how wine can transport you to another place and time. The 2008 Dubini Bianco from Palazzone sent me back reminiscing about my travels through Italy.

Vignette Wine Country Soda is a new artisanal beverage, flavored with the juice of premium California varietal grapes. These non-alcoholic sodas are available in Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Rosé varieties, each made from all-natural ingredients with no preservatives, added sugar or coloring. They make a great wine alternative to serve at brunches and luncheons or for moms-to-be or others avoiding alcoholic beverages. Vignette Wine Country Sodas pair well with a wide range of foods and make a sophisticated alternative to commercial soft drinks.

My online enology class includes a mandatory “group discussion” board where participants can post questions and ideas pertaining to the reading assignments or just about winemaking in general.  To date, no thread has incited more traffic than a post about lateral and vertical complexity in wines and that complexity as a measure of quality.

A few days ago, wine writer Panos Kakaviatos wrote from Strasbourg, France a brief story for Meinninger’s Wine Business International that covered a problem in Alsace concerning two hundred or so Alsatian wine producers who attacked the region’s Alsace Viticultural Association (AVA) because they say the association wants to change the rules. Remember that I wrote twice in the past few months concerning how I feel about the so-called appellation system in the United States that essentially tells consumers where grapes are grown and wine is made, and nothing much else? This Alsatian story is about appellation rules, and it puts me in a quandary.

by Antonio Davinci When visiting California, a stop you wouldn’t ever want to miss is Sacramento, and all its fabulous wineries. The area has great weather and beautiful landscapes that combine to make the vintage wines you will sample taste even better. Sacramento wine tours are held all over. Sometimes you can even take a limo and make everything even more memorable. Located in an area surrounded by some of the United State’s greatest wineries, Sacramento provides a wonderful amount of sunshine year-round that also makes it a great place for growing grapes and to start tasting wines.

by Antonio Davinci When visiting California, a stop you wouldn’t ever want to miss is Sacramento, and all its fabulous wineries. The area has great weather and beautiful landscapes that combine to make the vintage wines you will sample taste even better. Sacramento wine tours are held all over. Sometimes you can even take a limo and make everything even more memorable. Sacramento is a great place to start tasting wine because of its central location near the countries best wineries, and near-constant sun that makes it a great place both for people and the grapes that are grown there.

by Antonio Davinci No trip to California would be complete without heading to Sacramento, where you can take a tour of its world-famous wineries. Sacramento wine tours offer tastes of wonderful vintage wines and a naturally heightened experience with the area’s scenery, weather, and sometimes even limo rides. No matter where you are in this city, there will likely be a winery tour to take near you.

Nothing brings people together like comfort food.  This fall before I started getting my act together for the wedding, I was able to have a semi-private morning with Teresita – a local woman who teaches traditional Argentine cooking to locals and foreigners in the warm and friendly setting of her kitchen.  One of the specialties of her household is the empanada.  The empanada is like a turnover filled with vegetables or meat wrapped in dough and either fried or baked.  To Argentines, it’s essential food.  A staple in the diet.  Empanadas are present at every party – they’re as common as pizza and sold all over Buenos Aires.

The Slovenian town of Gorjansko is too small to need traffic signals. Nestled in the hills, just a few kilometers from the Italian border, it is the home of Branko Cotar one of the country’s foremost practitioners of organic winemaking. Cotar, who works with his son Vasja, began making wine in 1974 for a restaurant he owned in town. Finding he had more passion for winemaking, he closed the restaurant in 1988 and turned his full attention to wine.

If we were to be honest with ourselves for just a moment, we’d readily admit that we live in the deep, enveloping cleavage of the bosom of great wine. Just barely peeking out over the plunging neckline of our beautiful valley, we can see some of the best vineyards in America staring back at us. And while Zinfandel, Cab, and Chardonnay get all the attention and all the praise, it is the simple Barbera that I seek out every time. An Italian grape, Barbera is a foundational piece of many Italian table wines.

Mission Codename : The Arrows of Dijon Operative : Agent Red Objective : Send Agent Red to Mission Status : Successful! Current Winery : Archery Summit Wine Subject : 2006 Premier Cuvée Pinot Noir Winemaker : Anna Matzinger Backgrounder : The Oregon’s Willamette Valley , just south of Portland and along the Willamette River is well known for Pinot Noir and other Burgundian varietals. Its deep and fertile volcanic soil, cooler climate most directly effect viticulture.

I found a wine varietal table in the format of the periodic table of the elements, and I really want it! I wish I had a gift-receiving occasion coming up in the next few weeks. And I suppose jon is sick of me getting him birthday gifts that are really for me. (does anyone remember the Henckel chef knife of 06?) Anyhow. This is what it looks like: And if you love me, you’ll get it for me. Wink, wink.

TTB does not usually allow vintage-, varietal- or appellation-type claims on distilled spirits labels. The rationale is that these concepts tend to be more appropriate for wine. But here are a couple of notable exceptions. Roth Vodka displays “California” in much the manner of an appellation. This vodka also happens to be distilled from grapes, and has something close to a vintage date on the front label. The latter apparently went too far, and TTB directed Roth to remove the date.

Wine Whore Review My brothers from another wine loving mother are back and here to share more about South African wine. This week, the Wine Bandits visit the wilds of Africa to explore the similarities between the Rustenberg Peter Barlow Cabernet Sauvignon and none other than… the African Elephant! But before we explore this intriguing wine pairing… Geek Out with Some South African Wine Info: “Rustenburg is a historic estate in Stellenbosch sheltered by the Simonsberg.