Fine Wines (Re)Visited

Tap into the local grapevine
Kansas City Star, MO - Nov 19, 2006 Who needs French Champagnes, California Chardonnays and Napa Cabernets when local wineries are producing award-winning wines within 100 miles of Kansas City?

Supermarkets are criticised for selling beer as cheap as water
Scotsman, United Kingdom - Nov 26, 2006 Promoting the offer, the chain said: “This is the first time any supermarket has offered such a staggering discount across all wines and champagnes and the

Vintage Champagne
Wine Enthusiast Magazine, NY - Oct 31, 2006 About 90 percent of the sparkling wine produced here is blended into nonvintage Champagnes (sometimes indicated on bottles with the letters NV ).

Oh, you dirty dog
Globe and Mail, Canada - Nov 25, 2006 Alongside an advice column (“What Would Cary Do,” in honour of the site’s patron saint, Cary Grant) are cultural tips, wine reviews and essays.

Vintrust Launches Authoritative Wine Buying Guide
Business Wire (press release), CA - Oct 31, 2006 Vintrust. Sommeliers offer a unique perspective on wine reviews, and they have exceptional palates, says Minucci. SOMMselections

Wine By Christina Kelly
Washington CEO, WA - Oct 31, 2006 basis. And when one of those 80 percent does connect, what might he think of some of the descriptions wine reviews offer? Before

Wine 2.0 Just Another Webstore?
Seems the Wine 2.0 meme is spreading and Andrea over at Inertia Beverage’s REthink blog posted her thoughts. The part that struck me was this:“These companies are changing the world of wine through technologies that are helping to expand the direct sales channel for the wine industry.”Perhaps it’s just semantics (or marketing) but I don’t [...]

Quick Picks 4
Another Quick Picks podcast celebrating both my birthday and the release of Beaujolais Nouveau today. My favorite from my tasting today is featured.Louis Tete, Beaujolais Nouveau 2006 ($13) – Clear ruby/purple in color with aromas of strawberry, cherry and banana. In the mouth the wine is juicy with wild cherry and strawberry jam flavors finishing [...]

$64 Tomato
Follow William Alexander through as he turns from a small time gardener to farmer. In his memoirs Alexander recounts all his hilarious experiences as he finds himself in a struggle with nature. Alexander introduces his readers to all a gardeners woes: …

Fortnum & Mason launches new wine department
decanter.com, UK - Nov 3, 2006 the ground floor of the magnificent rococo store on Piccadilly in the heart of London’s West End, has moved downstairs and sits next to a new wine bar called

Riesling Abounds this Sunday and Monday
The Oz Wine Show is off to the Frankland Estate International Riesling Tasting (FEIRT) this Sunday in Sydney. There’s a bit of an entrance fee but it’s a premier event and you’ll get to scoff top notch wines from Germany, Austria, France, USA, New Zealand, Portugal and Australia.More info can be found here if [...]

OWS#2: Hunter Valley Review, How to Taste&New World vs Old World
OzWineShow #2 features a review of one of Australia’s largest wine producing regions, an explanation of what to do a look for when tasting wine and a discussion of the "new world versus old world" wine debate.

Setback from the Gods
Last friday, lightning during heavy Sydney rain payed my router, laptop and external hard-drive a visit. In my own defence, there had been no other lightening strikes for about 4 hours previously. Consequently it’s all fried and I’m waiting for new gear to arrive. I may have also lost a lot of audio. I had [...]

OWS#11: A Divine Affair
This interview is with Andrew Wood, producer of Divine: Food& Wine, a very good, independent magazine.

Erika Lesser and Allen Katz of Slow Food USA (. . . and Irish Whiskey)
Around St. Patrick’s Day, Francis’mind turns to Irish Whiskey. What’s the difference between Irish and Scotch Whiskey: An old Scottish adage holds that Irish whiskey is unfinished whisky. An old Irish adage holds that Scotch whisky is …

Vino-Loc and Skylark Diner
Recently The Guys came across a new kind of wine closure on a favorite wine. The Vino-Loc closure is a glass stopper with a tiny"o"ring that seals a bottle of wine elegantly, without the risks attendant upon cork closures. Noted wine …

French Bread (Steven A. Kaplan)
Steven L. Kaplan is the Goldwin Smith Professor of European History at Cornell. He has published widely in French and English on eighteenth-century France, food and foodways, the French Revolution and its bicentennial in 1989, and on contemporary …

$64 Tomato
Follow William Alexander through as he turns from a small time gardener to farmer. In his memoirs Alexander recounts all his hilarious experiences as he finds himself in a struggle with nature. Alexander introduces his readers to all a gardeners woes: …

Peter Hoffman and Jessica Prentice
Peter has had a great influence on our own restaurants. He was an early proponent of seasonally driven, local-market-driven cuisine. He has served in the governance of The Union Square greenmarket in NYC for years. His restaurant, Savoy in New York …

Nicholas Harary
Nicholas Harary is one of the most highly regarded and acclaimed chefs in New Jersey. He is the owner an chef of highly acclaimed restaurant"Nicholas"in Red Bank New Jersey."Nicholas"recently received a rating of …

OWS#5: Size&Shape – The Riedel Glass Interview
OzWineShow #5 features an interview with Mark Baulderstone who is VP of Riedel Glas for Asia Pacific and Middle East. Listen in for an in depth tasting of the same wine from three different glasses. I must say i went in hoping to get scientific answers but was so blown away by the different experience each glass presented that i ended up sitting back and going along for the ride. So sit yourself down, grab some glasses resembling those pictured below, pop a nice bot and taste along to see for yourself.

OWS#7: Vic Winemakers (Part 2) – Paradigm Hill Wines, Punt Road Wines&The Wine Society
Here’s the second and final part of our coverage of the Exhibition of Victorian Winemakers. It was a stellar event and worth checking out next year.

OWS#6: Victorian Winemakers (Part 1) – Roy Moorfield and Savaterre
The interviews this episode include Roy Moorfield, who founded the event 27 years ago and Keppell Smith, owner and winemaker atSavaterre. These guys were most accommodating with being interviewed on the spur of the moment and both are clearly very passionate about what they do. Keppell produces some fantastic wine and I highly recommend adding yourself to hismailing list. Savaterre’s production and distribution are limited but the mailing list is a direct way to access the coming releases.

OWS#10: Zinfandel
OWS#10 is all about Zinfandel – the who, the what, the why. A side note of the show is the reasoning behind wineries putting out two versions of a single varietal wine.

Diners Club Winemaker of the Year 2006
South African Wine News, South Africa - Nov 20, 2006 Chardonnay is still the most popular white wine variety worldwide and the current trend is for less oaked versions than were the norm 15 to 20 years ago.