Wine & Spirits Articles & News
Explore the U.S. Wine Trails
Follow a Local Wine Trail to Discover the Secrets of Fine Wine Suppose you want to kick back after a long day at work. You light a candle and put on some quiet music but realize the evening isn’t complete, so you run out to your local liquor store, looking for the perfect bottle of wine to cap the evening. What will you buy? When you see all the choices, you will probably look for a brand you tried before or a name you recognize—perhaps White Zinfandel by Sutter Home, the ...
Tequila
It was once a ritual usually performed by a man. He would put some salt where the bottom of the thumb met his wrist. After licking the salt, he would take a swig of tequila from a shot glass and then bite into a piece of lime. Ladies were not too fond of this and always drank their tequila mixed into a cocktail. Tequila is listed as a spirit and distilled from the sugar sap of the blue agave plant then fermenting it and producing a liquor with a distinctive taste. Tequila was sold ...
Pairing beer with food
Pairing beer with the fine cuisine has recently come to the attention of many eating establishments as they try to cater to the 90's micro-brew crowd. No longer is wine considered the only drink fit for a succulent entree. You too can bring this art form into your own home with a few simple tips.
France Car Hire
Here is a quick summary of the different French wine regions you can visit with some idea of what you’ll be tasting and the airports where you can conveniently pick up a rental car.
Raise A Glass To The Best Wine Of The Month Gifts!
Are you looking for some of the best wine of the month gifts? We have taken out all the hard work and done your research for you. See our Wine Gifts page (http://www.gourmet-food-gifts.com/wine-gifts.htm) for our suggestions, but here’s a little information you need before buying any wine of the month gifts.
French Wine Laws
The French Wine Laws The production of wine in France is tightly controlled by two organisations. The Instituit National des Appellations d'Origine (INAO). This body succeeded the Comite' National des Appellations d'Origine after World War II and controls the hierachy of French quality wines. The other is the Service de Repression des Fraudes, which is responsible for seeing that the very complicated laws on wine production are carried out. On the French domestic market, every ...
Wine Grapes - White Varieties
Chardonnay This grape has been described as the happiest of all combinations and has expanded widely from its Burgundian roots, being now planted virtually world-wide. It is at its best on Chalky soils, but is liable to suffer from Chlorosis and powdery mildew. The yields are moderate and the wine can lose its character when these are pushed too far. It gives wines that normally age in wood, which gives it a round buttery flavour.
Reading An Italian Wine Label
Translation of Italian to English, helping you to save confusion when buying a bottle of Italian Wine.
Who Made the First Wine Anyway?
Although details are understandably sketchy, it is believed that, around 6000 BC, grapes were being grown and wine was being made in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq).
The Stuff of Poetry – Mead
People have been drinking fermented beverages since the dawn of civilization. At first, the production of alcohol may have been accidental. Over time, it became an art.
What Is Corked Wine?
Keeping a wine bottle sealed is probably the most important factor when it comes to maintaining a good wine.
Making Wine Like A Pro
Wine making is an easy, cost-efficient way to stock up on your favorite vintages. Although the wine-making process is fairly simple, it’s important to follow the steps carefully to ensure you don’t miss any elements. These steps will be crucial to the success of your batch.
Wine Tasting
Wine Tasting Component I: Look The first step you have to undertake in wine tasting is visual. 1. Fill up the glass up to 1/3 of its volume; never fill it more than half; 2. Hold the glass by the stem. Initially you may find this too pretentious but there are good reasons for it: а) by doing it this way you can actually observe the wine in it; b) this will keep your fingerprints off the bowl; c) the heat from your palm will not change the temperature of the wine. There’s a good ...
The Truth About Red Wine and Heart Disease
Red Wine, Heart Disease, Hungry Sharks and Knights in Shining Armor What is so special about wine? What is it that makes it potentially more protective against coronary heart disease, and perhaps other diseases, that other forms of alcohol? In recent years, scientists have concluded without doubt that many human diseases such as heart disease, cancer and the aging process is caused or stimulated by a ravenous group of chemicals called free radicals, that act like hungry ...
Wine Racks Are Great For All Your Bottle Storage Needs
Love to collect fine wine? Consider wine racks for storage of your hobby, from one bottle or more. Made of many different types of materials they make keeping track of your bottle supply very easy. And many designs add flair to any room they are displayed in. Let's take a look at some styles and materials of wine racks to enhance your kitchen and your whole house.
Food Wine Pairing Tips For French and Italian Wines
Many people are intimidated by the task of selecting wine in a fine restaurant. This article is intended to provide a simple guide that will enable anyone to feel confident enough to choose a wine that will impress their dinner guests. The focus is on French and Italian wines.
Build Your Own Wine Rack (In An Afternoon)
A good drink is what even Gods enjoy and to most a good wine is the best drink in the world. The connoisseurs of wine say that to find out a good wine is to smell and taste it. Not is the case with the wine racks. It is much harder a task than that for you get to know the insulation, humidity and temperature that your wine needs besides the ambience that your wine drinker needs and lot other things.
Wine Making and Home Brewing: What's the Deal?
When it comes to making alcoholic beverages at home, wine making and home brewing is considered sort of a 'niche' market. You either know how to do it or you don't! This is very hard to believe as wine making and home brewing has been going on for thousands of years. Just recently it was confirmed that wine making was invented in Cyprus rather than western Europe. As we still discover the facts about the history, what about the present? Why is wine making and home brewing such a ...
Buying Wine, How to Read a Wine Label and Select a Great Bottle of Wine
I must admit, that for many of us, walking into a store to buy a bottle of wine can be a little like visiting a foreign country and not knowing the language. If you’re buying wine for yourself that’s probably not a big deal, although it might be nice to be somewhat knowledgeable so that you’re more likely to buy something you will enjoy. However, if you are buying a bottle of wine as a gift, then being able to interpret information on the label becomes a bit more important. But, first ...
DWI and Blood Alcohol Concentration: What does it mean?
Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is the relationship between the amount of alcohol consumed and the elimination of alcohol in your blood. This is usually measured as the percentage of deciliters of blood. So if it is measured by how much blood you have, your body weight makes a difference on how much you can drink. There are a few variables that determine your blood alcohol level:
Burgundy Wine
Burgundy red wines are produced in an area of France stretching from Dijon south to Beaujolais. The northern section of Burgundy is called the Cote d'Or (hills of gold) and generally, the farther north the Burgundy vineyard, the richer flavored the wine. Here the Pinot Noir grape produces deliciously seductive wines combining grace and power with supple velvet textures and complex flavors. Many of the finest Burgundy vineyards are located halfway up the hillsides, midway between overly ...
The Origin of the Cocktail
The cocktail has the distinction of being an original American drink. Its origins are murky, but the most common accounts name one Antoine Amedee Peychaud, a young Creole from a distinguished French family, as the originator of the drink. Peychaud, along with wealthy plantation owners, fled his home in the French controlled portion of the island of Hispaniola during the slave uprisings of 1793. Peychaud, trained as an apothecary, settled in New ...
Carignane Wine
The Carignane grape variety is one of the most widely planted grapes in the world. It's popularity stems from the high crop yeilds that it produces as well as the characteristics that it can bring to a wine. Wine made from Carignane usually has red-fruit characteristics, deep violet and purple color, strong tannin structure and high levels of alcohol content. It is sometimes peppery like Syrah. These characteristics have made it very popular as a blending agent in the vast quantities of ...
Whisky Syndicates
Whisky syndicates are groups of private owners and many have been around for years. The main purpose is to bring together a group of like-minded people to enjoy the benefits of cost sharing in order to invest in whisky casks and to eventually bottle for private consumption. As it will take over five years for one person to get through one cask at a bottle per week, remembering that this is at cask strength which is more like 1½ bottles at 40%, it follows therefore that a syndicate of five ...
How to Order Wine in a Restaurant
Ordering wine in a restaurant is not much different than buying it in a wine store. The main difference is that you have an audience. Yet ordering wine in a restaurant can be intimidating especially if the wine list is extensive.
Gewurztraminer Wine
Gewurztraminer is an excellent and unique grape variety that is capable of producing some of the world's greatest and most memorable Gewurztraminer wine. Gewurztraminer wine has inspired flavor comparisons to lychee, rosewater, honeysuckle, mango, papaya, coconut, apricot, peach, and Jamaican allspice. To say that Gewurztraminer wine is deeply flavored and complex would be one of wine's biggest understatements.
Tasting Wine
Wine Tasting Component I: Look The first step you have to undertake in wine tasting is visual. 1. Fill up the glass up to 1/3 of its volume; never fill it more than half; 2. Hold the glass by the stem. Initially you may find this too pretentious but there are good reasons for it: а) by doing it this way you can actually observe the wine in it; b) this will keep your fingerprints off the bowl; в) the heat from your palm will not change the ...
Barbera Wine
Barbera is a wine grape variety from Monferrato in Piemonte, Italy. Babera produces an intense red wine with deep color, low tannins and high acid and is used in California to provide "backbone" for so-called "jug wines".
The Cocktail Party
A cocktail party can be more daunting than a dinner party if you don't remember the rules. However, it is a great way to kick back and relax with your friends. There is no need to have a theme or a special occasion.
Cabernet Sauvignon Wine
Cabernet Sauvignon is the grape responsible for the wines of Bordeaux's Medoc region, arguably some of the finest reds in the world. Cabernet Sauvignon performs well practically the world over, as long as it's not too cold, but in certain appellations in France, and more recently in California's Napa Valley, it produces wines that astonish with their richness and complexity.
More Articles: 1 - 2