Easy Guide to Food And Drinks

March 2, 2010

Tips for Throwing a Fantastic Wine Party

Filed under: Food-And-Drink — Tags: , , , , , , , — CakeAuthor @ 2:14 pm

Attending a wine tasting party can be a very pleasurable and tasty experience. It is an excellent way to bring together family and friends or celebrate a special occasion. However, when it comes to holding or organizing one, it can be quite challenging and demanding. Lucky for you, with some planning, a little imagination, and these helpful tips, you can throw a fantastic wine party your friends will never forget.

Pick the Right Location
Location is an important part when having a wine party. For one, you need to find a smoke-free venue so that guests would be able to enjoy wine drinking. This is because wine aroma is volatile and can be affected by cigarette smoke.

Moreover, ambience, lighting, and interior also contribute to the success of the party. Music and wine go well together so you should choose music that will enhance the experience of wine drinking. Soothing lounge music is the ideal choice for music. Lighting should not be too bright and should be slightly dimmed to set a relaxing mood.

Invite the Right People
Keep your wine parties small. Eight to ten people are ideal. Not only is a small party more manageable, it is also less expensive. As you know, wine can be quite expensive and inviting so many people can surely burn a huge hole in your pocket.

Aside from that, it makes for a better party if the attendees are wine lovers. Choose attendees who can either stay for the night or have a sober ride going home. You would not want to worry about guests driving after drinking.

Choose a Wonderful Theme
Once you decide on a theme, it will make organizing your party easier. It is not any different with wine parties. One idea is to focus on a particular region and offer these wines to your guests. You can also choose fun themes like wines in movies for example and ask your guests to come to your party dressed as their favorite movie character (James Bond, The Godfather, and so on). Also, incorporating some wine art will add some uniqueness to your party. For fun artwork that mixes wine and animals, look for Will Bullas wine art.

Select Exquisite Wine
Since the wine is the focal point of the party, you need to choose exquisite wines that will entice your guests. Choose wines that are similar in variety and price. Aside from that, it would also help that you know information about the wine you are serving so that when guests ask you, you have something to share with them.

Serve Good Food
Even though wine is the star of ther party, be sure you don’t forget about the food being served. Some foods will complement your wine better than others, so be choosy when it comes to your food and wine pairings. One way to know is to check with your local wine shop or surf the web for recommended pairings. spicey foods are not great for wine events. Instead, you should opt for cocktails, bread, and tapas. A selection of cheeses presented on a nice cheese board is one of the better options.

Throwing a wine party, whether it is wine tasting event or a simple gathering with wine as the main attraction, is one of the best ways to spend time with family and friends. Don’t forget about including a party favor. Personalized wine glasses make a great keepsake and ensures your guests will always remember your party. So, with these simple tips, you will surely be able to throw a wine party that will be the talk of the town for days to come.

February 21, 2010

The Right Storage Makes For Great Wine

Filed under: Wine Spirits — Tags: , , , , , , — CakeAuthor @ 6:21 pm

If you like wine, as I do, you can find any occasion to open a bottle. You may have a bottle or two around the house. That’s what I always did, that way I was always ready for a last minute guest or event, but I didn’t know one thing: how to store my wine properly.

There’s a lot of wine rules and standards that a bunch of wine enthusiast follow, but Ii was never one to follow them. I just figured knowing the simple stuff would be enough. At first, I didn’t use a crystal wine decanter or even gave a second thought to the type of crystal wine glasses I was using. This went for how I stored my wine as well. But then, on a lark, I thought I would try storing my bottles the way you are supposed to, and believe or not, the taste improved dramatically, so even if you aren’t overly consumed by the latest wine rules, consider this one on wine storage a staple.

Temperature: It does not matter what kind of wine you have, it should always be stored in a cool dry place! This is why wine enthusiast have wine cellars, for optimal taste! The best temperature for wine storage is approximately 55 degrees F.Any warmer than this temperature and you will definitly notice a difference in the taste of your wine. Try to keep your wine at a constant temperature, as this change will dramatically change the taste of your wine.

Light: To help keep you wine in full flavor, be sure to keep it out of the sun. Wine that sits in the sunlight for long periods of time will prematurly age your wine in a bad way.

Humidity: Another key consideration when it comes to optimal wine storage is making sure that the humidity levels are just right. Overall, It should be more humid than not in order to keep the wine corks from shrinking. A cork that has shrunk even a little bit will let in that much air, and the air will oxidize the wine-tampering with its taste. So, what the right humidity level for storing wine? Somewhere between 65% and 75%. This is why damp basements and cellars can work so well for wine storage.

Sideways: So many wine racks and cellars hold their wine bottles sideways instead of upright, this may seem a strange one to some, but it’s worked for thousands of years? Yes. It is because in order to ensure that the cork is protected from shrinking, it needs to stay moist. That said, the best way to keep the cork moist is to store your wine on it’s side.

Travel: When traveling with your wine, you know, to a party or to a BYOB resaurant be sure to use a wine tote bag.This will protect your wine while boucing around during transport and hold the temerature as well.

February 11, 2010

Freedom of Australasia Wine Making Proves Beneficial

Filed under: Wine Spirits — Tags: , , , — CakeAuthor @ 11:28 pm

Australia has long been considered a big player in the global wine industry and this has to a large extent been down to its ideal grape growing conditions. Other surrounding countries such as New Zealand and Fiji are now getting in on the act however and are growing their stakes in the market by experimenting with innovative wine production.

Very recently there was a great deal of contention over the allowing of wine produces to make rosé wine, simply by mixing together the white and red varieties. The traditional method of producing rosé wine involved taking the red grape skins out of the juice mixture early on in the process so that only a little of the colour ends up in the final product. However, spurred on by the squeeze of the global recession on wine produces, a number of countries passed a law saying that producers could now sell blended wine (white will a dash of red) under the label of rosé.

Countries such as France, widely considered the finest wine producing country in the world, were not best pleased with this “mutilation” of rosé wine and did not agree for it to be sold in their country, or even be given as wine gifts. However, those countries that have not set such strict rules for themselves, such as those in Australasia and Eastern Europe have profited from their liberalism. A spokesman from the New Zealand alcohol authority defended his country’s move by stating that people are free to consume whichever wine they wish. They never market their blended rosé as wine made in the traditional way and the difference in pricing makes it quite obvious this is a different product entirely. The spokesman argued that if people can make milk chocolate in a thousand different ways, why can the same not be done for rosé?

Many of the Australasian countries have even embraced the full blending together of other wines as well.In Fiji for example you can buy Chenin Blanc mixed with Pinot Grigio and Tempranillo blended with Cabernet Franc. With the same unconcerned attitude as the New Zealand authorities, Fiji claim that wine is just as suitable for blending as Whisky. They state that companies all over the world, and in particular Scotland, produce some very fine blended whiskies that not only often taste superior to single malts, but that are also able to sell at more modest prices. Next they will be telling us which tableware we must use when consuming the wine, stated one official.

It is clear that the Fiji natives like this blended wine, with over 100,000 bottles of the stuff consumed last year. Many might consider this to be a small about, but relative to the population of Fiji, which is around 850,000, this rate of sale is incredibly high. There are plans to start exporting this fully blended wine very soon and given the fact they are able to undercut many ‘single malt’ wine produces, they are almost certain to do well.

February 9, 2010

Varieties of Wines and Becoming Familiar With Wine Values

Filed under: Wine Spirits — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — CakeAuthor @ 9:18 pm

There are a few points you should know to enhance your judgment as to what makes a good wine and its taste. Naturally, one being wine is made from fermented grape juice. You also should know the grape varieties wines are made from and the process of wine making itself.

There are many different kinds of wines, and the more commonly known ones - red, white, rose and champagne - are only a few of many. Wines are usually classified according to the grape varieties they are made from. One grape variety, the Barbera, is often used for red wine. This variety is grown mainly in Piedmont, Italy, but is quite adaptable to other regions, and is also grown on a limited scale in the United States. Barbera grapes produce wines with a full-bodied fruity taste as they have a high natural acidity.

A Few Varieties of Wine

There are many varieties of wine. Wine enthusiasts know about one variety that is widely grown in many parts of the world: Cabernet Sauvignon. This grape variety, grown primarily in Medoc, France, has found its way to California, Australia and other wine-making countries. Cabernet Sauvignon wines are considered by wine enthusiasts as among the best red wines in the world. They have a distinct aromatic flavor, and have hints of the taste of berries, olives, coffee, mint and herbs all blended together. Among the white varieties, the Chardonnay is easily the most popular, producing some of the world’s finest white wines. The types and varieties are overwhelming at times, but you soon become familiar with the wine values.

A basic understanding of the wine-making process is important to a wine enthusiast especially if he intends to go into wine production, if only for his personal use. Wine making is really quite simple and is an age-old technology. One does not need very sophisticated equipment in order to make wines.

First you have to know what type of grapes to use, where they are grown, the right age for picking, and things like acidity and sugar levels. If you are after a particular aromatic flavor, there are grapes that will produce that kind of flavor and you should be able to tell which ones. After the picking of the grapes, comes the pressing to extract the juices, and then the fermentation process.

Fermentation is quite a delicate process. It involves adding yeast to the juice in order to stimulate the fermentation process. In simple terms, fermentation is the conversion of the sugar in the juice into alcohol. The success of the process, that is, your grape juice turning into good wine, has a lot to do with the kind of yeast you use, and the absence of any contaminants getting into the mixture during the entire process.

There is so much more to knowing the difference between a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon, but the knowledge to the types of wine available is a small start for the wine enthusiast.

January 27, 2010

How Many Wine Racks Can You Fit In Your Cellar?

Filed under: Food-And-Drink — Tags: , , , — CakeAuthor @ 12:40 am

A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to enjoy a bit of a boozy weekend in Dublin. My husband had been asked over by a supplier of the firm he works for.  Everything was going to be paid for and all we had to do was literally get on the plane.

We were met at the airport by our host and he swiftly whisked us off to his house so we could unpack.  You should have seen my face when I saw the size of his house - it was massive.  The house had everything you have always dreamed of - a tennis court, an indoor swimming pool and sauna a gym and a home cinema.

Waiting for us in his kitchen was some beautiful Australian wine, nicely chilled in a wine cooler and bottle opener all ready to go.

Our host was a real wine buff and has his own wine racks down in his cellar. He imports a lot of wine from Australia and was explaining that the cellar has to be kept at just the right temperature, which is quite difficult at times.  He was saying that if the conditions aren’t right, then lots of problems can occur.  An example he was telling us was that if the humidity is too high in the cellar then this makes the corks dry out and in turn would allow air to get into the bottle and oxidise the wine, which would be disastrous.

After we had finished our drinks we were off for a night in the Temple Bar area. It was absolutely fantastic and the Irish are so hospitable and friendly.  Nothing seemed to be too much trouble and they are really lovely people.  My husband was thoroughly enjoying himself knocking back pint after pint of Guinness.  Mind you I think the next morning he wished he hadn’t drunk quite so much.

We had a brilliant weekend and it is certainly something I would love to do again.  If we go again though, I think perhaps we shouldn’t drink quite so much alcohol!

January 15, 2010

Want Some Cheese with Your Wine?

Filed under: Food-And-Drink — Tags: , , , , — CakeAuthor @ 6:16 pm

When you enter the world of discovering wine, there is lots to learn. If you’re a new to wine education, but know that you just like your favorite whites and/or reds with dinner, after work, or at parties; it’s a good idea to explore a little further, especially if you want to ramp up your enjoyment with a little something extra. Yes, this extra comes in the category of cheese. We all know that cheese and wine go together, but do you know what makes a great pairing? Sorry, Velveeta does not go with everything! Read below for some tips of how to enjoy your wine with cheese. Even if you don’t plan on going to a sophisticated wine tasting that involves cheese, you have to agree everything is better with a little cheese, so get out a couple favorite bottles and a cheese board with cheese knives, and let’s get to work!

Tannic Reds: Ok.. the first guideline when it comes to enjoying cheese with wine is how to balance the acidity of more tannic red wines with cheese. Your best bet is creamy cheeses with gentle flavors. These creamy and soft cheeses offer a mild taste to compliment the acidic contrast of the red wine. They balance out one another in a great medley of mild and bold flavors-favoring the flavor of the red.

Sweet Dessert Wines- If you like a sweet dessert wine as your wine of choice, a good bet for cheese pairing is a salty cheese, like a blue cheese. Any cheese that has a salty, flavor to it will work great with a sweet wine. It not only downplays the sweetness of the dessert wine to a more tolerable level, but it also gives your taste buds a contrasting duo of salty and sweet that is somehow delectably harmonious. Think about chocolate covered pretzels, and tell me that salty and sweet combinations don’t work!

Champagne and Sparkling Wines: Champagne has a light refreshing flavor for celebrations and mimosas, but what works best in regards to cheese? Choose a cheese that is full flavored, rich to augment the mild tones of your sparkling wine. The tiny bubbles combined with the rich taste will fill your palate with delectable sensations.

Acidic Whites: If a Sauvignon Blanc is your wine of preference? Yummy, who doesn’t? If you are drinking a white wine that leans more towards an acidic taste, choose an equally as acidic cheese. Acidic cheese? What is that? You may wonder. A good example of a cheese with punch is goat cheese. The acidic flavor in both the cheese and wine will successfully complement one another with flavorful delight.

By Region- Lastly, a good tip to remember is just simply pairing cheeses from the same region as the wine. So if you are interested in an Italian wine, choose a cheese from the same region in which it was made. Once you try it you will understand why.

December 18, 2009

A Wine Gift Basket is Perfect for Any Occasion

Filed under: Wine Spirits — Tags: , , , — CakeAuthor @ 5:25 pm

Wine gift baskets are more than just wine; they also contain a fine combination of accompanying foods with the wine. They make wonderful gifts for just about anyone. So, if you’re trying to pick a way to present a nice Port or Bordeaux, consider using a wine gift basket.

Wine baskets are among the finest of an already elite set of options. Filled with fresh fruits, cookies, nuts, and more they make for a gift that will be remembered long after the outstanding Chablis is gone.

A wine gift basket may hold just the vintage you’ve been seeking. Everything from a creative Cabernet to a zingy Zinfandel can be found nestled among a dozen other delightful treats. A wine gift basket can hold that precious Syrah you’ve been dying for months to try. Or the centerpiece may be a quirky new Gewrztraminer you heard about at a party yesterday.

The wine gift basket can come with bottles of wine in any size; the hotel miniature ones are particularly nice to receive. It could in fact be filled with a mixture of wine varietals in these small sizes so you can try a bit of each.

Aside from the wine, you can get treats that compliment every wine you get in the wine gift basket. This can range from crackers to truffles and even fruits. Wine gift baskets are not your run of the mill treats either. They are always a selection of top quality delicacies and the most elite treats you can imagine, and everything looks truly grand.

Brut champagne might be more to your taste. Surrounded by a fine set of gourmet cheeses, a wine gift basket of champagne will make for a memorable afternoon that can go on late into the evening.

The baskets themselves are also not run-of-the mill designs either. You can get high quality, fabulous-looking baskets made from dark wicker, contemporary metal and porcelain to suit every occasion. For a business colleague, a plastic composite gray style would be perfect. Look around and you will find an endless assortment of wine gift baskets to choose from.

No matter what the occasion may be, a wine gift basket is a great gift. Anniversaries are wonderful times to give these gifts. The couples will be able to celebrate with a wonderful glass of wine and some tasty treats. Even giving your boss a basket at work to celebrate that new promotion is a great idea as well.

Whether for a personal celebration or a corporate event, when it comes to gift basket ideas, a wine gift basket is the finest possible choice. Appreciated by everyone, they’ll be treasured for years.

May 1, 2009

Custom Personalized Wine Bottles

Filed under: Wine Spirits — Tags: , — CakeAuthor @ 6:34 am

Personalized wine bottles are great for your homemade wine, business clients, for restaurants, wineries or just as a special gift to a friend.  Just imagine a wine bottle with a custom label that is uniquely yours, created by you.  Your personally produced wine collection could be displayed bearing your own custom label.

If you are looking for a special gift for a wedding, anniversary celebration, a job advancement or as a thank you to someone special, personalized wine bottles add a personal flare.  It is as easy as looking online for companies that create custom labels.  Some sites may offer free templates to help you start.

Wine hobbyists who produce their own fruit wine need these personalized wine bottles to promote their line of vintages at wine shops and wineries.  These attention getting labels are just what you need to get the word out about your product.

Personalized wine bottles will have your custom created label with your corporate logo or family crest or photo emblazoned on it.  You are able to select the font and create your own design.  If you are not gifted or creative there are sites that will help you from the create and design stage to beautifully finished labels.  Most sites offer wine labels that are custom printed on water resistant, matte or high gloss paper.    

Some online retailers that create personalized wine bottles also have access to several wine vintners and can send you a case of whatever wines you like, from a Merlot to Cabernet.  These premium wines, with your own personalized wine bottles, can be order by the bottle or by the case.  Make an impression on your friends or colleagues with this one of a kind gift.    

The homemade wine enthusiast can label their wine and bottle it in personalized wine bottles.  By ordering online your personalized wine bottle labels you can save tons while looking like a million dollar vintner.  Digital label makers are available that arrive with their own software.  These digital labels, printed in full color, will make quite a splash.

The next time you need to thank a few special clients for their patronage or celebrate a retirement, personalized wine bottles are a great choice.

April 13, 2009

DIY Wine Racks

Filed under: Wine Spirits — Tags: , , , — CakeAuthor @ 6:40 am

It’s very important that your collection is stored properly so it will last for years. As your wine ages it will develop a fuller, more complex flavor. To save money though, some have chosen not to buy their wine rack. This is especially the case if you are trying to build a cheap wine cellar and are trying to save money. With the advent of the internet, there are so many options out there to choose from when it comes to wine racks. Don’t just do a “good enough” job, do a “great job” that you can be proud of for years.

If you measure your room first, you will save yourself a lot of headaches when buying the wine racks. Wine favors specific kinds of environments when aging. You want a consistent temperature with a little moisture to store your wine. Wine is tempermental and does not respond well to high heat or sunlight. Heat will cause the wine to age too fast and become ruined. The best wine storage temperature is in the mid fiftys, keep it from changing too much. New style glass corks save you from worrying about the cork drying out. If you already have your wine cellar storage made, you’ve got the hardest part over with.

A Wine club allows you to collect more wines little by little. As your collection grows, you will need more wine rack storage space. A nice wine rack is the kind that is mounted on the walls. You can generally store many bottles per shelf with this. They also allow for easy identification and retrieval of wine bottles. Simple wine racks are very cheap usually, the more expensive the higher the quality. Bulk wine purchases often are offered at a steep discount. Wine rack plans are a dime a dozen, if you go that route then you can save a lot of money.

A DIY wine rack is probably the cheapest option out there. Many people enjoy making their own wine glass rack, and it can be rewarding as well. Free plans are on the Internet, and you’ll probably need at least a table saw or jigsaw, a sander, and drill press. You can seriously go cheap and with a little wood and PVC make a wine rack for under $10.

Perhaps your budget won’t allow for that, if so we would suggest going with the brick and wood method. Just put the bricks inbetween the planks, and you’ve got shelves, smaller pieces can be used as dividers. You make the call how expensive your wine racks will be. It’s easy to construct a inexpensive and high quality wine rack by yourself. We’ve got plenty more advice on our website, come check it out.

Is it really worth buying expensive wines?

Filed under: Wine Spirits — Tags: , , — CakeAuthor @ 6:40 am

How many of us really know anything about wine? Most people are probably familiar with that feeling you get when you stand there looking at the rows and rows of bottles, and have no idea what it is you’re actually supposed to be looking for. We assume that expensive wines cost more for a reason and cheap wines should probably be avoided, but is there really any truth to this? I have tried cheap wines that have tasted fine, and expensive ones that have been horrible – that’s not always the case but they do exist and how are we supposed to know which ones to choose?

It’s like the theory that crystal wine glasses make wine taste better than regular glasses. It’s true that it is nicer to drink out of a crystal glass, they do feel nice to hold and they make that lovely sound when you tap them, but I’ve yet to see any evidence that it has any effect on the flavour of the drink. A nasty wine will taste nasty whatever you drink it from – just think of the familiar grimace on people’s faces when they take a sip from their posh celebratory Champagne flutes, only to be reminded that they’ve always hated Champagne and are only drinking it because it’s what you’re supposed to do.

A real wine buff would tell you they can tell the vintage of a good wine and where it was bottled purely from tasting it. However in the opening episode of BBC4’s recent mini documentary series entitled (rather inventively, I thought!) Wine, an interesting scenario arose. A group of professional wine experts were given a taste from an unknown bottle and asked to guess its vintage. Most of the party guessed at somewhere around the 1980s, with the exception of one French expert who said 1928. It turned out to be from 1870, proving that they really didn’t have a clue.

So do factors like the age and vintage of a wine really make any difference in terms of the quality of wine? If even some of the world’s most knowledgeable experts can’t tell the difference then it would seem that the answer is no, probably not. Older wines are likely to be more rare, which might go some way to explaining why they cost more, but I bet those experts could have bought a whole crate of good 1980s wines for the same price as that one bottle from the 1800s would have cost. And in these times of the credit crunch do people really want to be paying extra for fancy wines when it’s entirely possible they could get one just as good – or maybe even nicer – in Threshers for under a tenner?

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