Amazing Champagne Cork Chairs.
January 3, 2013
The story goes that Rob Forbes (founder of Design Within Reach, a furniture company which aims to bring high design to the general public) was given an intricate miniature chair made out of a champagne cork, complete with the wire cage and metal medallion. The chair sat on his desk for long enough that it attracted a large amount of compliments…enough to make a light bulb illuminate inside Forbes’ head! From there, the DWR Champagne Chair Contest was born!
The rules to the competition are fairly simple: Design and construct a miniature chair using only the cork, wire and foil from no more than two champagne bottles. Glue is the only permitted adhesive. You are not permitted to use any additional materials, including tape or paint.
With New Year having just passed us by, I see no better time than to gather all your used Champagne corks and give this competition a shot! The grand prize winner will receive a $1,000 gift card for Design Within Reach merchandise, with prizes also being awarded for 2nd and 3rd place.
The competition opened on Thursday December 27th and you have until Monday January 14th 2013 to assemble and photograph your champagne chair! Click here to enter.
It’s worth pointing out, you’re no-doubt up against some stiff competition! What follows are some of the previous entries into the competition, as well as some other chairs I found on my travels into cyberspace, armed only with the keywords: “Champagne Cork Chair.”
Kris Chislett to Speak at the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association 2013 Conference.
December 30, 2012
Kris Chislett TWGGA Press Release
Posted in News | Tagged Kris Chislett, Social Media, Social Media for Wineries, social media wine, social search, winery social media | Leave a comment //Marchetti Verdicchio Dei Castelli Di Jesi Classico, Marches, Italy.
December 29, 2012
Grapes
100% Verdicchio
Facts
- Pronunciation time! Verdicchio: [Vair-dee-kee-oh] Dei Castelli Di Jesi: [Day kah-stay-lee dee jeh-see] Phew! It’s a tough one! You almost need a glass of wine after saying all that!
- So what do we have right here? Well, apart from being a tiny-nightmare to pronounce, Verdicchio is probably most easily compared to Pinot Grigio, only with a little-more body
- The name Verdicchio comes to us in part by the Italian word for green (“verde”), due to the greenish-yellow hue of the wine. Bore all your friends to death with that fact, why don’t you!
- Winemaker Maurizio Marchetti is an avid painter. With a particular love for the work of Renaissance painter Botticelli (“Don’t we all, darling!”), this particular bottle bears Botticelli’s Venus.
- Marchetti is known to be extremely picky about the grapes he chooses to go into his wines. What’s new there, since that’s what EVERY winery in the world claims!?!?
That’s very true, but not every winemaker in the world has a cardiologist for a wife!
That’s right! Maurizio Marchetti is the brains behind this operation, but since his wife is a heart surgeon, he can afford to be a little-more selective about the grapes he uses. So-much-so, that he sometimes produces as little as a half bottle of wine per vine!
What’s a “Good” Wine?
December 28, 2012
It’s often said that: “There are no stupid questions when it comes to wine!” but for the sake of this article, I’m going to disagree.
I HATE the word “good” when referencing wine i.e. “Oh, you’re a Sommelier? What’s a good wine?” is a question I get thrown at me just about every week. I can’t lie, it makes me want to impale myself onto a wine opener every time hear it! It’s probably the most ridiculous wine question you could ever ask! Seriously! But I’ll also go on record to say it’s probably the most frequently asked question…
Maybe I have too much time on my hands, but I often daydream about the number of times this same question has been asked around the world, and some of sarcastic responses I envisage:
Customer in a restaurant: “What’s a good wine? Recommend a good wine to me!”
Sommelier: “Well, what do you like?”
Customer: “I just want YOUR recommendation on a good wine.”
Sommelier: “Ok…I think the Petrus is a good wine. It’s $3000 a bottle. Would you like one?”
Customer: “WHAT!?!? Are you crazy!?!?! Besides, I just want a glass!”
Sommelier: “Alright, here taste this…it’s a Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley. I love it. It’s a good wine.”
Customer: “Hmmmm, it’s ok, it’s not my favorite though….”
Sommelier: “But it’s a good wine. You wanted a good wine. MY recommendation on a good wine is this Cab Franc.”
Customer: “I’d like something with a little more fruit and not quite as dry.”
Sommelier: “So you asked for MY recommendation on a good wine…but you want more fruit and not as dry. Right, try this one then….it’s a Malbec from Argentina…”
Customer: “That’s not bad….did I mention I don’t drink red wine. I want it to be a white wine?”
Sommelier: <Proceeds to smash the customer over the head with the nearest decanter.>
We had a wine festival here in Jacksonville recently, and for the second time since I’ve lived here I was able to attend. It’s nice going to these things (since I haven’t been able to, with the number of hours I was pulling in the restaurant industry), even though fighting through the crowds to get a splash of wine is never fun! Luckily, since most of the guys pouring at these events (at least the ones in Jacksonville) know me on a personal level, so my “splash” is usually on the heavy side and it’s normally from a “secret stash” that has been kept hidden under the table.
Of course, when I get to the front of the line, I always ask the wine rep how the night has been going…and the response is ALWAYS along the lines of:
“Kris, I can’t wait for it to be over! It’s awful. If one more person interrupts me as I’m trying to tell them about a wine, and says ‘…just pour me two glasses of your best wine!’ I think I might scream!”
The moral to that story is, don’t EVER use the words “good,” “best” or “most expensive” at one of these wine events (at least towards someone who looks like they know what they’re doing).
If you do, just watch as their eyes glaze over and I promise you that inside their head they’re plotting your untimely demise. Instead, listen to what they have to say; and if you must, describe the type of wine you usually drink i.e. taste, body, sweetness etc.
What is the Relationship Between Paris Hilton and Grape Vines?
December 28, 2012Just a few slides from my PowerPoint presentation on wine and terrior that I thought you’d appreciate! :)
The First Cork Wine Stoppers.
December 28, 2012
← Older posts Newer posts →
