James Bond Switches to Heineken?
April 12, 2012News article taken from the National Post 
We see product placement everywhere. A trip to the movies has become a trip to a subliminal shopping mall, where the underlying takeaway message is: buy this.
But what happens when film fans don’t like what the product placers are selling? What happens when they start messing around with something important? What happens when they turn James Bond, a suave, martini-drinking British secret agent, into a beer-drinker?
That is the $45-million question James Bond fans have been fretting about in recent days after word leaked out that Heineken has paid top dollar to the filmmakers to show 007 drinking beer in Skyfall, the latest installment of the Bond franchise due out in October.
“We look for certain things in the Bond series,” says Lisa Funnell, a film studies instructor at Wilfrid Laurier University. “And the question is: is the martini dry, shaken, not stirred, too central an aspect of Bond’s identity to be taken away?”
Chocolate Wine Takes the US and UK Market By Surprise.
April 12, 2012News article taken from The Drinks Business
A chocolate infused wine called Chocolate Shop has surprised its creators with surging demand from a wide range of consumers in the US and UK.
“We thought the market would be female and young, but we’ve found that it has much broader appeal,” said Andrew Browne, founder of the product, citing demand from men and women, as well as older and experienced wine drinkers.
The wine uses Bordeaux-blend of grapes from California, mixed with sugar and natural chocolate.
“We called it the chocolate lover’s wine,” explained Browne, although in the UK, where the product was introduced in November, it must also be classed as an “aromatised wine-based drink”.
In 2011, as many 1.2 million bottles were sold almost entirely in the US retail market.
Posted in News | Tagged Chocolate wine, Chocovine | Leave a comment //Bordeaux vs. Burgundy Patio Party at Eleven South.
April 11, 2012Sorry for the late notice…I just found out about this…
Bordeaux vs. Burgundy Patio Party at Eleven South tomorrow from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.
Over 25 wines being poured and 6 hand passed hors d’oeuvres. Only $25/person.
216 11th Avenue South Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250
(904) 241-1112
www.elevensouth.com/
What’s the rule for how long a wine should be left to breathe in a decanter?
April 11, 2012
Tough one, and not with a very straight-forward answer! But this is wine, right? And if there’s one thing to be learnt from the world of vino, it’s that nothing is straight-forward! Ever!
When it comes down to it, it’s really a matter of preference for how long a wine should be left in a decanter before you serve it:
– If a wine is young and bold, an hour or two should suffice. Any less than that, and a little vigorous swirling in the decanter might be required (like the guy in the cartoon is so aptly demonstrating)!
– If it’s older and throwing a sediment, you may want to drink it sooner before it slowly starts dying (as older wines have a tendency to “fade” faster).
There’s been a few times when I’ve decanted a wine (usually young and full-bodied Amarone, Barolo or Priorat) the night before, ready for service at a wine tasting the following day. It sounds like overkill, but I promise you they were MIND-BLOWING, and well worth the added prep!
Since there’s no hard and fast rules on how long to leave a wine in a decanter before serving, the best way (as always) is to experiment for yourself!
Buy a few bottles of the same wine (ideally one that would benefit from decanting in the first place, something young and bold), invite over a few friends, decant one wine 3-4 hours ahead of time, one an hour ahead of time, pour one straight from the bottle, and then taste them all……blind!
Whilst this won’t tell you your preference on how long every wine should be left in a decanter, but it will give you a good idea of how that particular style evolves when exposes to varying degrees of air.
Allegrini Palazzo Della Torre, Veneto, Italy.
April 11, 2012
Grapes
70% Corvina, 25% Rondinella, 5% Sangiovese
Facts
- Oh sure, I’d like to drink Amarone every day! But with what I consider a “decent” bottle starting at $50, and going swiftly upwards from there, my current budget just doesn’t permit those kind of extravagances. Side-note: I may get a part-time job…
So, if you’re in the same position as me (financially that is), Allegrini might have the perfect answer for Amarone-addiction you with their Palazzo Della Torre. It’s not Amarone, but around half the price it’s a comprise I can afford to make, and it provides a very clear benchmark for most other Valpol’s to try and live up to.
- As seems to be the case with most European wineries, the Allegrini family has a good few hundred years of experience backing them, with their winemaking dating back to the 16th Century.
Matthew’s Restaurant "M" Lounge Specials.
April 10, 2012.
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