A Bottle Opener Everyone Needs in Their Home!
March 18, 2012“This is basically how the government would pour a glass of wine…”
Posted in Funny | Tagged best wine bottle opener, steampunk, wine bottle opener | Leave a comment //
For the Win!
March 16, 2012
French Winemakers Slowly Making Friends with Social Media.
March 16, 2012
French wineries, like over-tired children, are kicking and screaming but slowly making their way onto social media, a survey has revealed.
The survey of 528 wineries in the United States and France conducted by ABLE Social Media Marketing found that while 94% of U.S. vintners were on Facebook, only 53% of their French counterparts were.
But the French are slowly coming online. A similar 2010 study by ABLE’s corporate predecessor mysocialwinery.com reported less than 20% of French winemakers were using Facebook.
Meanwhile as the use of social media has climbed, France has seen its wine production and consumption decline. The report also noted a steady slide in wine consumption by the French, which it said could be traced to a combination of government anti-drinking campaigns and adults substituting other beverages.
Posted in News | Tagged Facebook, Social Media, Social Media for Wineries, Twitter, Twitter for Business, Twitter for Small Business, Twitter for Wineries | Leave a comment //2012 Presidential Dinner Menu With the Obama’s and David Cameron.
March 15, 2012First of all, no I didn’t go! Once again my invite must have been lost in the mail…however, Eric Levine (the creator of Cellartracker) was in attendance. Since the wines served with the State Dinner are not printed on the menu, Eric was so very kind to post the list of wines served on his website, and I crudely added the courses they were paired with (in red font on page 6) to the PDF embedded below. I’m hoping that I don’t get thrown in jail for messing with official Presidential menus….
2012 State Dinner Menu With the Obama’s and David Cameron.
Posted in Facts, News | Tagged Barrack Obama, David Cameron, Michelle Obama, President, President's favorite wine, Presidential menu, White House, White House menu, White House wine | Leave a comment //Louis Latour Pouilly-Fuisse, Burgundy, France, 2010.
March 15, 2012
Grape
100% Chardonnay
Facts
- It wasn’t that long ago that Pouilly-Fuisse [poo-yee fwee-SAY] had developed a fairly bad reputation among wine drinkers. Overuse of fertilizers and herbicides in the vineyards resulted in huge crops. These grapes were in turn picked from the vine too early, by the vineyards who were scared about achieving the perfect ripeness levels. The result wasn’t good! Thin, watery, overly acidic wines that due to the Pouilly-Fuissé, name weren’t cheap either!
- You’ll be relieved to know (if you care) that a brand new generation of growers has started to respect the land and the grapes a little. Not to say that these types of shenanigans aren’t still taking place, but competition from New World wines has probably made the French think a little more about what they’re sticking in the bottle!
Grilled Salmon with Blood Orange Salsa Paired with Smokescreen Napa Chardonnay
March 14, 2012
When was the last time you cooked with blood orange? Never? Yeah, I think I was in the same boat as you until last night, at least, I couldn’t remember the last time…
Smokescreen is a new brand of wine that I’ve recently happened upon. I reviewed the Smokescreen Red Blend recently, and was so sizably impressed that I thought the Chardonnay was worth a shot. I have to admit, I’m a little uninspired when it comes to pairing food with Chardonnay, and so I took the random move to send a very quick email to the guy behind the Smokescreen (Paul Johnson), asking for his recommended food pairings. Paul got back to me within a few hours with his 2 favorite pairings: Grilled Salmon with Blood Orange Olive Oil and Lobster with Watercress and Lemon Olive Oil.
Since it was only Tuesday, I thought Lobster was maybe a bit-much. I therefore opted for his salmon recommendation, and went with Grilled Salmon with Blood Orange Salsa.
I do have to say, there’s nothing worse in this world (except maybe famine and war) than deciding on a recipe to make, only to find out when you get to the grocery store they don’t have one of the necessary ingredients! First World problems, I know!
I knew blood oranges were in season (December to March), as I looked it up online beforehand, but alas Publix were all out. Maybe they had some in the back, but I typically shy away from asking questions at grocery stores. It forces me to adopt my “semi-American with a Southern-twang accent” in order to be understood. If you ever meet me, ask me to say “Hey man, y’all got blood oranges?” It’s quite hilarious.
So there I am, stood in the middle of the produce section of Publix, on the phone with The Fresh Market, enquiring as to their availability of blood oranges. At this stage, I’m wishing I’d just gone with the lobster! Luckily they had ample supply, so I bought everything else I needed and headed to “where the posh-people shop”. If only I could afford to buy ALL my groceries there!
Posted in Pairings, Recipes | Tagged California, Chardonnay, Fiftyrow, Fiftyrow wine, Fiftyrow winery, Napa, Smokescreen, Smokescreen Chardonnay | Leave a comment //← Older posts Newer posts →
