Jerry West is a fellow Wine-oh

I did not know that Jerry West is a big wine collector. He sat down with Wine Spectator for an interview. You know who Jerry West is?? Yea he is the LOGO of the NBA and the best basketball player from West Virginia. Jerry has two wine cellars. One in California and one in West Virginia. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see his WV wine cellar. I am going to get on this. I also want to eat at his restaurant in the Greenbrier. I just love the Greenbrier. It is one of the most lovely resorts in the United States.

Check out the article here.

P.S. Will update blog later this week with a full review of the Delectus wine tasting from last Friday night.

Happy Drinking

-M

When Wine Goes Bad

Here is an interesting link to a video that explains how wine can go bad.

How wine goes bad

Check it out! :) Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend.

-M

Chateau Miraval

Last night I attended Grape of the Night at Wine-oh Wine Store in Cocoa Beach. My mom brought a wine from the chateau that Brad Pitt And Angelina Jolie now occupy and will soon own. The wine was VERY good.

Here is the Chateau's Website.

The wines produced at Miraval are from organic vineyards. Therefore, no pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides are used. Only naturally occurring compounds such as sulfates are found.

We had the Chateau Miraval Red Cotes de Provence 2005. The 2005 vintage has received 4 gold medals. The chateau produces about 20,000 bottles of this each year.

The chateau itself has 35 bedrooms, a lake, a pool, and a moat! The chateau is close to the town of Aix-en-Provence. It must be nice to own a chateau with a winery attached to it! I would never complain.

-M

Fledgling Initiative

This is a great project to become involved with. The project makes wine for the benefit of Room to Read. Room to Read believes all children have a right to education. This project is trying to extend literacy and education by using wine sales to buy books and materials.

FLEDGLING WINE WEBSITE

Something for us wine nuts to check out. :)

-Mara

Happy New Year!!

I hope everyone had a lovely new year and didn't wake up with a massive champagne induced hangover. :)

Here is a picture from the B-21 holiday wine tasting event in Tampa, FL.

From left to right: My mom, Mary the proprietor of Wine-oh Wine Store in Cocoa Beach, and me.

I have some more pictures from this event to post. It was pretty neat because the winemaker of the bitch bubbly wine was there!! (Chris Ringland) Have some fun pictures to post from new years as well. Will get around to it this week.

Cheerio 2010

-M

World of Beer

Last night I ventured across the county to the World of Beer store in Viera, FL. The store has 50 rotating drafts and 400 bottles of beer from around the world. It really is a world of beer in there. Below is the link to their website. The only website I can find is for the store in Tampa, FL. The store in Viera is really new and I can't find their website.

WORLD OF BEER WEBSITE

I started with a nice Rogue Mocha Porter draft, because it was cold out and I wanted to warm up my tummy a bit. The Rogue Mocha Porter would be fantastic on a cold winter day. It was like 50 some degrees in FL and that is about as winter as we get. Rogue beer started out in Oregon and I REALLY REALLY want to visit the brewery sometime.

ROGUE WEBSITE

Next, I saw they had Kwak beer brewed in Buggenhout, Belgium. It is named after an 18th century innkeeper and brewer, Pauwel Kwak. Normally a Kwak beer comes in its own distinctive glass that resembles a "yard of ale" which is held upright in a wooden stand. The world of beer did disappoint me a bit because my beer didn't come in this glass. :( When I was in brussels it did come in this cool glass wooden stand thing. But it was very good and had 8% some alcohol. (Can't complain really.)

All of this did remind me of my day in Brussels drinking lots of great beer, eating waffles, buying expensive chocolate. This was after a day spent at the UN. So some educational things did get accomplished as well. Here are some pictures from that lovely day.

Everyone please go out and try a great beer sometime this week. It'll boost your spirits for sure.

-M

Party like it's 2010!!

It is almost 2010!! It is the time of year for parties and lots of celebrating. What does this mean? CHAMPAGNE!!

What is champagne? It is a sparkling wine made from specific grape varieties grown in the region of northern France. The traditional method of making sparkling wine today is through the Methode Champenoise. The word "Champenoise" refers to someone coming from the region of Champagne, France. Many french producers prevent non-champagne region producers from using words like "champagne" or "methode champenoise." Today sparkling wines are made all over the world.

When going out to find that special bottle of champagne you should look at the labels. The different names on the bottle show the different degrees of sweetness in the champagne. The different levels are shown below.

Category Sweetness Level

Extra Brut --> Bone-dry

Brut ----> Dry

Extra- Dry ---> Medium-dry

Sec ----> Medium-sweet

Demi-sec ---> Sweet

Doux ---> Very- sweet

Remember that bottles of champagne must be treated carefully. If you swing it around too much the bottle will explode or foam over when the cork is removed. You want the champagne in your tummy not on your shirt.

Don't do what I did a few years ago and store the bottle in the freezer. This was a rookie move when I was in college. I took it to a super-bowl party and opened it in the kitchen. The entire bottle exploded up onto the ceiling and then fell down into all the food. Not my best moment. haha

Here are some of my favorite Champagnes/sparkling wines:

1) Piper-Heidsieck Champagne (Brut) -- They produce a lot of champagne but for the price (usually around $30) it is good. I went to the Piper-Heidsieck winery in Reims, France. It was quite the place.

2) Bitch Bubbly (sparkling blend) --> For the price ($10-15) and the name I like the Bitch Bubbly. It is pink, bubbly and just girly all around. Perfect for a girls night or day. The winemaker is from Australia.

3) Veuve Clicquot Brut --> My third favorite easy to find champagne is that famous orange label of Veuve Clicquot Brut Champagne from Reims, France. It is a splurge, but so good.

Finally, with your champagne you can make all kinds of great drinks.

My favorite champagne cocktails are as follows:

1) Mimosa (the standard classic) Use a 1: 5 ratio of freshly squeezed OJ to champagne.

2) The Kir Royale (act like royalty) -- Similar to a Kir (which uses white wine) The Kir Royale has a dash of cassis (currant syrup), topped off with champagne.

3) Bellini (fancy fancy) -- best with ripe peaches, if don't have those use a peach syrup. A 1:4 ratio of syrup to champagne.

4) Poinsettia (for the holidays) -- A 1:4 ratio of triple sec to champagne, with a splash of cranberry juice added for color.

Hope you enjoy your bubbly!

Happy New Years

-M