New Seasonal Samplers
top ten sellers - per wine.com
Beverage Recipes:
Witches' Brew 2 quarts cider, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 12 whole cloves, 2 3-inch cinnamon sticks. Combine first 6 ingredients in a pot over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Place cloves and cinnamon in a steeping bag (or a cheesecloth wrap.) Drop spice bag into simmering cider and steep for 10 minutes. Add bourbon, rum, or brandy to kick it up a notch. Serve and enjoy!
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Articles About Wine:
FOOD AND WINE: ETHNIC FARE: To make a long story very simple and
short, I enjoy matching the food of a country with the wine of a country, picking Italian
vino with Italian cocina, French vin with French cuisine, and . . . well, you get the
idea. It makes simple sense that the people of winemaking
countries evolve their foods and wines to go well together, so why second-guess tradition?
But what about foods from countries that don't make wine? In my experience, dry table
wines in the European and American tradition go surprisingly well with non-Occidental
foods, subject to the limits
imposed by hot-and-spicy fare, as we discussed in a tip last month. Simply focus on
matching your wine to the primary meat, poultry, or seafood ingredient in the dish, then
consider whether the sauce or accompaniments would alter the equation.
How To Serve The Perfect Glass Of Wine: Store
Bottles In Cool Places, Decant And Don't Serve Warm
By Larry Olmsted Investor's Business Daily By Larry Olmsted Investor's Business Daily
'When serving a perfect glass of wine, every little step counts. That means mastering the correct ways to store and serve the fruity beverage, experts say.
• Storage. Temperature is crucial in the proper storage of wine.
"Keep wine at over 70 degrees, and you're in trouble," said Ed McCarthy, co-author of the new second edition of "Wine For Dummies" (Dummies Press, $19.99).
"With wine purchased to drink in a couple of days, it doesn't really matter as long as you don't store it in the heat," McCarthy said. "If you plan to keep it for any length of time, don't leave it in your kitchen. But don't store wine in the fridge either."
Whites should be stored like reds, at between 52 and 60 degrees, in a dark, humid spot. The on-and-off cycles of the refrigerator motor can affect wine. Thus, wine should be put in the fridge only a couple of days before serving and should never be kept there for more than a week.
Store wine bottles on their sides to keep wine in contact with the cork, so the cork doesn't dry out. Avoid air conditioning, since dry air damages cork.
Older wines should be decanted, or transferred to a decanter, prior to serving to remove harmless sediments that form over time. Many newer wines also benefit from decanting.
"People open a bottle of red to let it breathe," said Ralph Hersom, wine director at New York's Le Cirque 2000 restaurant. "With less than an inch of airspace. how can it breathe'? Wine needs to be aerated."
As you pour wine out of a bottle, more air goes in. The wine "opens up," which is why the last glass from a bottle often tastes best.
Young reds, especially wines like Bordeaux, cabernets and zinfandels, benefit from being decanted. To decant for sediment, hold the bottle in front of a bright light. Pour slowly until you start to see cloudy wine coming out, then stop.
Vintage ports should always be decanted. Heavier sediment may require that you pour them through some type of filter.
• Serving. "One of the biggest mistakes restaurants make is serving whites too cold and reds too warm," McCarthy said.
White wines should generally be served cool, not cold. Lighter wines, like Chablis or Rieslings, benefit from a chill. some experts say. But finer white Burgundies do not.
Traditionally, red wines have been served at room temperature. But this practice began in an era when "room temperature" was much lower than what it is today.
Reds should be served about I0 to 14 degrees below today's room temperature -- which averages 72 degrees-- never warm, says John Kulikowski, wine buyer for the Cafe Del Rey restaurant in Marina del Rey, Calif.
Lighter red wines like Beaujolais can be served cooler. "I'm a fan of putting red wine in the fridge for a few minutes before serving," Hersom said.
"The key is not to cool wine so much that you mask the flavors," Kulikowski said.
• Glasses. In tests, tasters often say the same wine served in different shaped glasses tastes different. Be sure to use distinct glasses for whites and reds. Some wine lovers have glasses for each major wine style.
Avoid small glasses. "Bigger is better, and small is useless," McCarthy said.
Reds should be served in glasses with more surface area, since they need to breathe. Whites should be served in taller, narrower glasses.