A Blind Wine Tasting with Sir Cliff Richard on Gordon Ramsey’s F-Word.
Pretty funny, Cliff should have realized what he was in for when he agreed to appear on the show!
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Sommelier Created Blog to Trash Yelp Critic
A Chicago woman who took her complaint about a local sommelier and his food and wine pairing class to the Internet said she got more than a taste of revenge from the businessman. Cecelia Groark’s post on Yelp (click here for the review), the popular online review site, about Bottled Grapes in Albany Park allegedly yielded an angry response from owner Krunch Kretschmar, (NB: it sounds like an angry name) an internationally known sommelier. She…
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Life Sentence for Chinese Smuggler of Bordeaux Wines
ShanghaiDaily.com has reported that a wine smuggler named Sun Xitai, has been jailed for life for illegally bringing over 70,000 bottles worth 45 million yuan (US$ 7.128 million) to China’s mainland. This has been China’s biggest wine smuggling case. Despite being previously convicted in 2002 when he was sentenced to 1 year in prison and 1 year’s reprieve in the city of Tianjin, Sun Xitai continued his smuggling
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Spicy Crab Cakes with Mango Puree Paired with Willamette Valley Vineyards Riesling.
Yesterday, when I mentioned to the Mrs. that I was going to make crab cakes for dinner, the first words out of her mouth were “Make them like my Mom makes them! They’re the BEST!!!” It’s probably worth pointing out that the main 2 tricks behind how “Mom makes them” is to use zero bread filling, and to shape them roughly the size of baseballs. Delicious, no doubt; but if she were the chef in…
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Seems legit…
Willamette Valley Vineyards Riesling, Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2009.
Grape 100% RieslingHistorical references to the Riesling grape can be traced back to Germany in the 15th century. Facts I’ve been a fan of Willamette Valley Vineyards (“WVV” for the cool kids) for quite a while now. Yes, they’re certainly one of the largest Oregon producers (70,400 cases in 2010), but I feel WVV maintain a consistently favorable quality to price ratio. An attribute which I personally note is lacking in a number of…
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I Drink Therefore I Am.
White Zinfandel Dispute Resolved.
This TREMENDOUS news (tongue firmly in cheek) resolves an issue which arose last year, when Blossom Hill’s White Zinfandel and White Grenache were impounded by authorities in Italy, where the wines are bottled. The brand was forced to relabel the wines as Zinfandel Rosé and Grenache Rosé. The Blossom Hill brand reported that its parent company Diageo and the Wine & Spirit Trade Association have since been working with the EU to resolve the dispute….
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Breathalyzer Kits to Become Compulsory in all Vehicles in France.
Every car in France will have to be equipped with a breathalyzer from the spring of 2012. The announcement was made by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The new plan will force every driver to have a breathalyzer kit in their cars so they can check their alcohol level before driving. A kit costs just €1.50 to €2 ($2 to $2.70). Anyone caught without a kit will face a €17 ($23) fine.
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Understanding the Wine Term: Meritage
Meritage has to be one of the most misunderstood and mispronounced wine words in the world. With that being said, let’s get the pronunciation out of the way first: “MARE-eh-tidge” is correct, and “MARE-eh-targe” is not. First trademarked in 1988, the term Meritage is given to American blended wines that use the traditional grapes of the Bordeaux region of France. The word was chosen from more than 6,000 entries in an international contest. Meritage combines…
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Maybe Champagne was a Bad Choice…?
John Wesley
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, once said that "wine is the noblest cordial of nature". He did take a harsher view toward distilled beverages such as brandy and whisky, proclaiming that distillers who sold indiscriminately to anyone were nothing more than poisoners and murderers accursed by God. Way to choose your battles!
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