Vacation time

Winewit is on vacation. I will return with new posts on July 5th. Have a great holiday!!
Cheers

Monday, June 26, 2006

Who doesn't love technology?


I've seen quite a few wine gadgets floating around out there, but the PDA Sommelier one seems to actually be cool and useful. This is a software that you can download to your Palm for around 30 bucks. I like that it doesn't get wine specific. If you ask it what goes with lamb, it suggests a varietal instead of a wine that the software developer has stake in.




Each section enables you to find information and get recommendations on one of 53,000 wines. My favorite section is definitely the Food/Wine Pairing section. Most people I know are always asking the same question. "What wine goes well with this?" With PDA Sommelier you have some guidance in the area of food pairing. You select the type of food you're eating and PDA Sommelier suggests a wine. I was suprised to find that when I selected "Fish" PDA Sommelier prompted me to be more specific about the kind of fish I was choosing and gave me a long list of choices. iConcepts, Inc. has obviously done their homework in putting this program together.

The only downside that I can see to this is that it doesn't eliminate the fact that if you are in a nice restaurant you still end up looking like a complete and total toolbag playing on your palm pilot trying to figure out what wine pairs best with crab cakes. I suggest getting a hold of the menu beforehand and use the software before you go.


Crazy Aussies!
Beer theft happens everywhere. Whether you return from a bathroom trip to find your cooler half-empty or you come back from the bathroom and the waitress has cleared your pint that was half full, it unfortunately happens. However, in Australia, it happens on a slightly larger scale. It seems as though a company has just realized that someone has been stealing about a pallet of beer a week for at least 2 years. I'm wondering if the dude in charge of inventory was drinking himself to not notice such a huge quantity of beer missing. Seriously? A pallet a week for over 2 years??? Those must be some happy warehouse employees ;) Police are still investigating. Full Story


Another Blog??
It seems as though everyone is getting into the blog game these days. Hell, if I've got one you could get one too! Miller has created their own blog aimed at industry professionals to keep them abreast of the ever changing beverage industry. So, for those of you who want an incredibly biased, self promoting blog about Miller and the rest of their brands, head on over to let them brainwash you.

Name Game

Let's play a game shall we? Can you guess the famous winemaker in this picture? Here's a hint....he's holding one of his wines. Mmmmmm!!

Post your guesses in the comments suggestion. If you get it right I'll give you props on Wednesdays blog.

Baby Bubblies

Check out the sweet new splits from Nicholas Feuillatte. I love it. Marketing genius. Yes I know it's geared towards women but they are way too cool. I love the fact that Feuillatte (a very decent wine for the money) is packaging splits that have a wrist strap already attached. It is a pain in the arse to get everything all rounded up and taken down to the beach (especially if you have a baby) so to be able to put your champagne around your wrist is ingenius for me. I can also definitely see us using these to tailgate at the Panthers games this season. Worst case scenario, if you get too drunk to find your bubbly, just put it around your wrist!! The blue is the Feuillatte Brut and the pink is their rose.Full Story

This is what happens when hell freezes over.

It seems that Coors Molson has developed a new beer to be marketed in the UK in an attempt to get the pub goers to drink cold beer as opposed to the temperature that it should be served. Coors has developed a system to serve beer at sub-zero temperatures.

Spokesman for the Campaign for Real Ale, Iain Loe, said: "If you serve any yellow liquid at that temperature you could probably drink it. Cynics would say that it was just a way of concealing the fact there's no taste there. And if there are any off flavors, you are not going to notice."

Ha! I love the fact that the guy refers to it as "yellow liquid". He's right though, piss from a dog with rabies would taste just fine that cold. Anything served at -4 degrees Farenheit could not possibly have any flavor. Now that I think about it, that would be the only way you could get me to drink a Coors.

Here's how they do it....

To serve the beer, a glass is placed on a turntable spinning at 45rpm while a jet of cold water sprays the glass, chilling it down to five degrees. The beer then takes 20 seconds to pour. Two seconds before completion, a sonic pulse is sent into the beer from the nozzle to create bubbles which help to form large ice crystals.

Cool technology, yes. But Coors Slushies?? Is that necessary?

No review today.
I had a long weekend of boozing and am paying for it today. I'm out. See you on Wednesday.

Cheers!

Friday, June 23rd, 2006

Happy Friday Kids!

People Love me! Kudos to Mandy and Natalie for giving me props on my blog. Don't forget, you can post comments at the end of the blog!!!!

Sex Sells
So we learned on Wednesday's blog that sex sells wine (Hungarian lesbians young girls red). And while the FDA would never approve a label like that in the good ol' USA, they have approved Fat Bastard, Big Ass Cab and the likes. I would like to introduce you to Cleavage Creek Cellars. I immediately knew this had to be a joke as soon as I saw the label but noooooooo. This shit is legit. LOL! OMG I can't stop laughing. To top it all off, they are having a contest for the new 2006 Cleavage Creek model.


Cleavage Creek Cellars will be holding a preliminary Miss Cleavage Creek Model Search. Cleavage Creek Cellars will be the exclusive featured wine at the Exotic Erotic Ball Oct 21st and 22nd in San Francisco CA and the Exotic Zone Ball Oct 29 in Sacramento CA. These two parties are a couple of the biggest parties open to the public on the west coast. During both these events Cleavage Creek Cellars will have a wine tasting exhibit and also be taking pictures of interested models for our 2006 releases.

Take a look at the girls in the running. They should have called it "Hustler Wanna-be Centerfold Cellars" cause these girls are hurtin. The one in the latex should have a wine named after her called "Punishment Pinot". Or better yet, S & M Syrah!!







And what's up with the spider slut outfit?
Holy Jebus is that a cape that goes with it?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA - Oh god I can't take it anymore. I am rolling in the floor from this. Hey spidey, nice blue eyeshadow. BTW the porn lot at Vivid called and you're late for your audition!!









But wait...it gets better - they have a racing team with our favorite model on the hood.

And what the hell is the Exotic Erotic Wine tasting? I could go on with this one forever but I'll spare you. View their website and check out how they've made everything look like boobs. I'm sure the wine tastes like hell but at this point who cares? I'm actively trying to get my hands on a bottle to review.





BV Breaks Guiness World Record
Apparently, Guiness Book of World Records just announced that BV (Beaulieu Vineyards) broke a world record for the largest toast ever.

"Las Vegas knows how to throw a party and this confirms that we do it bigger and better than anyone," said Mayor Goodman, chairman of theCentennial Commission. "In addition to marking Las Vegas' place in history,breaking the Guinness World Record with BV Wines was a fitting finale to what was a phenomenal Centennial year." The Las Vegas Toast of the Century by BV shatters the previous recordof 10,079 held by a Japanese sake company. In order to qualify to break theworld record, all documented participants must be led in a toast, raise their glasses in unison and drink at the same time. R&R Live, a LasVegas-based event management company, organized the record attempt. More than 60 event staff and volunteers greeted and registered thousands of participants, checked IDs and poured more than 200 cases of the appropriately named Century Cellars Chardonnay by BV to provide samples forthe toast.

Wow! 13,000 people joined together to drink shitty wine all at once. Impressive! No wonder the French hate us. And why is Vegas celebrating the Centennial on New Year's Eve 2005? Is that confusing to anyone else?


Korbel's daugter goes both ways
No charges will be filed for the daughter of Korbel's owner and her fiancee. There was an 8 week investigation into an alleged incidence involving sexual assault.

This is what we do know: The daughter of the owner of Korbel and her fiancee were at the deli at their winery in Guerneville, CA. They began talking to two Korbel deli employees and drinking (hopefully not Korbel Sparkling) until well after the deli closed. Then, after that it gets fuzzy. Literally!

"Whatever did occur was consensual,'' Andrian said. "They were a happy fun-loving group,'' Andrian said regarding the drinking and conversing among the four after the deli closed that afternoon.

Yikes! I hope they sanitized all of the equipment afterwards. I love the guy I quoted who referred to them as happy and fun-loving. I mean....isn't that how all foursomes start out? The guy who gave that quote must be the same guy who reviewed Korbel's Sparkling as "decadent and crisp" and "America's Favorite Chapagne".

Pabst new adds are explosive
So, a beer rep for Pabst hung an advertisement in the window of a restaurant promoting PBR with a flashing red light. Eight hours later the bartender notices the flashing light and calls the cops because he assumes it's a bomb. Now, I don't know about you, but the only bomb I associate with PBR is a gut bomb. Yeah, sorry that was kinda gross (but true). Fortunately, it was not a bomb and the thousands of people who were evacuated were allowed to go home after only a few hours. Granted it was in the middle of the night but.....

Wine Review
Marziano Abbono Rinaldi Barbera D’Alba 2004 $19.99

I went into the Wine Warehouse last week and asked for a good wine. I’m a picky wine buyer so to completely trust someone else to pick for me is really hard. Andi suggested this Barbera D’Alba that I never would have chosen for myself and I must admit, I was a bit skeptical. The wine was pure rock star and for 20 bucks I plan on buying more. If you head over to the WW for some wine, ask for Andi and tell her what you like (white, red, sweet, dry, etc.) and totally leave it up to her. She’s good!!

This wine had a very herbal nose. I smelled sage, blackberry and roasted tomatoes. While separate they sound like a horrible combo, on this wine they worked really well together. On the palate the acidity came at you like a freight train and was immediately followed by violets and pretty flowers with blackberry and raspberry jam. The wine was incredibly lush and sweet without being over-ripe. The acidity is pleasing and lasts for a very long time. The wine was somewhat tight which leads me to believe that this wine will fare well over the next 3 years. All in all, it was fantastic. I’m sure a lot of that acidity would have been more balanced with an Italian dish with tomatoes. Lasagna, spaghetti, take out from Carrabba’s…you name it. This was definitely one of the finds of the year for me.

I'm going to a party in Hickory this weekend. Woohooo!! Celebratin' Matt's Baby! Wooohooo! I am getting very excited about baby Chaz. There's nothing like corrupting a baby that doesn't belong to you!
Have a good weekend. I'll be back on Monday!

Cheers! (I'm sure it's 5 o'clock on Friday somewhere!!)

Wednesday, June 21st, 2006

Happy belated birthday to Sam and Nikki!! Hope you had a great one!

Wednesday, June 21st, 2006
Crazy Hungarians

Who’s hungry for Hungarian wine? I gotta tell ya…when I think of Hungarian wine, I don’t think of asking for a second glass. In fact the only Hungarian wine I can think of is Bull’s Blood and the thought of it makes me shudder. But, apparently, Hungarians are damn crazy. (Well, at least in my opinion)


Check out this article where they are having competitions for wine labels. They are calling it a wine bottle beauty contest. Let me translate that for you. They are having a contest to come up with a label that will actually sell the swill that they are calling “wine”. The winner gets $5 million in Hungarian money (which is probably like pesos and will barely buy you a loaf of bread). But hey, Yellow Tail was a success right? So what could those crafty Hungarians come up with to make themselves a pretty penny? Hmmmmmm oh that’s right, porn sells big time in America doesn’t it? Ladies and gents allow me to introduce Hungarian Lesbians Young Girls Red. You saw it here first.


Not only that, but it seems that those crazy Hungarians feed their primates wine at the zoo.

Budapest Zoo spokesman Zoltan Hanga said it was the 11 anthropoid apes who drank most of the wine in 2005. "Obviously, they do not have it all at once and get drunk, but they get it in small amounts mixed in their tea," Hanga said. "And it's not Eger Bulls Blood or some expensive wine that they are getting but simple table wine, as it's mainly good for their blood cells."

Hahahahahaha. If Eger’s Bull’s Blood is the expensive stuff then the monkeys must get prison wine. Also, does it strike anyone as being odd that they drink tea? I mean I know monkeys are smart and all but I hardly imagine them sitting down to “relax” with some tea and wine after a long hard day of throwing their own shit at each other.

It’s official!
Congress passed a bill allowing diners in restaurants to take their wine with them. If you go into a restaurant and order a bottle of wine but don’t want to finish it, you can now ask your server to cork it for you so that you can take it home. I suppose there are people that actually do this because they can’t finish the bottles. I don’t know any of these people but more power to ya! Know your rights!!

Science Rocks!
Researchers are crossing hop varieties to come up with better hops resulting in richer, fuller, and tastier beers. It’s making Anheiser Busch sad. :(


Celebrity peace offering
Nicole Kidman, who is getting ready to get hitched to Keith Urban in Australia (because rumor has it she's preggers), made a peace offering to the paparazzi who are staked out at her house.

She sent out some water and Victoria Bitter Beer. Hmmm, was that a peace offering or an insult? You decide!!

Beer Review

Last night I celebrated the last day of summer session with the Harpoon 100 Barrel Artist Series Imperial Stout.

It poured a dark milk chocolate color with a beautiful cappucino head. The nose was full of burnt toffee. It coated my tongue with an acidic coffee flavor chased away by a creamy caramel / toffee taste. It was incredibly viscous without being cloying and the finish was amazing. It lasted forever. Dear lord, was this beer good. I highly suggest it if you can find it. And if you have some hidden away, I will happily invite myself over to drink yours!!

Cheers!

Let's all boycott Cristal

One time when I was at band camp….er……my friend’s house for a party, a guest pulled out a bottle of champagne for all of us to try. As soon as I saw that yellow plastic wrapper I immediately knew what it was. In fact, that yellow plastic is so identifiable that my husband and I used to make a game of spotting it. We would watch MTV’s Cribs and see who could be the first to point it out. My favorite sighting was a famous rapper who had three 3 liters on display in front of a huge bay window with sunlight shining directly on them in Louisiana. But hey, who doesn’t love cooked champagne. Anywho….I digress.

The champagne I am talking about is Cristal by Roederer. Since I had never had it before, I just had to have a glass. I was shocked by it. I mean I went into it thinking that it wouldn’t be able to live up to the hype, yet I was perfectly prepared to love it and sing it’s praises. After all, could P Diddy really love something that was just kinda…..meh? I HATED it. I absolutely thought it was no good. Think of Britney Spears interview with Matt Lauer last week. I mean we knew it would be bad by the clips they aired but when we watched it…..OMG train wreck!! That’s how I felt about Cristal.

So, since Cristal is so expensive and rather hard to come by, I made it my personal mission a long time ago to try and educate people on better champagne (Krug). It has been a long and hard battle but now it seems as though I have a brand new ally – Jay-Z. That’s right….I said Jay-Z. It seems that the big wig at Roederer wasn’t a big fan of Cristal being associated with the “bling” lifestyle and made several comments to this affect. Now, in my opinion, this was retarded. I mean “people thinking Clay Aiken is straight” retarded. I’m posting the link so you guys can read it for yourselves.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/15/jayz.cristal.ap/index.html
Thanks for the heads up on this one Andi!!!!!

Now, I don’t want you to run out and buy Cristal just so you can agree with me on what a disappointment it was. You can be perfectly disappointed with Roederer’s Brut Premiere for $55 ish bucks and get the same effect. :)
And, here’s one more reason not to buy Cristal (I think I just vomited a little) I love it when people drink $300 Champagne straight from the bottle. K-Fed you're C-L-ASSY!!!


http://img23.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc208&image=55747_kfed2.jpg (source)

Seeing the world through rose colored glasses!

So, one of the first things you should know about me is my obsession with Pinot Noir. And don't even think about lumping me into that group of converts who "all of a sudden" love pinot because it was in Sideways. I've loved that finicky little muse since I turned 21.

One of my favorite reincarnations of pinot noir is rose champagne. Mmmmmm. I'm drooling just thinking of it. I love everything about it. And so, for my first review I find it only appropriate to christen this blog with a rose. Now, while I could have drunk an older vintage Dom or Krug I thought, why blow my wad on the first review?

The culprit: Moet and Chandon NV Brut Imperial Rose
The wine was a beautiful color in the glass. Corral, yes, but with more of a red tinge than orange almost hinting at a beautiful light strawberry hue. The nose was not phenomenal - in fact it was rather subtle. I got a soft powdery smell with hints of sour cherries that was pleasant, but as I said before, I had to search for it.

Let's get to the best part shall we? Drinking..................
I love when the acidity of a wine hits you square on the gums just like you've had a shot of numbing meds from the dentist and to my surprise, this wine did. The palate was fresh and clean and a tad bit creamy with pretty strawberry and cherry flavors.

I decided to have some snacks with it.
1) Goat Lady goat cheese (dill & chive)
2) Olive oil and bread
3) Strawberries

Very interesting. The goat cheese amplified the tart sour cherry vibe while the olive oil really pronounced the oak and creaminess. The strawberries.....who woulda thunk it...the perfect pair. They played down the tartness and brought out a tad bit of creaminess at the same time.

All in all, it was very drinkable. It got a solid "good" from me. When you take into account the price (50 ish) it just scores ok. Stick with Duval-Leroy Rose for 38-ish. It's way more complex and tasty.
http://www.moet.com/moet.htm?to=us/homef.htm

Did anyone watch So You Think You Can Dance last night? Nelly Furtado performed and all I can say is Hey-zeus Krees-toes!!! It looked like she was wearing a dining room chair cover. She reminded me of a cheap Californian Sav Blanc. Watery, super tart and grassy. Blech!!

I am still trying to come up with a fun rating system so if anyone has suggestions, please let me know!!

Cheers!!

Welcome to the introductory Wine Wit blog. Thanks for checking it out!

My main purpose here is it give you my unabashed comments on the wines I have the luxury of sampling while trying to keep the whole thing as entertaining as possible.

Stay tuned.....more to come!!