Spanish sparkling wine made by the traditional methode Champagnoise. The wine undergoes a secondary fermentation in bottle to give it its sparkle. And, in case you care…the word originated in Catalonia, where it means “cellar.” Ryan and Gabrielle, please correct us if we’re wrong on any of these counts!
When we refer to a bottle of wine being corked, we’re describing a wine that tastes musty, dank and wrong. This isn’t just a term to describe a bottle of funky wine we don’t like; it’s a reference to an actual chemical response that occurs when the wine comes into contact with a cork tainted with TCA, a compound that results from fungus that often develops in natural cork.
For an excellent explanation of cork taint, check out the Wine Broad blog. The post there goes into much further detail than we do here.
No it’s not a condom (well, it actually is a brand of condoms but that’s for another blog…perhaps one all those SPAMS we get about viagra would be more appropriate for). In the case of wine, a magnum is a bottle that contains 1500ml of juice, or two times the standard 750ml bottle contents.
A shallow, usually silver tray that was originally used in Burgundian cellars to help analyze a wine’s color and clarity. Nowadays you might see a Sommelier at a fancy-schmancy restaurant wearing one around his or her neck, as a decorative gesture; but this is becoming less common.
Bring a little “green” to your life with the Ponte de Lima Vinho Verde from Portugal. It’s actually a white wine - the green refers to its youth and freshness. It’s slightly effervescent and zippy, giving you the sense of a warm summer’s day on a cold winter’s night. This one is very easy on the wallet to boot, at just eleven buckaroos! Buy Green Wine for Wintertime.
Yummy Portuguese table wine that’s a blend of Aragonez (aka Tempranillo), Syrah, Touriga Nacional, Trincadeira, and a smidgen of Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s just asking to be paired with winter stews of braised meats. A great value at $19 a bottle.Buy Cortes de Cima Chaminé
OK, don’t screw the WS top 100! This came in at #42 and it deserves at least that. It’s the only reasonably priced domestic cab on their list, and we love it. It’s deep and rich and generous with the oaky vanilla — but not cloyingly so. Yay for #42 - just $28.
If you’re interested in wine and want a way to keep track of wines you’ve tasted, or bottles in your collection, a great place to do so is the site CellarTracker. Go over there and familiarize yourself with it. It’s really easy to use and offers the largest database of wines, along with a huge community of users who frequently post tasting notes.
Eric LeVine, the mastermind behind CellarTracker has recently become a Twitter user. You can follow him on Twitter here. And in a very significant feature addition to CellarTracker, Eric has just enabled Twitter functionality for all CellarTracker users, so that when you write a new tasting note, it will automatically post to Twitter with a link back to the CellarTracker data. Eric’s explanation and instructions can be found here.
This combo of two killer apps, a niche wine community with a Web 2.0 pioneer, could be a game changer.
(My apologies to Tim Elliott whose voice I seem to be parroting with this post!)
Fabulous & Frugal!
Our friends launched a new site and domaine547 is a featured wine columnist in their premiere edition! Go check out Fabulous & Frugal for some fantastic lifestyle tips for living the good life during what, for most of us, is an economically challenging time. There’s much more than wine there, and we’re thrilled to be a small part of the start of what will surely be a successful venture. Congrats to Brandi & Steph for their achievement!
domaine547 In the Blogosphere! Imbibe Magazine Unfiltered
Check out this blog post where they actually refer to somebody from d547 as a “wine expert.” Shocking! In any case, the Imbibe blog offers a nice recipe to go along with one of our wine recommendations. Enjoy!
