All About Wine And Its Goodness!

The growing number of celebrities (alive and dead) associated with wine seems to be a trend that’s almost irresistible.  True, we haven’t yet had a Michael Jackson cabernet, but the vineyards are crawling with vintages from dead celebrities including Elvis Presley (Elvis Blue Suede Chardonnay 2001, Jailhouse Red Merlot 2002, and Blue Christmas Cabernet 2002) and Jerry Garcia (Garcia Cabernet Sauvignon 2001) to name but two.  Many other breathing celebs like Sting, Olivia Newton John, Bob Dylan and former Bond girl Carole Bouquet (excellent name for a winemaker!) have recently started hawking their own wines or associated themselves with commercial vintages.

But before you consider breaking these publicity seekers on wine racks it’s best to realise that some seem to be doing it for the right reason: they are interested in making good wines.  French actor Gerard Depardieu co-produces both a Condrieu (the excellent Lys de Volan Condrieu 2003) and a Saint Joseph with the acclaimed Northern Rhone winemaker Alain Paret.However, the king of serious celebrity winemakers has to be Francis Ford Coppola.A wine buff from his childhood days on Long Island, Coppola got into the wine business in 1975,using the profits from the first Godfather movie to purchase most of Napa Valley’s Inglenook estate.  He has been one of the seminal figures in the valley’s rise to international acclaim and Niebaum-Coppola wines still command a dedicated following and make excellent wine gifts.

Other equally serious and perhaps unexpected wine making celebs include golfing greats Ernie Els and Greg Norman who own vineyards in South Africa and Australia, respectively.  The Greg Norman Limestone Coast Shiraz 2002 is nicely restrained on the palate (particularly welcome in an Australian syrah).   At the other end of the spectrum must be Australian cricketer Shane Warne.  More used to a bottle opener than a corkscrew from his hard partying days, Warne’s foray into more genteel booze was greeted with a certain scepticism that he did nothing to dampen.He confessed it took him a while to understand what red wine is and what made a red and a white wine different!

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If you are looking for a Christmas wine gift you want to choose a high quality wine if you want to make a good impression. Buying and inexpensive wine or low quality wine can only leave a bad impression on the recipient. Likewise, just because a wine is expensive does not mean it is good quality. It is important not to give a wine that you are not familiar with. To better know how to find the highest quality wine, make sure you do your research and become very familiar with different brands and varieties.

You ask someone what type of wine to give as a Christmas gift. Good idea? Yes and no. Yes in that the person is telling you what type of wine he feels was good so you know the type of wine. No because maybe the type of wine you give will not be processed by the same wine manufacturer. There is a difference between wine manufacturers and they will not result in the same wine taste. So the answer is to buy and taste the particular wine you want to gift. That way you will be certain of the quality of the wine. Learn all you can about famous winemakers and manufacturers and soon you will be the wine expert.

What Kind of Wine Should You Give as a Christmas Gift?

You can follow a general rule that white wine is served with white meats and red wine is served with red meats. This is pretty simple, right? But like all rules there are exceptions. When chicken is being served, a fruity red wine goes best. When fish is being served, usually red wine is served instead of white. Again, the exception is Lobster where a sweet white wine is best. Remember there are no rigid rules here but if you are attending a Christmas Dinner, bringing a good complimentary wine will go a long way. If in doubt, a fruity white wine or red wine is a good choice and generally safe for all foods. There is one important thing for you to remember if you are bringing a bottle of wine as a Christmas Gift. Chill the wine before you arrive at the home of the guest. This is just in case the person you are gifting the wine to wants to use the bottle of wine that evening. It will be quite impressive that you thought ahead to give an appropriate and useful gift.

Article written by Street Smart Marketing

www.Gift-Alley.com

Fine wine is expensive and relatively fragile but ages superbly in the sort of conditions found in underground cellars.  Most wine storage systems attempt to replicate this environment as closely as possible for a really healthy wine.  There are a number of companies who will cellar wine for you, but if your wine is intended for consumption, off-site storage has its drawbacks. You can’t just pop in and retrieve the bottles you want when you want and there are charges each time you put wine in or take it out—costs which soon mount up.

As a result, where space affords, most wine lovers find it more convenient to keep their wine at home and the bottle opener handy. Wine should be kept at a cool constant temperature in the dark, so for those of us lucky enough to have proper cellars, storing your wine in a wine rack will provide close to the ideal conditions.  That’s especially true with cork-sealed bottles which are best stored horizontally rather than upright.  Humidity is also important because it helps keep the cork in good condition. In a properly humid cellar a sound cork can comfortably last for around 70 years.

For most of us urban dwellers, though, where living space is at a premium, a cellar is not available.  In that case a wine cooler or wine cabinet is the most versatile and affordable way of storing wine at home. Temperature-controlled storage conditions of some kind are a necessity as the vast majority of homes in the UK are not air conditioned, and ambient temperatures can reach as much as 30° C during the summer months. Wine coolers come in several different shapes, sizes and finishes, and range in price from relatively cheap to the enormously expensive.Some are little more than adapted refrigerators, while the top of the range models are quality pieces of furniture designed with wine storage in mind.