Article: Longwood Gardens Wine & Jazz Festival, 6/4 2011/05/16

Great location just outside of Philadelphia. The fountains and fireworks show is worth attending. 

Longwood Gardens Wine & Jazz Festival, 6/4 2011/05/16
http://pennsylvania.broadwayworld.com/article/Longwood-Gardens-Wine-Jazz-Festival-64-20110516

Enjoy the eclectic sounds of live jazz music, fine wines and local fresh fare amid the spectacular spring splendor of Longwood Gardens when the horticultural showplace hosts the fifth annual Longwood Gardens Wine & Jazz Festival

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Article: 2011 Wings & Wine Festival | Eugene Daily News

I was excited about possibly buffalo, but no. Bats and birds. Still good, after all it still has wine. 

2011 Wings & Wine Festival | Eugene Daily News
http://eugenedailynews.com/2011/05/16/2011-wings-wine-festival/

Not Buffalo Wings…Bird Wings. When I first heard about the Wings & Wine Festival, I immediately thought of the delicious buffalo style chicken wings that I make during the Oregon Duck football games, which we always enjoy with a good, locally produced, Zinfandel; consequently, I thought to myself, “great combination!”

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Article: Free samples, tour among winery's attractions | Springfield News-Leader | News-Leader.com

If you are in the Missouri area, this seems like "Must Do" visit. 

Free samples, tour among winery's attractions | Springfield News-Leader | News-Leader.com
http://www.news-leader.com/article/20110515/LIFE0602/105150313/1002/SPORTS/?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Stone Hill Winery, which opened in Branson in 1986, offers free daily tours where visitors learn about the wine making process including how cream sherry is made or Spumante is bottled. They watch a short video on the history of winemaking in Missouri.

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Article: iPad wine lists let your fingers do the ordering

iPad wine lists let your fingers do the ordering
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/food/5183848-423/ipad-wine-lists-let-your-fingers-do-the-ordering.html

I loved the iPad wine list. With the double-tap of a finger, I could call up categories such as “region,” “type,” “vintage” or “name.” I could sort the selections by glass or bottle price, starting at “under $10” for glasses and climbing to “over $300” for bottles.

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The future is here. And it's awesome. 

Wine and Barbeque

It is clearly and officially grilling season, where food is more commonly cooked on the grill than indoors and the most common sauce slathered on suddenly becomes BBQ sauce.  The sweet tomato, vinegar and brown sugar sauce is delicious, but  poses it's own pairing issues for those that would like a glass of wine even with a simple BBQ chicken meal or the like.  When picking a wine to pair with BBQ remember that while the sauce is a major flavor, the meat being grilled still needs to be taken into account when making decisions.  To make even a simple grilled dinner special try putting the wine in crystal wine decanters.

The challenge of pairing wine with barbeque is hard because a drier wine is necessary.  Sweet wine, or even just slightly too sweet, with the sugary BBQ sauce can take the savory tone away from the whole meal. Of course just like with all wine pairings the only solid rule is that there is no rules.  Have fun and remember that if a favorite wine seems like it would work than try it out with the barbaque meal fresh off the grill. Most of the time any good wine can work with good fresh BBQ because good food is universally enjoyable.

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Keep A Sharp Mind

Using food and other natural items to improve health and mind is a trend right now this is sweeping the United States.  Things like "superfoods" are saught after, but all wine lovers already have a superfood like item in their houses, red wine. Small amounts of polyphenols that are found in good dark chocolate are found in even larger amounts in red wine.  Polyphenols are good for brains because they increase the delivery of blood to the brain. This rush of oxygen and sugars to the brain make calculations faster.  Studies using polyphenols have even been conducted to see who gets the most benefit from them, the answer, the elderly.  This is because of the decreased blood flow to the brain as people age, so even those feeling mentally sluggish can get a boost from the goodness in red wine.

Sadly white wine does not have nearly as much polyphenols as red meaning that the Bacchus red wine glasses will help more if drinking wine is going to part of a plan to imporve ones thinking and brain function.  Finer darker reds have even more polyphenols in them too so enjoy that nightly class of red and justify buying that expensive bottle. It's not a splurge, it's helping brain function.

via Rhino Wino

Vegetarian Wine News

More news on the vegetarian wine issue that was blogged about on April 26, Canada has made a step forward in making drinking wine an easier task for vegetarians. Starting the summer of 2012 bottles of wine from Canada or being sold in Canada must contain a warning if they may contain traces of non-vegetarian substances from the sediment gathering agent.  Basically this means that if the wine maker used milk protein, egg white, or animal gelatins to clear the sediments from the wine that they must say so on the label.  This was originally done to alert people with allergies and food intolerances but is just as useful to vegetarians struggling in a meat eating world. 

                While not everyone, or even a large percent, is a vegetarian it is nice to know what is in the wine.  And maybe with this vegetarian adventure into wine more vegans will soon be able to grab their corkscrews without consuming anything against their diet.  Synthetic sediment clearers and clay can be used with almost as good effects as animal products.  It is heartening to think that in a few years there will be few reasons to question the quality and ingredients of anything wither it is a bottle of wine with friends or something at a nice restaurant.   

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Wine Label Confusion

While there are plenty of words on wine labels, some of them are very vague or undefined. Typically the only words that matter are the type of wine, year and brand name.  It is hard to find a good wine based on anything else because legally none of the other terms are defined, leaving the vintner to creatively bulk up their product however they feel they can with reassuring words like “old vine” and reserve.  But really these words have as much meaning as farm fresh and wholesome used by the food companies.  Still don’t let those wine glasses go empty because vintners are not trying to swindle the average wine drinker, it is just marketing. 

                The vintners are complaining about wine labeling too, but because there has been a push for stricter labeling regulations for wine and they protest that it is already hard enough to get a label approved and that stricter labeling would cripple the honest wine makers.  They believe that their product is great, and by their definitions, deserving of the buzz words they chose for the labels.  Of course this is ultimately a complicated issue that needs to be considered carefully before conclusions are drawn. 

via Rhino Wino

Store Wine Right

After getting a great deal on some wine, and buying more than just for that night, storing wine becomes the consumer’s responsibility.  Whereas before the store had fridges set to just the right temperature, most homes have to take a little care to keep wine at its peak while storing it.  First of all, all wine hates light. No exceptions, keep wine bottles away from direct light, especially sunlight but even artificial light can deteriorate the contents of even the best bottle of wine.  Another equally important thing to remember about wine is that it can spoil quite easily with sudden changes in temperature.  Well insulated wine carriers

[caption id="attachment_1648" align="alignright" width="211" caption="carriers with closable lids keep cold in better"][/caption]

are essential than with summer coming to make sure that wine is saved from the merciless heat of a warmed up car interior or even its brief encounters with the outside blazing heat. 

                Once that bottle makes it safely home, just keep it out of the light and in a place with a constant and slightly cool temperature and don’t worry.  While most household fridges are too cold to store wine in, adjustable temp drawers are a lifesaver though, a simple empty cooler or cabinet in a dry, cool part of the house will work just fine.  Just make sure to store the bottles on their sides or slightly tipped toward the cork. Other than that storing wine is mostly about keeping out light and excess heat; not too hard.

via Rhino Wino

Spotlight Finger Lakes

Many people who do not even drink wine know about the exceptional wine that comes from Napa in California; but second in celebrity for America’s wine countries defiantly goes to the Finger Lakes area.  In fact two wineries in the Finger Lakes area where recently announced Wine & Spirits Top Value Brands.  This is a great honor for Fox Run Vineyards and Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars because out of the year’s worth of blind tastings they stood out as having multiple stellar value wines.  In fact the whole area has been named one of the most affordable and beautiful wine countries in North America. Of course if planning a trip there now is out of the question, people do have to work, than grab wine baskets. 

                All Finger Lakes wineries are particularly known for their dry and semi-dry Rieslings. So try one of those and while sipping it imagine that future trip to the gorgeous Finger Lakes in the hopefully near future.  Everyone deserves a vacation after all and an area named as being affordable and producing quality wine is probably the best place to have a last minute getaway. 

via Rhino Wino