When I first heard about the World Wine Tour it was announced well before the recent tragedy in Haiti. I thought it important to share this post, just as I read it the first time it was written by Pri Anish Vag. Whether Haiti has been incorporated into their master plan, I don’t know.

How can a bottle of wine help the world? And how can the wine world come together, to change the lives of those in the greatest need? How can those in the wine industry really help the lives of those less fortunate?

In January of 2010 Anja Cheriakova and Georges Janssens will be starting a world wine charity tour. The pair will be visiting over 300 wineries around the globe, inviting them to donate a bottle of their best wine for the cause. Upon completion of their journey, which will include most wine growing regions of the world, they will hold an auction of the wines in the Napa Valley of California, donating all proceeds to charity. It will hope to raise 150, 000 USD.

To make this remarkable humanitarian project possible, the World Wine Tour 2010 project is seeking sponsorship, in return for marketing and exposure throughout the mission. The sponsors will be promoted through media broadcasts, and also directly through visits to wineries and other wine related businesses. For those interested in becoming a sponsor let me know.

The proceeds will support the Lao Rehabilitation Foundation Inc. (LRF). There the funds will go towards a special interest in education for children, by rebuilding a school in Simmano Village that was destroyed in 2008 by massive floods.

Average income per year in the destroyed schools village is estimated to be $16 US. LRF is one of the few foundations that works specifically in Laos to improve conditions there.

Aside from the sponsors to promote, the wineries to showcase, and the charity to raise funds for, the pair hope to motivate young people of their generation to combine their passions and dreams with humanitarian goals, which is what this world needs most.

I don’t do this that often

(or maybe this is the first time, can’t remember) but I just can’t resist quoting this wine review I received in Facebook. You’ll find a link below to the original posting and by all means, take a peek because there’s more.

Nonetheless, I got such a kick out of this wine description. I know it’s an exceptional review from the author and not his/her normal schtick but man… after reading it I wasn’t sure if I should open the bottle or ‘use’ it in some wicked way, LOL!

No matter your reaction, Wine Time TV is not affiliated with the wine nor winery in question so indulge at your own risk. I’ve posted this as pure entertaining fodder for wine fodder-lovers and whether you have the slightest idea what the wine tastes like after this impressive description is of little interest. Got 40 bucks to burn, go for it!

And I quote;

Overall character is that of a sex loaded scarlet; endowed, jaunty and erotically scented with every part smelling and tasting provocative, flamboyant and blooming.  Its gorgeous, vaunting style is burning, mantling and amorous with a extravagant softness that is grandiose, exotic and pursed lipped.  

There is a edginess, sophistication and dominating air that questions whether your palette has the true aptitude to handle the complete clutch of this much worldliness.  The body is chasmal, bounteous and a little weighty.  In the tasting profile you will never find the true heart of this scandalous wine so just enjoy your x-rated time together. Be aware you will be left lauding and lost when you awake.

The principle flavors change dramatically throughout the decanting process and are generally very floral including red roses, lavender, geranium, dried hibiscus flowers, cranberry raisins, currant jelly, mango with skins, red plums, cobbler, red cherry pie, marmalade red apple skins, strawberry balsamic, raspberry iced tea, fig jelly, orange flower water, cinnamon, nutmeg, coriander, paprika, star anise, graham cracker, sweet baking spice, at times cassis, blackberry bramble and whole black peppercorn.

I don’t know about you but right after I figure out what the hell “chasmal” means, I’m off for a cigarette.
Phew!

Thanks for reading.

READ MORE about this sexy Zinfandel via SONOMA SOMMELIER :: AZZARO ZINFANDEL 2006.

I consider myself an ‘everyman wine drinker’. That is to say, I’m far from qualified to speak on the impeccable vintages out there being indulged upon by the upwardly mobile, particularly as I can’t afford the exorbitant prices. No, instead, I pride myself on finding impeccable bargains.

The dictionary defines BARGAIN as follows;

a thing bought or offered for sale more cheaply than is usual or expected : the secondhand table was a real bargain | [as adj. ] household and electrical goods at bargain prices.

I define bargain as;

A great tasting wine at a cheap price.

The last few months I’ve had the pleasure of living in Europe. It’s been a pleasure for a variety of reasons but one
of the things I’ll miss most (I’m off to Cali in Feb.) and I’ve said it before, will be the great many wines they have here. Great wines at everyman prices.

If you’ve been with us here at Wine Time TV.net since the beginning, then you already know that I on occasion like to share the wealth of my worldly wine exploits. Or simply put, I like to brag about scoring killer wines at awesome prices.

Today I was blessed with another bottle of 2007 Toscana Rosso. A soft and fruity Italian wine with a tinge of tang to it. Sparkling rich in color and a friendly nose, this wine has a certain neutrality to it that I imagine it could easily appeal to those who don’t really dig red wine and those who do, will appreciate it’s taste and respect it’s origins.

Oh, and did I mention it costs a mere €1.99 a bottle? Wine on.

Thanks for reading.

This year for Christmas I got a pretty cool hourglass wine decanter. And though I am no daily drinker of red wine, I can certainly taste the difference a little breath of fresh air makes. Usually I would just set an open bottle of red wine on the counter for a little while before finally drinking it. However, after having used a wine decanter, I’m hooked. Just when I thought swirling and sniffing were cool enough, now there’s something else I can do before finally drinking the damn goodness! I have decided that I will never go back to the old ways again and if there’s no decanter around, I’m having a beer.


Here’s a breakdown of what heck a decanter is and does; A vessel, often made out of glass or lead crystal which is used to separate sediment from another vessel of liquid, for example a bottle of red wine. In this separation process, the sediment is left in a small amount of liquid in the original vessel, and the clear/clean liquid remains in the decanter.


Decanting red wine, however, serves another important purpose besides the whole sediment separation bit and that is to oxygenate the wine. All the Winos I know call it Aeration so I’m rolling with that. Whereas every body outside of the Wine Blogosphere would likely call the process of adding oxygen to a liquid, Oxygenation. Whatever. I trust you’ll make the right choice.


Why do this in the first place, you ask? Well, pretend you did. Why are you so difficult? Since Wine has been sealed in a vacuumed bottle for years, its body and shape are compressed to some extent. Oxygenating wine opens it up by expanding it with air. That breath of fresh air takes the edge off and enhances the aromas and bouquet. Or not. Some Wine experts will disagree with Aeration completely but they’re not cool anyway, so let’s not even talk about them. We’re the boss of us and we say Aeration rocks!


Okay, back to business. Decanting an old bottle of wine is quite simple if you keep in mind two steps. Firstly, it is important to stand the bottle of wine up for several hours to allow the sediment to settle to the bottom of the bottle. Why so long?! Because the big chunks of sediment will settle to the bottle quite quickly, however the finer sediment will take much longer silly.


Here’s how; In a well lit room slowly begin to pour the wine into your awesome decanter. If your decanter’s not awesome, drink beer. Once you have roughly one third left in the bottle have a look at the neck of the bottle for the sediment. Continue but once you begin to see sediment in the neck of the bottle, stop pouring. The wine in your decanter should now be sediment free. If it isn’t it’s because you’re not very good at it. Practice makes perfect and it’s fun! Practice!


Some people say that it is not necessary to decant your everyday bottle of red wine. While this might be true, other people say there’s certainly no harm in it. I think those two groups should meet and duke it out sometime. I’m the kind of Wino that wants clarity. I need answers! LOL! Anyway, with your Average-Joe-Wine, there might not be as much sediment in the bottle to separate or any at all, but the aeration will still likely enhance the flavor and aromas favorably and besides all that, you need the practice going from bottle to Decanter. The easiest wine to decant will be your young bottles of wine sine the goal is to have as much of the wine come in contact with oxygen as possible. Just pour it in so it splashes a lot in the Decanter. Make sure you’ve got that new white Silk shirt on you got for Christmas! Finally, let the decanter sit for a moment to rest before serving. All that splashing about is tiring.

Enjoy!

Thanks for reading.

One thing I’ve learned about drinking wine is to ultimately trust your own taste buds, no matter what any Wine Pro attempts to tell you otherwise.

I’m famous for being in a setting where we’re all drinking a vintage that is supposed to be of exceptional taste and quality and I’m the one thinking, “Hm, this wine sucks…” whereas the others around me are seemingly orgasmic while drinking. Then I have to think, what’s MY problem anyway? “Did I just brush my teeth or something?” Is that why this glass doesn’t appeal to me?

Whatever the case, there is no WRONG in wine tasting, just differences of opinions. So with that in mind, I offer this general advice when it comes to Pairing your wine with a meal. Though many will agree with these generalities (even some Pros), it matters not to me as it’s my formula that I’ve found works for my tastes so far. Maybe it appeals to yours as well?

---

Starters

If you are considering fresh salads of somekind, the appropriate wine may be a Sauvignon Blanc.

However, if you are serving cheese, the best company could be a Merlot. Works great with a cheese fondue as well. Been there, done that!

For pizzas, cold cuts or snacks in general, a great choice is a Rosé since they tend to be on the lighter side of the Winosphere.

Main Course

A general good choice for a main course, particularly when it is an important dish, a great wine would be a Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s an awesome ‘all around’, pair-able and certainly drinkable wine to have in the house at any time and for just about any occasion.

But, if the main course includes sour dishes such as seafood, then put your money where the Sauvignon Blanc is and I’ll bet you’ll have a perfect match!

Nonetheless, if you’re serving a red meat dish, you could stretch a bit from the norm and

surprise your guests with a nice Malbec wine. I recently went for an Argentinean vintage from a winemaker I met while producing their Ad spot for Wine Time TV. They gave me a few bottles as payment and I certainly couldn’t complain. Pretty sweet deal!

As any Wino would agree, there’s sort of a standard rule when it comes to fish as a main dish. White wines are the ticket in that department and I definitely agree. So far in my limited Wino-ramma lifestyle, I have to say there’s nothing better than a nice buttery Chardonnay. Then again, if it’s a greasy fish dish (say that 10 times fast…I dare you!) try a dry one on for size. Hm, that whole paragraph seems like it belongs in a Rap song. See what I mean?

Alternately, If you don’t like white wine at all, besides being weird you can also pair fish with a nice Pinot Noir. No worries, no one will think any less of you. If they do, their snobs and you shouldn’t be hanging out with them in the first place; Let alone cooking them dinner!

Lastly, spicy dishes can sometimes be tricky. I’m going to suggest a Syrah simply because I can’t think of anything better. I’ve had the experience and was quite pleased with the result. The only problem I found is, Syrah vintages aren’t often available in your basic shopping location. Maybe you’ll have to go to a real wine seller. Maybe not.

Desserts

Taking into account that desserts themselves are sweet, it’s a logical pairing point to go for a sweet wine as well. Any other choice of wine can and will likely be succumbed by the desserts sweetness. Does that make sense? Admittedly, I’m totally NOT a dessert dude so I have little to offer on this point. However, my friend the Internet suggests a Chenin Blanc, which is a white wine grape variety from the Loire valley of France and as we all know those Frenchies sure can make pretty happening desserts! If I’m wrong, blame the Internet.

Happy pairing and thanks for reading.

I was recently asked about my thoughts on Wine Tasting by a new wine lover. So, this article is for any brand new Winos out there. Those of you with wine experience have no business poking your nose in this post. Newbies only!

If you had asked me only 5 or 6 months ago as to how one should go about tasting wine, I’d have replied “With an open mouth.” Yeah, you can see why I don’t have many friends. Now, 5 months after having founded Wine Time TV I can’t get away with offering such a hasty reply, though I certainly think about it when asked that question. I’ll never change.

Fact is, my smart-ass answer isn’t completely off base. There just happens to be a formal process to wine tasting and the ‘open mouth’ bit eventually comes in to play. This method to wine tasting that I’m leading up to is actually applied by wine tasters all over the globe. Particular those stereotypical wine drinkers that we Newbie Winos always considered wine snobs before we fully understood the drinking rituals they were performing at tastings.

Actually, once you get past the uppity-yuppity attitude too often associated with it, wine tasting is quite fun and can require a bit of skill, depending on how deep you want to dive into the glass. The art of wine tasting is very easy to learn however and like anything else, the more you practice the better you will be at doing it. Don’t forget, the best part of wine tasting is you get to drink wine. So, practice, practice, practice. Hell, I’m practicing right now with a 2007 Chateu Barrail while writing this article. It’s a yummy Bordeaux I picked up; a steal at only €2.49.

There are no laws in my world of wine, just suggestions. I’m no expert however I know what I like. That’s all that really matters where my palate is concerned and I suggest you don’t let anyone tell you any different. If it doesn’t taste good to you, it isn’t good. That’s my basic rule of thumb.

Okay, let’s get started.

Keeping it ultra simple for the present, there’s red wine and white wine. Sure, many variations of each exist but odds are if you are a brand new Wino you’ve got a basic bottle of each and hopefully didn’t spend a fortune on either. The basic art of wine tasting consists of a few simple steps. So before we begin, you’ll likely want to pour yourself a glass. I’m already a step ahead of you as I mentioned already.

Pouring, is an art of it’s own and we won’t get too into that! Pro’s will tell you (and I tend to agree) that red wine works best with a larger, rounder glass. That’s due to the fact that the wine will taste better having had a good mixture of oxygen run through it. I find the large glass a good tip. You’ll discover regardless of glass size that the wine will have a different taste from the time you open it and say, 20-30 minutes later. Wine is living. Wine breathes. Contrarily, white wine, when professionally served, is generally in a smaller glass. I personally like a big glass for both as I’m a messy swirler.

Speaking of which, after pouring yourself a glass, the first step to tasting wine is to give it a nice swirl. Believe it or not, some suggest how many times to swirl. I go for 6 to 8 times out of habit and following that you’ll want to evaluate the color and clarity. Being new, you may have little clue as to what you’re looking for. No worries. Just tilt the glass in the direction of the whitest background you have near you. Usually a wall or table top.

Basically speaking, your wine shouldn’t have any solid bits floating around in it. If it does, it’s a good chance it’s part of the cork. Then again, if you’re a newbie on a budget you likely have a wine which has a synthetic cork of somekind and those generally don’t fall apart, no matter how deep you jammed your corkscrew into it.

You should also look at the color and the color tones of the wine. If its a red wine, notice the edges of the wine when you’ve got it tilted towards a light back drop. If it’s looking brown around the edges that may very well mean it’s getting old whereas a white wine that is old will likely appear an orangish or dark gold color along it’s edges. Yes, you can drink it anyway so long as it’s not days old. Just remember my main rule of thumb; If it doesn’t taste good to you, it isn’t good.

The next step is smelling the wine. To properly smell the wine you need to swirl it to mix in some air. That wonderful air makes the aromas in the wine float in the glass just above the wine itself. That’s also why I like a big glass. Not only because I have a big nose. So, after swirling stick your big nose in the glass. Don’t be shy. The deeper you go, the more smells you’ll encounter. Close your eyes and try and pick out as many aromas as you can. The more you do it, the better you’ll be at it. I know first hand you have to train those senses since we don’t use them in everyday life, unless of course you’re a wine professional. Many wine bottles have ingredients printed on the label so test yourself and see if you get any right. Even I often do and frankly, my nose sucks.

Now for the moment you’ve been waiting for, like Pavlov’s dog. Go on and taste it! When tasting the wine, swirl it around in your mouth a bit so that it coats the inside of your mouth. You might also try to inhale some air so that the wine releases even more flavor and aroma in your mouth. You might have seen and heard others making a slurping sound while tasting. Truth is, it really does stimulate the palate and even more flavor comes through. Be careful though, I did a lot of embarrassing drooling my first times doing it.

The tasting doesn’t end after you swallow it, or in some cases spit it out. The aftertaste is a very import factor to serious tasters. The aftertaste is measured in the actual length of the aftertaste, how it coats the mouth, how the mouth drys, the astringency and more is revealed. These sensations are generally a result of the tannins in the wine and red wine will tend to have a much stronger aftertaste than white wine, but thats not always the case.

Play around with all of this and by all means have fun. Before you know it, you’ll be using all sorts of snobby terminology while getting on your friends nerves the next time you have a glass of wine at your local pub, extended pinky and all. I should know, as my new found love for wine has already transformed the beer drinking friends I had only half a year ago.

Cheers!
Kamary