Wine Basket - The Perfect Mothers Day Gift

April 26th, 2006

Each year as Mothers day rolls around most men are thinking “what will I do for my wife this year”? Sure you have taken your wife (or your mother) out to a great Mothers day buffet many times, you have cooked breakfast in bed for her and you even gave her a “special day” helping with her chores and what not. After a while coming up with new and exciting ideas on how you can help your wife / mother celebrate her day can become a bit of a challenge.

However why not create a special wine basket for her, wine is so very popular these days and you can fill the basket with her favorite goodies and snacks such as cheese’s, nuts, crackers, fruits, teas, chocolates and of course a few bottles of her favorite wine and many one she has never tired before.

If the mother in your life is really into wine then you could also give her a year subscription to one of the popular “wine clubs” this way she will have some treats on Mothers day and each month she will receive a shipment of one or two bottles of wine selected by the club of your choice. A gourmet wine basket is really a lovely gift any Mother would enjoy ….

Posted in Wine Gift Baskets at 11:02 AM . ( No comments )

Australia Wine Club Australian

April 15th, 2006

As wine gains more and more popularity it is only natural for those who enjoy wine to want to learn more about wine, and to ultimately seek out that “great find”. Thus wine clubs have become very popular over the years, giving members a chance to enjoy new brands for interesting wineries from around the world.

Australian wines have also become increasingly popular, it only seams natural that an “Australian Club” would do quite well. Billed as “The Original Australian Wine Club” the Wine Society has been in operation for more than 50 years (established back in 1946) and was established as a non-profit “co-op”. The club has more than 50,000 members, allowing them to source high quality wines from Australia that might otherwise be hard to get or quite expensive. True to it’s “non-profit” status all profits are put back into the the co-op which then results in better wines, more selection and ultimately better prices.

Like other wine clubs the Wine Society offers their version of a wine magazine, deep savings on the co-ops own labelled wines and access to club events and informational wine classes. Additional information can be found at the Australian Wine Club Society.

Posted in Wine Clubs at 7:51 AM . ( No comments )

California Wine Club

April 14th, 2006

As wine grows in popularity people are searching for new fun ways to “share” wine with one another, one excellent option is to give someone a year in a popular wine club of the month program. These clubs often focus on regions or countries and can provide people will a lasting gift (12 months anyway). Clubs also offer people various different wines they might not be able to get a hold of easily or might otherwise just never heard of, clubs also ensure your tasting quality wines.

One such club called no less the “California Wine Club” was founded in 1990 by Boring and his wife Pam who have both shared a love of wine for many years. The California club features wines from small family wineries located in California, each month members enjoy two bottles which are hand selected. Members also enjoy an informative monthly magazine “Uncorked” which features in-depth articles about the wines, background stories on some of the wineries that are featured as well as recipes that work well with wine.

The club has no joining fee’s, monthly costs start at just under $35 per month up to the premier level which is just under $200 monthly. The club does offer a discount program that rewards members for buying a 3, 6, 9 or 12 month membership in advance. Month to month memberships are also available for those who would like to “test” the program.

Learn more here by visiting the California Wine Club.

Posted in Wine Information, Wine Clubs at 2:26 PM . ( No comments )

Wine Glass Or Water Tower?

April 12th, 2006

Often times when someone mentions wine country images of northern California come to mind. None the less in the recent years vintners from Oregon as well as Washington state have begun to produce some very tasty wines. One such town is Prosser Washington. In an effort to change public thinking of where great wine is produced and to gain some recognition the town is considering building a water tower in the shape of a wine glass!

Already in need of a new water tower the town figures another $600,000 to create their “wine glass” water tower just plain makes sense. Turns out city leaders figure instead of creating an eyesore why not create something that will provide some point of interest for the town and wine lovers alike.

Additional information can be found out about Prosser here.

Posted in Wine Information, Wine Glassess at 4:41 PM . ( No comments )

Highest Rated Cheap Wine (Red)

April 12th, 2006

Soon after launching this blog I began to look at wine a bit differently as I focused more on the names and years of the wine. While I enjoy wine and drink it from time to time my wife really love wine and drinks a glass or two each night with dinner, almost always red. Amanda and I have purchased dozens and dozens of varieties of red wine and have found one brand that we consider the highest rated cheap wine (in our house anyway).

The brand name is Red Truck and it comes out of California, which was founded by Fred Cline in 1982. While the winery has had many “popular” bottles success came when they launched a blended table wine in 2003. Sales exploded since that time and in 2004 they sold more than 145,000 cases! As mentioned this has been my wife’s favourite wine for some time, she says she can taste just a bit of vanilla and often buys a case at a time to get an extra 10% off the purchase price at our local “bottle shop”.

About a year ago the winery featured a label contest that was won by California artist Cindy Lucas, you can view here painting as well as other finalists below:

Red Truck Wines
Red Truck Wine Label Contest

Posted in Wine Information, Wine Ratings, Cheap Wine at 3:51 PM . ( No comments )

Wine-Blog.Net Launch - Wine Articles, News & More

October 5th, 2005

Welcome to www.wine-blog.net, this site has been in my thoughts for years and I am excited to welcome readers to the first post! As a professional chef for over 20 years and one who loves great culinary delights it was only a matter of time until I got around and created this site.

I will tell you right now that I am not wine expert, I do have some good basic knowledge and will share that along the way. This site will be a learning experience for me and I hope you as well. The site gets kicked off with more than 25 excellent wine article dealing with wine accessories, types of wine, what makes a wine “fine”, wine cellar design ideas and more.

You can find our wine articles located here:

www.wine-blog.net/articles/

Cheers,

Wine Guy

Posted in Wine Information at 11:53 AM . ( No comments )