We Recommend....

When looking for a good wine, something to look for are points. Wine Spectator or Wine Enthusiast both have experts and wine masters that judge wine. The wines that they feel are the best get points awarded to them. Good wines usually start in the low to mid 80's and go up from there. The higher the points the better the wine. We recommend wines to people all the time. If you want to help yourself just look for the bright orange signs the say "This Wine Recommended by:" If you ever need a wine for dinner or to give as a gift just ask. Both myself and Drew are Certified Wine Specialist and can recommend a great wine for any occasion.

WINE TASTING 101

Wine tasting is an art form. Most people don't understand if you drink 8-10 samples of wine and you drink every sample the last one may be the best one. Why? Well after multiple wine samples the alcohol may start taking it's toll on your senses. In wine tasting using your sight,smell and taste are very important. When sampling wine first look at the wine. Look at the color, is your chardonnay light yellow or brownish. Next use your nose and smell the wine. What flavors are you getting fruit, grass, smoke or maybe some leather? If you smell cork after you have opened your wine and poured a glass it is been corked and is bad. Now taste the wine, let your taste buds tell you what is in the wine. NOW SPIT! It's OK. To be a good judge of wine, being sober when you sample the last wine is important. I know it seem wrong to spit out perfectly good wine but you may find the first wine was the best.

OH Sherry!

Many people have been coming in to the store asking "what is the difference between cream and dry sherry?" Let's start with, what is sherry? Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes. The dominate white grape used in making sherry is palomino. All wine labeled as "sherry" must legally come from southern Spain in an area know as the Sherry Triangle. When the fermentation process is done, sherry is fortified with brandy, fortifying helps preserve the wine. Sherry is produced in a variety of different styles. Some are dry and light while others are dark and sweet. The main styles that we carry are Fino or Dry, Sweet and Cream Sherry. The grocery aisle also has sherry but it has salt, potassium and other preservatives. You should NOT drink cooking sherry. So Sherry that has Fino or no indication is dry, Cream Sherry is sweet. Dry Sherry is used a lot for cooking but Cream Sherry goes great with desert. Chocolate cake for one is delicious or try something with nuts in it. So next time you are in our store stop in a see our selections of Sherry.

Organic Wine and Sulfites

There is some argument about organic wine and it's labeling. The argument stems from sulfites. Sulfites or sulfur dioxide is added to wine to help preserve the wine, sulfites also have high levels of antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. All wines have sulfites in them, most are added in the wine making process but it is also a natural occurring process after bottling. So here is the controversy, to some organic means how the grapes are grown and processed. To others it means grown, processed and NO sulfites added. To know if you have a wine which has no sulfites added, it will usually have an expiration date. Wine that has sulfites have a much longer shelf life than wine with no sulfites added. We have a growing selection of organic wines. Natura, True Earth and Candoni to name a few. If you need help finding our organic wines just ask.