Start your Holiday Shopping Here!

The holiday shopping season is here!

With the 2012 WineShop at Home Holiday Gift Guide, I have something for every wine lover on your list.  Make your selections and email (debra_gomes@me.com) or call me (919-448-8398), I will take care of the rest. Plus, if you order early, it will only take 3-5 business days to deliver!

From stocking stuffers, artisan wines, 3, 6 or 12 month wine club membership, personalized wines and personalized gift boxes, lead-free crystal stemware, decanters, gift baskets and much more.

Also, if you would like to schedule a holiday wine tasting, let’s talk soon! This is a great time of year to gather your friends and try some fantastic wines before you buy in the comfort of your home! The cost of a 12-person tasting is just under $50 (including tax and shipping).

I look forward to working with you this holiday season. Please call with any and all questions.

Cheers and Happy Holidays!

Debra Gomes, 919-448-8398

Wines for Thanksgiving

It is not too late to place your order for some fantastic wines to pair with Thanksgiving Dinner.  These pairings were made by our wine marker Alex Reble.

Choose Real Cork!

At church this morning I saw that they were collecting corks, and as I have a few, I was curious what they do with them. I went home and pulled up this website, which I found educational and fascinating.  This program helps to educate the public about the negative environmental impact that screw caps and plastic closures have to our planet. And how choosing wine with real cork creates jobs and helps the environment.  They also give drop off sites for recycling cork.

Here are some of the things I learned:

-  Current testing indicates that wine taint from bottles closed with natural cork, is down to 1% there is no quality benefit to using an alternative closure. When given the opportunity to choose a sustainable, renewable, recyclable and quality closure, cork is and should be the number one choice.

-  Cork is a 100% natural, renewable, recyclable and biodegradable material that is obtained through an environmentally friendly harvesting process.

-  Based upon current estimates there is enough cork to close all wine bottles produced in the world, for the next 100 years. The cork forests are now being more sustainably managed than ever before in their history and new planting is always ongoing.

-  Whole Foods is one of the donation sites for corks!

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Jazmin and Matt's tasting.

Met this really nice couple at Vanessa's tasting. Can't wait for their tasting on this Saturday!

Lucky French Cows!

Red or white with beef? Either! 

Happy French cows fed two bottles of wine a day to produce succulent gourmet ‘vinbovin’ meat

French cows are getting a taste of the lush life by being fed wine — the equivalent of two or three bottles a day for some cattle in the southern region of Herault.

The cattle’s owner claims it keeps them “happy,” and for the consumer, makes the meat a better-tasting product.  Chefs are also swearing by imbibing bovines.

The meat, known as “vinbovin,” has a “very special texture, beautiful, marbled and tender, which caramelizes while cooking,” Laurent Pourcel, a three Michelin-star chef, said this month, according to The Telegraph.

Winemaker Jean-Charles Tastavy added that he came up with the idea when he first provided the cows a mix of grapes, barley and hay.

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Farewell Zinfandel

The Mariana Zinfandel has just moved to low inventory.  This old vine favorite of mine and yours will be missed.  Let me know if you are interested in making a purchase while you still have a chance.

Our Mariana 2009 Zinfandel was produced in the Central Coast wine growing region of California. Zinfandel or Zin, found its origin in Europe in Albania or Greece. This varietal is a genetic twin of the Italian varietal Primitivo. Planted in the United States in the early 19th century it became, half a century later, the number one planted grape vine in California. Zin was and is still very popular even having its own yearly festival in San Francisco: the ZAP. Its popularity comes certainly from the fact that this wine can be appreciated under many forms, as Pink or Rosé, sweet or dry. This wine is made from Old Vines in the Contra Costa appellation, or AVA.

This is a classic wine with a dark robe and a complex nose: dry herbs, black pepper, toasted and light oak characters. The ripeness of these Old Vines provide a round and creamy mouthfeel. Beautiful flavors of cherries, cassis and oak tannins from barrel ageing complete the structure. This wine will stand easily with more ageing in the bottle, up to three years. Enjoy it with grilled meat, stews, wild game or many cheeses. Try the featured recipe of Savory-Backyard-Chicken on the back, which will pick up perfectly with many flavors found in this wine.

Mariana 2009 California Zinfandel

Wine Collecting: 10 Tips for Beginners

Have you ever considered starting a wine collection but were unsure how to begin? Here are some useful tips for any readers considering having more than a few dozen bottles around at the one time.

If you decide to collect wine, the most important first step is to be clear about your objectives. Are you collecting for your own everyday and future drinking pleasure? Or are you investing in an asset, which you plan to sell at a future date for a profit? Depending on your answer, how you set about starting and building your collection will differ greatly.

For the purpose of this post, let's assume you are collecting for your personal pleasure.

Collecting Wine: 10 Essential Tips

• 1. Not all wines age well. Collect wines that have at least 2 to 3 years aging potential. The real fun in collecting is seeing how these wines develop over time. Get to know the categories of wines that age. For example Bordeaux ages but simple Beaujolais does not

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