Wine-derful

Judges completed the first day of tasting the finest vintages the wine world has to offer at the 70th Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition. Stepping into the Millard Sheets Center for the Arts, where judging is taking place, the aroma is musky, flowery, fruity, nutty. Pretty powerful! Judges gather around round tables comparing [...]

Source: http://blogs.fairplex.com/blog/wine/?p=62

Kurt Thomas Busch Kyle Thomas Busch Jeffrey Tyler Burton Richard Allen Craven Kerry Dale Earnhardt

Wine Accessory Review: Wine Shield

It comes packaged like a condom sized for the Jolly Green Giant and it preserves your wine.  With that incongruent image now seared into your mental retina, you’d be doing yourself a favor to check out a newcomer to the wine preservation market – Wine Shield.

Packaged for retail in packs of six and 10, Wine Shield is a food grade quality plastic disc that is approximately the circumference of a bottle of wine.  Using a provided prong applicator, the Wine Shield is inserted into a bottle of wine where it floats on top of the remains of the bottle and acts as an oxygen barrier preserving the integrity of the wine for up to a week according to its inventors – an Aussie group called Wine Preserva.

Distributed state side by the same folks who sell WineSkin (the bottle transport bag), additional benchmark lab tests were conducted by ETS Laboratories in Napa.  Using a Wine Shield against control bottles with no preservation method, ETS found a marked difference in the quality of wine preserved with a Wine Shield as indicated by oxidation over a period of three to seven days.  Wine Shield, in their marketing materials, splits the difference and claims it, “Will preserve the taste and aroma of the wine at restaurant quality for up to five days.”

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While lab tests are great, they are no match to kitchen counter testing so I set out to do my own trial.  Using two bottles of an identical red blend (the appropriately called HOUSE WINE from The Magnificent Wine Company), I put a half bottle under the Wine Shield for five days and tasted it against a freshly opened bottle.

Color me surprised.  I’m an avowed Vacuvin and refrigeration guy, so the notion of keeping a bottle of wine out on the countertop created more than a hint of skepticism.  Yet, five days later not only was the wine preserved by the Wine Shield perfectly potable, but I’d dare say that is had imperceptible levels of degradation.  It merely tasted as if it had been nicely decanted next to the freshly opened bottle.  The nose was still delightfully intact, the fruit was abundant and the tannins had softened to a smooth, fine grain.

Yet, the Wine Shield is not without room for critique– the application process with the prong thingamajig is awkward and for the average wine enthusiast a Wine Shield is probably more of an occasional use item for expensive bottles of wine that won’t be finished in one sitting. Yet, at an inexpensive $5.95 for a six-pack and $6.95 for a 10-pack, I’d have a stash sitting around for when the need arises.

Where the real opportunity exists for Wine Shield, in my opinion, is in restaurants that serve wine by the glass, but don’t have earnest wine programs.  We’ve all been to a Thai joint and ordered a glass of Riesling that, to put it mildly, was way over the hill.  Here, where argon systems and wine preservation aren’t on the restaurant priority list, the Wine Shield would do wonders.

Overall, the Wine Shield is a winner and a little slice of genius when you consider how simple of an idea it is.  Even the most jaundiced of wine enthusiasts will be pleasantly surprised at its performance.  Consumers can buy it here and on-premise can buy wholesale here.

Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/wine_accessory_review_wine_shield/

Terrence Lee Labonte Randy Joseph Lajoie Kevin Paul Lepage William Ashton Lewis Jr Sterling Burton Marlin

What do you do with 9217 corks?

grace: a wine cork portrait from Scott Gundersen on Vimeo. A time-lapse video. 50+ hours (of 200 total) 9217 wine corks. 96″ x 66″ Her name is Grace. A part of Grand Rapids artprize 2010. Learn more at: facebook.com/scottgundersen.art

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/gangofpour/uncZ/~3/vg8v5le3mPs/what-do-you-do-with-9217-corks

Tony Gaze Geki Olivier Gendebien Marc Gené Elmer George

Patrick takes breakthrough fourth

Danica Patrick made history by taking the best ever finish for a female driver in a NASCAR National series event with fourth in Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The IndyCar star had a breakthrough race in NASCAR's second-tier series at the demanding mile-and-a-half oval where she made continuous progress through the 200 laps, recovering from a disappointing qualifying. Starting from 22nd, Patrick moved up all the way to 12th in the order right before the first round of pitstops and she was able to remain inside the top 15 until balance issues caused her to loose ground, eventually dropping a lap down entering the second half of the race

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/nascar-news/nascar/patrick-takes-breakthrough-fourth/

Casey James Mears Juan Pablo Montoya Joseph Francis Nemechek III Ryan Joseph Newman Kyle Eugene Petty

A pairing experiment with carbonlia (chili) and almond soup

Recently, we received the following email: I’m Amber Hoxha from The Thomas Collective, a wine and spirits public relations firm in NYC. I’m writing to inquire if you had any interest in being added to our database so that we can send you updated wine information. Just an email address would be fine. Thanks! -Amber [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/gangofpour/uncZ/~3/e5NUAfcd8as/pairing-experiment

Peter Gethin Piercarlo Ghinzani Bruno Giacomelli Dick Gibson Gimax

The Continental?s Geneva Notebook: Audi A1 E-Tron Could Keep Its Rotary, How Porsche Could Further Lighten the Cayman R, and Fiat?s Hits and Misses

Each week, our German correspondent slices and dices the latest rumblings, news, and quick-hit driving impressions from the other side of the pond. His byline may say Jens Meiners, but we simply call him . . . the Continental. The Audi A3 concept was one of the nicest concept cars at the Geneva show. I like [...] Related posts:
  1. The Continental: Next Cayman Could Go Racing, Audi Quattro Production Talk, and Driving Carlsson’s C25 Supercar
  2. The Continental: My Favorite G, Audi and Porsche Platforms, the Ford Kuga Dies, and the Renault 16 Turns 45
  3. The Continental: PSA and BMW Do Hybrids, Golf Cabriolet Coming to Geneva, VW Up for Frankfurt, and Audi A2 to Return

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/Rf31ocZx1Qw/

Ingo Hoffmann Bill Holland Jackie Holmes Bill Homeier Kazuyoshi Hoshino