Tony Stewart A Martinsville Elitist

2011 NSCS Tony Stewart - Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCARKANNAPOLIS, N.C., (March 30, 2011) ? Tony Stewart is part of an elite group. Believe it or not, it?s not because of his two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships. Or 39 career Sprint Cup wins. Or 1997 IZOD IndyCar Series title. Or four USAC...more»

Source: http://www.catchfence.com/2011/sprintcup/03/30/tony-stewart-a-martinsville-elitist-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tony-stewart-a-martinsville-elitist-2

François Hesnault Hans Heyer Damon Hill Graham Hill Phil Hill

Australia Sunday quotes: Pirelli

Pirelli's Motorsport Director Paul Hembery: "What a fantastic race! Australia had everything: the quickest lap of Melbourne ever seen in qualifying, plenty of on-track battles, close competition, and some thrilling overtaking manoeuvres. At the end of it we have three drivers from different teams standing on the podium, all of whom performed outstandingly. I think that the same can be said of our tyres too: we had no issues whatsoever and the degradation was less than expected meaning that most drivers - including the top three - chose a two-stop strategy, as we had predicted

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/australia-sunday-quotes-pirelli/

Dick Gibson Gimax Richie Ginther Yves Giraud Cabantous Ignazio Giunti

TasteCamp East:Bloggers Arrive in the Finger Lakes

This is one of my favorite times of the year.  I’m fortunate enough to be included on the list of wine bloggers and writers who get asked to attend TasteCamp East, organized by Lenn Thompson and Evan Dawson at The New York Cork Report. Last year, Long Island Wine Country hosted our group and although [...]

Source: http://familylovewine.wordpress.com/2010/05/06/tastecamp-eastbloggers-arrive-in-the-finger-lakes/

Tony Gaze Geki Olivier Gendebien Marc Gené Elmer George

Brian Scott, No. 11 Shore Lodge Toyota Camry Auto Club Speedway Post Race Report

No. 11 Shore Lodge Toyota (Brian Scott) - Photo Credit: Chris Graythen / Getty Images for NASCARBrian Scott Post-Race Recap Royal Purple 300 at Auto Club Speedway March 26, 2011 Race Highlights: * Brian Scott started the Royal Purple 300 from the 11th position after his qualifying effort on Saturday morning. * Scott was happy...more»

Source: http://www.catchfence.com/2011/nationwide/03/28/brian-scott-no-11-shore-lodge-toyota-camry-auto-club-speedway-post-race-report/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=brian-scott-no-11-shore-lodge-toyota-camry-auto-club-speedway-post-race-report

Hubert Hahne Mike Hailwood Mika Häkkinen Bruce Halford Jim Hall

Kevin Harvick Beats Jimmie Johnson at California

By Reid Spencer Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service (March 27, 2011) FONTANA, Calif.?Hometown boy (finally) makes good. Kevin Harvick, who grew up in Bakersfield?about 150 miles from Auto Club Speedway?needed a last-lap pass of Jimmie Johnson to win for the first time at the 2-mile track, in his 18th attempt. Harvick won Sunday?s Auto Club [...]

Source: http://finallapradio.com/2011/03/27/kevin-harvick-beats-jimmie-johnson-at-california-auto-club-speedway/

Joseph Francis Nemechek III Ryan Joseph Newman Kyle Eugene Petty Floyd Anthony Raines Scott Russell Riggs

Deal and Giveaway: A $55 Wine Enthusiast Voucher from BuyWithMe

Group buying site BuyWithMe is offering a $55 voucher for Wine Enthusiast for $25.

Click here to check out the deal.

Deal ends Sunday February 13th at 11:59 pm EST.

If you've never bought a voucher from a service like BuyWithMe, Groupon, LivingSocial or others I wouldn't be worried about whether it's legit.  If it seems strange I think I know how you feel.  I felt the same way the first time I heard about them.  But after taking advantage of a number of these deals I haven't had a deal go south on me.  You just have to read the terms of the deal and decide whether it works for you.

For this one I think the terms are favorable.  The $55 voucher can even be used towards shipping and some items qualify for free shipping if you order $95 worth of merchandise.

In conjunction with this deal, BuyWithMe has given me one voucher to give away - more on that at the end of this post.

I thought it would be helpful to put together a list of wine accessories for your consideration.  Here are some things that catch my eye:

Riedel Vinum Cabernet/Merlot/Bordeaux Wine Glasses (Set of 2)

For me, Riedel's Vinum line represents the benchmark against which all other wine glasses are measured.  The shapes of the stems and the styling is spot-on classic.

It's really difficult to catch Riedel stemware at a discount so this BuyWithMe offer presents a good opportunity to catch these glasses at a good price.

Ravi Instant Wine Chiller

If you're a white wine drinker -or- you live in a warmer climate the Ravi Instant Wine Chiller is a product you might find useful.  If you have a single temperature wine refrigerator (or wine cellar) and you want to take white wine out and enjoy it immediately, the Ravi can drop the temperature 10-20F.

If you keep red wine at room temperatures that approach 80F alcohol will tend to dominate.  Dropping the temperature down closer to 65F can really make the wine shine.  The Ravi can help in this scenario as well.

Full review here.

Screwpull Waiter Style Corkscrew

Corkscrews have to be some of the most overpriced/overthought wine accessories on the market.  Whenever someone comes at me with a winged device or anything that doesn't fit in your pocket I get scared.  Opening wine is easy - all you need is a waiter's corkscrew and you're set.

I like this one because Screwpull makes good stuff and the double-hinged feature is handy.  Check it out.

Riedel Merlot Wine Decanter

At their core, wine decanters are pretty simple devices.  You want to expose more surface area of the wine to air than what a wine bottle would normally provide -and- you want to give sediment an area to settle within so it doesn't wind up in your glass.  This one from Riedel costs only $25.95.  A good opportunity to snag your first wine decanter -or- stock up if you find yourself in situations where you need to decant multiple bottles simultaneously.

EuroCave Comfort 266 Wine Cellar (1-Temp) (Black - Solid Door)

Okay, it's a stretch to think you'd use a $55 voucher to buy a wine refrigerator that costs a couple thousand dollars.  But I bought one of these a few years ago and I've been very pleased with it.  The best way to get a deal on a EuroCave?  Call them up, ask for Marshall, and tell him you're ready to buy right now.  Ask them to give you the best deal possible.  Shoot for 15% off and free shipping and see what they say.  As with many retailers, it's difficult to get a great price -and- free shipping but it never hurts to ask.


Okay, here's how to enter the giveaway.  Just leave a comment below saying you'd like to be entered by 5 pm PST Friday February 11th 2011.  I'll then pass along the $55 Wine Enthusiast BuyWithMe voucher as a gift.

Prefer to keep it on the down low?  No problem - just drop me an E-mail saying you'd like to be entered in this giveaway: wellesleywinepress@gmail.com

To improve your chances of winning, include a link in your comment to a specific item on the Wine Enthusiast website that you think is a good play for use with this voucher.

Winner will be chosen by random drawing and announced Saturday morning.  Good luck, and please spread the word on Facebook and Twitter by using the buttons below.

Disclosure: I participate in both the Wine Enthusiast and BuyWithMe affiliate programs and BuyWithMe provided this voucher for me to give away.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/Me-2dwOUGcI/deal-and-giveaway-55-wine-enthusiast.html

Eddie Johnson Leslie Johnson Bruce Johnstone Alan Jones Tom Jones

What?s so Odd about Oddbins?

Oddbins is in trouble, and it needs a new lease of life, and probably a new investor, to survive, but brands CAN survive repeated near-death experiences if they have something to live for. Newspapers and the wine media are full of doom and gloom stories about the future of Oddbins, once the UK’s coolest wine [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheWineConversation/~3/5Dwrpa9zIOU/

William Clyde Elliott Jeffrey Michael Gordon Charles Robert Hamilton IV Charles Robert Hamilton V Kevin Michael Harvick

Cochon 555: Pork and Pinot Noir in Boston

Cochon 555 -  a national culinary competition promoting heritage breed pigs - came to Boston January 30th, 2011. The event challenges five local chefs to prepare a three course meal for attendees who then vote to determine which will advance to the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen to compete against winners from the other ten cities where Cochon 555 is held.

If you're a fan of Top Chef the format felt very similar to the challenges contestants go through each week where they need to prepare food for a large audience within a challenging set of constraints.

The event is all about pork, but for me it was all about the wine. I enjoyed the mix of top-flight wines from family owned wineries pouring mostly domestic Pinot Noir. Because the primary focus was on food, the lines at the wine tables were relatively short which provided an excellent opportunity to get to know the winery reps present at the event.

The 2011 Boston event was held at the Fairmont Copley Hotel.  A VIP hour kicked off the event with something for everyone. Beer, sustainable oysters, artisan cheeses, bacon-themed appetizers, and an impressive selection of wines from West Sonoma Coast Vintners Peay, Freeman, Red Car, Ramey, Boheme, Martinelli, Freestone, and Littorai.

In Boston the chefs competing were:

  • Matt Jennings from Farmstead
  • Barry Maiden from Hungry Mother
  • Lydia Shire from Scampo & Locke-Ober
  • Mary Dumont from Harvest
  • Will Gilson Garden at the Cellar
As the chefs were preparing, plating, and serving their dishes I made my way around to the wine tables. I've been having a hard time finding value from the highly-regarded 2008 Oregon Pinot Noir vintage. The event provides an opportunity to taste higher end bottlings from well regarded producers so I was excited to see what was in store. First stop: Elk Cove.

I enjoyed talking with Elk Cove's Sales Manager Craig Hedstrom as he described each of their wines. We started off with a couple whites - a Pinot Blanc and a Pinot Gris. The 2009 Elk Cove Pinot Gris really caught my attention. I've had this wine in prior vintages and it felt a little lean but this 09 was impressive. More luscious and generous but balanced nicely with acidity. Crisp and clean yet round and delicious.

Craig Hedstrom
Sales Manager, Elk Cove
Then we tasted through their 2008 Pinot Noirs. The 2008 Willamette Valley, the Mount Richmond, and the Five Mountains.  The Willamette Valley sells for around $25 here in Massachusetts and the single vineyards sell for $40 and up.

For immediate consumption, I think the 2008 Elk Cove Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is the value play. It's one of the few entry-level 2008 Oregon Pinot Noirs I'd call outstanding and it's been reliably delicious across multiple bottles. It's one of those wines that no matter how many bottles I buy I know I'll run out of them in a year or two. The single vineyard wines are great, but they're expensive and I think they need bottle age to show their stuff.

Next stop was Sokol Blosser.

They were pouring their 2007 Sokol Blosser Dundee Hills Pinot Noir which sells for around $38. 2007 wasn't a well-regarded vintage for Oregon Pinot Noir but this wine was one of my favorites of the entire evening.

I thought it was vibrant with elegant, focused flavors. Nice acidity and no green/stemmy aromas or flavors to distract from the fruit. Wow.

Hard to find in Massachusetts but I'll keep my eye out for this wine for sure.

I took a little break from the wine tasting and checked out the food. The Harvest table was serving one of the more unique things I've ever tasted: Bacon cotton candy. Just as I was wondering how they injected bacon flavor into cotton candy I realized - the cotton candy was wrapped around a stick of bacon! It was actually a pretty pleasing combination of sweet and savory.

Chefs were working hard to get things prepared and plated in time for guests:


Here's Tiffani from Top Chef talking with an attendee. She was working with the folks at Harvest:


Here's Lydia Shire from Scampo & Locke-Ober:

The day after the event I had lunch at Scampo with Paul Sequeria from Red Car Wine Co.  I learned of the event from the Red Car Facebook Page and the 2007 Red Car Heaven & Earth La Boheme Pinot Noir was one of the best Pinot Noirs I've ever tasted.

At the event Paul was pouring the 2007 Red Car Tomorrowland Syrah and the 2009 Trolley Pinot Noir. Both were showing nicely.

More on Red Car in a future blog post for sure. Subscribe to the WWP so we can keep in touch.

Domaine Serene was pouring their plush 2006 Evenstad. I've heard good things about Domaine Serene and this was my first chance to try it. I wasn't disappointed - very round and satisfying. No green notes. I like their labels too. The 06 Evenstad retails for $58.

I've heard good things about Peay's Pinot Noirs. They were at the event but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to taste their wines:
Conclusions and recommendations:

Cochon 555 is a pork-focused event that offers something for almost everyone. Beer, wine, oysters, cheese, and even some vegetarian options. As a wine enthusiast, especially one who enjoys domestic Pinot Noir, this event was very enjoyable.

The tour is just getting started. Check out these links for an upcoming Cochon555 event near you:

I attended the event on a press pass. 

Question of the Day: Have you been to Cochon555? If so what did you think?


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/QmTWi9Dt5S4/cochon-555-pork-and-pinot-noir-in.html

Georges Grignard Bobby Grim Romain Grosjean Olivier Grouillard Brian Gubby

Review of Chelan Ridge 2009 Chardonnay

Wine: Chelan Ridge 2009 Chardonnay Appellation: Columbia Valley (but sold in the Lake Chelan AVA area) ALC: n/a Price: $16 Haydn gives this wine: 96pts You can buy this wine: Give Chelan Ridge a call at (509) 687-4455. The website is on its way. I had the fortunate good luck to be able to attend [...]

Source: http://www.beyondnapavalley.com/blog/review-of-chelan-ridge-winery/

William Clyde Elliott Jeffrey Michael Gordon Charles Robert Hamilton IV Charles Robert Hamilton V Kevin Michael Harvick