Wine Racks Blog

One of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, Haiti in recent years has struggled with problems ranging from near-constant political upheaval, health crises, severe environmental degradation and an annual barrage of hurricanes, which killed an estimated 800 people and caused vast damage in 2008.

On Jan. 12, 2010, a massive earthquake struck Haiti, reducing much of its capital to rubble. It was the worst earthquake in the region in more than 200 years. Since then, there have been aftershocks, causing even more devastation.

It’s far too easy to feel powerless to help in the face of such heartbreaking news. But you can help!

To give to the Red Cross, phone users can text the word “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10, and when prompted, hit “YES” to confirm the donation.

The donation is added to the cell user’s bill, and receipts are available.

Other text-message codes for donations include:

• Text the word “HAITI” to 20222 to donate $10 to the Clinton Foundation Haiti Relief Fund.

• Text “HAITI” to 25383 to donate $5 to the International Rescue Committee.

• Text “HAITI” to 85944 to donate $10 to the International Medical Corps.

Also, some of my favorite companies have started donation campaigns for relief work in Haiti. Through January 28, StacksAndStacks.com will be donating $10 on every order over $100 dollars to the American Red Cross. You can make this a philanthropic double whammy - buy some organizing supplies for a local charity in your neighborhood, and if you spend over $100 dollars, you’ll be helping Haiti as well! It’s a new version of “Think Globally, Act Locally” - it’s “Act Locally, Act Globally”!

Can you believe 2009 is almost over? Soon it will be 2010. I’m excited about the new year, except I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to wear those New Year’s Eve glasses, where the lenses are the ‘00′ in the number. Oh well, times change! Whether you’re raising a glass of wine, champagne or milk - here’s a list of New Year’s toasts you can say:

In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, but never in want. ~ Traditional Irish toast

Stir the eggnog, lift the toddy, Happy New Year, everybody. ~ Phyllis McGinley

Here’s to us all, God bless us every one! ~ from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol

Here’s a toast to the future, A toast to the past, And a toast to our friends, far and near. May the future be pleasant; The past a bright dream; May our friends remain faithful and dear. ~ Anonymous

Cheers to you, Cheers to me, Have a Happy New Year’s Eve!

Beaujolais Nouveau is the most famous of the vins de primeur – wines that are permitted to be sold the same year they are harvested. Released the third Thursday of November, the BoVo seems to go hand in hand with the holiday season. It’s a lighter, fruitier wine with very little tannins.

Now, I know the bum rap that Beaujolais Nouveau gets – it’s immature, just grape juice with alcohol - but I think it’s a guilty pleasure. It’s pretty inexpensive, and since it’s meant to be served slightly chilled along with food, I think it’s a great wine for impromptu winter dinners with friends. In fact, it doesn’t even need a dinner to go along with it! Just load up a serving cart with some good bread, cheeses and a bottle or two! It appeals to the part of me that likes to snack on leftovers directly from the refrigerator, with the door open. In pajamas.

Plus, Beajolais Nouveau is a great choice for when you’re making mulled or warmed spiced wine. Because of it’s light nature, it doesn’t take on that cloying quality that some hot wine drinks have. Try topping off your next party with a few rounds of warm BoVo! You and your guests are sure to be delighted.

Some people say that we are living in the electronic age. Well, that’s probably true, but I think we’re also living in the infrared technology age! At my day job, we have an infrared retinal scanner, and I think it’s just the neatest thing ever. Although, I don’t think I’m supposed to talk about it. Okay, forget you heard anything. Anyway, that infrared technology has come to the wine cellar with this Infrared Wine Thermometer.

Sometimes when you’re checking the temperature of your wine, all you have to go by is how the bottle feels in your hands. What if you naturally have cold hands? You’re not going to be able to accurately gauge the temperature. Likewise, if you’re one of those people with warm hands, you’re not going to know exactly how cool the bottle is.

That’s why this keychain style wine thermometer is a must. Using infrared technology, this thermometer detects wine temperature from outside the bottle. Simply put the end of the thermometer on the bottle to read internal temperature. Made of premium quality stainless steel, this wine thermometer features a laser-inked wine menu and upscale thin cylinder with a keychain hanger.

I love the fact that this thermometer is so portable. You can take it wine tasting, or take it over to your friends house for a dinner party. You can even make a little game of it, by having people guess what they think the temperature of the wine is, and then you can verify who is the closest to being right. It would be a fun party game, and a great way to get to know each other.

Have you found any great wine gadgets lately? Wine racks are great, but they’re not always portable, and it’s nice to be able to show off a cool gadget when you’re traveling. So let me know what you’ve seen lately!

Summertime can definitely be a little too warm for a hearty bordeaux or merlot, but just because the weather is warm doesn’t mean you have to give up on drinking wine.

A great summertime wine is Pinot Grigio. Pinot Grigio, when produced with a little love, can be an utterly charming wine! Unpretentious, with flavors of citrus and stone fruit, light floral notes, and a bracing minerality that just cries out to be enjoyed from your patio.

Pinot Grigio is the Italian name for the French grape Pinot Gris. It’s like a trip around Europe whenever you say it. It’s starting to gain a lot of popularity, and new vineyards devoted to Pinot Gris are popping up from New Zealand to Oregon.

You can find a lot of quality Pinot Grigio for under 15 dollars, which makes it great for BBQs or lazy summer afternoons. Pinot Grigio is best served chilled. If you just bought a bottle, and don’t have time to chill it in the refrigerator, there’s a solution! Take a look at the Vinotemp Electric Beverage Cooler! This easy to use wine cooler plugs into standard outlets and keeps wine, beer or soda at the perfect drinking temperature, between 28.4-46.4 degrees. Wheels make relocating a piece of cake! Two side shelves are great for setting drinks or cutting garnishes, and a hanging basket offers extra storage, perfect for bottle openers and accessories.

So, you’re all set! You’ve got the wine, you’ve got good friends, and good food. What more do you need for a perfect summer day! How’s your summer going? Let me know!

St. Patrick’s Day is almost here! While it may be traditional to lift a pint of Guinness on March 17th, there’s no reason you can’t enjoy a glass of wine on Tuesday. But don’t have your usual - branch out and enjoy a glass of mead.

Mead is a honey wine, that has been made for centuries. Traditionally, mead is comprised of honey, water and a touch of yeast. Aging and amounts used lead to many different variations in taste. Some mead is very sweet, and some are a touch on the dry side!

In Celtic cultures, mead enjoys a reputation as being quite the aphrodisiac. It became frequently used in wedding celebrations. In fact, some think that mead helped bring the word ‘honeymoon’ into the common lexicon. There was an old Irish tradition that newlyweds should drink a glass of honey wine each day during the first month of marriage. Since a ‘moon’ was a period of a month, and honey is the main ingredient of mead, well, it makes sense to me!

If you’re drinking a glass of mead (and you can have it chilled, or at room temperature), you should have a couple of good toasts up your sleeves.

May the dreams you hold dearest, be those which come true. The kindness you spread, keep returning to you.

And

May your pockets be heavy
Your heart be light
And may good luck pursue you
Each morning and night

So, you’ve got your mead, you’ve got a toast - what else do you need for St. Patrick’s Day? How about a little green? Here’s the Estate Wine Tote. This kelly green bag holds a bottle of wine, two wine glasses, a bottle stopper and a corkscrew. Perfect for a picnic, or for sharing a moment with your sweetheart. Plus, this tote has an adjustable shoulder strap, so it’s great for hiking the rolling hills - or just walking through the neighborhood.

What are your plans for St. Patrick’s Day?

I’ve said before that I love going wine tasting. It’s easy for me to take a leisurely afternoon exploring the wineries in my own backyard of Sonoma County. But I also love going wine tasting when I travel! I’ve been able to check out the Willamette Valley in Oregon, and the Central Coast in California over the last year. And I’ve also been wine tasting in Hawaii!

Yes, that’s right! Paradise got a little more perfect when I came across the Volcano Winery as I was driving around the Big Island of Hawaii. Hawaii may not have the most traditional climate for wines, but these non-traditional wines are certainly delicious! I had a chance to try two wines: The Symphony Dry is a lovely dinner wine. It’s dry but not powdery, and it has a fresh, fruity/floral finish. This wine also uses the Symphony grape, a grape first created at UC Davis by crossing the Muscat of Alexandria and the Grenache Gris.

I also tried the Macadamia Nut Honey Wine. Swoon! I like dessert wines, and this one became one of my all time favorites as soon as I tasted it. This wine isn’t made from macadamia nuts - it’s made from the honey made by the bees that buzz around the flowers of the macadamia nut tree. It is sweet, not cloying, and utterly delicious. Like all dessert wines, it’s best served chilled. Oh my gosh, I wish I could convey to you the absolute wonder of this wine.

Volcano Winery will ship to the mainland, and the website provides a list of states that they can ship to. I hope yours is on it. And when you order some, be sure to invite me over!

A unique wine deserves a unique wine rack, no? So, if you’ve laid in a couple of cases from Volcano Winery, why not store them on this Wicker Wine Rack? This wine rack has the sturdiness of a metal frame, coupled with the laid-back vibe that wicker provides. The scooped wicker trays will hold up to 20 bottles of wine. This floor rack is a great way to get a little island style for your home. Mahalo!

image from Volcano Winery

People who know me, know that I love a good joke. So when I got this message at my weekend wine club meeting, I just had to pass it along to all of you!

Beware, Wine Lovers! There is a dangerous virus being passed electronically, orally and by hand.

This virus is called Worm-Overload-Recreational-Killer (W.O.R.K.). If you receive WORK from any of your colleagues, your boss or anyone else via any means DO NOT TOUCH IT. This virus will wipe out your private life completely.

If you should come into contact with W.O.R.K. put your jacket on and go to your nearest wine shop. Purchase the antidote known as Work-Isolator-Neutralizer-Extractor (W.I.N.E). The quickest acting W.I.N.E. type is called Massive Eradicating Liable Objectives Toner (MERLOT); this is both easy to find, and affordable. The next best equivalent is Personal-Internal-Nonsense-Overload-Tasker (PINOT). We found a more potent variant; the Zealous-Infection-Neutralizer (Z.I.N.) that we found to be incredibly effective.

Choose the one most suited to your particular malady and take the antidote repeatedly until W.O.R.K. has been completely eliminated from your system.

Take your chosen antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system. This virus is DEADLY (Destroys-Every-Available-Decent-Living-Youngster). After extensive testing it has been concluded that Best-Equivalent-Extractor-Remedy (BEER) may be substituted for WINE but may require a more generous application

Ha ha! Don’t worry, it’s just a goof. This message may not have been doctor approved, but it certainly is a prescription for the blues. And it’s true, nothing is more relaxing than a good glass of wine. Wine has health benefits, too! Actually, a bottle of wine is similar to a bottle of medicine in another way - they can both be hard to open.

That’s why you need a good bottle opener. This Easy Grip Corkscrew is a good all-around bottle opener. Since it has patented gripping technology, it firmly grips both standard and flanged wine bottles. This makes opening your bottle as easy as one-two-three. And it has a slim profile, so it will slip easily into a jacket pocket, or can be carried in your purse.

We can also learn a lesson from this corkscrew - it can inspire us to ‘get a grip’ when we feel too stressed out. Tonight open a bottle of wine, pour yourself a glass, take a deep breath and enjoy your evening. You deserve it!

Although sangria was popular in Spain for many years, it first gained popularity inAmerica during the 1964 World’s Fair. I love sangria, it’s easy to whip up and extremely versatile. You can make it with red or white wine, add any fruit you like, and finish it up with some carbonated water. In Portugal, it’s common to add some cinnamon to sangria!

Sangria is a perfect drink, no matter the season. In the warm months, it feels refreshing and invigorating. In the cold months, the freshness of the fruit makes you feel like you’re drinking summer in a glass. Sangria is also a perfect drink to serve to unexpected guests - it’s a way of stretching out a bottle of wine! Much better than giving everybody tiny thimble-sized servings of a bottle!

Here’s one of my favorite Sangria concoctions:

• 2 oranges, washed and sliced thinly
• 1 apple, washed and sliced thinly
• 1 lemon, sliced thinly
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/4 cup of brandy
• 1 bottle of medium bodied red wine

Pile the sliced fruit into a large pitcher. Pour the sugar on top of the fruit, and let sit for 20 minutes. Add the wine and the brandy, and stir gently. I like to served the carbonated water on the side, so people can control how much fizz they get.

There are a lot of great ideas for Sangria recipes out there! I saw one using white wine, passionfruit and kiwis! That’s definitely one I’m going to try. Do you have any awesome sangria tips? Let me know!

I admit it. For a long time, I thought decanting wine was something that only really fussy people did. For instance, I saw it done on Frasier - not always the best reference for real-world advice. But over time, I was lucky enough to experience decanted wine, and now I’m a convert.

The thing about decanting wine is that both old and young wines benefit from a period of decanting. Decanting gives young wines a chance to blend with oxygen - which helps release the fragrance and flavor of the wine. When you decant a young wine, feel free to “splash” it into your decanter - it helps the wine to breathe.

Older wines benefit from decanting because it allows sediment to settle to the bottom, leaving you with a clean glass of wine. Slowly pour old wine into a decanter - that allows the fine sediment to go straight down.

Plus - decanters are just plain pretty! I like the Orbital Decanter.This crystal decanter comes with a steel base. It also has a tight stopper. Using a decanter can make an ordinary bottle of wine taste a little more extraordinary.

So, give your wine rack a new friend and consider getting a decanter. You won’t regret it!