PINK PANTHER WINE

If you know me well...or even if you only know me from on the web, you know that the Pink Panther is my all time "favorite" cartoon. I could sit and watch his reruns for hours.
My cell phone rings to the tune of Henry Mancini's Pink Panther, when I had an ebay store my auctions were greeted by music and templates of the Pink Panther.Pink has always been my favorite color. The Panther visits my website from time to time Gabbriella's Closet
Now I welcome him to my blog. I have found this wine online and even though I do not like light reds I would love to try this, just for the sake of having the bottle for keeps.

The Pink Panther
Grand Vin de Bordeaux… Rosé!

The Pink Panther wine has the elegance of that of a GRAND VIN DE BORDEAUX ROSÉ, composed of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet

Merlot

Giving full bodied moderately tannic wines, this variety adds softness, richness and body when mixed with Cabernet Sauvignon. Ripening early, it gives smooth, deeply coloured, high alcoholic and low acidic wines

Cabernet Sauvignon

Giving tannins with blackcurrant aromas, this variety ripens late and is deeply coloured with a low alcohol percentage

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You can find the Pink Panther in different European countries: France, Spain, Netherlands, Danemark, Portugal ! In France in the month of August: Cora France.

New Years Champagne!

How many bubbles are in a champagne bottle? Researchers have found around 56 million. Don't ask me how they came up with that information but I am sure a few bottles of champagne were involved and the outcome was a scientific theory. The bubbles only appear once the bottle is opened. The bubble itself is a thin film of liquid filled with gas. Coke has large bubbles, champagne has tiny bubbles. Some believe the more bubbles...the better the champagne. I have never noticed this. Add a bit of orange juice and make a mimosa and you never will tell the cost of your champagne. Bubble size in champagne comes from the length of time is is aged in the cellar and he temperature. The cooler, the smaller.
The first important step in serving champagne is chilling it. The bottles used for champagne are thicker that other wine bottles so this will require longer chilling times. The fastest way to chill is in a bucket of ice and water for 20 to 40 minutes. It is not difficult to open a bottle of champagne, but it is different than a bottle of still wine. Many are afraid of this task. Each bottle is under 6 atmospheres of pressure. The same as a truck tire. If you open the bottle incorrectly you run the risk of damage or bodily harm. The cork will fly off at tremendous speed with a mind of its own. Fun, but it can hurt someone.
To safely and correctly open a bottle of champagne:

• break and remove the foil, not the wire cage
• place your thumb on top of the cork to keep it from flying
• with your free hand unscrew the wire and loosen the cage...do not take completely off
• twist the cork in one direction and the bottle in the opposite
• fill each glass with about 2 inches of champagne then go around and top off
• wait until your guest have only 1 sip left then top off again, this way they will enjoy a fresh glass and appreciate it more.
  

Champagne glasses bring out the etiquette in people. Have you ever watched a group socializing and all of a sudden a bottle of champagne and fancy glasses arrive and everyone stands up at their best posture and speak in a softer, sexier tone of voice. Pay attention next time and you may see what I mean. Champagne glasses came to be in the seventeenth century. The basic shape came from the cone shaped glasses resembling animal horns from the 1300 and 1500 in Venice. As serendipity would have it the art of glass making was reaching its peak just as champagne making was beginning.
In my opinion champagne was not meant to be drank the whole evening, but to be as a toast for a special occasion. I have found a drink which for the beer lover who loves to drink from a bottle....this drink is great to have on hand any time of year, especially for the lady who really does not drink but would love a refreshing carbonated drink......VERDI....the Italian "sparkly" check out their website. You can get a case of this at the beer distributor in the US. It is a spumante which is sure to please at all times of year. The great thing a beer drinker may love about this spumante is it comes in smaller bottles, approx 6 oz, and you can drink straight from the bottle and still have your bubbly for the New Year!
I will be opening a bottle of J. Roget Champagne which Gaynor gave me at my "book launch" party in June. If my friend who will be celebrating New Years with me and I do not drink it all on New Years Eve it then will be used in "mimosas" the next morning with breakfast!
Mimosa Recipe (EASY!)

• Champagne (1 bottle)
• Orange Juice (1 carton)

Preparation:

Fill half of a champagne flute with chilled champagne and top off with chilled orange juice, gently stir. For added flare, slice up a strawberry to decorate the rim of each flute. Enjoy!

Gift Ideas

Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect. ~Oren Arnold

Goal reached before year end!

"1000" views since October 24th !!!!!

18 MORE!

ONLY 18 MORE VIEWS TO HIT "1000" WHICH WAS MY GOAL FROM OCTOBER 24 thru DECEMBER 31 !

Chardonnay

Known as the worlds favorite white wine. It is America's # 1 white wine varietal. Climbing the ladders of one of the best dry white wines around. The Chardonnay vine is a low maintenance vine which will undergo many climatic changes and still produce well. Chardonnay's have a buttery, oak undertone with fruity flavors to be desired. Aplle, pear, citrus, melon & tropicals all rolled into one. It leaves your palate refreshed and wanting more! Chardonnay serves well with chicken, pork, salads, seafoods and add a cream sauce to your main dish and your in heaven! Jacobs Creek wine is one of my favorites, add a bit of brie and sliced apples & this could be a fantastic meal in itself!
I prefer red....but this white will do wonderfully for me!

A Wide Variety to Choose From....

Different grape varieties are plentiful! I have always loved fruits, but since beginning this study in wine I find myself actually admiring each grape singularly. I had never noticed the depths of color or shadings of the colors in all my 58 years on this earth. I just would plop the luscious fruits in my mouth and enjoy. But now I find myself analyzing the structure of the grapes and thinking. (Of course when I point this out to some of my friends, I know they are thinking I have gone off the deep end!) My friends just look at me and smile. That is of course not the case of the friends who share this common interest of mine to learn about the fruit from the vine to the glass. I have decided to do a bit each day on each different type of grape in the wine making. I have learned there are some 24,000 varieties of wine grapes which Ampelographers believe these represent about 5,000 truly different varieties. Most varieties I have learned have numerous names depending upon the area they are grown. Of the 5,000 varieties only 150 are planted commercially and of the 150 varieties there are only 9 varieties considered classics.
WHITE GRAPES:

• CHARDONNAY
• CHENIN BLANC
• RIESLING
• SAUVIGNON BLANC
• SEMILLION

RED GRAPES:

• CABERNAT SAUVIGNON
• MERLOT
• PINOT NOIR
• SYRAH

Tomorrow or later today I will begin the study starting with the whites....In the mean time I will go have a nice bowl of red grapes with my granola this morning.
Chow!

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When I began this blog on October 25 I had a dream to reach 1000 views by January 1.2011. Well I am 93 views away from having that come true! And have 2 more weeks in which to do so. Maybe that will be reached at the end of this week! Then I will have the blog put together for a book. Then next year I will work on a 2 volume set for 2011.

Animal Friends waiving adoption fees just in time for holiday gift giving | YourSewickley.com

Animal Friends waiving adoption fees just in time for holiday gift giving | YourSewickley.com

WILHELM WINERY....CHAMBOURCIN WINE

I know....bad picture of the label......it is the best I could do being it had foil lettering. But it is what's inside that counts! This was a bottle of Wilhelm Winery "Chambourcin" given to me this week by Chrissy when she came to visit me. It is her cousins winery in Hadley, PA 16130. Their phone # is on the bottle, which is very clever for a local winery to do. 724-253-3700 I am sure they will not mind my giving it to you.
The wine lasted me 4 days, drinking my doctor's ordered ration each evening. I kept the remainder each day corked with a vacuum plunger. The taste never changed. My findings were it is a dry wine with soft tones which I liken to the tannins in the wine. Sometimes the tannin can make the wine overpowering upon sipping. This wine went down easy. It truly was an enjoyable drink which I would drink again & again. In fact we are planning a trip there in the spring with our wine study group and I am looking forward to that so I can get a couple bottles for my wine rack. The legs on the wine were very, very light if even there were legs to note. The legs or tears on the glass were thought to be the quality of the wine, the more legs the better quality. In my studies I have learned that it is a physics lesson, none the less. It is the mixing of the surface tension and the alcohol content in the wine. Wine is a mix of alcohol and water, It is the battle between the alcohol and water that the legs break and run down the sides of the glass. No tears, light tears, a few tears tells me a low alcohol content. Does this mean you can have more than 1 glass? Possibly!
Thanks Chrissy for the bottle of great tasting wine! Tell your cousins to get ready for us! http://www.wilhelmwinery.com Stop by and visit their winery or visit their website. You can order online if you like!

ps....I am sitting propped up in bed with my laptop blogging away and just noticed that along side me is this empty bottle of wine......no glass in sight, they might think I drank it straight from the bottle! now, I must take this immediately to the recycle bin, for if I were to pass on of natural causes unexpectedly and they were to find me like this.....what do you suppose their first thoughts would be!

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

Wine Barrel Flooring!

Wine Barrel Flooring! I found this great site yesterday of a company who makes flooring from reclaimed wine barrels which are 6-50 years old. What an interesting item to have within your home! Upon reading I found they are suitable for any flat surface and are tongue & groove connected. The site I stumbled on is Wine Cellar Specialists

Phone: (972) 454-0480
Fax: (866) 788-5185
Email: info@winecellarspec.com
Address: Richardson, TX 75082

Working with homeowners and businesses across the United States and Canada. Contact them and let them know your needs for a wine cellar, rack, cooling system or floor or table top made from wine barrels. Gee....I wonder if the wood has any of the wonderful smell of the wines left behind? Of course once layed and sealed you would not smell it but I just wonder.

Vintage Estate Wine & Beer of Boardman, OHIO

If you are in the Boardman, Ohio and have a need to get out and about from being indoors with all this snow, drop by Vintage Estate Wine and Beer store at 7317 South Avenue for their Christmas Wine Taste. It all begins at 4pm and ends at 7pm, Sautrday December 18.They will as usual have great wines for you to taste. Cost at the door is $10 (where else can you taste wine for that price!) They also will feature live entertainment.

WINE STAINS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Have you ever had a party and once everyone left...you were left with wine stains on your carpet, counter tops and maybe your pretty white blouse or dress? It is bound to happen. I learned many years ago that if drinking red wine you should have a bottle of white wine or club soda close by, just in case. For the carpet and clothing if you have spilled or had someone spill red wine on it the white wine will work wonders removing the stain. Next choice would be club soda but I have found this does not work quite as well.
Then of course we have the counter tops and table tops which gather drippings. for laminated tops any all purpose cleaner which has a bit of clorox in it will do wonders immediately! Without any elbow grease!Let it set a few seconds and wipe and rinse. Mr Clean magic erasers are wonderful to have on hand for this!
Now with all the kitchen remodels being done with marble and granite counter tops, you need to get to these FAST! They are more porous and the stain will sink in deeper. Even if it is sealed. If the stone cleaner you have been using will not lift it out for you try this. Tap water can leave a residue so if you have any distilled water on hand wipe the stain with this and take some WHITE paper towels which have been folded into a padding and soak these with hydrogen peroxide. Cover in plastic wrap and tape down on the counter. Then say a prayer....chuckle....or maybe no chuckle....Seriously, after 1 day remove the plastic and let the towels sit on the stain and dry naturally. This may take another day. Remove, rinse and dry....you will be surprised at your results! I have cleaned houses for many years for a living, or should I say mansions, and this is what they had me doing and at the time I thought it was senseless...but it did work.....Sometimes there is nothing as good as the all natural way, not only in eating but also in cleaning!
Hope this helps you....I hope no one really has to use this information....try to keep all those luscious drops of wine inside the glass so you enjoy your party thoroughly!

About Us | www.freethegrapes.org

About Us | www.freethegrapes.org: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

How many times have you seen a wonderful wine club you wanted to join, offering 12 bottles of fabulous wines to try at an astonishing price of $60-$89 ? and then when you go to order and join their club only to find out you can not join because of the liquor laws in your state not allowing wines to be shipped to you. FRUSTRATING for the consumer and the winemaker. Check out this site and do your part if you would like these laws lifted. There are not many states left in the union who do this, I happen to live in one of them and you may also. I don't quite understand that they do call this America.....Land of the FREE....

WINE CELLARS

Vintage Cellars was featured in Wine Spectator November 30th issue. The above YouTube videos are some of their speciality work. Oh to have my very own wine cellar with a tasting table of marble! I would spend many times entertaining there rather than my kitchen or living room. A wine cellar is very important if indeed you have a large collection of wines. In order to keep wines fresh they need to be stored on their sides as to keep the cork moist so not to dry it out and cause deterioration and allow air to slip in and goodness to slip away. The end result over time will be a bad tasting bottle of one of your favorites. Plus wines need to be kept at just the right temperature which can be tricky. So take a tour of the work of Vintage Wine Cellars at the above YouTube collection of theirs. Then go to their site and dream a little dream!
design above is from Vintage Cellars site

Wine Stoppers.......Plain to Fancy

Wine stoppers of all shapes, sizes and materials.
From plain to fancy. Murano glass stoppers from Italy. Plain stoppers in stainless,pewter,chrome, cork and wood. The main idea of a stopper is to stop the oxidation and spoiling of the bottle of luscious wine you have opened. Oxygen entering your bottle of wine after time will change the alcohol to carboxylic acid. Which just really means "vinegar". I am sure most of you have had this happen. You open a wonderful bottle of wine and save some, or should I say have some left, and then the next day go to have a glass and it taste nothing like it did the previous day. Most will dump this down the drain, but I have learned in my ways of being taught as a young girl...waste not, want not....I have dyed unfinished wooden picture frames with it, fabric, and my best find is making salad dressing from it. Use in place of vinegar when making a homemade dressing & you will love what you taste...the extra virgin olive oil will meld together nicely with your "bad tasting" wine. Fancy wine stoppers make great gift ideas and are perfect for "stocking stuffers". I have stumbled upon a site yesterday WineStopperStore
I contacted Walter, the owner, to see if I could promote his business in my blog today. He responded in record timing! Please visit his store to see the very large amount of stoppers he has available & if you do not see the one you are looking for you can feel free to ask him to find it for you. He is very prompt and customer service is high on his priority list. His business started in a one bedroom apartment working on the website nights and weekends all the while working a full time job. I know the struggles of this journey he has taken personally as this is how I built my website. Dedication to his work has developed a wonderful site for him to display his passion to you. So please stop by his site and take a look to see if there is anything you might need for a special gift for a special someone. There still is time to have it shipped to you. Most of the above wine stoppers are available @ TheWineStopperStore
So stop by & tell Walter...."Gabbriella" sent you! Please consider following his blog WineStopperStoreBlog
The crystal cross below is a favorite wine stopper of mine I hope to add to my collection someday.
Good Day for now! Happy Shopping @ The Wine Stopper Store!

COMMENT TO MY ARTICLE CHRISTMAS WINES

Comments

Christmasiscoming said...
Dec-7-10 5:40pm

I have just received a case of wine for Christmas, and I thought I'd share it with you (not the actual wine, although that would be nice) because it sounds like a great idea to me, the wines are chosen by a Wine Master and wine experts to be exactly right for Christmas, I presume the food, festivities and definitely the weather have been taken into account, the website is www.wineforchristmas.com So far I've tried 3 bottles and they have all been lovely, and, they did seem to be spot on for the weather and the festivities, anyway, I thought I'd share this little find with you all seeing as it was relevant to the article... Enjoy!


This comment was left on my Zimbio site which my blogs get forwarded to....Gabbriella

Tuscan Wines

Tuscany is known as one of the most romantic places on earth. Is it because of the background scenery or is it because of the wines?........or might it be a blend of the two? Which ever you decide..... remember "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Wineries can vary in size from tiny farmed estates to the huge colassal firms. Which would you like to visit? I like quaint, old things....I can imagine myself going to the tiny farmed privately owned vineyard. I like a home feeling. I am not into overpowering estates. Although they may be nice or maybe nice is too gentle of a word. Being of Italian heritage I would just love to visit a small vineyard, sit in the Italian flower garden and look out into the fields at a distance while sipping my wonderfully made glass of wine. Taking in every moment around me...the air, the sun, the conversation and every taste of the grapes...to just totally loose myself in the moment of time and keep not only a visual picture in my mind but also the scents of the air around me. My dream vacation...sometime in the future I am sure. Napa Valley and Tuscany....not in any order but both are planned in my mind. On my next trip to the wine store in Boardman, Ohio, my favorite wine store around, I am going to purchase a Tuscan Wine or 2 and hold a taste for myself and then report for you. Even though I am of Italian Heritage I do not really drink Italian wines, shame on me...I know, This will need to change. Although at Thanksgiving dinner a family my son knows who live locally own a vineyard in Italy and their daughter runs it, they brought a couple of bottles to dinner and it was rather enjoyable, pleasing to the palate and of course had good legs. Shame on me again I was so into the turkey and the stuffing that I did not retain the name of the wine in my mind. I will find out soon....promise.....till later...Cin Cin! (Cheers!)

Poppa Donne' homemade wine....

Growing up part Italian, my father was full blooded Italian, I have wonderfully fond memories of my great grandfather "Poppa Donne" and the times I spent with him. He spoke English but chose to speak Italian more. All that was missing at his home was the fact that it was in Pennsylvania on a farm and not in Italy on a vineyard estate. Each and every Sunday Poppa would have the entire family for dinner. Dinner would consist of homemade spaghetti (handmade noodles) homemade sauce from the tomatoes and herbs of his garden, and homemade wine. Poppa would give each great grandchild a shot glass full of his homemade brew. Our parents would argue...No...but Poppa won each time. "Good for their blood" he would tell them! The old timers knew what they were talking about. It was a wonderful celebration each and every Sunday I will never forget. Running and playing on the farm with the fresh air. Climbing the plum trees and picking fruit while Poppa watched with a careful eye as he sat under his grape arbor where he would gaze upon the fruit he would change to wine when harvest season came. I spent many afternoons and evenings sitting with Poppa listening to his stories in broken English of how he made the wines. I would look at the grape clusters and vines and leaves and think "my what a gorgeous site" Never did I think I would someday be doing a study on wine and yearn to be sitting at my Poppa's feet again, not as a young girl of 9 or 10, but as a woman in her late 50's. If only I could have one more sitting with Poppa it would not be just a one way conversation...but now I could chime in with my bits of knowledge I am learning. So my first experience with wine was at about age 7 or 8 and Poppa's was the first to give me happy memories. Now a plan of homes is on the site of Poppa's farmland.....a cousin of mine lives in one of the homes, and we still remember times on the farm & those Sunday meals with Poppa and our family. I had a very fortunate childhood. I not only had both sets of grandparents from mom and dad I also had a great grandfather who was remarkable.
My father's father was Roman, his mother was a Brazilian Italian. I have learned that in ancient Rome wine was linked to authority. If you had a vineyard you had power. Here in America I think Tuscany is the area most people want to visit for wine. Wine is on every table for every meal with the exclusion of breakfast (maybe?) sometimes the meal itself is a slice of bread and the wine. I have been know to do this after a long day at the office and not even bother with a meal...I guess it is my heritage coming through.
The whites grapes of Tuscany are: Chardonnay (the regions most expensive white) Malvasia (now the grape most known for vin santo the desert wine), Sauvignon Blanc (very limited amounts are grown),Trebbiano (used for dry whites), Vernaccia (Tuscany's most traditional refreshing white wine). The reds grapes of Tuscany are Cabernet Sauvignon (often times blended with sangiovese to make Chianti), Canaiolo (declining in use) Merlot (also used to make Chianti), and Sangiovese (the major Tuscan grape).
There is so much to cover with Italian wines. I will get deeper into the study in the next day or so. Some times I need to reread a section to be sure I have the proper understanding. It is written in English but the depth of what they are relaying to the reader is a lot to behold. So till tomorrow....Chow!

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What does the Bible Say.....

What does the Bible say about drinking alcohol / wine? Is it a sin for a Christian to drink alcohol / wine?

I found the above link a while back....being a Christian from time to time I like to include scripture on my blogs. Some may frown upon a Christian for drinking...it is all about a balance in life in my opinion and not doing things in excess to have them cause you or others problems. So read what gotquestions.org has to say about this subject. We need a balance in all area's of our lives or we could fall when faced with temptations of all sorts that come our way. Anything that causes us to stumble with our walk with the Lord is bad for us.

Topic tomorrow.....Italian wines!.....my heritage (and my father from Rome never drank a bit all his life!)

Wine Openers from Pretty to Convenient

These are just a few of the wine openers available in the stores these days. From very attractive to highly functional and then simplicity.There are waiter style, mounted styles, screw pull corkscrews, easy grip corkscrew. They come in all shapes and sizes (even electric) They can be high tech, simply classic or decorative and even pink! They can be all different price ranges. But what really matters is does it do the job. They all eventually get the cork out of the bottle so you can enjoy your wine. It is all a preference of what you want for your collection of bar items. I would love to collect antique corkscrews someday. Not to really use them but perhaps just to display and cherish.
The curly part of the corkscrew is called the worm. It has been told to me that the corkscrew is an English invention. I will need to do more research on this one. The English have brought us many great things. It is said they began using the corkscrew in the 1600's. Not only for wine but also for beers and cider. In 1795, the first corkscrew patent was granted to the Reverend Samuel Henshal, in England. From simple to electric we have come a long way. One will do the job just as well as the other. They all have the same basic purpose in mind...getting the bottle open. This is definitely one tool your bar or kitchen drawer can not be without if you choose to purchase your wines with a cork and not in a box or screw top. I have drank many great tasting and high quality wines from a box and screw top so we can not exactly judge a wine by how it is packaged.
In The Wine Bible you can be guided as to how to properly use the cork screw. I have found that I could never operate the waiter's corkscrew. possibly it is because I just learned that you need between 50 & 100 pounds of pulling force to do so and my hands being weak are not capable of that.
There is nothing easier than pushing a button and getting your wine from a box when you have bad hands, but when I get my trusty, simple wine opener from the department store out to open a bottle of wine somehow it changes the whole atmosphere in the room and the experience is a bit more pleasing to me. You see I have learned over the last decade in my life in learning about wines to make it an experience from the time I decide to go to the wine store to purchase, till I sit down in the comfort of my home or a friends to truly enjoy every moment. You may say that I have "fallen in love". And yes, that would be the proper way to look at it. I love every part of the wine experience. The best parts are when I do have time to go and tour the wineries and see the vines in the fields and get up close and touch them. These are moments I have had and do not forget. I have not been to Napa or Tuscany yet...those trips are definitely what I wish to do in the next decade of my life, but I have been to wineries in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio and I have learned that the more I learn about wines the more appreciative I am of all the work involved with the whole process from the vine to the glass.
Cheers!

PS...Corkscrews can be great stocking stuffers!!!! hint...hint....