Bon Vivant Wine Company

Westport Rivers Winery Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Danckert) — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 19:18:00 +0000

We’re all about supporting locally made products …especially wine! Many people don’t realize that there are dozens of wineries in Massachusetts and Greater New England making some seriously good wines. One of our absolute favorite winemakers is Westport Rivers Winery in Westport, MA. In early October we took a group of customers for a visit, and did we have a great time!

Westport Rivers Winery was established in 1982 by the Russell family in the coastal town of Westport. They’ve won numerous awards for their champagne-style brut and produce a variety of quality white wines. We learned all about the winery from Craig Caesar, Westport Winery’s sales director. We tasted chardonnay grapes from the vines, had some freshly pressed Riesling juice, and sampled many of their varietals – chardonnay, Riesling, rkatsiteli, a dessert wine made from pinot noir grapes, and a few sparkling wines.

And best of all? We got to learn all about the winemaking process: growing, crushing, fermenting, and bottling. Learning about where your wine comes from makes you appreciate it even more!

We had a wonderful time with our fantastic customers, and we’re looking forward to many more winery events like this one! Stay tuned!

Wine Accessory Feature: VinniBag

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Danckert) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:31:00 +0000

Wine makes a great souvenir. What better way to relive a fantastic moment of your vacation, right? But transporting wine back in your luggage? Not so fun. Between carry-on restrictions and rough baggage handlers, you might find yourself walking away from that special bottle. No one wants their wine confiscated from a carry-on, or worse – broken inside their checked luggage.

Well, fear not, intrepid traveler! VinniBag is here to help. Inflatable and reusable, this nifty invention is guaranteed to keep your wine unharmed by impact. So, pack up your wine and tuck it into your checked luggage without a worry! The product has been fully inspected and meets all airline guidelines. It’s also great for transporting other fragile items. MSNBC featured VinniBag in a recent article and has received lots of great responses.

So, go ahead and buy that amazing Sangiovese! It’ll be in perfect condition when you get home. But we don’t recommend taking home the spaghetti carbonara you had with it. Even a VinniBag can’t help you there.

VinniBag is available for purchase at Bon Vivant for $24.99.

Wines for Easter Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Danckert) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 15:23:00 +0000

We love Easter candy. Maybe a little bit too much. But we love wine even more, and so we think it's just as important to celebrate the day with a delicious bottle of wine as it is to eat many, many chocolate eggs. Whether you're making ham, lamb, or poultry, there are a number of wines that pair beautifully with traditional Easter foods.

Rose wines are great with ham and poultry dishes. Characterized by soft berry flavors, these wines are light, delicate, and refreshing. And their pink color is certainly appropriate!

If lamb is on the menu, try a bold Syrah. With flavors of black cherry, cassis, and peppery notes, Syrahs stand up well to the gaminess and richness of lamb. They're also great with a nice cut of beef.

With the beautiful weather this weekend, maybe you're thinking about firing up the grill. Malbecs are sensational with grilled foods. Characterized by aggressive flavors of plum and blackberry with a smooth and long finish, these wines are great with the smoky, bold flavors of barbecue. Malbecs are also great with many cuts of pork.

Making chicken or turkey? Roses would be a great option again. A citrusy, light sauvignon blanc or a crisp, creamy chardonnay would also be delicious.

And with all the sweets going around, don't forget that dessert wines are a great celebratory treat, too!

Whatever is on the menu, make sure the wine is just as special as the meal and your company! We'd be happy to suggest some great ones for you. Happy Easter!

The Wine School at Bon Vivant

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Danckert) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:16:00 +0000

On March 4th and 11th, Bon Vivant hosted a two-session seminar with Harold Toussaint of The Wine School. The task? To learn about major wine varietals. Two classes, twelve wines. Week one: whites. Week two: reds. The result? Twelve students with an increased knowledge of varietal characteristics and wine terminology.

Among the wines tasted were Riesling, Viognier, Gewürztraminer, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, and Pinot Noir. With much swirling, sniffing, and sipping, the class learned how appearance, aroma, mouth feel, and finish characterize different varietals. And more broadly, the class discussed the impact of soil and climate on wine varietals. By tasting the same varietals grown and produced in different countries, students noticed the differences within one varietal. A French chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc were remarkably more subtle than their counterparts from California and New Zealand.

And who better to learn from than Harold Toussaint? A Maitre Sommelier and founder of The Wine School, a business focused on wine education, he has an outstanding palate; he can look at, smell, and taste a wine and tell you its type, country and region of origin, and age. Participants in the class might not be at this level quite yet, but they’ve certainly been empowered to keep tasting and learning!

Keep an eye out for future educational events offered at Bon Vivant!

Price-Reducing Wine Innovations by Boisset Family Estates

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Danckert) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:50:00 +0000

You’re going to love Jean-Charles Boisset. Why? He’s hard at work reducing wine prices, without reducing quality. This might not seem possible, but Boisset Family Estates was named the 2008 “Innovator of the Year” by Wine Enthusiast Magazine for a reason: they’re constantly developing cost-saving and eco-friendly ways to package wine.

Get this – of the total price you pay for a bottle of wine, only 10% is the actual cost of the wine. Yup, that’s right. The other 90% of the cost goes toward transportation and packaging. Boisset is working on making lighter and equally efficient packaging to reduce the cost of wine. He’s so far come up with five key innovations, which Bon Vivant heard him speak about at the recent Boston Wine Festival.

-The Tetra Pak carton used for Boisset’s French Rabbit wines is a one-liter, octagonal-shaped package with a screw-top
closure and label-free packaging. It’s fully recyclable and saves 60% on packaging costs.
-The PET bottle used for Fog Mountain wines is a recyclable, shatterproof plastic bottle, ideal for taking on picnics or boat trips.
-He’s made aluminum bottles that are great for Beaujolais, and they are continuously
recyclable. When used for chilled wines, aluminum bottles stay cold longer.
-A line of lighter glass bottles uses 460 grams of glass versus 600+ grams.
-Wine service by the glass has changed with DeLoach Vineyard’s Barrel to Barrel. Barrels contain 10-liter bags of Pinot Noir poured from a spigot in the barrel, which reduces packaging,
eliminates corkage, and delivers an extra liter of wine compared to a traditional 9-liter case.

Eco-friendly and wallet-friendly? Boisset Family Estates is definitely a wine producer to watch.

[photo from www.deloachvineyards.com]

EVENT: Uncork the Good Life Classes

noreply@blogger.com (Bon Vivant Wine Company) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:21:00 +0000

Beginning on January 21, we'll be offering our Uncork the Good Life classes. Attend four classes designed to help you really know which wines are right for which meals and especially which wines are good for you. Wendy Koder of Wendy Talks Wine will lead you through the classes:

Class 1, Super Palate: This class will help you identify your likes, and dislikes, and learn how to communicate them when you purchase wine at a restaurant or wine shop. By the end of this class we will taste wines and create our own descriptions using typical wine terminology.

Class 2, Getting Down to Basics: How is wine made? How do the bubbles get in the wine? What's the difference between Chardonnay and Riesling? Should I buy wine with a screwcap? We will start from scratch in this class to be sure everyone understands some of the basics. Bring your questions!

Class 3, Wines of the World: There is now more good wine available than ever before. In this class you will travel with me all over the world tasting wines sometimes made from grapes only grown in that country.

Class 4, Which Wine with Dinner?: o what wine goes best with the dinner you're making tonight? Let us help make it easy for you with this special food and wine tasting. This class is my most popular class so you won't want to miss it!

Click here to register for the class, $80. Email us with questions or call us at 781-767-9463. See you there!

EVENT: Sparkling Wine Tasting, Wed. 12/30

noreply@blogger.com (Bon Vivant Wine Company) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 07:07:00 +0000

Looking for that special bottle of bubbly to ring in the end the decade? Join us today, December 30 for an in-store sparkling wine tasting. See you there, at 1395 N. Main Street, in Randolph from 5 to 8.

NYT Article: Wine Grown in the Heart of Vienna

noreply@blogger.com (Bon Vivant Wine Company) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:42:00 +0000

"That any wine comes from Vienna seems absurd on the face of it. Great urban centers are not known for their vineyards, beyond a novelty acre here and there. But Vienna is different. Around 1,700 acres of vines are planted within the city limits. Of the great metropolises in wine-growing countries, Vienna alone has its own appellation."
Find out how Carlo Huber and Paul Darcy turned a love of Viennese wine into a business here.

[photo via nytimes.com]

EVENT: Long Island Winery Day Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Bon Vivant Wine Company) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:30:00 +0000

Love wine and curious how it goes from grape to table? Join us on Saturday, November 1 for a tour of some of Long Island's best wineries. We will travel to Connecticut via motorcoach, take the ferry to Long Island and spend the day tasting and dining at some of the area's best vineyards. This fantastic trip is $195 per person. Space is limited, so sign up soon. Call us at 781-767-9463 for more information.

A fun fact: Long Island makes more wine than all of New Zealand!

SAVE THE DATE: Annual Holiday Tasting

noreply@blogger.com (Bon Vivant Wine Company) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:25:00 +0000

Aside from attending to our usual business, we've been gearing up for our Annual Holiday Tasting. Mark your calendars: on November 14, we'll be having a big wine tasting with appetizers, great wines, and a few surprises. See you there!

Bon Vivant Goes Online

noreply@blogger.com (Bon Vivant Wine Company) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:57:00 +0000

In addition to our new Wine of the Month club, we've also been busy with building our online store. We couldn't be more excited to offer our customers a way to still get their favorite wines even when they can't make it in to see us. Place an order online and either pick it up when you have the time or have it delivered right to your home. Go through our selection by ratings, region, varietal and price and then add it to your personal wine journal.

Shop with us today. Enjoy a relaxing holiday weekend.

Monthly Wine Club

noreply@blogger.com (Bon Vivant Wine Company) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:37:00 +0000

We've been busy at Bon Vivant, trying to make it easier for you to get your favorites. We're very excited about one of our newest projects, the Wine of the Month club. For $45 a month we'll ship you two bottles of hand-selected wine before our regular customers have a chance to buy it. You may choose a white and red or two reds. If you find a new favorite and want to order more we will extend a 10% discount to you on your first reorder. Some of these wines are limited in quantity, so don't wait too long. We'll also add in tasting notes, pairing suggestions, and a little information on how we found the wine. Your first shipment will also include a recyclable 6-bottle wine tote.

All subscriptions include shipping and handling. We're excited to be your personal wine shoppers. To sign up, go to our website.

Updates In Your Email

noreply@blogger.com (Bon Vivant Wine Company) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Get new posts in your email as soon as they go up. Click on the subscribe link in the sidebar to sign up.

We're on Twitter!

noreply@blogger.com (Bon Vivant Wine Company) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:39:00 +0000

Want up-to-the-minute updates on events, sales, and food and wine news? Follow us on Twitter @BonVivantWineCo to find out what we're up to!

EVENT: Personal Shopper!

noreply@blogger.com (Bon Vivant Wine Company) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:23:00 +0000

You don't have to break the bank to be stylish. On Sunday, September 27, we're bringing in Lisa, a personal shopper from Macy's to help you fall into the season with the right style. Lisa will bring looks from Ralph Lauren and other top designers. Get a private makeup tutorial with cosmetics from Chanel to make sure you know all the fall makeup trends. Need a new bag to match your new outfit? Lori Shenkel of Bags & Things will bring her collection of purses, laptop bags, and briefcases in fall's favorite shades. Space is limited, so RSVP by Wednesday, September 23 to hold your spot and create your style profile to get started. Call us at 781-767-9463. See you Sunday!

[photo via Macy's]

Hello and Welcome

noreply@blogger.com (Bon Vivant Wine Company) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:21:00 +0000

Welcome to the blog for Bon Vivant Wine Company, a fine wine shop located in Randolph, Massachusetts. We are Basil and Stephanie Browne, a husband and wife team that finally realized our dream of opening our own wine shop. While wine is great for special occasions, we believe in enjoying wine every day, with everything from ribs to risotto. Most of our items are between $8 and $15, making it easy to add wine to your life. Stay tuned to our blog to find out about in-store events, discounts, pairing tips and tasting notes. Cheers.