Growing up under a successful watercolor artist (my mom) I was constantly surrounded by all types of artist and art. I love the fact that when wine comes together with art it makes me all giddy inside. That’s what I thought about when I tried Ed Hardy wines for the first time…now I know a lot of you out there are saying oh yeah the guy that makes the loud t-shirts.

I must admit I’ve always loved his color choices and his tattoo art. When I heard about his wines I didn’t want to try them, I thought they were probably over done and they’re just out there for the name. But recently I hosted a wine tasting and one of the wines was the Ed Hardy Moscato. I really enjoyed it, it was a drier moscato not a typical sugary sweet Californian Moscato. It had tastes of peach and melon and it was refreshing. I looked at the label and saw that the grapes were grown and bottled in France. The price was right too: $7.99 a bottle.

After trying that I bought a different wine, the demi-sec Diamond Sparkling Rose`. Great wine it wasn’t bitter and it wasn’t sweet it was a blend of dry with a hint of sweet. The blend of Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, and Pinot Noir tasted perfect, this was light with a hint of cream, berries, and a little yeast after taste.

Now with this being said, I haven’t tried any of the other wines. I believe I like these 2 wines because they are inexpensive, light, and you do not have to over think them. Plus they are pretty bottles to look at after you’re finished with them. Great wines for a night with friends. What’s your thoughts on Ed Hardy Wine please give me some feed back on the other wines.

A couple of weeks ago Cresta shared with us that Aldi Grocery stores sell wines. I thought I would check it out, and what I found was a pretty great deal. I purchased 4 different bottles of wines from Aldi all priced under $7; none of the other wines were over $9. Here’s my reviews of the 4 wines I purchased.

• Landshut Riesling $5.99 – Had a wonderful floral bouquet with tastes of honey and sweet melon. I would have to agree with Cresta that this is a very sweet Riesling but this would be perfect if your having asian spicy foods. This wine would pair with spicy Thai foods, hearty seafood stew, or served as a great desert wine.
• Villa Malizia Pinot Grigio $5.99 – A very light and crisp Pinot Grigio that had tastes of citrus and pear. It actually tasted better after it warmed up a little. (I decided stop chilling and drink it at room temperature.) This is a great summer wine that you can pair with salads, fish dishes, and light pasta dishes. I really enjoyed this Pinot Grigio.
• Gonfalone Chianti $6.79 – This is not your typical Chianti, it was very light but with some tannins and had tastes of smoke and leather. It was light like a Pinot Noir but had some characteristics of a Syrah. I personally didn’t enjoy it BUT if you are into a light Pinot Noir then this is your bottle to buy.
• Toca Diamonte Malbec $5.99 – This by far was my favorite one. The bouquet was black cherry and a hint of floral and tastes of clove, oak, berry, and black cherry. I really enjoyed this wine, I wanted to grill a steak after having a few sips of the wine. This would definitely compliment a great steak, hearty pasta dishes, or just drank alone with friends. If you’re into big hearty wines this is a great one for the price.

I can’t wait to go back and try other wines that Aldi has to offer. If you have an Aldi Grocery store in your neighborhood just remember you can pick up some wine for dinner while you’re grocery shopping.

February is shaping up to be a great time to be a beer drinker in the Cincinnati area. The weather’s cold and the nights are long, but there are an amazing number of events coming in the next few weeks. Here’s a quick rundown:

In a few weeks, it will be the inaugural celebration of Cincinnati Beer Week. An official site has popped up to try and track the various events around the city, but I recommend hopping over to the Hoperatives blog for their take on the latest information. Here are a few of the events about which I’m excited:

Thursday February 2
Party Town Local Breweries Backroom Brawl from 6:00 – 8:00pm
Party Town kicks off Cincinnati’s Inaugural Beer Week with a “Backroom Brawl” of only local craft brews featuring the “Cincinnati Beer Week Barleywine,” a collaboration between local brewers, and our 18 tap growler program voted “Best of 2011″ by Cincinnati Magazine! Cost $2.00

Friday February 3
Arnold’s Bourbon Barrel 1861 Porter Happy Hour Tapping at 5pm
In honor of beer week Christian Moerlein has remixed a batch of the Arnold’s 1861 Porter. Arnold’s is already the only place that you could get the Porter, but for this special release, Christian Moerlein will be aging the same beer in a bourbon barrel.

Saturday February 4:
Cincinnati Brew Ha-Ha! from 07:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Cincy Brew Ha-Ha Winter Edition will bring all that has been enjoyed over the past 5 years indoors to the Cintas Center on Xavier University’s campus for its Winter Edition. This one-of-a-kind local event features top beers and top comedians creating the perfect recipe for a great time. From ales to lagers and pilsners to stouts, there is something for every type of beer aficionado – including 6 firkins! Cincy Brew Ha-Ha Winter Edition will feature over 80 selections of beer to sample and multiple comedians on 2 stages.

Additionally, there are a bunch of other events, including a 3 Floyds beer dinner at Tellers (2/8) and a selection of Left Hand beers on tap at the Hyde Park Cock and Bull (2/9) . This all leads up to the Cincinnati Winter Beer Festival on the 10th and 11th. Last year, this event was a great time and apparently it’s going to be even bigger this year. Click over to their site for more information and tickets.

On Feb 25, the Moerlein Lager house will be opening as part of the Banks, adding the first alternative to the Holy Grail, which opened last March. Tickets are $150 and the doors open at 6:30. More information can be found over on the Lager House official website.

I’m off to drink a Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere. That should help keep me sated until next month.

I really enjoyed this wine. Benziger Sauvignon Blanc Sonoma-Lake Counties 2009.

Strong citrus aroma with a hint of floral. Medium-bodied, tart and tangy with flavors of lemon, lime and green apple. This wine has a vibrant finish, fresh, crisp and firm with a generous kick of acidity.

And you can feel good about drinking it! As if you need an excuse. The Benziger Family Winery is dedicated to green winemaking and its Certified Sustainable Grape Growing Program. The grapes for this Sauvignon Blanc were grown with certified sustainable farming methods. That wine growing philosophy is displayed in the elemental symbols on the bottle’s label. Around $15.

Have you tried any great wines lately? Please share.

I recently downloaded an app to my iPhone so that I have notes handy when I’m in the wine aisle or out at a restaurant. Hello Vino is a great app for any wine lover, with many options to choose from. You can download the app for iPhone or Android, and it’s FREE.

You can choose a wine:

• To go with a specific meal or food.  Select the food – from pizza to cheese to dessert – and Hello Vino will provide suggestions on the best wine pairing.
• For an occasion. Whether it’s a gift, special holiday or a tasting party, get suggestions on the type of wine you should consider, including at least three specific recommendations.
• By taste preference. The app selects the best wines to fit your taste, whether that’s red, white, pink. Dry, fruity, sweet.
• By country, then by region. Know that you prefer wines from Argentina? Tap that and Hello Vino provides different regions to choose from, then at least three specific recommendations.
• There’s also a section dedicated to Holiday Wines and Gifts.

This app includes a search function so that you may search by brand name, food pairing and taste preference. There’s also a wine label image recognition function (but you must purchase label scanner credits to use this). The My Wines tab allows you to save favorites, as well as wines that you’d like to try (Wishlist). There’s also a Reviews tab with two-minute audio reviews of select wines. Give the wine a thumbs up and save it to your shopping list. Share the wine on Facebook or Tweet it. Each wine highlights tasting notes and includes an average price.

You can download this app from the iTunes App Store and the Android Market. Or visit www.hellovino.com.

A couple of weeks ago I received a special delivery. ALDI sent three bottles of wine to my doorstep. Nicely packaged in a re-usable grocery bag, each bottle in its own padded wine sleeve.

The press release that accompanied the delivery touted ALDI’s line-up of award-winning international exclusive wines, all at bargain prices.

I didn’t even know ALDI carried wine. According to the release, selections include Beverage Testing Institute 2011 World Wine Challenge Winners, Wine Spectator Best Values and Wine Enthusiast Best Buys. Here’s what I received:

• Walker Napa Valley Red Wine from California (World Wine Challenge Winner)
• Gonfalone Chianti from Italy (Wine Spectator Best Value)
• Landshut Riesling from Germany (Wine Enthusiast Best Buy). This is the only one I’ve tried so far. It was a seriously sweet wine, but I was in the mood for sweet at the time. Well-balanced, vibrant acidity, a distinct peach flavor. Pretty good.

Most of ALDI’s wines are priced at $4.99 or less. I checked ALDI’s web site and only select locations carry wine – most of the Ohio stores do.  

Excellent PR idea, by the way. Great way to build awareness and word-of-mouth.

Of course for Christmas I got some wine and wine gadgets. One of my new favorite toys is the wine pump sealer from Brookstone. This is the greatest wine vacuum pumps of all. There’s no air pumps or no extra gadgets. All you do is attach the wine sealer on top of the bottle and you pump the top a few times and your done. It lasts at least 5 to 6 days it’s awesome and the wine tastes better after you reopen the bottle. Click here for the link to the wine pump page.

Another Christmas gift I received (well I got it last year for Christmas) was the Vinturi deluxe red wine aerator. The deluxe set came with a stand, the aerator, and a filter. This is the answer to everyone’s prayers who doesn’t have time to aerate wine for and hour or 2. You put the filter inside the aerator part and then you put it on the stand and have your glass underneath it. (look at the picture below) It aerates wine one glass at a time and its taste like the wine has been breathing for an hour. I would suggest purchasing the filter and aerator (they come together) and not the stand. When it was on the stand it leaked some of the wine. If you hold it over your glass and pour the wine through it then there is no spilling or splattering. This is the greatest invention for wine lovers. Click here to view the aerator web page.

Last but never least is the Ravi instant wine refresher. This gadget chills your wine to the perfect drinking temperature (reds and whites). It chills the wine not the bottle and you don’t have to worry about pre-chilling your whites before you serve them it does it for you. You put the pourer on top of your bottle and you have the perfect temperature to drink your wine. Click here for the Ravi web page.

I hope these gadgets work for you as they have worked for me.

Cheers,

Angela

Hello everyone. Happy New Year! Hard to believe it’s 2012.

One of the latest picks from our wine club, Vino Volo, was Paso del Sol Carmenere 2010 from the TerraMater Winery in Chile.

I had never tasted a Carmenere so I decided to do a little investigating. I learned that the Carmenere grape was thought to have all but died out more than a century ago. However, it’s making a comeback in Chile, where in the 1990′s much of the “Merlot” was found to be Carmenere. This varietal produces darker, richer, riper reds than Merlot, with more spices and coffee flavors.  

This wine has a deep red color. Aromas of intense fruitiness with hints of chocolate. It is full-bodied and fresh with tastes of blackberries and other dark fruits. It is smooth and easy to drink. We had it with dinner the other night – grilled steak. It was delicious. A great pairing. This wine is best if you open it one hour before you intend to drink it.

I definitely recommend this one, and I look forward to sharing some of this year’s wine club picks with you. 

There are a lot of different sparkling wines out there in the wine world and which one is the right one for your celebratory New Years drink?

First off not all sparkling wines are champagne. The only sparkling wines that are actually champagnes are the ones that come from the region of Champagne in France. (unless you’re one of the few California wineries that have been around for over 50+ years that got grandfathered in…whatever) Everything else is sparkling wine.

Different countries have different names for their sparkling. Spain calls their wine Cava, Italy calls theirs Prosecco, and you might also see Spumante.

What is the difference between all of the different types? Let’s break it down:

Champagne is a dry sparkling wine usually made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and/or Pinot Meunier grapes.   The different types are Cuvee, Extra Dry, Blanc de Blanc, Blanc de Noir, Rose, and Brut.

• Cuvee means means blend usually the perfect blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes or another grape has been added
• Extra Dry isn’t the driest. It means semi-dry sparkling
• Blanc de Blanc means white of white which is 100% Chardonnay grapes
• Blanc de Noir means white from dark. Champagne is pressed from Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier or a mix of the two.
• Rose is using the dark grapes and the skins get left on for a small part of the fermentation period which makes it a rose color
• Brut is the driest Champagne you can get

With all that said, most sparkling wines are going to be a little on the dry side. Most Prosecco, Cava, Rose, and extra dry  Champagnes will have the same dry consistency like a Chardonnay but will have a hint of sweet at the end. California sparkling wines and Brut tend to me more drier like a red wine.

• If you’re a Riesling/Moscato/Sweet Red drinker you’re most likely going to like an Asti Spumante, a Sparkling Moscato, Pink Moscato, or Moscato de Spumante.
• If you’re a Chardonnay/Pinot Grigio/Sauvignon Blanc/Pinot Noir (or a light red) drinker you’re most likely going to like a Prosecco, Cava, Cuvee, Rose, Extra Dry
• If you’re a Cabernet Sauvignon/Zinfandel/Syrah/Dry White Wine you’re most likely a Blanc de Blanc, Brut, Brut Rose, Blanc de Noir

I will be hosting a free wine tasting at Liquor City Bakewell today and tomorrow from 4 – 8 and we will be tasting Champagnes, Sparkling wines, and Moscato. Stop on by during those hours anytime and I’ll help you choose the right sparkling for you.

Cheers,
Angela

Well, now I have to check this out…perhaps during our trip to Bourbon Country in the Fall. 

The Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, KY has added ghost tours to its lineup.

According to an article in The Bourbon Review, the decision to add the tours came after the distillery was seen on the national TV show “Ghost Hunters.” Apparently the show’s producers came to Buffalo Trace asking to film there after much viewer demand. It’s the first time the popular show has ever filmed at a distillery.

And now visitors get a chance to possibly have their own paranormal experience. Each Ghost Tour lasts about an hour and follows the same path featured on “Ghost Hunters,” including some seldom toured areas of the distillery. Tours end with a bourbon tasting.

Tours are free but you need to make a reservation in advance. Check out www.buffalotrace.com for tour days, times and details.