The Shenandoah Valley Wine Growers Association

If the days of birthday cakes buried in candles and annoying noise makers are just that, annoying, then why not bring home some elegance to your birthday gifts this year and give unique, sophisticated gift baskets to those that enjoy the better things in life?  With gourmet snacks, wines, even champagne and other epicurean specialties, you are sure to please even the choosiest of your friends and family with the many gourmet choices available today.

The VIPs in your life deserve the VIP Treatment gift basket  with it’s a replica leather chest and a very important assortment of food and drink; from Moet & Chandon White Star Champagne, Beringer Merlot, and Auberge brie cheese, it definitely stands out from the ordinary.  Or, if thoughts of an elegant evening in New York City sounds ideal, but there just isn’t time or the budget right now, then why not bring the best of the city to your home for your loved one’s special day?  The Elegant Offerings gift basket or the 5th Avenue Wine gift basket bring the flavors of the big city to your living room where you can enjoy them on a perfect birthday evening!

A memorable way to spend quality time with someone special in your life is being able to spend some quiet time sitting near a fireplace or even at the seaside at night with some wine and cheese as a gift. This will be a perfect gift for a one night romance. In fact they are an ideal gift for other occasions such as anniversaries as well as weddings.

One may be able to find a beautifully wrapped gift of wine and cheese on the internet. You can have them wrap it in a variety of ways to add a personalized touch of your own when you are buying them. The wine and cheese is actually a timeless combination of the two for almost anyone who loves wine.

The reason why these two combination is a favorite among wine lovers is because the varieties of cheese is able to enhance the flavor ofthe wine you choose to drink and vice-versa. However, it is important to for you to choose the right type of cheese that will certainly go well with the wine that you choose to be able to enjoy and savor the taste completely. Usually, acidic wines goes very well with acidic cheese. So, choose wisely to enjoy that special night.

Are you sweet on someone this Valentine’s Day?  Are you looking for just the right original gift?  If you are, then here’s a gift that will warm their heart and make their taste buds sing!  The “Valentine’s Day Berries” gift box will put you at the top of their adoration list.  This gift doesn’t just say sweetheart, it says my beautiful sweetheart!

It’s a gorgeous gift box filled with large, voluptuous strawberries, covered in Belgium chocolate!  These luxurious treats will be delivered fresh to their door and are sure to get a smile. There is nothing ordinary about this box of sweets!  After she shares them with her friends, you are sure to be the topic of conversation!

She’ll be thinking of you as she savors the chocolate and these premium strawberries. This tasty gift will let your sweetheart know just how special she is to you.  It will let her know how much you care and that she is deserving of something really special this Valentine’s Day.  Make this Valentine’s Day one she won’t forget too soon! You can also add a wine gift basket to top the night off.

Received wisdom would have us believe that white wine is best served chilled while red wine should be served at room temperature.   Like most well known “facts” there is some basis to this thinking. Few can deny that a chilled white is more attractive to the palate than a lukewarm one.

But the wine drinker who sticks rigidly to these rules may well miss out on some treats. There are many factors to be taken into account; the wine itself obviously, but perhaps more importantly, the ambient temperature.

To wander round a German market town at Christmas time without sampling the hot Gluhwein (mulled warmed wine with spices), is to miss out on an essential part of the seasonal experience. I still savour the shock and delight of having local red wine served chilled overlooking the Adriatic on a blisteringly hot summer day. One of my particular favourites on a cold winter’s night is a hot toddy made simply from port and hot water. To mix a metaphor, it’s horses for courses or wines for all seasons.

Anyone have a corporate summer party this year? I used to love the company picnics. I got to meet the spouses and children that my co-workers always talked about and I could mingle with the bosses without the stress of the office. The only thing I didn’t like was trying to figure out what to take and in what container.

I usually ended up taking my famous cinnamon rolls. Not because they fair well in the summer heat, or
because I could transport them in a couple ziplock baggies and arrange them on a paper plate after arriving at the get together, but because people always requested them! My co-workers would see me arriving and literally come out to my vehicle so they could get a few before the rush.

The batch would usually be almost gone before I got from the parking lot to the field - Now that’s an entrance! Cinnamon rolls - the perfect corporate party dessert.

Established in 1883, Wente vineyards in Livermore, California is the oldest family owned winery still in operation. It began as a modest winery of only 47 acres, but through the years has grown to include over 2,000 acres.

The vine cuttings came straight from France’s University of Montpellier viticulture nursery. These cuttings were then nursed to produce an exceptional chardonnay. Carl Wente, the founder of Wente wineries could give some creditr to his great success to Napa Valley’s Charles Krug, whom he used to work for and trained under.

There are wonderful wines here in America and some of the best come out of California. With a Tour of the Wine Country, you can sample just a few of many available.

Wines come in a variety of flavors, bottle sizes and price. A recent wine I discovered costs $23,000 US dollars for 1.5L. Could you imagine drinking away that much money in one night? Supposedly the 1945 vintage Mouton Rothschild Pauillac has an exotic, ripe, fruity body with mocha, coffee and tobacco overtones. It finishes with Asian spice flavors. It is a thick and creamy wine, but I’m still not sure it would be worth $23,000 dollars. If for some reason I did become the owner of an opened bottle of this wine, you can bet your booty that no one is getting so much as a sniff of it besides me. I would be the epitome of selfish for one night and enjoy the most expensive buzz of my life. Hope it’s worth it.

Just like Frasier and Niles, you can host a wine and cheese party (though, ideally, yours won’t end with blind taste-offs, or extreme sibling rivalry). Instead, think about having a casual outdoor affair, under a marquee, on a balmy summer day.

Consider asking your guests to leave their pets at home, and holding the event in a place where dog walkers don’t often pass by. There’s really nothing more embarrassing at a party than a Schnauzer that accidentally got into the Napa Valley samples.

Other sources of avoidable embarrassment include running out of cheese (bring extra) and the confusion of champagne buckets with spittoons (can’t really help you there). Enjoy the party!

Cabernet Sauvignon wine is one of the most popular wines, It is named for the grape used to make it. The word sauvignon is thought to be derived from the French word sauvage which means wild, but this history is up for debate. It used to be thought that the Cabernet Sauvignon grape was an old variety.

Recent DNA testing founds that Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc were parents of Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Sauvignon has a fruity, herbal flavor. It tends to have more tannins, be hardier, spicier and fuller. It goes well with pasta, chili, beef, and lamb.

For many years, the common thought was that only the rich and cultured were wine connoisseurs.  Cheap wine wasn’t worth the glass it was bottled in.  Bums devoured dollar wine earning them the “wino” moniker. Wine was for the well-to-do or the down and out. No worries, now you too can enjoy a decent glass of grape for less than the cost of supper. As long as you can talk the talk, you will be painlessly be able to walk the walk without spending lots of money. Know the difference between Champagne, Sherry, and Cabernet. Research how to decide if you should order red or white, sweet or dry. Learn how to properly sample the wine purchased. If you want to really impress your date, surprise him/her with an assortment of different wines. Pre-made wine gift baskets have nice selections and the work is done for you.  

For all those who are wine enthusiasts, wine gift baskets make a perfect gift. They love to taste the different varieties and gather knowledge about different wines that go well with different kinds of food.

Wine gift baskets make a perfect gift for any occasion for those who love to taste different wines. You can even choose gift baskets of local wines that carry their own distinctive taste and flavor. There is a huge selection of different wines on the Internet. If you want to gift wine to someone, all you need to do is to log on and order the preferred taste and flavor.

Not everyone knows the importance of wines and their tastes. Most of the people fail to recognize the finer tastes of different wines. Local wines especially specific to a region have a distinctive taste that make the special and stand out in the crowd.

Moreover very few people know how to order a good wine and ordering a local specialty is a rare case. Most of the people tend to order the “wine on house” when they fail to take a pick from the leather wrapped list of wines handed over by the waiter. Good restaurants have few options to choose from that go well with the type of food they serve. They also have option to choose the “wine by glass”. This way you can choose whether you would like a red or a white wine and learn to enjoy which wines taste good with variety of foods.

If you are travelling to different places, ask for the local specialties. The local bartender would be happy to tell you the specialty of their local wines. You can even order a local wine basket or even a single bottle.

If you have guests at your place, you can gift them a basket of local wines that would make a perfect going away gift and would be a long lasting memory for the guest. These gift baskets can be ordered on the internet or can be bought at the local stores as well. Most of the shop specializing in local specialties would be able to help you choose a good wine basket for yourself or your guest.

You can learn more about the local wines prior to traveling to that region. It would help you gain better knowledge about the local varieties of wine. Moreover, even the local people would be glad when you appreciate something of their own. You can also ask for local varieties that you can take back home and let family and friends enjoy the distinctive taste of a special local variety. Lastly, wines make a good low carb haven if you are counting calories. You can easily seek comfort in a glass of wine which is a beverage naturally low in calories. Check out the calorie count in the local varieties as well. You may never know when you would find a delicious local variety that is also heart healthy.

The question of today is how do you match food and wine?

Most people don’t have any idea of how to match the right foods with the exact wine compliments. But the fact of the matter is, Wine goes really well with Food.

What we’ve realized, over the years, is that we don’t have to stick to the old way of doing things, like red wine with red meat. That’s old and we have a brand new way of doing things, in 2008.

Consider the fact that we have so many kinds of foods and wines to choose from. For example, we have Asian foods, American foods, Soul foods, Chinese food, Persian foods, Indian foods, and much much more.

Now think of all the different types of wines that we have to choose from: Barbera, Cabernet France, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay Grenache, Malbec , Merlot, Mourvedre, Nebbiolo, Petite Sirah, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Sangiovese, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah and much much more.

You have tons of room for experimentation and expression of your own personality when trying to pair together wine and food.

One of the main ideas we recommend you trying is to go to a wine tasting. There are allot of vineyard tours that will allow you to taste which flavors of wine best fit your personality.

Lets put this plan into action and see what happens.