Chocolaty zest in Vosne Romanee Cros Parantoux

Premier Cru vineyards Burgundy grow the best variety of grapes, Pinot Noir to make Vosne Romanee Cros Parantoux - the most exclusive brand adored by every wine connoisseur. Henri Jayer was the renowned vintner from France who started this brand in 1950. Since then, the brand is highly valued by wine lovers worldwide. The elegance [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vagablond/ysSN/~3/27aU1z_Q51k/

Katharine McPhee Katharine Towne Katherine Heigl Katie Cassidy

Coming Soon: Scoop the Spectator 2011

This time we're playing with Fire. Or should I say for Fire. A Kindle Fire - one of this year's hottest gifts valued at $199 - sponsored by New York wine retailer Grapes the Wine Company (mystery shopper store review).

The Spectator unveiling begins Monday November 14th so we'll run our contest starting Friday, November 4th 2011 at 9:00 am Eastern.

To help in your research before Friday morning, and to understand why it's important to get your guess in early, here are the rules we'll be playing by:

  1. Guesses are submitted as comments on a follow-on blog post that will be published Friday morning. Don't leave your guesses here - wait until Friday morning and leave it as a comment on this blog post.
  2. One guess per person.
  3. The first person to guess a specific wine "owns" that wine as their entry.  Subsequent guesses of the same wine aren't useful so look at the previous comments before submitting your entry.
  4. If nobody guesses the Wine of Year, the guess with the highest position on the list will win the prize.
  5. Not that they'd try, but Wine Spectator editors aren't allowed to enter.  And if you have inside information please don't spoil the fun for others by entering.  But if you do know please E-mail me and let me know. ;)
  6. Since the Kindle Fire is US-only at this point, a winning entry from outside the U.S. will receive a $199 Amazon.com gift card.
As you'll recall last year we played for a $75 gift certificate. This year we're playing for a Kindle Fire so I expect the competition to be more fierce.

Until then, hop on over to Grapes the Wine Company's website and sign up for their newsletter. If you like wine deals like I do you won't be disappointed. My thanks to Daniel Posner for this sponsorship.

See you back here Friday morning!
(click here to subscribe if you'd like an email notification after the contest is live)


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/8T_9ypVBuC0/coming-soon-scoop-spectator-2011.html

Michelle Rodriguez Michelle Trachtenberg Mila Kunis Milla Jovovich

Thank You From the Bottom of My Heart

I’m sitting here in my new home office with a fresh perspective and a touch of the misties, as in misty-eyes.  Rich and I have been moved into the place for just over a month and it has made a huge difference in how we feel about things.  I now recognize that we were both [...]

Source: http://familylovewine.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/thank-you-from-the-bottom-of-my-heart/

Shiri Appleby Sienna Guillory Sienna Miller Simone Mütherthies

Charlie Parker and the Notion of Wine as Art

Wine Is not Art. I remain quite interested in the nature of wine and winemaking. Often this fascination of mine finds expression in the consideration of whether wine is art and winemakers artists. I was returned to this theme this...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FermentationTheDailyWineBlog/~3/MYLSSgateSg/charlie-parker-and-the-notion-of-wine-as-art.html

Leila Arcieri Lena Headey Leonor Varela Leslie Bega

Poll: How much do you tip for wine service?

A friend and I were talking about this - I thought I'd put it up here for discussion and a poll.

You and a friend are out at a restaurant. Let's say it's just a regular restuarant - not a wine bar. You order $100 worth of food and a $100 bottle of wine. The service is good. Solid. How much do you tip? Specifically - do you tip differently for wine service than food service in a restuarant?

Does it depend on the quality of the wine service? If they pour your $100 prize into cheap little water glasses on the table vs. presenting large clean high quality stemware does it make a difference?

How about if it's BYOB? You bring the wine and to justify the (say) $25 corkage fee you bring a really nice one. $100 retail. It would be $250+ if it were on the wine list at the restaurant. Do you pay more for someone to pour your own expensive wine than if it was a $10 bottle?

Tell us what you think. Answer the poll below and if you'd like to describe why leave a comment below.

Thanks for your thoughts! <a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5580564/">When dining in a restaurant how much do you tip for wine service? Say for example a party of 2 orders $100 in food and a $100 bottle of wine.</a>  
(if you're viewing this blog post via email or in a feed reader and the poll doesn't appear try viewing this page directly in a web browser)


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/ht8vc0R6S_c/poll-how-much-do-you-tip-for-wine.html

Lisa Snowdon Liz Phair Lokelani McMichael Lori Heuring