The Loire vs Marlborough, NZ

April 22, 2013 by Administrator

It has been some time since I have had any Sauvignon Blanc other than ones from New Zealand so I was looking forward to the Sancerre that I came across  in my wine fridge, the Chateau de Thauvenary 2010. Estate grown and bottled in the Loire, the wine was immediately more subtle on the nose than any NZ Sauvignon Blanc I have had.  Light and crisp with fresh and fruity aromas that followed with fabulous citrus and smooth long lasting flavors. This was easy to drink and a good wine to pair with seafood.

I compared it to the Vavasour 2011 Sauvignon Blanc from the Awatere Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand.
There was an immediate photo(6)difference in aroma with intense tropical fruit notes that were not in the Sancerre. On the palate the wine was crisp with good minerality and tanginess. This was a more robust wine than the Sancerre and would not only pair well with seafood like oysters but would hold up well to spicy foods too.

Each of the wines retail for between $14-16.00 per bottle. I am not sure if the 2010 Sancerre is still available so it might be worth trying the 2011.

Cheers,

The Wining Woman

Zita’s Guide to Wine and Life – Available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com

All the Best with Zita Keeley – new lifestyle tv show coming soon

[subscribe2]

No Comments / Tags: , , , , , , / Posted in Wine

Out to Sea

April 16, 2013 by Administrator

Many of you know that we have been working on producing a new food, wine, travel lifestyle television show called “All the Best with Zita Keeley.” As all projects go, it takes time and lots of patience. Our show is unique as we travel by cruise ship to our different destinations. We filmed our first episode with Holland America Lines in the Caribbean and now are excited to announce that we will be off to Europe and then Canada and New England for our next few.

Baltic

Our Europe sailing will be taking us from Copenhagen, Denmark to Tallinn, Estonia, Helsinki, Finland, Stockholm, Sweden, St Petersburg, Russia, Kiel and Berlin Germany. Our hope is not only to visit the landmarks and sites that many of you might know but to also find some out of the way and interesting places with an emphasis on food, of course!

I’d like to reach out to all of you and if you have visited any of these places and have any suggestions to make I will be thrilled to hear from you. You can email me at info@allidoiswine.com, comment on this blog post or post to the All the Best with Zita Keeley page on Facebook.

After that marvelous trip, we will then be sailing from Quebec City, Canada to Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, followed by Bar Harbor, Maine and ending in Boston, Mass. Again, any suggested places of interest- please let us know.

If we are able to have internet access aboard the ships we will be blogging daily to update you on our adventures. (There might be a new blog site for the tv show itself so stay tuned.)

Cheers,

The Wining Woman

Zita’s Guide to Wine and Life – A Different Kind of Wine Book (on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoblecom)

All the Best with Zita Keeley – TV SHOW – Coming soon!

 

No Comments / Tags: , , , , , / Posted in Wine

Fun at the Airport

April 8, 2013 by Administrator

On a recent visit to my sister in law in Northwestern Florida we had to make a stop at the Tampa  airport to pick up my nephew who was flying in from Calgary, Canada. Since I was a bit concerned with traffic and didn’t want him to have to wait for us we arrived at the airport extra early. I had never been to the Tampa airport and wasn’t sure what we would find but figured there would be some shops at least. To my surprise, there were quite a few shops and restaurants and then, I saw the ultimate location, a wine bar! Called First Flight, we found out that this was created by the owners of Mise En Place, a popular Tampa restaurant since 1986. photo(4)

The wine list is progressive and easy to follow and all the wines are served from enomatic machines ensuring their freshness. Wine flights are offered and  food is served as well with all items meant to pair well with the wines. The servers are dressed in airline type uniforms to follow with the theme.

Descriptions are very good such as: Honig Sauvignon Blanc- Napa Valley, California - grapefruit plus pleasant acid luscious and fulfilling $9.50 (Patrick’s choice) and Chateau Ducasse Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc – Bordeaux, France - Peach and floral- just the other side of light- just delicious. Fruity aromatics- lively acidity- just so enjoyable $9.00  (my choice). We shared a delicious salad with figs and marcona almonds ($10.00) that was a perfect complement to the wines.

While we continued sipping, eating and enjoying our experience Patrick suddenly realized that our nephew’s plane had arrived and it was time to go.

I can definitely say this is a great way to pass the time at an airport and I’ll look forward to seeing more of these places open up.

Cheers,

The Wining Woman

Zita’s Guide to Wine and Life- A Different Kind of Wine Book On Sale at Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com

Coming Soon to TV – All the Best with Zita Keeley 

 

 

No Comments / Tags: , , , , , , , , / Posted in Wine

Wine in Plastic Bags?

April 4, 2013 by Administrator

wine

You’ve heard of wine in a box and even wine in cans but have you heard of wine in plastic bags? Well, in this case, it isn’t the wine being sold to the consumer but wine being imported to Britain in a huge 24,000 liter plastic bags. Accolade Wines who make Hardy’s, one of Australia’s top selling brands began shipping this way in order to cut costs. With one bag being able to hold the equivalent of 32,000 bottles of wine the cost savings is about $3 (Australian) a case.

More than half of Australia’s wine exports are shipped in bulk and many other countries are following suit. Chile, the New World’s second largest wine exporter and the US and South Africa (3rd and 4th largest) all shipped about half their wine in bulk in the last couple of years.With the higher costs of glass and other materials, bulk shipping and its ability to keep costs lower makes sense. But, while this is understandable for lower priced wines could it really be acceptable for higher priced wines? I don’t want to think that the bottle of Shiraz that I might pay $100 for came over here in plastic. Do you?

Cheers,

The Wining Woman

Zita Keeley’s Guide to Wine and Life- A Different Kind of Wine Book – Buy it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.com

Coming Soon- All the Best with Zita Keeley (New Lifestyle tv show!)

 

No Comments / Tags: , , , , / Posted in Wine

Lower Alcohol Wine

February 28, 2013 by Administrator

The latest trend in the United Kingdom for lower alcohol wines has led Californian winemaker, Gallo to produce 2 lower alcohol wines for the UK market. The first is the “Summer White” with 5% alcohol and the 2nd is the Barefoot Pink Moscato with 9% alcohol. The white is a blend of Chenin Blanc, Colombard, Moscato and Riesling. The Moscato has a small blend of white Grenache.Pink-Moscato-165x640

The winemakers consider these wines to be lighter and fresher and expect them to be attractive to newbie wine drinkers as well. Plus, they are even listing the calories on the label.  At 75 per serving (about 30 or so less calories from the usual glass of wine)  they will have calorie conscious people drinking too.

The lower alcohol also means lower duty and this savings is being passed on to the consumer. Presently, the wines will retail at about 6.99 British pounds ($12 or so.)

While it takes about a week or so longer to produce these lower alcohol wines with a process of dealcoholization, winemakers are convinced the demand for these wines will be worth it.

I am sure we’ll be seeing these wines here in the U.S. very soon.

Cheers,

The Wining Woman

 

Zita’s Guide to Wine and Life- A Different Kind of Wine Book
All the Best with Zita Keeley – Coming Soon

 

No Comments / Tags: , , , , , / Posted in Wine

Cruising and Sipping

February 20, 2013 by Administrator

Many of you know I love cruising and go as often as I can even when it’s not for filming our new tv show. As time goes on, the food and wine on board just gets better and better. I have been on quite a few different lines and was very impressed with our most recent trip on the NCL Sky.Wine list
This was a short 4 day trip to the Bahamas so Patrick and I didn’t expect much from the food and wine. In fact, NCL doesn’t concentrate on promoting their food and wine as much as other lines. Well, we were very pleasantly surprised. What made me smile the most, was the wine list. It turns out that NCL have had Andrea Robinson, Master Sommelier, choose and arrange the wine lists for the entire NCL fleet. There are choices for every one and the prices are not bad either. In addition,  they had some videos that would air on one of the ship’s tv channels where Andrea would give short lessons about wine. As other lines do, they had discount wine packages that you could purchase. These are always popular.
Another nice thing was the ability to bring wine onboard since many lines don’t let you. They do charge a corkage fee of $15 per bottle though whether you drink the wine in your room or in the dining room. I did bring on a nice sparkler for our Valentine’s night so that was worth it.
It had been quite a while since we sailed with NCL and I am happy to say we left very satisfied.

Cheers,

The Wining Woman

Zita’s Guide to Wine and Life – A Different Kind of Wine Book on Amazon and Barnes and Noble
All the Best with Zita Keeley- Coming Soon

No Comments / Tags: , , , , , / Posted in Wine

Rock and Roll Wine

February 6, 2013 by Administrator

Do you like Shiraz? Do you like wine in a box? Do you like Heavy Metal music? Well, if you said yes to all three questions then you will love the newest bag in the box Sacrifice Shiraz produced by the British band, Motorhead. The best part, the box is shaped exactly like a guitar amplifier. Hey, this means you can have the box of wine lying around your house and your friends will think you play guitar. motorhead

The same wine comes in a bottle and is a full-bodied, spicy Shiraz from Southeastern Australia. Along with other wine, beer and vodka from the band, this bag in the box wine is being sold in Sweden where over 60% of all wine sold is boxed.  I am sure it will be a big hit.

Cheers.

The Wining Woman

 

Zita’s Guide to Wine and Life-  A Different Kind of Wine Book on Amazon and Barnes and Noble
All the Best with Zita Keeley- Coming Soon

No Comments / Tags: , , , , / Posted in Wine

Be Mine- Wine for your Valentine

February 5, 2013 by Administrator

valentineValentine’s Day is just around the corner and so now is the time to start thinking about what wine you’d like to have. Personally, my night will always start with something sparkling. This Valentine’s Day I will be on a ship and so will have to see what they have on their list unless I can bring something on board- I’ll have to check. But, if you are on land and able to choose your own wine a great festive choice is the Debortoli Emeri Pink Moscato from Australia. I have had this wine before and it’s a light, fruity bubbly that costs about $12 bottle. I was reminded about it when I walked into our local Walgreens yesterday and saw a shelf full of bottles covered in pink with hearts all over them, a charming Valentine’s packaging idea. This is definitely a fun wine to have.

If you want to move on from the bubbles and still don’t want anything too heavy the Beaujolais Crus from Georges Duboeuf are a great choice. Elegant and refined the Georges Duboeuf Mâcon-Villages Flower Label 2011 is a fantastic Chardonnay that would go well with a romantic meal of oysters or lobster. Also, costing about $12 bottle, it’s also very affordable.  For something  richer  try the Georges Duboeuf Morgon Jean-Ernest Descombes 2011 . This red is aromatic with lots of ripe fruity flavors good acidity  and  a velvety finish. Approximately $15 bottle this is an excellent red for a heartier meal.

These are just a few suggestions but whatever you choose for your Valentine’s Day- Enjoy and be happy.

Cheers,

 

The Wining Woman

 

 

Zita’s Guide to Wine and Life- A Differnet Kind of Wine Book 0n Amazon and Barnes and Noble

 

All the Best with Zita Keeley- Coming Soon

 

 

 

 

No Comments / Tags: , , , , , , , / Posted in Wine

Remembering Merlot

January 30, 2013 by Administrator

Remember Merlot ? It is  one of the grapes that make up Bordeaux (mostly right bank - along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petite Verdot.) It also produced some excellent wines all on its own back in the day. Then, too much Merlot was produced and some not very good wines at that. Then, the movie Sideways came out and Merlot was pushed aside. Pinot Noir became the "it" grape and wine of choice. Well, Merlot is making a comeback and it is time.

The Sonoma wine producer, Gundlach Bundschu has never forgotten Merlot and they created this very funny and very smart video all about this wonderful grape. Have fun watching and learning:

History of Merlot- Watch this

Cheers,

The Wining Woman

 

Zita's Guide to Wine and Life- A Different Kind of Wine Book on Amazon and Barnes and Noble

All the Best with Zita Keeley- Coming Soon

No Comments / Tags: , , , , / Posted in Wine

Better Late than Never- A Very Juicy Wine Book

January 24, 2013 by Administrator

book

It might have come out in 2008, but I just read The Billionaire’s Vinegar- The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of  Wine by Benjamin Wallace and found it to be a fascinating and educational look into the amazing world of wine.

Based on the story of the auction sale of the most expensive bottle of wine in the world, ($156,000), a 1787 bottle of Chateau Lafite that Thomas Jefferson supposedly purchased, the book unravels tons of interesting facts about buying, storing, selling of rare wine and confirms the idea that most people really have no clue as to what could or will be a great old wine.

I loved reading about Thomas Jefferson’s enthusiasm for wine and his very meticulous record keeping of his  purchases. I found out about Scuppernong, from grapes of the same name native to North Carolina and still prevalent today. (I will look forward to trying it.) And, it seems that he was really the first true wine enthusiast and critic  in America and made wine popular.

The bottle that is the center  of the book was one of many that were discovered in the 1980′s and eventually auctioned off by a notable rare  wine merchant. Over time, there were more and more skeptics about that bottle along with many others and the story continues with numerous tastings and evaluations that many prominent wine auctioneers, merchants and collectors carried out.

There are funny and crazy actions and unbelievable findings that I won’t divulge since I do think this is a book worth reading for yourself. But, in case you don’t get a chance to read this though, no worries,  there is a movie in development, believe it or not.

Cheers,

The Wining Woman

 


Zita’s Guide to Wine and Life – A Different Kind of Wine Book on Amazon and Barnes and Noble


All the Best with Zita Keeley – Coming Soon

 

 

 

No Comments / Tags: , , , , , / Posted in Wine, Wine & Food

← Older Entries