A guide to French wine regions – Part 4
November 24, 2009 by rum lounge
Filed under Wines And Spirits
What better way to end of your wonderful meal with friends or to celebrate a special occasion than to have a great glass of wine! So how do you choose your wine do you just walk into a store and buy any bottle of wine that comes to your hand or do you just buy a bottle that you’ve had already? Wouldn’t you like to know where your wine came from or even visit the region it was made in?
Many of the wines made today from France you can tell where there from just look at the label, most of then are name after the region there made in like Bordeaux or although this is not exactly a wine, like champagne from Champagne, France.
There are about eleven different wine regions in France they are Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Cotes du Rhones, Languedoc-Roussillion, Loire Valley, Provence, Corsica and South West France so I think i’ll share some information with you on them:
Bordeaux is a region that I’m sure every wine lover have heard of. Do you remember wines like Mdoc , Haut Mdoc, Margaux, Pauillac, Saint Estphe, Saint Julien, Listrac and Moulis all of these were produced in this region of France. Bordeaux is near the Atlantic Coast in South France. this region take its name off of the main city but you can not find vineyard in this city its self.
The Alsace region produces more of the wine Americans love like Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot blanc, Tokay Pinot Gris, Sylvaner, Crmant d’Alsace. Alsace is situated north east of France. It is also bordered on the west by the Vosges and on the east by the Rhine which separates it from Germany.
Champagne the one wine that cannot be duplicated only the wine produced in Champagne can be called champagne, any the country that tries to produce this wine can only call it Sparkling wine.
Now that I’ve taken you on a small tour of France get on there research the major wine regions have fun with it or even visit the country!
Guide to champagne and wine cocktails – Part 2
November 18, 2009 by rum lounge
Filed under Cocktail Recipes
Leading a normal life gets sometimes boring and doing something different makes it exciting. Same is the case with drinks. Drinking wine and champagne sometimes gets routine and trying wine and champagne cocktails is very fun and exciting. They taste great and are pretty to look at. Though not for regular drinking, they are great drinks. Wine/Champagne cocktail is made with wine/champagne into which distilled alcohol or other drink mixer is combined.
Cocktails using sparkling wine as a base has become outdated and there are hundreds of recipes for making great cocktails.
Presenting is very important for a nice cocktail. Besides this, the ingredients should be used in correct quantities and any imbalance in them results in a terrible cocktail. One should always add wine or champagne last and it should be done slowly as not to disturb the contents of the glass. A cocktail should be served fresh which means it should immediately be served after adding wine or champagne. Stirring these cocktails is not usually necessary, but when you do, stir slowly and gently.
There are many ways of making great cocktails based on the contents added. For starters it is always a great test to mix a good cocktail but for professionals or cocktail lovers, it is very easy thing to do. Whatever they make results in a great cocktail, though anyone can do that after a bit of experience.
Recipes for some great cocktails are listed below.
Champagne cocktail:
Ingredients
1 cube sugar
2-3 dashes Angostura bitters
Chilled champagne
1 oz brandy
Orange slice, maraschino cherry for garnish
Preparation
Place sugar cube at the bottom of a Champagne glass.
Use the dashes of Angostura bitters to saturate the sugar cube.
Pour Champagne into the flute and add brandy.
Garnish with the orange slice and cherry.
Champagne Mimosas:
The Champagne mimosa is a classic drink for breakfasts, especially breakfast in bed.It is a great drink to have with friends.
Ingredients
1oz Orange Juice
3oz Champagne
Preparation
In a tall flute glass, pour first the Orange Juice, then the Champagne. The Champagne with its alcohol is thicker and will mix down into the OJ. You don’t need to stir it as you may lose bubbles.
Pear and Champagne Cocktail:
Ingredients
1/4 cup sugar
1 Seckle or small Bosc pear
1/4 cup plus 4 teaspoons French pear brandy
2 1/2 cups chilled champagne
Preparation
In a small saucepan, heat sugar and add 1/4 cup pear brandy
A Review of Liebherr Wine Cabinets and Fridge Units
September 1, 2009 by rum lounge
Filed under Wines And Spirits
Liebherr offer several types of wine fridge cabinets for you to choose from, all with the unique features and the high quality that we have come to expect from a Liebherr aplliance.
Multi-temperature Liebherr wine fridge cabinets are great if you have a lot of different types of wine that need to be stored at different temperatures. With the multi- temperature Liebherr wine fridge cabinets, you can store different types of wine in the same cabinet, making wine storage convenient and easy for you.
The multi- temperature Liebherr wine fridge cabinet layers the temperatures by using an innovative climate control system in the six different temperature zones within the cabinet. This means that you can keep your red wine in the upper zone at a temperature of 18ºC and your sparkling wine or champagne, which needs a lower storage temperature, in the lower zone of the cabinet, which is set at a cooler 5ºC.
You can store between 173 and 182 75cl bottle of Bordeaux in the multi- temperature Liebherr wine fridge cabinet, so start stocking up. These wine cabinets are perfect for any wine-loving household or business.
The storage selection of Liebherr wine fridge cabinets are ideal for storing wines over a long period of time to allow your favourite wines to mature to perfection. Liebherr’s wine storage cabinets have only one temperature zone, but this can be adjusted between 5ºC and 20ºC according to your own requirements.
A constant supply of fresh air via activated charcoal filters and re-circulated air cooling, means that this type of Liebherr wine fridge cabinet guarantees consistently high air quality during the maturing process. Liebherr, who are famous for their innovative technological features across all of their appliances, have also developed compressors especially to ensure that your wines can be stored without disturbance.
There are two ranges available within the Liebherr wine fridge cabinet selection: Vinthek and Grand Cru. There are several sizes of cabinet available within these two ranges, with capacities ranging from 133 litres to 545 litres and storing up to 231 75cl bottles of Bordeaux.
But your choice may be made for you if you are living in a family home as only one of the single temperature Liebherr wine fridge cabinets comes with childproofing and that is the WKUes 1753 Grand Cru, which also comes with a warning signal when the door is opened, so you with this Liebherr wine fridge cabinet, you will be able to keep prying hands at bay.
The Vinidor range of Liebherr wine fridge cabinets is described by Liebherr as ‘Innovative, exclusive and versatile.’ And that is exactly what they are.
Wine cabinets within the Vinidor range have two or three wine compartments depending on the model you choose. And you can set the temperature in each compartment independently of one another. The Vindor range of Liebherr wine fridge cabinets can be set in the temperature range of 5 °C and 20 °C to exactly the degree that you require in each of the compartments.
There is the useful option of child proofing available in this range as well as in the Grand Cru, but it depends on which model you opt for.
