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From The Vine Newsletter

Posted October 1, 2007 | 0 Comments

Fall 2007

Award Winning Quality You Can Count On

The consistent, award-winning quality that you’ve come to expect from Winexpert brands has once again been recognized by judges at WineMaker Magazine’s International Wine competition. At the 2007 competition, wines made with Selection, Vintners Reserve, World Vineyard and Island Mist brands were awarded a total of 227 medals.

This builds on the success enjoyed in 2006 when 183 medals were won. Some of the highlights of this year’s competition are:

All varieties offered in Selection Estate Series received a medal with Castellina Supertuscan, Stags Leap District Merlot, and Montagnac Vieux Chateau d’Oc each receiving a gold medal.
Every variety offered in Limited Edition from 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 vintages received a medal.
11 Selection International varieties received a total of 51 medals including gold medals for South African Pinotage, Italian Amarone, Italian Montepulciano.
Four varieties offered under the World Vineyard brand received medals.
Wines made with Spéciale wine kits received a total of 19 medals including Best of Show Sparkling for our “New Millennium” sparkling wine and gold medals for Port, Riesling Icewine style and Dry Sherry.
The refreshing wine-based Island Mist varieties received a total of 20 medals including gold medals for Mango Citrus Symphony, Wildberry Shiraz, and Exotic Fruits White Zinfandel.

For detailed information on all the awards won by Winexpert products, please visit www.winexpert.com or consult your Winexpert product guide.

Taste the success! And let your Winexpert Authorized Retailer help you choose your next award winning wine kit.

From The Vineyards of: Chile

When you look at a map of South America, Chile may seem like the very essence of isolation, with the Andes to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Atacama desert to the north and Antarctica to the south.
But it is this isolation which makes Chilean wines so special. These natural geographic barriers form a defense against disease, while the vineyards are cooled by air from the cold Humboldt current from the Pacific Ocean and the Andes. The day-night temperature variation is quite wide and plays a huge factor in the clarity of fruit flavours. These conditions allow Chile to produce crisp and balanced white wines and high quality, fruity red wines from the world’s most popular grape varietals.
Chile produces superb Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay. These fruit- forward wines are making the rest of the wine world sit up and take notice. Discover the magic of an unlikely wine growing region with a visit to your Winexpert authorized retailer today. Winexpert offers several superb Chilean varieties including our newest addition, Selection International Chilean Pinot Noir.

Planning Your Holiday Party

With the Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Year entertaining season just around the corner, it’s a great time to start planning your parties, and that all-important consideration, wine serving!

The amount of wine you will need depends on what type of party you will be hosting. If it is a sit-down type dinner party you should count one glass per person before dinner, one to two with dinner, and a half glass after dinner or as a dessert wine. This is just an average and takes into consideration that some will drink a little more, and some, including the drivers, will drink less. Of course it goes without saying that you should also have plenty of non-alcoholic beverages on hand also. If your party is an informal gathering with hors d’oeuvres, snacks, etc, an average of two glasses per person is good if you are serving other beverages, and three per person if not.

So, how many bottles do you need? You get about five normal glasses of wine per bottle, so it’s easy to figure it out from there based on the above averages, but keep a couple of extra bottles ready just to be safe.

As for glassware, since you will likely be serving both reds and whites it’s a good idea to just use all-purpose wine glasses. It’s perfectly acceptable to expect your guests to re-use their glasses for the evening rather than using new glasses for each wine, so provide them with wine charms to help them identify their glass.

A great holiday favourite wine drink is mulled wine, sometimes also known as spiced wine. This traditional beverage is served warm, punch-style and has been around for hundreds of years. Here is the recipe used for the mulled wine in the famous scene from the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life”:

Mulled Wine

2 bottles Selection Estate Single Vineyard Shiraz
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
4 sticks cinnamon
5 whole cloves
1 orange
1 lemon
Zest the fruit, avoiding the white pith. Put this, the sugar, cinnamon and cloves into the water. Bring this to a slow boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add in the actual orange and lemon fruit part, sliced up. Warm this on very low heat for 30 minutes (do NOT boil). Add the wine for the last 20 minutes. Run through a strainer and serve from a punch bowl, warm, not hot.

Introducing the New Winexpert.com

At Winexpert, we believe that making wine isn’t just something you do; it’s something that is a part of your lifestyle. With today’s connected society, people want to learn more about the product they are making. This is why Winexpert has redeveloped its Web site.

Visit the new winexpert.com and you will find recipes that use your favourite varietal wine styles; food and wine pairings with our most popular products, and the opportunity to share your favourite wine recipes and pairings with the rest of the world. Unsure of the best wine to choose? Why not try our new “Search by Flavour” tool, which will allow you to select the sweetness, body and oak that best suits your palate and the see all the wines in our line-up that match your preferences.

While you’re there, why not pop over to read thoughts from the true Wine Expert, Tim Vandergrift, on Timswineblog.com. Here Tim will be talking about a wide variety of his favourite topics, from toothpaste for wine drinkers to wine enjoyment
ideas, to helpful tips and discoveries he’s made while making his own wine.

The new winexpert.com will continue to grow with new features, tips and articles. If there is anything that you would like to see on winexpert.com just drop us a line at online@winexpert.com.

Ask The Expert

I’ve heard that there are ‘fortified’ wine kits out there that make things like Sherry, Port and Icewine. Does this mean I have to add Brandy to these kits to make them?
Signed, Sherry Sweet

Dear Sherry,
Winexpert makes a line of dessert and aperitif wines called Selection Spéciale. While many commercial dessert wines are fortified with added alcohol, it isn’t necessary with our Port or Sherry—they ferment to approximately 17% ABV, which is pretty much just what a rich, sweet dessert wine deserves. However, some people like the character of added Brandy and put it in anyway—it does boost the alcohol and make for a slightly more heady wine. In addition to Tawny Port, sweet and dry Sherry and Riesling Icewine style, Winexpert Selection Spéciale kits are available in Cabernet Franc Icewine style, New Millennium Sparkling wine, port and more. Selection Spéciale kits make 15 - 750ml bottles at once, and they age (and taste) just like the commercial varieties they represent.
Brandied but Unbowed,
The Winexpert

If you have a question you would like to see in the next From The Vine newsletter e-mail info@winexpert.com, subject line “Ask The Expert”, please include your name, city and province/state.

Two new varieties to tantalize your palate

Winexpert is excited to announce two more premium quality varietals that are sure to be future award winners!

Selection Estate Crushendo South Australian Single Vineyard Shiraz
Conundrum Vineyards is on the Murray River, which meanders for thousands of kilometers through sun-drenched plains and sloping hillsides of South Australia. Beautiful Gobelet-trained Shiraz vines bask in the warm days (tempered by the cool nights of the river valley) making perfectly balanced, intensely rich grapes.

Winexpert South Australian Crushendo Shiraz is a bold wine, deep ruby purple in colour with a deep, dark plum and blackberry showing subtle accents of chocolate. Rich, lush and complex, the soft black fruit combines with a hint of black pepper spiciness that follows through with a firm, tannic finish with toasty vanilla and a hint of spice.
Available late September ’07.

Selection International Series Chilean Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir, the famous red grape of Burgundy, tends to make expensive wines that blend fruit and savoury complexity.
Outside of France, pinot noir is now grown successfully in California, Oregon, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and thanks in part to the movie “Sideways” it has seen a major resurgence across the globe in recent years.

Winexpert’s Selection International Series Chilean Pinot Noir is a bright ruby colour with delicate aromas of red berry flavours. Medium bodied and supple with a hint of herbiness, the mouth feel is very elegant with soft tannins and a subtle oak finish. Vibrant and food friendly, this wine is excellent with salmon, roast beef and lamb.
Available mid-October ’07.

Visit your Winexpert Authorized Retailer for more details on when you can start making these two fantastic wines.

Wine Trends “Take Note”

People have documented their love of wine from the days of cave art, the early scriptures to modern internet “blogs”. Whatever your speed of technology; pen to paper or finger to keyboard, journaling your experiences is a trend on the rise.

A great journal can help you re-experience a wine event with your friends and family, reconfirm a favourite taste, varietal or wine characteristic. A journal can help you manage your wine cellar by making key notes of your wines as they age and uncovering the complexities of your wines, thereby identifying your passion for wine making and the wine lifestyle. A wine journal need not be anything expensive or complicated; from the Blackberry inspired “Tasting Buddy” to a bookstore blank journal, there are also journals made specifically for tasting wines.

Whatever your choice, it is a great way to capture your experience and reference some great memories.

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