Wondering Through the World of Wine

  Easily distracted, I have the tendency to get so caught up in something that I will quite literally forget I had been in the middle of something else. This happened to me the other day while I was making a cup of tea. I placed the tea ball in my mug, noted the time so I would know when to take it out, and then I made the mistake of starting the next section of my class on the Margaret River area of Australia.               Completely enthralled by this wine region and daydreaming about its Cabernets and Chardonnays, it was forty minutes later that I realized I had not taken a single sip of my tea. Not only had I not taken a single sip, I had completely and totally forgotten to take the tea ball out. I hastily removed it, took a drink, and was greeted with a mouthful of overly tannic, almost flavorless liquid. Annoyed with myself, but also grateful it hadn’t been one of my special Scottish teas, I got to thinking a...

  Hipster trends. I have to say, I tend to avoid them like the plague. I have personally found these kitschy novelties as something for people to blast on their social media pages or to brag on, as if they actually accomplished something monumental. Sorry, but in simple terms, I have found them rather annoying.               A recent hype that has been hitting wine publications, that I chalked up to another short-lived whimsy of the hipster-minded, has been the focus on listening bars. These establishments, also known as record bars, vinyl bars, or hi-fi bars, are exactly what they sound like. This is a place where people go to get a drink and listen to records.               Based on the jazz kissa listening rooms that were popular in Japan in the 1950s, these bars are unique in the fact that the main attraction is the music. Records are chosen in v...

  Change is such an interesting concept. It doesn’t matter if it is a good change or a bad, a big change or a small, most humans are hesitant to take the step for fear of the unknown.               I have experienced a lot of changes in my life lately, with the most important one being introducing a new dog into our family. All of these changes have been good, and all of them have been stressful. As I have navigated through these shifting winds, it has truly fascinated me how one little life alteration can simultaneously bring a flutter of excitement and a pang of panic, making me feel like I am on a never-ending rollercoaster. Then, as the dust settles and life flows into a new routine, I am amazed that what caused so many emotions a week ago now feels normal, like it has always been. All of this reflection weirdly got me thinking about my palate and the changes it has gone through during my journey as a wine consu...

  Pet peeves. We all have them. One of mine is this thought of the new year making everything right. Year after year, I cringe at the endless “good riddance to the past year, now things will be different” rants that seem to spew out of mouths and across social media platforms. Seriously, how is the clock turning from 12 a.m. to 12:01 a.m. going to make any difference? Then, there are the New Year’s resolutions…               As someone who works out every day, this has always been one of my least favorite things about the new year. Starting at the beginning of January and continuing until Valentine’s Day, the gym is stuffed to the max with people taking up the equipment, hording in on mat space, and making sign up for classes near impossible. Then there are the endless social media pictures of healthy food, people giving a daily breakdown of all the good they are doing and just begging for praise, and this Dry Janua...

  The Christmas season is upon us. That means cheer is in the air and calories simply don’t count.               For my family, the holidays have always officially started the day after Thanksgiving. Year after year, we would wake up on that Friday morning to find tubs of Christmas decorations lining the driveaway and filling up the living room. Holiday movies were turned on and cheese and crackers set out as we would help mom put up the tree, marvel at our ornaments and Christmas books, and spend endless hours trying to figure out which bulb was burnt out on the light strand. Through all of this, the occasional cuss word would filter inside as dad created the outside display. The day would end with us basking in the glow of the twinkling lights. It was always such a magical time, and something I looked forward to every year.               As we got ...

  As I stared at all of the beautiful wines in my chiller that would go perfectly with my dinner, I grumpily snagged the one sporting a bottle stopper and sighed. Thanks to the winery’s need to encapsulate their wines with a synthetic cork, my Coravin system would not work on it. This meant I was resigned to this one particular quaff for the next four days, whether it was a perfect pairing or not. In this case, not. Sipping and scowling, my thoughts drifted to the notion of how a wine bottle is sealed, and all of the various options that go with it.               I know I have mentioned my Coravin system before, and will do so again, simply because I love it. Created to allow consumers the opportunity to savor and enjoy wine on their own terms, wine is pulled out of the bottle through the cork by using a large needle and Aragon gas, a noble gas already used in winemaking. The cork naturally reseals the tiny hole and...