When should I cellar a red wine?Ask The Wine Ladies November 2013
Dear Wine Ladies,
How does one know when or not to cellar a red wine? I have quite a few that have collected over the years in cold storage in my basement.
John, Austin, Texas
How old is the vine of an “old vine”wine?Ask The Wine Ladies October 2013
Dear Wine Ladies,
Over the last couple of years I’ve been enjoying Zinfandel more and more, particularly the ones that indicate coming from old vines. I’ve only ever seen them from California and was wondering if it is a grape that orginate’s from there or if other places make them? Speaking of “old vines” how old do they have to be, to be able to claim that on the label?
Graham, Vancouver.
Icewine, drink it now or later? Ask The Wine Ladies January 2013
Dear Wine Ladies,
I tasted a delicious Vidal Icewine which I learned was aged in oak. Is this typical? Are Icewines ok to age or should they be consumed when young?
Barry, Toronto
Let’s Talk Turkey! To decant or not to decant that is the question!Ask The Wine Ladies December 2012
Dear The Wine Ladies,
We have been invited to my month-in-laws for Thanksgiving dinner, and I would like to surprise her with a decanter as a gift. She is just getting into wine and I thought she might enjoy this surprise instead of flowers or chocolates.
Would I be able to find one that would fall into my limited budget of around $35-$50? I’d like to share a few words of wisdom with my gift as well, if you wouldn’t mind offering a few tips it would be greatly appreciated.
Should all red wines be decanted and what are the main reasons for decanting?
Jack
New York, New York
Ask The Wine Ladies…Are wine diamonds a girl’s best friend?
Dear Wine Ladies,
At a recent dinner party I attended the hostess noticed a small amount of sediment.It looked like tiny pieces of glass at the bottom of a bottle of white wine from Germany. I was a little hesitant to drink the wine. However, one of the guests assured us the wine was fine and there was no cause to worry. What were those little pebble-like stones and are they really harmless?
Jennifer, New York
Dear Jennifer,
Those pebble-like stones you are describing are commonly referred to as “wine diamonds” or weinstein which literally translates to “wine stones” in German speaking countries. What exactly are they and how did they end up at the bottom of the bottle? These wine diamonds are actually harmless crystalline deposits that naturally separate from wines during fermentation and aging. Potassium acid tartrate, the potassium salt of tartaric acid is the major component of this sediment. The presence of tartaric acid, along with malic acid are very important in wine making as they help provide good structure, fruit flavours, crispness on the palate and an increased lifespan of the wine.
wine diamonds
The majority of winemakers today recognize that the consumer is alarmed or put off by the presence of these crystalline deposits. They however are harmless. Rather than educating the public, many wineries employ a process called “cold stabilization” prior to bottling. This involves chilling the wine to just below zero degrees causing the potassium bitartrate to crystallize. The wine is then filtered and bottled. Having the wine undergo this process prior to leaving the winery assures a clean filtered wine with no sediment. In cases where the wine does not undergo cold stabilization at the winery, this precipitation of the tartrate could happen during cold weather transport or cold storage conditions.
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Join The Wine Ladies this Nov 2018 for a Rhine River Cruise For Wine Lovers.
Niagara-on-the-Lake, perfect for a second date!
Niagara-on-the Lake turned out to be the perfect venue for my second date, from the food and wine, to the picturesque old town, to the sounds of the music festival, a little shopping and a small dose of history. How could he not be impressed with wine country?
And so he was. It was my turn to come up with a plan for Saturday afternoon which was to be our second date. Being quite the foodie and wine lover that I learned he was, spending the day in Niagara was a natural. Three wineries, I thought will be ideal, each with a unique focus, a stroll around the old town, quaint but with sophistication, a little window shopping, and a few stops along the way taking in the sounds of the music festival. This would be perfect. He enjoys a good band or quartet, this I know, as he plays a couple of instruments himself… hmmm we could do a duet, I could sing and tickle the ivories, but I digress.
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Queen Street
We’ll top off the evening with a stupendous tasting menu over at Peller Estates. http://www.peller.com Celebrity Chef Jason Parsons rocks the kitchen, is a friend and a great guy with a big personality, I’ll have to introduce him.
Celebrity Chef Jason Parsons of Peller Estates
It’s all come together nicely, the plan is set, just hoping it will be a delightful sunny afternoon!
Saturday afternoon, the sun is shining and we are off, cruising down the highway, the top down and the tunes playing. Niagara-on-the-Lake is 1.5 hours from Toronto, easy drive with easy conversation and anticipation for the day before us.
Our first stop, Konzelmann Winery http://www.konzelmann.ca/ where we are greeted by the General Manger, Jensin Ozkur who personally gives us a tour, so passionate about the winery, the wines and the vineyards. Konzelmann Estate Winery was founded in 1984, although the family has been in the wine business for over 100 years with its origin in Germany, in the town of Uhlbach (not far from Stuttgart) founded in 1893. “This is the only winery in NOTL” Jensin explains “with vineyards on the lake”. The view is spectacular with the vineyards overlooking Lake Ontario, 16 hectares in all, made up of vitis vinifera grapes including Pinot Noir, Chardonnay Gewurztraminer as well as Zweigelt.
Aruba a paradise of sandy white beaches, sparkling turqoise waters, amazing food and wine!
Aruba beckons… although small in size, just 30 km long and 8 km wide, this stunning Caribbean island is big on beauty, with long stretches of white sandy beaches, sensuous sparkling turquoise waters and gentle trade winds that caress and cool the skin while enjoying the rays of the tropical sun. We are returning to this incredible island, after many, many years, as our father’s identical twin started the very first hotel here, called the Manchebo Beach Hotel. Aruba has become an incredibly desirable destination with so much to offer and to celebrate including an annual Wine, Food and Art Festival, held at The Westin Resort and Casino, Aruba right up our alley!
Watch The Wine Ladies TV and our adventures in Aruba here.
We look forward to a having an awesome week of a little R&R, some fun and some seriously yummy eating…accompanied by some fine wines of course! All this with our friends, a group of five fun loving ladies who also happen to be quite the foodies!
`Aruba Good Morning in over 100 languages! WOW
We are welcomed by broad smiles and happy faces with an aim to please. The native “Aruban” speaks three to four languages, is friendly and engaging, “bon bini” is how you are greeted, followed with Bon dia, Bon tardi, and Bon nochi as the sunset approaches. This is the vocab from the local language here, Papiamento, a creole language derived from African languages and either Portuguese or Spanish, with some influences from Amerindian languages, English and Dutch. We met one local, Romeo who could say this in almost any language known to mankind! Check out this talented man here. It’s pretty cool!
Aruba… One Happy Island
We will soon discover, there is definitely fabulous food here, and they even have a winemaker on the island, sought after by international media, knocking on the barrel cellar door, anxious to discover and sample the wines made here in such an arid climate. How does he do it? Vincente Kock of Vino Vince, located in Santa Cruz, Aruba.
Vincente explains how he became the Wine Wizard during our interview.
Sparkling Icewine…the perfect wine for any occasion.Ask The Wine Ladies January 2012
Dear Wine Ladies,
I was thinking of bringing a Vidal icewine to mark the occasion of a friend’s first movie role but then learned there are also sparkling icewines. What are they like and would this be an appropriate wine to bring? Are they served chilled like a regular white wine?
Beth
Whitby, Ontario
The Wine Ladies Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions. Happy New Year ! Ask The Wine Ladies December 2013
Well it’s been an unbelievable year, 2013 has, with a few challenges yes, but with many jubilations too. We’ve so enjoyed connecting with all of our TV show guests, our fans, listeners and readers, and fellow wine lovers and look forward to an even better 2014!
With the clock ticking we’ve finally penned our Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions that we’d love to share, and hope to hear back with some of yours!
A toast to 2014 for wine lovers everywhere, “Cheers, Prost, Salute, Salut!
1)We will, no matter how painful or arduous, dedicate ourselves to fulfilling our doctor’s orders of having one glass of red wine per day… Got to keep the ticker healthy!
2) We promise to never drink any wine before its time!
3) Our new found love for hiking will continue with a promise to scale another peak. Mount Everst,Mount Kilimanjaro anyone? We’re signed up for another year!
4) YES!!! Yet another reason to continue to enjoy our red wine! Keep the Pinot Noir coming, one of the top grapes for “resveratrol” composition!
A glass of red will give you about 640 mg of Resveratrol. Resveratrol is a naturally occurring antioxidant found in the skin of red grapes. Research has shown that Resveratrol can reduce or slow down certain signs of aging. Let’s pull a Jack Benny, 39 AGAIN! Fill her up… Actually not quite, leave enough room to swirl, about 1/6 to 1/4 the volume of the glass, depending on the size of the glass. Swirl, sniff and savour!
5) Discover a new wine, a new grape or a new region at least once a week and tweet to our friends.
6) Write a book.
7) Explore organic and biodynamic local wines to help reduce our carbon footprint,
8) We love connecting with fellow wine lovers, enthusiasts and wine novices around the world, our goal is to try to bring the world of wine together, one person at a time, one tweet at a time, one sip at a time
9) Every day presents a new opportunity to be the best we can be, enjoy, embrace and be challenged. As Oprah says “Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right”. We’re with you Oprah, live, learn and live what you learn!
10)… And finally for the Top Ten’s #1 New year’s Resolution, we promise to continue to spread our playful approach and wine tasting philosophy to the most unsuspecting wine aficionado!
Happy New Year!
The Wine Ladies
Georgia and Susanne
Throwing a party? How much wine do I need?Ask The Wine Ladies March 2011
Dear Wine Ladies,
We’re throwing a party over the holiday weekend to celebrate the move into our new home, which we have finally taken possession of. It’s been a long while since we’ve entertained and are unsure as to how much wine to buy. Is there some kind of formula to figure out how much we will need?
Mary, Chicago,Illinois