On Shipping Wine - Redux

A while back we tried to put together a primer on how to ship wine to various states. We tried to do our research, but somehow we managed to drop the ball egregiously - or at least that was the vibe from the comments we read. In an attempt to make things right, we've dug up a couple articles from WineLog that cover the same ground. Hopefully they got it right, but if they didn't...hey, don't kill the messengers.

Article 1 - an overview and a treatise on reciprocity

Article 2 - state specifics and some other details

Good luck and we hope you find it more helpful than what we put together.

Find the Latest Wines at Wine.com

		Wine Name:
		Vintage:
		Shipping to:	Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Get Vertical with your Wine Tasting

We always find we like to get a little bit horizontal after a few glasses of wine, or at least in that "L" shape that allows us to be most comfortable on the couch. It turns out, horizontal isn't always the way to go when it comes to wine. We've found an article at Chow.com that espouses the virtues of a vertical tasting - the tasting of different vintages of the same wine. We found it interesting, and it has a few tips for how they work and where you might find one in your area.

When I say that I’ve been doing a lot of vertical tasting lately, I don’t mean that I’ve been drinking wine while standing up. Formal wine tastings fall into two categories—horizontal and vertical, both intended to highlight differences and/or similarities among different wines. A horizontal tasting pits different wines from the same vintage against one another. A vertical tasting features different vintages of the same wine. If you’re a wine geek or a budding one, chances are you’ll attend one of these at some point.

Pick Up Some Sommelier Secrets

Amateur wine enthusiasts (and beginners alike) rejoice - you no longer need to fear the sommelier. You know, the guy who looks down his nose at you in a fancy restaurant because you don't get his terroir jokes? We've found an excellent Q&A about how to handle a sommelier and know exactly what to ask/tell him or her when you're trying to pair your food with wine or just order a nice bottle.

We've included a couple of our favorite questions - and their answers - after the jump.

Continue reading: "Pick Up Some Sommelier Secrets"

Wine, Wine, Good for your Heart

The more you drink it, the more you...get the health benefits. OK, maybe that's not the best way to start off our Valentine's Day post, but we love hearing people rave about how great red wine is for your heart, and every time we read an article about it, it does our hearts good. And what better day to have good heart happenings that VDay?

We've found another interesting note about an experiment involving mice, fatty foods and a chemical in wine over at the Sporting Life. Not only is the article they're discussing interesting, we liked their take on it too:

Actually, a whole history of the popularization of the ‘red wine good for you’ theory is given here. In a surprise twist, from 1992 until now, the theory has traveled the opposite road to most similar hypotheses. Rather than being a solid theory, slowly eroded by science into ridicule, it started is life as the crackpot ravings of drunken Frenchmen and then built up a weight of scientific evidence.

Rapid Ice Instant Wine Chiller

We've been known to put down a bottle of white wine in near-record time, and something that can be frustrating is when it takes more time to chill the bottle than it does to drink it. Enter the Rapid Ice wine cooler from Vacu Vin...or in a pinch you could drink your wine from a Kronik Chill.

The Rapid Ice Instant Wine Cooler ($12) helps this problem by freezing it, then slipping it over the bottle for 5 minutes. It can keep your vino cold for up to 3 hours without the need for a dedicated, and sometimes messy, ice bucket. It apparently also works for beer, but if it takes you three hours to finish one of those you're drinking way too slowly.

Wines for Valentines

The time is almost here - the big V-Day '07. It's time to get all romantical with your chosen animal, vegetable, or mineral, and if we're talking romance, we should be talking wine. We've found some recommendations for romantic wines this year that will hopefully get you some romantic attention, or at least keep you out of the doghouse.

Seduction is a wine that was suggested by two people — Mike Smith, of Napa, and Bart O’Brien, of O’Brien Cellars, who produced the wine. It’s a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot and comes in a red and black box that emphasizes the words, “Lovers, Friends and You.” The wine itself is enclosed in a red see-through bag, which was described by a colleague in the newsroom as “the only wine I’ve ever seen that comes in a negligee.”

Folding Wine Table

We're always on the lookout for an elegant solution for storing and displaying our wine, especially in the limited space we have available. This folding wine table we found at Amazon seems like a good way to go, especially considering it has room for 4 bottles and 12 glasses without even using the top of the table. We're picturing this as a great item to whip out for dinner parties so you can keep your wine and glasses near where you're eating.

Or, we might get one and use it as a TV tray - you never know when you might need four bottles of wine to go with your Hungry Man dinner and your Sanford & Son reruns.

Amazon - Folding Wine Table

Don't blush if you like pink wine

Get it?

Rose wines have gone from a tacky '70s spirit to today's trendy libation, say wine experts. Expect to sample some if you head to the Boston Wine Expo next weekend at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston.

The 16th annual Boston Wine Expo is one of the largest events of its kind in the country, bringing 450 wineries and more than 1,800 wines to the Hub for a weekend of wine education and enlightenment.

CFW Monthly Roundup: January '07

Welcome to 2007, wine lovers! We did our best to make January as interesting as possible, and we've found all sorts of great stuff to get your through these (more or less) cold winter months. Not only did we find all sorts of wine steals you can try to find at your local shop, we also uncovered some interesting gizmos and services, including a portable wine thermometer, and a mobile search service so you can compare wine prices through your phone. Plus, we did a crossover with the boys over at Liquor Snob discussing Death in the Afternoon, a combination of two of our favorite things - wine and absinthe. Drink and be merry!

Continue reading: "CFW Monthly Roundup: January '07"