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September 2008 Newsletter
Happy Labor Day!
We need your help! We are creating a wine-related Christmas wish list and we would like your opinion. Please reply to this email with what you want for Christmas that is wine related? We will post the top items on our website for shoppers that are looking for gifts for the wine lovers in their life.
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 Featured Items
For our September Featured Item, we have fun games for wine lovers!
Choose from Don't Break the Bottle, Winerd and Karafe. Check it out!
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Cheers! Toast of the Month:
 When toasting, one of the May all your pain be Champagne.
words used most often --unknown
"Cheers!" This month, we
head to China to celebrate
the 2008 Summer Olympics:
Chinese:
(Cantonese) - Yung sing ("drink and win");
- Gom bui ("dry the cup")
(Mandarin) - Gan bei ("dry the cup")
Glasses are generally raised as the toast is made
and are sometimes clinked together before the
first sip is taken. |
Dining Out...from American Cellars of Wine Club
 1. If you'd like to bring a bottle (or two) of wine to a restaurant, be sure to call ahead and inquire about the corkage policy. A reasonable corkage fee is $10 or less per bottle.
2. In restaurants that allow patrons to bring in their own wine, be sure to increase your tip to cover the added service and encourage the policy.
3. Offer your server a taste of the wine you bring in. It's a polite gesture, and often results in better service.
4. When pursuing a restaurant's wine list, be wary if vintages are not listed. Be sure to verify the vintage of your selection before the server opens it for you.
5. If those in your party can't reach consensus on a single bottle of wine, see if the restaurant stocks half-bottles or serves wine by the glass. There is no "rule" that says a party must order a full-sized bottle of wine.
6. Restaurants with lengthy wine lists typically employ a wine steward to manage it. Don't be shy about asking this person for guidance is selecting a bottle. However, should they recommend the most expensive bottle in a category without discussion, they're probably more concerned with the restaurant's bottom line than your enjoyment. The old axiom applies: Buyer Beware. That said, a vast majority of wine stewards are genuinely interested in helping you select a bottle (or half-bottle, or glass) of wine that will enhance your meal.
7. When all else fails, a fairly reliable way of selecting a bottle from a particular category is to choose one that falls in the middle of the category's price range.
8. When the server offers you the cork to smell after opening a bottle, do nothing. Smelling the cork will tell you nothing about the quality of the wine. (You may want to look at it for possible breakage or chipping, which could be a sign that the seal was compromised.) But it's the wine - not the cork - that's important, so swirl the wine in your glass and smell it. A wine should be declined only when it's defective - i.e., when it is wet cardboard-like or must aroma (commonly referred to as being "corked"). While touring the Napa Valley, we had a guide tell us you should take a bite out of it, just to get a reaction out of the server! :)
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Wine Pairings
We have recently enjoyed Carino's Italian Taste Tour - Wine Dinner Style. It is a monthly 4 course dinner with wine paired to the meal. The cost is $30.00 per person. We enjoyed the meal (designed for the party, not off the menu). Call your local Carino's and find out when they have their wine tasting dinner. Reservations may be required.
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Wine of the Month Recommendation:
 For September, we'd like to recommend the 2005 Big Ass Cab. This wine is delicious and is a steal for under $25. Fruit-driven and full-bodied with lush aromas of cassis, blackberry and candied cherry, Big Ass Cab is a perfect complement to any rich or savory meal. This wine was fermented warm (75-85°F) with regular gentle mixing to ensure good extraction of tannin and color. The wine was aged in a mix of French and American oak barrels for an average of 17 months, which gives the wine balanced toasty oak and vanilla characters. The palate exhibits concentrated blackcurrant and ripe cherry flavors that are layered with some minerality in the mid-palate.
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| Looking for Something? Can't find something wine-related on our website? We would like to know what you are looking for! We constantly update the items we offer. You can reply to this email, use the contact us page or our customer feedback form to let us know.
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| If you like what you see here, please feel free to share our newsletter with your friends, family and co-workers
that love wine. We appreciate your referrals!
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| Always remember to drink responsibly. Yung sing!
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