Matching books to wine
March 27, 2008 With autumn just around the corner it’s time to begin accumulating that stack of books to read as the nights get colder. Of course, wine should always be at hand too - her are some picks matched to genre.
What to do when the wine is hurting your pockets
March 25, 2008 What causes good wine to go bad?
March 14, 2008 On the surface the wine tasting at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars was another of those informal yet luxe get-togethers the Napa Valley is famous for, but the intensity with which the winemaker studied my every move underscored the fact some very serious business was afoot.
India to witness three-fold increase in wine consumption
March 13, 2008 New Delhi (PTI): Wine consumption in India is set to treble by 2011 to touch 17 million litres per annum, according to a study conducted by UK-based International Wines and Spirits Records (IWSR). As per the study, wine consumption in India stood at six million litres in 2006 and in the last four years, it has risen by over four times.
Budget 2008: Wine tax now highest in Europe
March 13, 2008 Middle-class drinkers will bear the brunt of sharp increases in alcohol duty that mean Britain now taxes wine more heavily than any other country in Europe and left brewers warning that a pint of beer will soon cost £6.50. Wine, beer and spirits prices will all rise above the rate of inflation after Alistair Darling announced plans to raise an extra £1.5 billion in tax from drinkers over the next three years with a new “alcohol tax escalator.”
Guess What ? BYTCS is expanding agian...Check out the new sections
March 11, 2008 Some you guys may have noticed but we have some new sections. First up we have the Reggae & Carribean Music & News and the African & Nollywood News & Gossip sections. We used to report their news in International but alot of our viewers emailed me saying those story got lost in the flood on news in the International section. So being a man of the people I spoke to admin and had them give you guys 2 new section. I also realized our viewers are intelligent so lets do something for the well read. So for you literary fans we now have a Books section. So enjoy guys.
Wine Expert Wong Born with Taste for Grapes
March 6, 2008 Wine Expert Wong Born with Taste for Grapes
The self-described “extreme researcher,” Wilfred Wong, 57, has rated and written thousands of wine reviews for BevMo’s 80 stores. He helps develop dozens of exclusive BevMo blends, judges 20 wine competitions a year and travels the world’s regions in search of great juice.
BevMo, the largest specialty beverage retailer in California, benefits from Wong’s personal relationships in the industry and a knowledge base he’s culled over 35 years.
Wong rates wine on a 100-point scale, looking for the classic characteristics of a variety: flavors, tannins, acidity and structure.
“It’s amazing to me that someone with the name Wong is so well-known in Bordeaux,” says David Richards, the executive vice president of BevMo. “They welcome him with open arms because they know he’s dedicated to his craft. He’s like a painter of pictures, except he does it with his ability to taste.”
“The subject can carry me away,” says Wong. “I can be in a vineyard for hours and be content. You absorb things — the soil, the vines — and feel like you’re in touch with yourself.”
— Contra Costa Times
Hong Kong uncorks fine wine ambitions by abolishing duties
February 29, 2008 Hong Kong is aiming to establish itself as a centre for the trading of fine wine - alongside London and New York - by abolishing duties on wine and beer.The move, announced yesterday, makes Hong Kong, which does not have a sales tax, one of the few places in the world where wine is untaxed, according to industry executives. It turns round Hong Kong’s alcohol tax regime, which at the beginning of last year included an 80 per cent duty on wine and beer.
Koshu wine heads to Europe
February 9, 2008 The boom in Japanese cuisine in Europe is about to get a serving of Japanese wine to wash it down. The first cases of Koshu Cuvee Denis Duboudieu 2006 white wine, made from Koshu grapes picked in Nirasaki, Yamanashi Prefecture, are on their way to the continent after being granted EU permission for import in November. Koshu is the old name for Yamanashi Prefecture.
Wine lovers: He's passionate about red, she's devoted to white - how to bridge the color divide
February 9, 2008 A couple walked into K&L Wine Merchants in San Francisco recently with a dilemma faced by many partners: the husband liked red wine and his wife preferred white.Scott Beckerley, assistant manager, said the wife was trying her husband’s Cabernet Sauvignon, but said it had “too much of a bite” and was “too puckery” for her tastes. She was diluting it with ice cubes, trying to force herself to like it since her doctor suggested she drink red wine for its health benefits.
18,000 bottle of wine was off
February 9, 2008 A wealthy diner ordered an £18,000 bottle of wine, complained it could be a fake, and was then told it was off anyway, it was revealed.
The regular customer at the Michelin-starred Zafferano restaurant in Knightsbridge, London, ordered a bottle of Petrus 1961, considered to be one of the greatest wines of all time. But he refused to drink it because the cork was not stamped with the standard mark to show where and when it was made.
Zafferano’s general manager Enzo Cassini told the Evening Standard: “The bottle was perfect, there was nothing to think it wasn’t genuine. I tasted the wine and it was off anyway.” Mr Cassini salvaged the situation by selling the customer a £20,000 alternative - a magnum of Mouton Rothschild 1945.