Wine Atlas

Only 98 Americans hold a diploma from the British-based Wine & Spirit Education Trust. It is awarded after a minimum of two years of study followed by extensive written and blind tasting examinations. Many fail the first time around. Success entitles one to use the initials "D.W.S." ("Diploma in Wine & Spirits"). Overwhelmingly, the graduates come from the world of sommeliers and wine and spirits salespeople.

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Tickets Are Now on Sale for the Cincinnati International Wine Festival Carolyn Wente of Wente Family Estates Will Serve as Honorary Chair for the 2007 Series of Sensational Wine Events

CINCINNATI, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cincinnati International Wine Festival is now selling tickets for the 2007 events that include the Winery Dinners on March 22, the Charity Auction & Luncheon on March 24 and the Grand Tastings on March 23-24. The Midwest's premier wine festival will bring 135 wineries together with over 600 wines for sampling. This prestigious event benefits local Cincinnati charities. Tickets can be purchased by going to http://www.winefestival.com/ or by calling (513) 723-9463.

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France is to launch a national wine brand later this year in its latest attempt to drain bulging cellars and take on rivals in foreign markets.

French wine authorities have officially backed plans for the brand, which will cover vins de pays wines and is set to be called ‘Vignobles de France'.

Supporters of the move say it will allow winemakers to be more flexible and help to reduce the pools of unsold wine that have become a regular feature in the bowels of the industry.

“It contains the crucial word ‘France', which is meaningful for consumers,” Anne Burchette, the French managing director of Castel UK, owner of Oddbins wine stores, told BeverageDaily.com.

Talks over a ‘France' wine brand became more serious after the government included the proposal in its national wine strategy last spring, drawn up as a blueprint for re-launching French wines on the international market.

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They're not actors, professional golfers or rock stars.

They're not race car drivers, movie directors nor Hall-of-Famers.

They don't bring celebrity names to their wine labels. But in the wine business, they're well-known. They've made names for themselves as successful vintners.

They're the Evenstads, the Gargiulos and the Swansons. All have Southwest Florida ties. For these part-time Naples residents, wine is serious business.

They'll show off their wines later this week during the Naples Winter Wine Festival, which they've helped put on the map as the most successful charity wine auction in the world.

During three of 18 dinners at exclusive homes in Naples on Friday night, they'll uncork their wines, as will more than 30 other world-renowned vintners.

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Yet Another Reliable White from S.B.'s In Town Winery

The enjoyment of wine seems to go from exact (notes of vanilla and grass, for instance) to experiential, like how this 2005 Santa Barbara Chardonnay goes perfectly well with a French onion soup and green salad with ginger sesame dressing from Sojourner, followed by a dessert of tow-in surf and hip-hop DVDs.sb%20wine%20chard%202005.jpg Both types of wine enjoyment and writing make sense in their own regard, and I tend to prefer a mix of both, as evidenced above.

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The Food Technology Department of Xavier University (Ateneo de Cagayan) College of Agriculture (XUCA) has successfully conducted a pilot batch processing of some common fruits into sweet wines which are now available for commercial or village-level production to interested parties.

“We have conducted pilot trials for guyabano, pineapple and Bengal currants, more commonly known as Karanda,” said food technologist Sylvia T. Aguhob, department chairperson of the XUCA Food Tech Department. “We have also conducted public taste tests for our products and received positive responses from the tasters.”

Guyabano, or soursop ( Annona muricata) is better known to Cebuano-speaking Mindanaoans as the abana, virtually the same name by which it’s known in its sister Spanish colony of Mexico as the huanaba.

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Napa Winery Grgich Hills Partners With SPG Solar on 170 kW Solar Energy System

SPG Solar announced today the commissioning of Phase II of the 170 kilowatt commercial photovoltaic (solar energy) system for the Grgich Hills winery in Napa Valley, California. Together Phase I, completed in 2005, and Phase II of the Grgich Hills PV installation will produce 170.08 kilowatts DC of electricity during peak production hours. With the completion of Phase II, the PV system is expected to meet 100% of the winery's actual energy needs. The system will pay for itself within five years.

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It doesn't involve climbing into a large vat and stomping your own grapes, but Tom Falash can show you how to make your own wine for about a third of the price you would pay at the wine store.

In June, Falash, 50, opened Wine Corkers in Boise to show people how fun it could be to make their own wine.

For less than $10 a bottle, customers can make wine that Falash said rivals the quality of wines costing more than $30 a bottle. They can customize it with their own private labels.

"When I give you a bottle of this wine, you know it comes from the heart," Falash said at his store, tucked away in a strip mall at 5634 W. State St. "I haven't gone to a store and bought a bottle off the shelf. I've thought about it, customized it and put my personal touch on the gift of wine."

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EUGENE, Ore. - Pinot noirs and chardonnays have put Willamette Valley vineyards on the map. But now a few Oregon wineries are branching out, dabbling in the production of champagne and other sparkling wines.

Vintners say it's a natural fit: Pinot noir and chardonnay grapes, after all, are two of the three varieties used in champagne.

Nationally, sparkling wines accounted for 4.1 percent of all wine purchases in 2005, according to the Wine Institute, an advocacy organization for California's wine producers.

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Bader Winery: Free tastings from noon-6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Hours are 10 am.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. 711 Grand Blvd., Vancouver; 360-750-1551 or visit www.BaderWinery.com.

Bethany Winery: Free tastings on the second and third Saturday of the month, January through October, and every Saturday and Sunday in November and December. Open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. 4115 N.E. 259th St., Ridgefield; 360-887-3525 or visit www.bethanyvineyards.com.

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Many people are familiar with Australia, California, Italy, France and Germany as wine growing regions. Many people have also stumbled upon the wonderful wines of Chile, Argentina and the Northwest and these wines are seeing an increasing surge in popularity. But one wine region which possesses fantastic wines and is often neglected in all the excitement for its more well know counterparts is South Africa.

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