Wine, when it was only French, was a luxurious drink of the rich and the classy.  Wine, in its democratized forms, is now a luxury made available at every supermarket and has come a far way from its tradition of being produced in France and Germany.

Lately wine drinkers have the choice of selecting their bottle of wine produced in the vine yards of California, Chile, Australia and India, to name a few. Wine had always had a high brand image as a drink meant only for the aristocrats unlike beer, whiskey and brandy which is more associated the common man’s pub drink.

Complimenting this established popular perception, good French wine cost you the earth. Till a few decades ago, wine was made available through specialist wine outlets, stored in huge cellars and dispensed by wine-wise sommeliers in restaurants. But as more and more countries proved themselves to be sources wine as good as the French, supplies expanded dramatically and suddenly, wine became an affordable drink to all which has given reason to more people switching from stronger alcohol based drinks to more milder intoxication of wine.

Wine has therefore made a successful transformation from being an elitist and unaffordable drink to a drink for the masses.  Read more...

Personalized wine bottles provide you with an excellent way of making a special event even more special. You can chose to have the wine bottles customized in whatever way you choose including using any relevant photos, poetry, cartoons or art work

Personalized wine bottles can be both excellent gifts in addition to being the talk of the party giving your guests something to take home with them to remind them of the event.

When you are selecting personalized wine bottles there are a few important things that you need to bear in mind including the variety and age of wine to use. If you are planning an event such as a birthday party or graduation party where there will be younger people there you could have the bottles filled with fizzy cider instead of wine.

Weddings are also fantastic events to use personalized wine bottles since you can have the bottles personalized with the names of the happy couple along with the date. Some people like to have a photo of the bride and groom on the bottles to make them even more special.

If you intend to use personalized wine bottles as party favors then you may want to think about getting hold of some small wine bottles so that you can give every guest an individual bottle and not have to pay too much money. For bigger occasions it may be more prudent to have a number of larger bottles on the guests’ tables as a way of complimenting the decorations in the room. Another positive point of using larger bottles is that the labels are larger so that you have room to put a lot more of a message on them.  Read more...

Masses of folks are threatened at the idea of purchasing wine, because ‘wine is so confusing’.

That is not too far away from the truth, because the sheer variety of wine can actually be confusing., most wine buyers, unless they are gurus, favor to adhere to established brands and vintages.

However, you may be a little brave when you select your next bottle of wine. Do not believe us? Here is how : First up, trying new wines isn’t as dodgy as you believe. However, with close to twenty thousand different wines available in the country, there’s actually room for experiment. So when you select your next bottle of wine, you might well afford to be a little daring and get a wine you have not attempted before. Glaringly, price will be an element, but after you build your financial position, you might try asking the wine store staff to offer you some useful tips about varied brands and labels. Wines, as you know, are classified into 5 broad types depending on their strategy of vinification : table wines, champagnes, pudding wines, aperitiv wines and pop wines. Tastes the best Wines are basically made of chemical compounds reasonably like those occurring naturally in fruits, plants, and spices. The taste of a specific wine relies on the grape variety which has gone into its making, but the ‘oak cask’ factor is at work as well to be explained later. To take an example, a wine’s sweetness is determined by the quantity of residual sugar it contains post-fermentation, relative to its astringency. Dry wine, for example, has extremely low residual sugar content. However, when it comes to flavours, a wine may contain chocolate, vanilla, or coffee tastes, to take only 3 examples, and all these come about as a consequence of ageing the wine in oak casks thus the oak cask factor. In a similar fashion, lots of folks report detecting animal smells in wine, once more down to natural yeasts.  Read more...

If you think it is difficult to choose a fine wine for your self or as a gift you are not completely wrong, buying such a wine is something you need to do some research for. But when you know what to look for it is much easier then you would think. There are many resources you can use online as well as offline. But when you are looking for a wine for yourself the key factor is your own personal preference, because it does not matter if the wine won big awards and how highly recommended a wine is , if the wine is not at your taste it is just not for you.

If you do not like that award winning, highly recommended, fine wine, it does not mean there is something wrong with your taste it just means that you have not found the right type of wine. Wine comes in different types a Merlot, chardonnay, Riesling, zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon or others. If you discover that you are a Merlot drinker and someone gives you an excellent Riesling that is a real fine wine, probably the best on the market, don’t automatically assume that you will love it just because it is highly recommend. When a wine is not your type you will just not like it.

Affordable fine wines  Read more...

Riedel Glassware brings a contemporary flair to the traditional duck-style decanter. The Riedel Dove Wine Decanter is as pleasing to the eye as it is invaluable to fine wine service. The sleek elongated base helps young wines open up, while offering a dazzling presentation for aged vintage wines. The wine decanter has a 32 ounce capacity and like all of Riedel fine glassware, it’s made from 24% lead crystal.

Famed for their technical and hedonistic sophistication, Riedel are at the cutting edge of glass-making and Charles Mitchell Wines can only truly be appreciated when accompanied with Riedel glasses. Riedel produces a range of 24% lead crystal glasses, with shapes and sizes to suit your wine, maximising the taste, aroma and finish. Combining Charles Mitchell finest wines with Riedel finest glasses is a match made in heaven and they are available exclusively to our customers.

Introducing the official Tequila Glass, designed by Riedel Crystal with the help of Tequila producers, officials and cognoscenti. Elegant and slender, the Riedel Tequila Glass is 8 high with a capacity of 6 ounces, designed to highlight the finest characteristics of Mexicos national drink. Non-lead glass from Riedels Ouverture collection, the tall stem lifts tequila to the level of appreciations it deserves. Claus Riedel was the first to recognize that the shape of the glass could enhance the overall enjoyment of alcoholic beverages. He believed that the bouquet and taste of wine was dependant on the form of the glass. ‘Sommeliers’ is the ultimate in hand-blown lead crystal excellence. While ‘Vinum’ offers the same wide range in a machine made lead crystal version.  Read more...