| Six California wines win sweepstake awards | | Posted Friday, February 02, 2007 1:14:37 PM by Blog57 Team | | Fifty-five professional wine judges named six California wines sweepstake award winners and seven Napa Valley wines Best of Class awards following the 2007 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, held in early January at the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds. Some 3,800 wines made by 1,573 wineries from 20 states were entered in what is called the largest competition of American wines in the world.The sweepstake award winners are:• Sparkling wine: 1999 Roederer Estate Brut, Anderson Valley;• White wine: 2006 Geyser Peak Winery Sauvignon Blanc, California, and 2006 Windsor Vineyards Gewürztraminer, Alexander Valley; • Red wine: 2005 Flying Goat Cellars Pinot Noir, Rancho Santa Rosa, and 2004 B.R. Cohn Winery Petite Sirah, North Coast; • Dessert/specialty beverage: 2005 Navarro Vineyards Late Harvest Muscat Blanc, Anderson Valley.The Napa Valley Best of Class winners were:• Rose champagne: Mumm Napa, NV Blanc de Noirs;• Syrah, $35 and over: Miner Family Winery 2003 Syrah, Napa Valley;• Merlot, $15 to $24.99: Quail Ridge Winery 2003 Merlot, Napa Valley;• Merlot, $30 and up: Coho Wines 2004 Merlot, Michael Black Vineyard, Napa Valley;• Cabernet Sauvignon, $25 to $34.99: Flora Springs Winery 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley;• Cabernet Sauvignon, $35 to $44.99: Raymond Vineyards 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Napa Valley; and• Cabernet Sauvignon, $45 and up: Rocca Family Vineyards 2004 Cabernet, Yountville.Wines were awarded as bronze, silver, gold, and double gold (unanimous gold from all judges).... | |
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| | | People in Business | | Posted Monday, January 29, 2007 3:17:35 PM by Blog57 Team | | PBS has named Michele Ripley national chairwoman of its development advisory committee for 2007. Ripley is president of the Commonwealth Fund for KET. The national committee provides advice and counsel to PBS and the development staff in helping to extend station fundraising practices. MANUFACTURING Brown-Forman Corp. has named: Winfried Ruebesam, controller for Europe and Africa; Susan Drake, lead cost analyst for LPO finance; Christa Bryant, brand manager for Amarula Cream Liqueur and Durbanville Hills South African Wines. The company also promoted Marya Johnson to director of finance Americas and Stephanie Norris to lead project office analyst in its technology solutions group. — Charlie White Items can be e-mailed to businesspeople@courier-journal.com.... | |
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| | | How To Be Sure Your Personal Ad Gets Noticed | | Posted Friday, December 01, 2006 1:20:44 PM by Blog57 Team | | After much nail-biting and pacing, you've finally made the decision to join an online dating service. Now you face the seemingly monumental task of writing your personals ad. Sheesh, you say. How do I do this—especially when the personals you've taken the time to read through are so, well, let's be honest, awful. All those abbreviations! All those long paragraphs! All the fluff that a over-sexed seventh-grade boy could see right through! The trick to writing personals ads that get noticed are to be original and creative when it comes to writing yours. Think about it. Does a Volkswagen ad read like a Mercedes ad? Of course not. That's because though they're both cars, they are completely different cars—just like two short, blonde women or two tall, brunette men.... | |
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| | | Hot Wine Picks | | Posted Wednesday, November 15, 2006 3:18:20 AM by Blog57 Team | | Who better to help you decide which wines to taste than people who taste wine all day . . . and get paid for it? A good wine seller knows what's in every bottle, which is why we asked a handful of Portland's knowledgeable and enthusiastic vendors to give us their picks of Oregon's liquid bounty. While there are hundreds of delicious wines to choose from for sampling on your holiday tours, the following selection is a highlight of some of the best. Use this as a guide to help you plan your weekend excursion or tuck it into your glove box so you have it with you the next time you're buying wine for dinner. Note that all the wines are sold in many locations, not just the stores where the wine sellers work. Abacela Winery 2003 Tempranillo Umpqua Cuvee ($21) Tempranillo is the red grape used to make Spanish Rioja.... | |
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| | | Pinot Noirs, Rieslings pair well with turkey | | Posted Sunday, November 12, 2006 7:27:11 PM by Blog57 Team | | As sure as turkey and stuffing and family are a part of Thanksgiving, there are two wines that make the food and the holiday even better. Rieslings and Pinot Noirs never fail to complete that perfect Thanksgiving meal. So forget the overhyped, seldom-to-perform Beaujolais Nouveau and please the palate with these outstanding vinos. If you're a modernist and prefer the trendy, Southern version of deep-frying your big, beautiful bird, then you need a wine that will perform like a thirst quencher. Deep-frying means lots more flavor and lots more of that "give me another piece" saltiness. To pair up with that, grab a couple of bottles of the 2005 Clean Slate Riesling from the Mosel region of Germany. This Riesling, which offers white stone fruit and crisp acidity, does just what its name implies and cleanses the palate.... | |
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| | | Get into the spirits | | Posted Friday, November 10, 2006 7:38:06 AM by Blog57 Team | | My annual list of the most memorable wines and spirits I've tasted ranges far and wide this year, covering classic and trend-setting bottles from a half-dozen countries. A legendary Spanish red, a surprising bargain white from Hungary and a group of new and unusual grappas are among my top picks.Here are 12 bottles to give as holiday gifts: Sparkling* 1998 Schramsberg J. Schram Rose ($120): Spicy, juicy and oh so elegant.* Nonvintage Gosset Grande Reserve champagne gift set ($60): The perfect stocking stuffers; four tiny (187 ml) bottles of classy bubbles.* 1996 Salon Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil ($300): Has a lingering, ethereal elegance. It's the ultimate aperitif.Whites* 2004 Rubicon Estate Blancaneaux ($40): An aromatic Rhone- style blend from Francis Ford Coppola's organic estate vineyards.* 2003 Grgich Hills Paris Tasting Commemorative Carneros Chardonnay ($73): Rich, with mineral hints; recalls the historic tasting that put California wine on the map.Reds* 1996 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou ($155): An elegant claret.... | |
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| | | The extremes of white wine styles give two great picks | | Posted Tuesday, November 07, 2006 7:16:38 PM by Blog57 Team | | Opeculiarities of white wine today is how narrow our notions are about the "right" style. For example, if someone says "white wine," the odds are that you'll immediately think dry rather than sweet, and oaky rather than non-oaked. The two wines to follow represent extremes in white wine today. The Muscadet is oak-free and made using temperature-controlled stainless steel vats, which helps create bright, fresh-tasting wine. The Vin Santo is made in a fashion almost unchanged since the 1400s, employing tiny oak barrels that remain sealed for years with no intervention. Yet the result is thrilling to a 21st-century palate. Muscadet "Vieilles Vignes" 2005, Chateau de la Ragotiere: With the arrival of shellfish season -- oysters and Dungeness crab, particularly -- a brisk, dry white wine like Muscadet is just the ticket.... | |
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| | | Domaine's the game for Rangers chief Murray as he pours £3m into ... | | Posted Sunday, November 05, 2006 1:10:20 PM by Blog57 Team | | DAVID Murray, the chairman of Rangers Football Club, has dramatically upgraded his wine business with the acquisition of a prestigious vineyard in France's Burgundy region. The 54-year-old has splashed out more than £3m for Domaine Jessiaume, a vineyard in the village of Santenay at the foot of the prestigious Côte de Beaune wine region in Burgundy. .... | |
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| | | 02 Nov 2006 : BEE wines for the US | | Posted Friday, November 03, 2006 3:49:32 AM by Blog57 Team | | Wines of South Africa (WOSA) is embarking on the second phase of a pilot project to garner greater trade and media exposure for local BEE wineries in New York and neighbouring states. The move follows the successful placing of Thandi wines in leading New York wine shops, resulting in the establishment of a team to fast-track the entry of BEE wines into the US. The US is projected to become the world’s largest wine market in terms of spend by 2008. The initiative, designed to support BEE wineries with as yet no track record in the US, has been conceived by Rory Callahan, WOSA’s agent in the US, together with wine consultant Eric White, who advises top New York retailers, restaurateurs and collectors. They are collaborating with T Edward Wines, a company that distributes an international portfolio of wines in the states of New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and 16 other centres in the US.... | |
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| | | Constellation Wines U.S. to Sell Washington Winery to Roza Hills Vineyards | | Posted Saturday, October 28, 2006 7:33:04 PM by Blog57 Team | | Constellation Wines U.S. today announced that it has finalized an agreement to sell its Zillah winery in the Yakima Valley, Washington, to Roza Hills Vineyards, LLC. The Washington winery was acquired by Constellation Wines U.S. as part of an acquisition of assets from Corus Brands in 2001 and, since that time, has been leased to Washington Wine & Beverage, Inc. dba Silver Lake Winery, an affiliate of Roza Hills. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040505/NYW029LOGO-a ) "The purchase of the Zillah winery is the natural next step for a business relationship that has been mutually beneficial to both Washington Wine & Beverage and Constellation Wines U.S.," said Sal Leone, president and CEO of Washington Wine & Beverage Company. "Our Roza Hills operations will benefit from this investment as we make further commitments to the continuing success of our Yakima Valley wines.... | |
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