Want to know what an oenophile is?
Well prior to today I didn’t know that an oenophile is a lover of wine. There seems little point in repeating the fuller definition here.
Wine and Social Networking at bottletalk.com
December 6, 2006 By Leave a Comment
For you people out there who want to discuss and share your wine drinking experiences then bottletalk could just be the site for you.
bottletalk is new and is still in beta (that means it’s just been published and might have a couple of errors here and there) and as such if you join then you’ll be in at the start. It’s a free online service for lovers of wine and lets you:
- store details of the wines you have drunk and what you thought of them in your personalised area
- share your wine experiences with friends, family and other wine lovers
- rate and tag wines for easy reference
- discover new wines you’d like to drink and store these in your ‘wanted’ section
- buy wines easily from online retailers
So, apart from the last point (please visit this site for online wine deals) go-ahead and sign-up for free today.
Fancy Your Own Wine Cellar?
December 4, 2006 By Leave a Comment
I happened to read about a company that offers bespoke wine cellars.
The company, Spiral Cellars, offers wine cellars that can accommodate up to 1,600 bottles. The spiral wine cellar takes the form of a watertight, pre-cast cylindrical system installed underground in a room of your choice (ground floor of course!).
Imagine having this little home improvement:
Every Spiral Cellar is the same diameter, but the depth varies depending on how many bottles you wish to store.
Prices start from £7000.
A Little Tweak
November 27, 2006 By Leave a Comment
We’ve given winejunction a couple of little tweaks today. We’ve added a sitemap, privacy policy and resources page and we’ve enhanced the footer information at the bottom of the existing pages too.
In addition we’ve registered our wine blog over at Google webmaster central and we’ve submitted an xml sitemap for winejunction too.
EU Alcohol Ruling Means No Cheaper Wine
November 23, 2006 By Leave a Comment
The BBC reports that the European Court has ruled against allowing consumers to buy drinks and cigarettes online at lower excise duties from abroad. However, the BBC report does go on to suggest that this decision could be a short term reprieve for the UK Treasury because planned draft legislation could reverse this decision in the future.
So, in the meantime, the best way to source out your online wine deals is to visit winejunction. Well we would say that wouldn’t we!
Lindemans Sponsorship Deal
November 17, 2006 By Leave a Comment
Recently we’ve been watching the Ray Winstone drama, Vincent, on the ITV network.
This (sometimes violent) drama has been sponsored by Lindemans, the Australian wine brand. I thought this was a little bit curious..why associate a wine brand with a violent, private detective drama? Anyway, after a bit of searching I stumbled upon this which explains a little more.
The sponsorship deal, worth £3m, is for the prime-time drama slot in the programming schedules (Monday 9pm-10.30pm for Vincent) and is therefore not necessarily program specific. Doc Martin is next I gather (I’ve never viewed it). Why pay for the sponsorship? Amy Thomson, Lindemans senior brand manager says…
Our continued relationship in 2005, supporting drama such as ‘Vincent’ and ‘Doc Martin’ is a reflection of the success of the relationship and Lindemans increasing popularity. Relaxing at home in front of the TV with a glass of wine is an ideal fit for Lindemans’ primary message of ‘simple pleasures’ and a natural territory for the brand to own.
For me though, watching some heavies beating the living daylights out of each other doesn’t make me want to partake in the ‘simple pleasure’ of drinking a glass of wine. Looks like I’ll have to watch “Doc Martin”!
Virgin Wines Web Upgrade
November 17, 2006 By Leave a Comment
Europe’s largest online wine retailer Virgin Wines is upgrading computer systems to improve security and ensure constant availability of its web site.
Site security is a concern of all online retailers of course and is not restricted to online wine retailers. Virgin Wines IT director, Stuart Hunt says
The security of customer data is the most important part of our business, ahead of selling wine, because people need to be confident when putting credit card details online.
Selling wine online is what Virgin Wines needs to do of course – they have no high street presence. They appear to know how to do that though because they sell more than 300,000 cases of wine over the internet each year.
Majestics Profits Up
November 17, 2006 By Leave a Comment
The high street and online wine retailer Majestic Wine has recently announced a 17% increase in the first half the year.
I read with interest that the average spend per transaction at Majestic has continued to rise – up to £121 compared to £115 the year before. The average price of a bottle of still wine in now £5.66 against £5.54 a year earlier.
Online sales grew too with an increase in orders placed via the Majestic’s website up 43%. Online wine sales now represent 6.4% of Majestic’s UK retail sales.
The Difference Between Champagne and Cava
October 31, 2006 By Leave a Comment
The Difference Between Champagne and Cava?
Champagne and Cava are sparkling white wines, traditionally consumed during a celebration
Most Champagne (from France) is a blend of wines from many different village vineyards in the region. The trick the vintner has to perform is to blend these different wines from different years to create a consistent taste. Champagne Houses masterfully blend the mix of wines to produce their same, distinctive taste each year. The blended wines is poured into bottles with a pinch of yeast and sugar. The yeast reacts with the sugar to give a little more alcohol and carbon dioxide (the fizziness). The gas builds inside the sealed bottle to a great pressure, waiting to be released when the cork is pulled.
Cava (from Spain) is made in the same way as Champagne but from different grape varieties including: Parallada, Macabeo and Monstrell. Because its grapes are grown in a cooler climate, Champagne is more acidic than Cava, which can be found to be rather more fruity. Cava is the Greek word for wine cellar and the Catalan word for cellar.
Banrock Station
October 23, 2006 By Leave a Comment
Just come across an ad in the Sunday paper (I’m a little behind with my reading!) for the Australian wine producer Banrock Station.
Apparently, Banrock Station contribute to conservation projects all over the world. Here in the UK they have a partnership with the Eden Project in Cornwall. The funding is used to develop an eco-friendly garden that showcases “practical gardening ideas that can be easily re-created in your own home to help protect and sustain the environment” – apparently.
A number of these wine merchants stock Banrock Station wines.