Experiencing Wine

The Tool Every Wine Lover Needs: Meet the Decanting Funnel

If you’ve ever been to a high-end home or kitchen supply store, you may have eyed a curious little device known as the decanting funnel. While it may seem a luxury gift that you don’t actually need to enjoy wine, experts know that proper aeration totally transforms the individual tasting experience. As a complement to your traditional decanter, a funnel offers a quick, simple way to let your red or white breathe as you ready it for pouring.

Here are some need-to-know facts about your newfound wine-drinking essential.

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Decanters 101: All You Need to Know About Aerating Your Wine

One of the most fascinating aspects of wine is its transformative nature. Unlike your typical beverage, a wine’s flavor, texture, and aroma can change drastically with time and other factors. That’s why serious oenophiles understand the importance of decanters and various wine decanting accessories.

If you’re looking to expand your vino knowledge, check out these facts surrounding this ancient wine accessory.

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Travel with Wine Bottles in a Suitcase

Whether you’re a wine professional or simply a person who enjoys having a great selection of fine wine, being able to securely transport your wine is extremely important. The following products provide a safe yet stylish way to travel with wine. 

 Best Wine Suitcases for Travelling

 

What is the Best Way to Transport Wine?

The WineCruzer 12 bottle wine suitcase with wheels is the best way to transport wine. It works for those who enjoy quality wine as well as individuals who work professionally in the wine trade. The solid black exterior provides protection from vibrations and impact. The carrier features thermal insulation with a cell foam interior. Not only are the bottles protected, but the interior of the WineCruzer keeps the bottles at placement temperature for approximately six to eight hours.

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Wine in the Skies: Traveling Connoisseurs Celebrate the VinGardeValise Petite Debut

There’s nothing like a vacation centered upon everything wine. Whether traversing Europe or flying across country to the vineyards of sunny California, wine tours make an ideal escape for enthusiasts. But once the tastings end and you’re headed back to the real world, don’t you wish you could take a glass of paradise with you?

One of the Safest Way to Travel with Wine on Airplanes

Well, wine collectors have grappled with this question for decades. If you’re spending a bundle on global travel in pursuit of your favorite red and white varieties, you need a safe, reliable way to transport your precious goods back home.

How can I bring wine on a plane?

airplane_wine_luggageEnter the VinGardeValise and see current VinGardeValise coupon codes in our website banner ads. This hard-shelled wine suitcase (yes, wine) revolutionized airplane wine travel. The heavy-duty TSA-compliant valise looks and acts like an ordinary spinner-style suitcase. But when you open it up, the model features custom foam inserts that snugly protect up to 12 of your various bottles. Best of all, travelers can totally remove the wine cavities and convert the product into typical luggage for clothes, accessories, and more.

While the VinGardeValise02 remains wildly popular, the brand is now offering a smaller, more discreet model to meet the diverse needs of wine travelers.

What is the VinGardeValise Petite wine suitcase?

This new version of the original wine spinner suitcase makes journeying with wine much more convenient. With smaller dimensions than its parent model, the VinGardeValise Petite Ultimate Wine Carrier meets the standards for most airlines’ carry-on rule. The durable carrier includes the following features: Read more »

Why People Love Wine Bottle Carriers & Glass Carriers

Why wine bottle carriers and glass carriers are a hit among the drinking community.

As great as wine – and wine drinking – is, there’s still room for catastrophe… especially when traveling along with fragile wine drinking items. Traveling to share wine with friends or loved ones can easily be dashed if the glasses – or wine bottle itself – breaks during the commute. As transporting a glass or a bottle by itself may not present too many complications when traveling by car; traveling abroad is a completely different story. With this being said, here’s a look at wine bottle and wine glass carriers.

leather_2_bottle_wine_carrierWine Bottle Carriers Travel

So regardless of how you decide to travel or transport your wine bottles or wine glasses, a wine carrier is the safest route for lugging around your goods. Keeping your wine bottles and glasses safe, a carrier not only saves time spent carefully hauling luggage… but the need for replacements in worst case scenarios.

Govino Introduces New Dishwasher-Safe Line of Popular Glassware

GoVino, a leading glassware company, is pleased to announce that dishwasher safe versions of their sought-after glassware collection will soon hit shelves in response to customer demand. Customers can expect the same options and the same quality with the added convenience provided by the use of top rack dishwasher safe materials.

GoVino has developed and manufactured dishwasher-safe options of their 16 ounce wine glass, 12 ounce cocktail glass, 8 ounce flute, 16 ounce beer glass, and 28 ounce decanter without sacrificing the quality customers have come to expect. Like the classic series, this line of glasses is shatterproof, recyclable, and made in the United States. The design features customers love have not changed; the GoVino dishwasher safe glasses are ultra-thin, flexible, crystal clear, BPA-free, and notched for easy handling. GoVino’s unique starter promotes simplicity and convenience by featuring a variety of glasses to ensure first-time customers have everything they need to host any event in style.

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Discover the Joys of Wine Journaling

Wine journaling is a long-standing tradition among enthusiasts and newcomers alike. It is a fun and permanent way to record your experiences with a particular wine. (Which makes wine journals a fabulous gift.) Journals also make a handy guide when it comes to buying, because who knows which vino you’ll like better than yourself?

Types of Wine Journal

There is likely a different type of journal for every person’s preference. There are small journals meant for tasting trips, large hardcover tomes meant to preserve a lifetime of experimentation, and everything in between. Here are some general tips for picking out the journal that is right for you.

  • Pocket Journals: These are usually smaller with more flexible covers and binding. They are typically carried in a shirt or pants pocket during tasting trips and tours. What they sacrifice in space and detail, they make up for in convenience. Many enthusiasts will transcribe their pocket journals into more elegant and sturdy journals after a trip.
  • Notebooks: This type is generally a little more sturdy with both soft and hardbound options. Some come with fun cover options like colorful plastic laminate or cork. They come in a range of different sizes and have some interesting cataloging charts to map everything from color, taste, and aromas. Many wine notebooks also contain a guide to pairings and general facts about particular wines to get the newcomer started.
  • Leather Journals and Dossiers: These are usually the high-end choice for the lifetime connoisseur. Large and hardbound, sometimes with intricate cover details, leather wine journals provides ample space for notation. Many have a special space to save wine labels, turning them into an elegant scrapbook and memoir. Dossiers are usually the more detailed in terms of recording methods, and often have a space to annotate wine cellar conditions as well as the wine itself.

A Word on Preserving Labels

Many private journalists like to save the labels of the wines they have enjoyed. There are many purported ways of doing this, though the methods may not be successful. Luckily, efficient wine label removers do exist. They are made from a specific type of adhesive that, when used properly, will lift the label from the bottle in one piece.

If you do not have a journal with room to display wine label removers, or perhaps just want to save the labels without journaling, you can find wine label albums. Much like flip-book photo albums we use to show off family pictures, these albums can be used to display favorite wine labels. They make a great addition to journaling and an interesting table book while entertaining.

Wine Decanters That Attach To The Bottle

Wine Vine Imports have a selection of wine decanters with a timeless design. These classic imports help connoisseurs and those new to wine appreciation fully develop the potential of a wine while providing an experience for the senses and elegant wine presentation.  Easy to use these in the bottle wine decanting aerators use a one hand pouring action to fill the sphere and then single pour into a wine glass.

The Purpose of Decanting Wine

Wine decanters are clear vessels that help to aid in enhancing the flavor of wines and in the general aesthetic presentation to guests. Young wines typically have more a tannins which create a somewhat bitter flavor. Introducing oxygen into the wine through proper aerations creates a smoother and more palatable wine-tasting experience. Aged wines can include more sediment within the wine. This sediment should be separated from the wine itself as it can detract from the taste. A clear decanter allows a wine pourer to view the progression of the wine and separate the sediment before adding the wine to the glass. Attached decanters offers guests the ability to easily acknowledge the vintage.

From The Collection of Decanters That Attach to the Bottle

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Enjoy a Legendary Cocktail with a One of a Kind Moscow Mule Mug

The Moscow Mule was not the first vodka cocktail — that honor goes to the Blue Monday — but the Moscow Mule has become the de facto vodka cocktail for many a cocktail enthusiast. The ease with which a Moscow Mule can be created (simply mix 5 ounces of ginger beer, two ounces of vodka and a splash of lime juice) is exceeded only by the refreshing taste. While their are many platitudes that can be lavished upon the Moscow Mule, true Mule aficionados know that you can’t drink this delectable delight without a copper moscow mule mug.

Why Is a Copper Moscow Mule Mug So Important?

moscow_mule_copper_mug  3186 hammered_moscow_mule

If you’ve ever scoped out a copper mug at a bar or lounge in person, you’d understand its popularity based on looks alone. Its unique shine and rustic features are at once traditionally classic and timelessly modern. Make no mistake about it, the copper mug looks cool, and it will keep your Moscow Mule cool as well, thanks to the copper itself. Copper insulates the Moscow Mule while you drink it, meaning the drink stays colder and the ice lasts longer than it would in a traditional glass.

The chilled vodka provides a unique smoothness to your cocktail that is enhanced by the tinny flavor that results when you press the copper mug to your lips. The subtle complexity the mug adds to the cocktail concoction speaks for itself. Once you have experienced a Moscow Mule in a copper mug, you’ll immediately understand why you have to get a Personalized Moscow Mule Mug of your own.

Actually, it might be selling the Moscow Mule short to suggest one is enough. After all, cocktails like these are best enjoyed with others, so find a romantic partner and enjoy a His and Hers evening with a splendorous Moscow Mule. You’ll be glad you did.

Do White Wines and Champagnes Get Better with Age?

When it comes to pop culture clichés, few are used more frequently than comparing something to fine wine, stating that it gets “better with age”.  In the world of white wine, however, this is actually a myth. The vast majority of white wines do not get better with age.

03A45596White Wine and the Aging Process

Typically, only the very best wines improve with aging, meaning that most wines are available to be consumed immediately. In fact, some suggest that only one percent of wine is meant for aging. While red wines are usually the best candidates for improving with age, there are various whites and champagnes that will improve with age as well. However, even the whites that do improve over time will not last as long as reds. Generally speaking, five to seven years is a decent estimate for aging an average white wine, though some whites can age for around a decade.

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