Tag Archives: wine

Must-have Gifts and Gadgets for Wine Lovers

There’s some so very special about a glass of your favourite wine, and if you like nothing more than a large glass of vino at the end of a hard day at work, then here are some great products that should find their way onto your wishlist…

Wine Cooler

If you’re partial to a glass of white or rose wine then you’ll need to keep it chilled. You can chill red wine too if you’re that way inclined. You can just pop it in the fridge but if you’ve got a purpose-built wine cooler then you don’t have to fight your way past the yoghurts and cheese to get to it. With a wine cooler you can also easily see when you need to restock it! You can find some excellent Rangemaster coolers over at hispek.com.

An Amazing Wine Holder

Just standing up your bottle of wine on the table is pretty boring really. Instead, how about putting it in an amazing wine holder such as this? If you’ve got guests round then they’ll be blown away by how cool this looks and will likely go and gets themselves one as soon as they leave!

Wine Thermometer

You can’t simply grab a bottle of wine and pour it into a glass. No, you have to make sure it’s at the right temperature, and therefore a wine thermometer is a great gift for any wine connoisseur. Apparently the temperature at which you should serve wine is very specific and can differ even within the different types of red or white wine. Here’s a handy list of the recommended temperatures.

A Quirky Decanter

Having a bottle of wine at the table is so uncouth and therefore the wine should be decanted into a, erm, decanter. You can get normal, bog standard decanters, but everyone’s got one of those (haven’t they?), so opt for something a little more unusual. Some of the quirky decanters in this blog post are works of art, and would make an excellent centrepiece at the dining table.

Wine Aerator

Any wine expert knows that decanting wine and letting it breather improves its flavour, so using an aerator is a great way of doing this much faster than letting it breathe in a decanter or carafe. Simply pour the wine through it and into the glass and you’ll have a perfectly aerated glass of wine and it will, of course, taste hugely different and much better.

Wine Stopper Combination Lock

If you’re sick of people stealing your wine then a wine stopper combination lock is the answer. Simply pop the stopper in the top of the bottle as normal and then set your combination code. You bottle of wine is now protected from wine thieves and ensures you won’t be disappointed the next time you go to the fridge – until you realise you’ve already drank it.

Wine collection

Happy New Year, everyone!!!

Pairing Wines with Classic Filipino Dishes

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Adding a touch of elegance to regular dinners

Of course, even though wine is made to be enjoyed and drunk, understanding it is a totally different matter. AskMen.com actually puts it succinctly into words with “Aside from public speaking and bad turbulence during a flight, few things cause more fear in a wide range of men than wine tasting.” People are often worried that they might be doing something wrong, or that their opinions don’t agree with the general consensus. This is a common problem, especially among Filipinos.

Filipinos aren’t really big wine drinkers, and most would just settle for a cold glass of coke or beer at the dinner table, and bottles of wine were reserved for special occasions and holidays. As wines grew cheaper, however, more Filipinos gained access to them, and many began to explore the delicate, intricate flavors of the many kinds of wine available. Last year, M&S held free wine tasting events in some of their branches in Metro Manila, allowing lucky customers to learn from wine expert Chris Murphy himself. This marked the beginning of a renewed fervor for wine in the country, and now, many people have begun experimenting with food and wine pairings.

It’s fairly easy to figure out which wines go with which dishes when you’re working with a western menu, as there are so many guides out there. But Filipino cuisine, as extensive and undocumented as it is, is a different story. Not to worry though, as Pinakbet.net says, “in pairing wine, there aren’t rules at all. If you love the way it tastes, pair it with whatever you want.”
If you want to try pairing your favorite dishes with wine and don’t know where to start, however, here are a few pointers:

Red wine usually goes with dark meat, as the flavors of the two meld together and you don’t run the risk of one overpowering the other. Try sipping a decadent red wine with pork adobo, beef steak, binagoongang baboy or sisig.
White wine will go great with lighter dishes and white meat. Drink some white wines when you’re having fried fish, rellenong bangus, or sinampalukan and pininyahang manok.
As for desserts, heavier wines go with desserts that are thicker in consistency and denser in flavor. Reds will go with chocolate cakes and puddings, and whites will go with tarts and pies.

Once you’ve gotten a feel for the many different wine pairings and have tasted some wines, you can then begin to experiment — not just with food and wine pairings, but also with using wine in your cooking!