Over the holidays I discovered a cool line of wine glasses. Made by Accademia Luigi Bormioli in Italy. This set of six nice and big crystal glasses are the Cabernet / Super Tuscan glasses from the Esperienzi line. The look is really modern, with the graduated base. Guess what I paid? $36 for set of 6. Very reasonable. Like Riedel, there are glasses for specific varietals and stemless glasses too. I have a few Riedel sets at home, so it will be fun to do a tasting between the two (I had to ship the glasses from the store I found them in South Carolina). Will let you know how my taste test turns out once I get the glasses. Oh and the glasses are diswasher safe too.
SHOP – more holiday wine gifts
Have you finished your Christmas shopping? Most of us will wait ’till the last minute. Thought a few more wine gift ideas would be helpful. The hottest wine accessory, gadget…Vinturi. It is a wine aerator that you use while pouring a glass of wine. That means it acts like a mini decanter – it gets air into the wine and opens up bouquet and flavors. It is a two-handed operation. Uncork the wine, hold the Vinturi over the glass and pour. You’ll hear a sucking sound — that’s the wine being aerated. Best for red wines, but can be used for white wines too. I’ve seen wineries use it in their tasting rooms so what you taste is the true wine.Comes with rubber stand and a travel pouch and retails for about $30. You can usually find this at a wine shop, or you can order online. I did my…
SHOP – Holiday gift idea
What to get the wine lover in your life who has everything? Here’s a gadget (we all know how wine geeks love their toys!) Nuvo Vino is an infrared thermometer you use to check your wine’s serving temp. Super easy to use, you push the top button down and the other end opens up to reveal the thermometer. You don’t dunk this in the wine. Instead the infrared collects the surface temp. In my homegrown experiment, I had a white wine I wanted to open. In the bottle the unchilled wine temp was 74 degrees Fareheght. A little too warm to drink in my opinion. After chilling in ice for about 25 minutes, the wine poured into a glass was at 49.5 degrees. That’s in the optimal range of serving temps for this wine, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. After sitting in the glass for about…
SHOP – Atelier at Robindira Unsworth
One of the hottest jewelry designers around happens to be in wine country. Robindira Unsworth’s studio is based in Petaluma, CA (Sonoma Co.). Her jewelry was just featured on the cover of The New York Times Style Magazine and also in the editorial feature. But Robindira made it big time when her jewelry was worn by the model on the cover of this year’s Sports Illustrated. Happily I can say I knew her when. I met Robindira at Wine Women & Shoes three years ago. That lead to shooting a feature of her for In Wine Country. Now you can shop at her studio. She’s just opened the Atelier at Robindira Unsworth and oh is it ever stocked with goodies! Lots of great scarves, the most beautiful leather jackets from Blur, and tees, cozy sweaters and fab leather bags from Calleen Cordero — all lines that Robindira just loves. And…
SHOP – Ricky Wilson and Dior cosmetics
Who doesn’t love learning the latest makeup tricks and backstage secrets? That’s what Ricky Wilson, makeup artist extrordinaire, was dishing out at his master class for Dior at the Valley Fair Nordstrom. Ricky has worked on everyone from Beyonce to Sharon Stone. Top model Jessica Stam is one of his regulars. Having a front row seat was great. He showed us step by step his techniques. One of the best trick – using a highlighter under the eyes and above the eyebrows. Really gives a lift and brightens your face. I’m already a Dior fan — the DiorShow Iconic mascara changed my life. Before, I always used Maybelline’s iconic Great Lash, you know the one with the green top and pink tube. I didn’t think it was worth it to spend more than a few bucks on mascara. But once I tried DiorShow there was no going back. Lashes appeared…
SHOP – Magazine subscriptions
Do you get subscription offers like this? I just got two letters from Lucky magazine – which is a magazine about shopping, natch. Take a look at the photos. One envelope says “Thank you. We’re pleased to have you with us!” Very nice, right? Inside is a form to renew my subscription for $9.97. But wait, didn’t I just already renew? Oh but at $9.97 I’ll save 72% off the $35.88 cover price. The other letter from Lucky comes in an envelope that says “Expiration Notice.” Inside there’s a form saying that if I reply by 12/13/09 I can save 79% off the cover price of $71.76 for $15 including a gift subscription. Wait, isn’t that a better deal? But what if I don’t want to send a gift subscription? Looks like I still pay $15. Not such a deal then. On both forms it states my current subscription expires…
SHOP – Bonjour Fleurette warehouse sale
BJF flower slippers If you’re able to get to Novato, the Bonjour Fleurette warehouse sale is totally worth going to. Judi Flowers created flower slippers, and they’ve become all the rage, from Sex and the City to Oprah. Here’s a video from In Wine Country that we did on Judi and her slippers. Usually the slippers go for $50 and up! But at the sale, you pay $10, unless there are Swarvoski crystals, then it’s a little more. The luggage tags are fantastic! I have several — some are flowers, others are plaids. They make great gifts, and usually go for $12 but at the sale they’re $3-$6. BJF crystal flip flops
SHOP EAT – Olive Oil and Olives
You’re at the grocery store, staring blankly at the shelves of olive oil. It’s almost like looking at shelves full of wine. Intimidating. Confusing. You just want a decent bottle of extra virgin olive oil. Do you choose by label, by country, by price? To make matters even worse, it’s highly likely that bottle of oil you just picked up contains an inferior olive oil that wouldn’t pass a test for extra virgin olive oil. And even though it is labeled “product of Italy” that oil probably came from Spain, Greece, Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Morocco or Argentina. I went just took a tour of three California olive companies — one olive processor, two olive oil producers. Was organized by the fairly new UC Davis Olive Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science (hey I was at the ground breaking for that center years ago.) The…
SHOP – Vietri tableware
I subscribe to the theory that you can never have too many platters, bowls, cups and glasses. Lately I’ve been good about restraining myself from buying too many of each (of course that also has to do with my limited storage space). But a new collection from Vietri may just tempt me too much. I walked into a neighborhood home and gift store and there it was. Beautiful white pieces, with interesting details and shapes. For a moment I thought I was looking at some new pieces from Astier de Villatte, my favorite line of tableware from France. It has a similar distressed white glaze and styling. Vietri calls it the “Incanto Collection.” Here are a few of the pieces I’m coveting. The square platter is $124, the serving bowl is $88 and the large rectangular serving platter is $214. The price point is much less than Astier. This…
SHOP – Joe Bastianich’s shoes
Italian wine guru Joe Bastianich sports custom “Drink Vino” Nike’s at San Francisco book signing event. How about “Wine Fashionista”? Joe Bastianich Joe's "Drink Vino" Nikes The "Vino" Nike