Thank youuuuu-houhouhouuuu !!!

Dear Show Wine Friends,

Thanks

Thank you THANK YOU

thank you THANK YOU thank you

thank you Thank You THANKS Thank You

THANK YOU thank you Thank You Thanks

thank you THANK YOU thank you

Thank you

Today we want to thank you all for the visits.

Yes friends, we have to tell you something...

This blog's aim was for fun, but also for our school.

(WHAAAAAAAATTTT ???!!! FOR SCHOOOOOLLLL ???!!!)

Yes yes... We are students in a wine programm, and this blog was part of our works for the English classes.

It was a secret until now ! Muhahahahahaaa !!! You haven't guess, have you ?! Yeahhh !

But no, don't be worry !!!!

We will still give you news about wine, and about everything related to it. Maybe not as often as it was, but we we'll do our best ! There might be few changes but you'll be aware of any changes very soon.  : )

Thanks and see you soon !

Cheers !

The Show Wine team

Candelmas Day

Whooop whooop !!!

As you may know, Candelmas Day is coming soon...

What is it ?! On February 2nd this year Christian people will celebrate the light, with candles. Why ? Because we will be half way between the shortest day and Spring day. It helps Spring to come !

On this day, there is a (yummy so gooooooood) tradition

Making CRÊPES !!!!!!

And as a "Bretonne" (yeah yeah yeah I come from Brittany, west of France, the Land of crêpes !), I give you my recipe of crêpes (Ohhhh she's so generouuuuuuuus !) :

 Ingredients
(for 5 persons approx. depending on if you do it only as a dessert or for the entire meal)

- 250 grams of flour
- 50 grams of sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 litre of milk
- 1 spoon of cider liquor
- Some butter (salted one is better !)

In a big bowl, put the floor, the sugar and the eggs. Mix them together.

Then pour the milk while mixing, to obtain a nice and smooth batter.

My favorite part : Put 1 spoon of cider liquorice ! (The one I have, made from apple cider, is so yummy. This is my Grand-Ma' who has done it, vintage 1989, aged in barrels 3 years... Well, nice to drink and use in cuisine)

Mix vigorously !  : )

In a pan, melt some butter (for the future crêpe not to stick).

Put some crêpes batter. The amount depends on your pan, but remember not to put too much (The crêpes have to be thin).

Turn the crêpe (you can make a funny contest with your family and friends ! ^^), and wait until it is well cooked (it takes in total approx. 3 minutes, when the crêpe is a bit brown).

You can eat them hot or cold, without anything on them or with butter, sugar, chocolate powder, marmelade...

Yessss, I hear your question : What to drink with that ?

CIDER of course ! For those who don't have the chance (like me) to have a family cider (brut) on the table (Hahahaaa !!!), you can find some in supermarkets. The fruit tastes go well with the crêpes.

What about wines ?

a Coteaux du Layon, a Vouvray, a Muscat...

They are sweet, and like the cider it goes well 'cause of the fruits tastes.

Banyuls, Porto or Pineau des Charentes are perfect with chocolate or caramel (made with salted butter) crêpes !    : - )

ENJOY YOUR CRÊPES !

CHEERS !

Adeline
With all the Show Wine team (of courseeee they were very happy to eat the crêpes !)

Package like a boss

Hi baby cakes, 

Megaupload is dead but we are back! As a geek, I'd like you to respect 72min of silence... 2 secs if you're premium. (This one is from twitter... Muhaha.)

For the past few months, I've been spending some time looking for some unusual things on the internet. As we all know, our beautiful wine universe can be quite traditional but I found some labels which are gonna rock your imagination!

THREE BLIND MOOSE FROM CA                                   MARILYN MERLOT

 FAT CAT                                                                      SEVEN DEADLY GLASSES

     

FRENCH HUMOR                         VS/                           AMERICAN HUMOR

Marie

ZF in SF !

American friends (and anyone else !) ...

Do you love wine ? Do you love living or visiting California ?

From today until Saturday January 28th, there is an event for YOU !

ZINFANDEL FESTIVAL

in San-Francisco (CA)

Organised by ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers)

During 3 days, there will be 4 events dealing about the grape variety the ZINFANDEL. This one is very common in California, and it gives wines which are spicy, with cocoa, caramel and vanilla tastes.



- Epicuria - Food + Zin pairing
Thursday 26th January - 6pm-9pm
8th & Brannan, SF

You will taste zinfandel wines and then associate them with food. Winemakers, sommeliers and chefs will be there to explain you everything.
$95 (ZAP members) - $125 (non-member)


- Flights - Forums of Flavors
Friday 27th January - 10:30am-1pm
Westin St Francis Hotel, Union Square, SF

You attend to a conference given by wine experts, and taste different zinfandel wines.
$60 (ZAP members) - $75 (non-member)   SOLD OUT !


- Winemakers Dinner - Viva Las Vegas !
Friday 27th January - 5pm-10pm
Westin St Francis Hotel, Union Square, SF

During this glamorous reception and dinner, you will taste special selection of zinfandel wines produced by the winemakers who host you.
$225 (ZAP members only)    SOLD OUT !


- Grand Tasting - From A to Zin !
Saturday 28th January - 10am-1pm (trade & media) - 1pm-5pm (ZAP members) - 2pm-5pm (non member)
8th & Brannan, SF

Meet the winemakers and enjoy tasting Zinfandel !
$49 (ZAP members) - $59 (non member) - $69 (at the entrance)

Show Wine Team would have loved to be there   : )

We wish you a nice weekend, and wait for your feedback about it !

Enjoy !

Information and booking on http://zinfandel.org/default.asp?n1=26&n2=920&member

snoWWWWWine !

Winter time = Ski time for some of you !

If you  do, you usually make the most by eating "fondue savoyarde" (melted cheese of Savoie) or "tartiflette" (potatoes with ham and cheese)... For the wine lovers you have the "Vin chaud" (Mulled wine), but not only...



For the 7th time, there is the "Tournée Bordeaux Neige". From February 13th to April 13th, a group of people (winegrowers and people from the Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur wine association) goes from ski resort to another (in the Pyrenees and the Alps) to promote Bordeaux, and Bordeaux Supérieur wines (Both are AOC / appellations). You will be proposed to participate to wine tasting sessions in the slopes ! So niiiiiiice !!!   : )

And for the 1st time, the "Tournée Bordeaux Neige" will go in Swiss ski resorts ! 

Information and dates on http://planete-bordeaux.fr/actus/actualites/1/208/tourn%C3%A9e-bordeaux-neige-2012.html


Ski fab', ski chic, ski fashion ! This could be the motto of Bernard Magrez for the launching in Courchevel, French Alps, of the "Skis Pape Clément" package (Pape Clément is a Grand Cru Classé from the Graves). The ski have been designed by Alain Zanco from the famous brand AZ. They are well designed, very elegant, and composed of technological materials (carbon, brass...).

In the package you have :
- a pair of skis and sticks
- a luxuous leather case
- 6 bottles of Château Pape Clément, Vintage 2006
- a night for 2 on the estate, a tour and a wine tasting session
- a ski session with Sébastien Amiez, famous French ski champion

This package is limited ! Only 5 are available at 5 995 Euros at the sport stores "The Edge" in Courchevel, at the Bernard Magrez stores in Courchevel and in Paris, at the Château Pape Clément, and in the hotels of Courchevel in "the Lana", "the Saint-Roch", "the St Joseph" and "the Cap Horn".

And for those who can't go to ski in the mountains while enjoying wine, sometimes the mountain comes to you in vineyards.

Last weekend in Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux right bank vineyard, people did snow ! Yes, yes !

We doooooo know that there is no mountain there, that's why several trucks brang the snow just before the weekend. It has been installed in an opened car park in the village, so that it was very easy to welcome lots of ski-addict-or-not people. (There were lots of people, especially children, so it was very hard to ski !)

For the wine lovers there were wines to taste in the village (of course !!!! We are in the capital of wine !). The Château Cardinal-Villemaurine, a family owned Saint-Emilion Grand Cru estate, was opened for tours and tastings for free. Very interesting (we have followed the vinification process, and visited the underground caves) and yummy !!!!!

This had been organised by N'Py (Nouvelle chaîne des Pyrénées) in association with the city of Saint-Emilion, the Tourist Office and the Château Cardinal-Villemaurine.

Enjoy ski, love wine ! Cheers !

Adeline

Aouch !

Hi every-wine (haha, little joke),

From the beginning of our activity on this blog, we told you about our best wine experiences, this is actually the aim of this blog. We love you and thank you for your loyalty, and we want to be honest with you because of that. Yes guys, I'm "unglad" to inform you about... BAD WINE EXPERIENCES!

Sure, we are French; we are supposed to think that French winegrowers produce the best wine. Maybe; but we are open-minded, we tasted alien wines and these were yummy. We also tasted bad quality French wines, with terrible acidity (our liver remember the experience). BUT, But... Sometimes it's important to notice when a beverage is just disgusting.

London, Christmas holidays. I'm offered to taste a typical red British wine. Nice. I mean, I'd never try a British wine. So it should be interesting. Interesting, that's the word. British are not well known for their wines, indeed, they are the biggest importer of the world because they don't really have the terroir to produce wine. But, I heard that their sparkling wine was nice, maybe the red could be good too.

Hem...

The nose : woody, fresh.

The palate : yaaaark ! It was such a young wine ! The exact impression was that it was kind of green harvest, so the wine used to be acidic, then they put some blackcurrant syrup in the bottle. Top, finish, the send it to Waitrose and restaurant and sold it about £4. Are they kidding us ?

That's why, dear Followers, beware of the British wines, keep drinking sure beverage, and pleaaaase British winegrowers : stop killing the wine !

Bonus : funny back label, "suitablefor vegetarians" ! I had a good laugh...

Marie-Lou, thank you PAKS  for the experience.

Who wants a vineyard ?

Bonjour !

Yes, you will have to learn few French words if you want to own a vineyard in this beautiful country. Too expensive ? Hum... Maybe you would be attracted about the following content.

As a big sportwear brand told us :

"IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING"

As the President of the United States of America told us :

"YES WE CAN !"

Yes, you can, you could, you SHOULD own a vineyard. Or a part of a vineyard. How ? Simple. Thanks to Yannick Evenou, managing director of Chateau La Dominique, Chateau Fayat and Chateau Clement-Pichon, in Bordeaux. He suggests you to be part of a new GFA (Group Foncier Agricol, a kind of investor's group) of 400 investors. Each investor can own a part of the property of Château Réaut (the new property of Evenou) for only 1500 € per share. And guess how you can buy this share ? ON FACEBOOK ! Really smart, and open !

The dividend are simple : every year, 36 personnalized bottles of the Château Réaut red wine. In fact, a share = some vines. Imagine that : for the rest of your life, you can have your name on a bottle of wine ! Wouldn't it be nice ?

More informations :

Facebook

Vignobles Fayat

Marie-Lou

Go sweeeeeeet !

Drive up to the Loire Valley vineyard

north west of France, my sweet little readers !

Sweet, sweet, SWEEEET !!!!

Hmmm... Now you maybe know what kind of wine I'm going to present !

Yihaaa ! Damnnnn you're right : a sweet wine !

Some of you may be be surprised I'm dealing with sweet wines from the Loire Valley. That is true that lots of people better know "Sauternes", "Barsac" and "Vin de Paille"... But there are other vineyards where you can find really good sweet wines.

In the Anjou vineyard, there are different sweet wines AOC :
- Coteaux du Layon
- Coteaux de l'Aubance
- Quarts de Chaume
- Bonnezeaux

The ONE (yes yes, the one !), I'm going to explain and taste is the

COTEAUX DE L'AUBANCE !

This is right HERE, on the map bellow, in the Anjou area :

Let's discover this AOC Coteaux de l'Aubance !

The name of the AOC comes from the Aubance, which is a river, and actually a tributary of the Loire one.

This AOC exists since 1950, and is available for 10 cities. It represents 180 hectars.

This wine is produced from the grape variety called Chenin Blanc (also known as the "Pineau de Loire"). The harvest are done manualy when the grapes are highly matured. Winemakers wait until grapes are covered with the botrytis cinerea, also called the noble rot, in autumn.

The river Aubance is very important for the spread of the noble rot.

Thanks to their exposure on the slope in the south west, on shists and clay soils, the vines can get the humidity from the fog in the morning and the cold river Aubance, and the heat in the afternoon thanks to the sun.

 

Humidity in the morning, after damp nights + Heat in the afternoon

= Noble rot

Botrytis cinerea grows, feeding on the grapes' sugars. That's why the yield is not important after harvesting. Usualy it is from 10 to 15 hectoliters per hectar. That's so yummy when you taste them directly from the vines ! In the mouth you have plenty of aromas such as peach, ananas, honey, spices, mint... But don't be affraid of how the grapes look like :

The noble rot on a Chenin Blanc grape

After harvesting, everything is gently pressed, and goes into vats (or barrels sometimes for some cuvées), for approximately a year.

And yes NOWWW you can enjoy the Coteaux de l'Aubance !!!

Let's taaaaaaste !!!!

I went to 2 vineyards :

Domaine de Montgilet, in Juigné-sur-Loire. Hold by Le Breton family.

I tasted : Coteaux de l'Aubance "Clos des Huttières" 2002

I found : sugar, honey, butter, nuts, spices, bit of mint

Antoine, from Domaine de Montgilet

Slurp slurp sluuuurp !

Château d'Avrillé, in Saint-Jean-des-Mauvrêts. Hold by Biotteau family.

I tasted : Coteaux de l'Aubance 2010

I found : honey, peach, ananas, litchi, sugar

Laura, from Château d'Avrillé

Coteaux de l'Aubance ready to taaaaaste !!

Coteaux de l'Aubance is very good with foie gras and goat cheese with honey (of couuuuuurse), but also with an apple pie, a peer covered with hot chocolate, macarons, duck...

Serve it between 8°c and 10°c.

You can keep the Coteaux de l'Aubance up to 10-15 years,

and sometimes more for the best vintages.

Adeline

Thank you to...
Laura & Charles-Eusèbe, from Château d'Avrillé, Saint-Jean-des-Mauvrêts http://www.chateau-avrille.com/
Antoine, from Domaine de Montgilet, Juigné-sur-Loire http://www.montgilet.com/

New year, new tasting !

Bye bye 2011, welcome 2012 !!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE !

We wish you the best of the best for the new coming year ! We hope that your wine experiences will be even more interesting it was last year ! Yes they will !

Don't forget the more important : the sharing !!!

(Wine is for sharing guys !)

That's why I started this wonderful year with a........

TADAAAAAAA !!!!

An AOC "Côtes du Roussillon":

Le Cadet de Lauriga

 

• 70% Syrah
• 20% Carignan
• 10% Grenache

       (35 hl/ha)

Aromas of red fruits, licorice, black olive and veil (yuuuummmmmyyyyy !)

On the palate, roundness, volume and finesse (yummy again and again!)

+

Basque Charcuterie

Soooo gooooood !

And you...

What have you tasted/drunk since 2012 has started ????

http://www.lauriga.com/
Website in French and in English  ;)


Pierre-Adrien with Romain (Friend and blogger at "World is wine" : http://worldiswine.blogspot.com/)

Wine Wild West our BFF

Hi Baby Cakes! 

Give me Wine! Give me Wild ! Give me West ! (...weird) : WINE WILD WEST.... WUUUUUU!

And of course we're just kidding. You know we're not the  WUUUU kind of people. Come on! Get yourself back together young lady! We're much more like the "APPPEEERRROOO" kind. 



Maureen



Marion



As you probably noticed, looking all around green and red avenues, it's Christmas! Your geeky mind has been living in a Mario Bross game since two weeks and this super cool way of life is gonna come to an end pretty soon. Don't be sad kiddo, the Show wine team has a present for you. 

This present has a name: Wine Wild West ... And it's gonna be Legen... Wait for it... DARY! (Big fan)

Lucas

Chenglin

 



Drinkify, art, wine and breaking up! How much do we like that blog? Both essential and innovative, you are just gonna love it. 

Don't thank me kiddos, you know santa loves you. 

XOXO Breaded Guy!

Marie

Merry Christmas !

Dear Show Wine readers,

We bet you were waiting for this day all year long !

Christmas here we are !

Best time to enjoy meeting with your family and friends.

In order to make the most of it, we have decided to share our Christmas wine experiences:

- Adeline is back home in Brittany, in her family's, and has decided to do wine & food pairing only with wines coming from out of France. One of them, which has been drunk with caramel roast pork, is a Californian Wine. This is an "Old vine Zinfandel", vintage 2008, from Pepperwood Grove estate.

Thanks to this wine with cocoa, caramel and vanilla tastes, the association was perfect!

Adeline and the "Old vine Zinfandel"

- In Marie-Lou's family,  the long wine tradition and the sympathic cellar of the family house permit to choose the perfect wine to match with seafood plate : a white wine from Burgundy (Meursault), eleven years old, with vanilla, buttered and toasted aromas, and a very beautiful gold color. Her Grandma, connoisseur in wine, advices to decant it and it was the best way to taste this Saint Romain 2000.

- Marie is back home in Montauban...! Guys my family lovvveess traditions but we're not very good at it. My mum tried to cook a turkey with some apples and peers. Thanks god we were too drunk to complain about it. Anyway, the meat was amazing and we decided to go for Burgundy as well. My stepdad (told you... Not traditional) is from Dijon so we had a Beaune 1er cru 1996. Amazing aromas of strawberries and raspberries! Guy that's what I call a nice caudalie! 

- Pierre-Adrien come back to his native region in Saumur in the heart of the Loire Valley. Program for Christmas dinner: Seafood, foie gras, salmon, capon and Loire wines of course!

The best of them was certainly "Clos Rougeard 2005". A sublime Saumur-Champigny with a purple dress, some spicy and fruity aromas marked by a wonderful year!

 

We wish you a Merry Christmas!