What Wine Will You Be Getting For Your Valentine?

The official day of love is almost upon us and no Valentine’s Day date is complete without a bottle or luxury wine to get you both in the mood. That is why this week the Ideal Wine Company has decided to ask what wine will you be getting for your Valentine?

Each type of wine has its own merits and its own drawbacks. Rather than go through every wine on our extensive luxury wine list, we thought we’d go through types. Which type of wine is the best to use to set and atmosphere and get your partner in the mood?

Champagne

An absolute classic, champagne is the ultimate luxury wine to get you and your partner in the mood. A light yet bubble laced drink, Champagne just tastes of romance and the price tag makes you feel like it’s a special occasion. However the price tag can mean that it’s not for everyone.

We have a whole host of luxury champagnes on the Ideal Wine Company list, if you want something that will really make the evening perfect why not try our Dom Perignon 2000 which you can get for as little as £140 a  bottle.

Red Wine

Red wine’s heavier texture makes it a perfect one for sitting with your partner by the fire and battling away the winter chill. Red wine sits nicely on your tongue and gives you that little extra flavor you need to set the night off perfectly.

We have many red wines available or you, however considering the nature of Valentine’s Day you might want to go for a lighter Bordeaux.  Why not try our Chateau Latour 1983 which you can purchase for £429.

White Wine

White wine is the most versatile type of wine there is; you can get all types that cater to all flavours. If you’re not sure what type of wine your partner will most appreciate then white wine really is the way to go.

For Valentine’s we’d suggest a nice dry white. Dry white is one that most people like and it goes well with a lot of lighter pasta based dishes, perfectly complimenting your Valentine’s meal. We’d suggest from our list the Harlan Estate 1998 which you can buy for £429.

The Highlights of Cooking With Wine

At the Ideal Wine Company we recognise that wine is such a versatile product. That is why this week we wanted to move away from drinking wine and talk about cooking with wine. Saying this, what are the highlights of cooking with wine?

Whether you realise it or not, many of the top dishes you sample when you get the time to sojourn to a posh restaurant feature wine in some way or another.

The most common method is to cook with wine. Often wine will be stirred into the sauce, however it is possible to cook with wine by frying it. There are many methods that modern chefs use to capitalise on the versatile benefits of wine.

When you cook with wine often the heat will burn of the alcoholic content and you’ll be left with the flavour, the body of the drink etc. This is why cooking with a luxury wine can add that extra touch to make a meal extra special.

Saying this there are many complex diverse dishes you can cook with wine, however we certainly do have our favourites. Here are our top three.

Burgundy Pork Sirloin

It’s as delicious as it sounds. It’s a classic pork sirloin dish with rich gravy and onion and celery accents, which capitalises on the rich qualities of burgundy style red wines to add a touch of flavor to give the sirloin that extra little kick.

It’s quite an easy one to prepare; about two cups of red wine should do it. You add the wine after you’ve put the pork and other ingredients into an oven dish. You pour the wine all over the sirloin and it soaks in as it works its magic.

Chicken and Red Wine Sauce

This is an absolutely classic dish that people all over the modern world love. Simple but effective, chicken in red wine sauce is simply brazed chicken breasts seasoned with exotic spices such as paprika drenched with red wine. Easy as that.

You can use any type of red wine, although considering how chicken tastes you might want to go with a lighter red wine. All you have to do is prepare the chicken in a skillet then drench it in red wine, let it fry off and voila; a red wine sauce!

Rosemary Chicken with Orange Maple Glaze

This one is for the more adventurous chefs among you and is not to everybody’s taste, however we love it. This is a dish that sees Chicken breasts rubbed with rosemary then glazed with a refreshingly light sauce of orange juice, white wine and maple syrup.

It’s delicious and all you need is half a cup of dry white wine. It’s fairly complex to make and you should consult a recipe before you do, but it’s a delicious dish when you get it right that’ll forever change the way you think about cooking with wine. 

How Can You Make Sure you’re Drinking Wine Responsibly?

Wine is one of the most versatile and popular drinks on the planet. Saying this how can you make sure that you get the chance to enjoy your wine responsibly?

Wine is a drink with a decent alcoholic content, indeed this is one of the reasons many people enjoy wine. However, you drink too much and you can be left with a nasty hangover.

Hangovers can act as a deterrent. If you get one too many hangovers or a hangover strong enough, you might swear off wine and this would be a mistake. It would mean you would miss out on all the complex flavours and experiences that wine can bring.

So it makes sense to make sure that everybody drinks their wine responsibly; this means that they get the chance to appreciate it and enjoy it’s palette of many flavours. But when wine goes down so well, it’s hard to remember that it can leave us with a nasty hangover. So how can we make sure we drink wine responsibly?

The first way may seem obvious but it’s one that we at the Ideal Wine Company really can’t stress enough. Take your time. It isn’t a race and you can only really appreciate a wine if you let it dance on your tongue. You need time to really take in the unique combination of flavours and slowing down means you’re less likely to go over your limits.

Another solid piece of advice is to never mix. Mixing types or even brands of wine can have an adverse reaction on your body and make any potential hangover worse. Plus if you mix you get the wines tastes mixing on your tongue and that means you might not get the full impact of the flavour.

It’s also a great idea to pour a small glass of water and keep it by your side whilst you’re drinking. This not only allows you to keep a clearer head, but it also allows you to refresh your palate, so when you take your next sip you get the chance to enjoy the full impact of the grape all over again.

Lastly you need to line your stomach. There’s nothing worse than drinking when you’ve had nothing to eat. The alcohol goes to your head quicker giving you less chance to actually enjoy your wine. Plus there are so many dishes out there that compliment specific types of wine it’d be a crime not to pair them up.

Wine is a drink that we all want to not just enjoy, but appreciate. As long as you use your common sense and drink responsibly, you’ll get the chance to fully embrace the rich complexity of flavours presented in the bottle before you. 

What do You Need to Know to Become a Wine Buff?

Wine is a drink that is appreciated all over the world. As such many people out there aspire to become a wine buff, but they don’t know where to start.

At the Ideal Wine Company we’ve established a reputation in the luxury wine trade. We’ve built this reputation by knowing what makes a good luxury wine. We understand that in order to choose the wine that’s right for you, there are some basics you need to know. That’s why we thought we’d share this knowledge with you.

So what do you need to know to become a wine buff? There are a few basics that you need to get comfortable with first, things you might have overlooked before, but that are essentials in sourcing out true quality luxury wines.

Start with the bottle. It may seem redundant, but a bottle will tell you all you need to know about the wine in question. They’ll tell you about the quality, vintage, alcohol content and brand of the wine in question.

Bottles first list the producer, then the variety of wine, then the region it was produced in and grape variety used, then the vintage year and finally the alcohol content. The alcohol content is what many look at, but you should be looking at the vintage year, grape variety and producer to determine the quality of the wine.

Next you need to know about serving temperatures.  Most people know the basics, that white wine is chilled and that red is served at room temperature However to become a wine buff you need to know the specifics.

Red wine should be served at room temperature, around 20 degrees Celsius to 25 degrees Celsius. Rose wine has to be served slightly chilled; the best temperatures for this are between 7 degrees Celsius and 13 degrees Celsius. White wine should be served chilled at around 5 degrees Celsius.

You also need to know about how to serve wine, which glass.  The rules for this vary depending on the wine, but a good rule of thumb is to use larger rimmed glasses for red, as they allow the wine to breathe and slimmer glasses for white. Also always use a flute for champagne.

You also need to know about tasting. To be a good taster first hold the glass by the stem and swill gently, this allows the wine to react with the air and improves the quality. Then lightly sip, swill it around your mouth letting it fall by the sides of your tongue, then spit.

This is only the beginning; wine is a complex field and there’s a lot you need to know to truly become a wine buff. However these hard rules will help you on your way. 

Oregon: An Example of Extreme Weather Patterns on Viticulture?

With a cold snap sweeping the Northern US at the moment Oregon is experiencing temperatures it hasn’t seen in years. What the Ideal Wine Company wants to ask is, will this extreme weather stifle a growing wine industry in the Beaver State?

When we think of American wine making a hundred images flit into our head. A new world of adventurous sun soaked vines lying in the heart of California wine country. This image means that we tend to ignore other wine making ventures in the countries developing industry.

However Oregon itself has a fledgling wine industry, all originally made possible in the Beaver state due to changing weather patterns.

Wines have actually been produced in the region since its pre-statehood days back in 1840 when it was a territory. However its industry only gained significance in the 1960’s, today boasting an international reputation for the excellence of the wines they produce. These typically include Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, amongst others.

However, as we’ve discussed in an earlier post, changing weather patterns are altering the face of the international wine making industry. Rising rain and heat levels could one day move the industry north of its traditional areas. This has been most prevalent in Europe.

However Oregon hasn’t escaped the wine changing weather. Naturally the cold snap the US is experiencing right now is a part of it. These are winds that have come down from the arctic itself. Such cold temperatures are likely to do some damage to the Oregon wine making industry.

However the Beaver State has already undergone a weather pattern change. In late September of last year, the regions vineyards experienced heavy rainfall. This occurred at the height of the wine grape harvest season.

This caused fear amongst industry experts. It seems that this fear is founded as a report on the final product labeled Oregon wine for that year “definitely not for the faint of heart.” This is a disappointment for what has been an increasingly successful industry over the years.

So what does this mean? Right now, it simply means some re-branding most likely as companies scrabble to sell products with bad reviews. However it could be indicative of a greater shift in the Beaver state that may see it decrease its wine production.

It’s clear that these weather patterns are having an effect on everyone and everything, wine is certainly no different: only time will tell where the Oregon viticulture industry will go from here.

What Are the Best Conditions to Grow Grapes?

At the Ideal Wine Company we recognise that wine as a concept is largely based around grapes. Without the grape vine, wine would never have become the drink that has played a part in every culture throughout human history.

This is why we make sure that the luxury wines that we have for you are based on the most premium grapes the world of viticulture has to offer. If you have a sub-standard grape then it stands to reason that you will have a sub-standard bottle of wine at the end of it.

However in order to have quality grapes, you need to ensure that they are grown in the correct conditions. So this leads us to the question, what are the best conditions to grow grapes in? This is a complex question with no absolute answers; however there are a few conditions that act as constants.

The first is climate. There are certain climates that facilitate effective viticulture. This is why countries such as France, Italy, Spain and Australia have grown to dominate the wine industry. They have the correct climates.

They have the correct environmental temperatures and weather patterns. These are the conditions that aid growth. Generally the grape vine needs between 1300-1500 hours of sunlight during the growing season.

Correlating with this is rainfall. Rainfall provides the water the vine needs to aid growth. Even some hotter climates don’t have the correct type of rainfall to facilitate effective viticulture. The average vine needs an area with around 27 inches of rainfall throughout the year to produce succulent grapes.

Then we have the type of soil. Soil is a surprisingly diverse subject which effects product growth as an entire field. If the soil isn’t correct, the vine won’t have the best start and you’ll be left with a weaker wine. Experts generally, although not in all cases, conclude that sandy loam soil is the ideal soil for viticulture. It drains effectively but also has all the necessary nutrients the vine needs to thrive.

There’s also a case to be made for the style of terrain the grapes of grown on. It is generally held to be a truth of viticulture that slopes make for better vines than flat terrain. This concerns the greater degree of exposure to sunlight a vine will receive on a slope.

At the end of the day viticulture is a complex practice. It needs to be to produce a drink that is effortless in its complexity. However a culture such as this wouldn’t have grown without these basic constants. This is why wine has endured. It’s versatile yet complex

Ideal Wine Company Special Offer: Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou 1982

At the Ideal Wine Company we’ve proven ourselves experts at picking wines. We bring together experience and knowledge to cherry pick wines that’ll sparkle as the jewels of your collection. Picking a good bottle of wine is an arduous task. You’ve got to put the research in. You’ve got to really know the bottle. At the end of the day you have to know what wine collectors want. We’re always looking for ways to enrich the lives of the international wine collecting community. Not only do we spend the time picking out the perfect bottles, we think up ways to get them to you. That’s why every so often there comes along a bottle of wine so superb we have to let you know about it. We have to put it on special offer.

The Ideal Wine Company special offer has two purposes. Firstly it brings stellar vintages to your attention. Secondly it gives you the opportunity to invest in this star bottle for less. We like to help our wine collecting customers any way we can and this is one way in which we do. Every so often there is a bottle so luxurious; we just have to put it on offer. That’s certainly the case this month. This month we have the Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou 1982 on offer exclusively for you.

The Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou 1982 is one of those bottles that doesn’t roll around every day. It’s one of those bottles that when it does come around, you have to grab it with both hands. Why, we hear you ask? Quite simply, it’s quality in a bottle. A classic red originating in the famous vineyards of Bordeaux, it’s the type of red that sits heavy and tempting on the tongue melting in the mouth and sliding down a storm as you taste that first sip. Silky in texture, rich in taste, fruity in composition and subtle in its undertones, its Bordeaux wine at its finest. This is the type of bottle you save for a special occasion. It’s not one to break out for a normal evening. We bring this opportunity of velvety sumptuousness in a bottle to you for a mere £300, a saving on the price it would usually fetch.

The Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou 1982 is heaven in a bottle just waiting to be poured. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to experience it for yourself.