by Charlotte | Mar 20, 2017 | Rosehill Wine Cellars News, Wine Accessories & Gadgets
Blossom wine tote bag
Springtime has weather that is perfect for picnics virtually all across the U.S. Especially after a freezing cold winter, going on a picnic in mild weather is a special pleasure. The best way to upgrade an average picnic is to bring along a great bottle of wine. Since wine is best when served at appropriate temperatures, invest in needed accessories. Rosehill Wine Cellars has the wine cabinet or wine cellar equipment you need to store your wine at home, and wine cellar accessories like wine bags and wine backpacks you can use to take wine outside on a picnic in the great outdoors.
Wine Temperature
Wine connoisseurs know that storing wine at appropriate temperatures is essential for the ultimate enjoyment of drinking it. Not only should the wine be prevented from overheating at any point in time, it should stay cool until time to open it. There are many options for traveling with wine in a way that maintains proper temps, including bags, handy trolleys, portable ice buckets, rolling suitcases, backpacks, and even wine purses. All are insulated and designed for enjoying wine on the go.
Wine Selection
To simplify the experience of enjoying wine on a picnic, many opt for a screw top wine. To the surprise of many, having a screw cap closure does not indicate that it’s inferior wine. The Stelvin screw cap closure was created in the 1960s. It provided an alternative to cork taint, and it has become the world leader in screw caps for wine. (Please note: Wine with a screw cap can still be corked or contaminated.)
Pick a spot for a springtime picnic with food and wine.
The milder weather of spring and summer is best accompanied by light wines. The following are suggested wines for a spring picnic, whether they have a cork closure or a screw-top closure:
- An estate purchased by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie produces a great picnic wine: Chateau Miraval Rosé Côtes de Provence, which is beautifully balanced and has a fruity finish that lingers and also a whisper of salty character. This affordable wine is best served in a stemless wineglass, which is practical for a picnic.
- Champagne is refreshing, bubbly picnic fare. Alcohol tends to be lower in champagne. Chilled properly on a warm spring day, what could be more perfect than champagne? Crisp champagne from Portugal, you can’t go wrong with Broadbent Vinho Verde.
Wine is great with outdoor meals and indoor meals. At Rosehill Wine Cellar we think a meal accompanied with wine is as iconic as a picnic on a spring day. If you need a wine cabinet or custom wine cellar to store your wine or an accessory to transport your wine, contact us today.
by Charlotte | Feb 13, 2017 | Rosehill Wine Cellars News
By clinking wine glasses, all 5 senses are engaged in wine drinking.
Drinking wine is a pleasure for all the senses, including sound. Thanks to the custom of clinking glasses, hearing gets in on the experience. A British book on manners, Debrett’s A-Z Modern Manners, suggests that glasses should merely be raised and that clinking is improper. We respectfully disagree, here at Rosehill Wine Cellars. Just as we provide everything needed to protect wine in storage so that it can be enjoyed, we believe all should be done in further enhancing the experience of wine drinking. Wine involves sight, touch, feel, and taste. We offer many accessories for oenophiles, including crystal stemware. It is only common sense that the sound of a clinking glass be part of enjoying wine.
Theories About the Origin of Clinking
A consensus about how and why clinking of glasses originated has never been reached, but there are theories, including the following:
- Centuries ago, Europeans clinked glasses as part of the effort to drive off evil spirits.
- It’s rumored that there was a time in history when clinking glasses vigorously was meant to cause drinks to splash into one another’s drinking vessel. This ensured that one wasn’t trying to poison the other.
- More recent theories include that touching glasses physically is part of communal celebration.
Here’s the theory we like. Clinking was made to become a part of the wine-drinking experience, in order to engage all of the senses. There are actually wine glasses that are prized for the tonal quality of their clinks.
Glass-Clinking Etiquette
What is the correct way to clink glasses? Rare is a crowd that will take notes on doing this the wrong way, but it’s always nice to know proper etiquette. When participating in a toast in a large gathering, it should be said, the appropriate custom is to simply raise glasses and make eye contact with people. In more intimate settings, clinking of the glasses is perfectly fitting, and there are two basic things you need to know:
- Have you ever been concerned that a glass would break during clinking? It’s a reasonable concern and one that should be considered. Avoid clinking on the rim of the glass because that is the weakest part of the vessel, and you could end up with a broken glass and a potentially disastrous wine spill.
- The correct procedure for clinking glasses is to tap the bell of your wine glass against the bell of another person’s glass. Done right, this creates a ding! that is nicely sustained. What’s really fun is that you can enjoy creating that ding with all of the wine buddies present.
Next time you’re savoring wine, enjoy a nice clink with each of your wine buddies. Check out our crystal stemware at Rosehill Wine Cellars for quality wine glasses.
by Charlotte | Feb 8, 2017 | Rosehill Wine Cellars News
Choose stemware to enhance the type of wine you are drinking.
Wine drinking has many fascinating aspects and one is that different types of stemware are recommended for different wines. In addition, decanters are recommended for use when drinking certain varieties of wine. At Rosehill Wine Cellars, we appreciate the beauty of crystal and believe that all wine glasses should be made with flawless crystal. The shape of the glass can make wine taste better. For instance, the distance of the nose from the beverage determines which aromas you smell. Of course, aroma is a large part of the experience of wine drinking.
Components in wine are: water, ethyl alcohol, glycerine, pectins, acids, polyphenols, and traces of flavor elements.
The following gives you a few basic insights on which stemware shapes to drink with which wine variety.
Glasses for Red Wine
Tannins are present in red wine, and choosing the glass has much to do with mitigating the accompanying bitterness.
The bowl of the glass should be larger when enjoying red wine. This way, more elements of aroma are delivered to the nose and the burn of ethanol is further from the nose. The ethanol alcohol is able to evaporate better because of the larger surface area. The wine has a smoother taste when there is a wider opening.
High tannin red wine with high acidity is best in a glass with more length coupled with a wide bowl. Low tannin red wine with low alcohol content and more delicate aromas – such as Gamay, Schiava, and Pinot Noir – are best enjoyed in a glass with a large bowl and less height.
Glasses for White Wines
For white wine, glasses with smaller bowls are usually preferred. A smaller bowl accomplishes the following:
- Preserves floral aromas,
- Maintains a cooler temperature, and
- Due to proximity to the nose, more aromas are delivered.
Some full-bodied white wines are often desired in stemware with larger bowls, such as orange wines, aged white wines, and oak-aged Chardonnay.
A Little About Decanting
Before pouring wine into the perfect glass, is it necessary to first decant it? Decanting wine involves pouring it from one vessel into another. Not all wines need to be decanted further than simply pouring it from the wine bottle into the glass. When wine is poured from a bottle into a decanter, it is usually then poured into glasses from the decanter. Restaurants often pour wine into a decanter and then back into the original vessel for service. Decanting involves allowing the wine to mix with oxygen, which affects flavor. Decanting needs to be done especially slowly and carefully with older wine, in order to separate the wine from the sediment. If the sediment is left to mix with the wine, it imparts an unpleasant astringent flavor that is very noticeable.
Be sure to check our selection of crystal stemware and decanters at Rosehill Wine Cellars. It is generally recommended to keep a set of six red wine glasses and six white wine glasses, at minimum, to serve wine with meals at home.
by Charlotte | Dec 23, 2016 | Wine Accessories & Gadgets, Wine Cabinets
Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus,
Right down Santa Claus lane
Vixen and Blitzen and all his reindeer
Pullin’ on the reins
Bells are ringin’, children singin’
All is merry and bright
Hang your wine totes and grab your wine openers
‘Cause Santa Claus comes tonight!
Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus,
Right down Santa Claus lane
He’s got a bag that’s filled with wine accessories
For all of the wine lovers again
Hear those sleigh bells jingle jangle,
Oh what a beautiful sight
So grab your wine decanter
‘Cause Santa Claus comes tonight!
Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus,
Right down Santa Claus lane
He’ll come around when the wine rings out
That it’s Christmas time again
Great wine cabinets will come to all
So let’s give thanks to wine cellar cooling units, because
Santa Claus comes tonight!
Happy Holidays from Rosehill Wine Cellars!
And don’t forget to check out Rosehill Wine Cellars for all of your wine storage and wine drinking needs!
by Charlotte | Dec 23, 2016 | Rosehill Wine Cellars News
Buy a wine cooling bucket for the wine lover on your shopping list.
Is a wine lover or wine connoisseur on your shopping list? If so, there is no shortage of possible presents you could give that should be a hit, even outside of gifting one or more bottles of wine. At Rosehill Wine Cellars, we have a great selection of wine accessories. Among them, of course, are wine buckets. Although, for whatever reasons, wine buckets are frequently items that people don’t purchase for themselves, they truly are quite essential. There are various kinds of wine buckets, to fit any situation. Wine buckets are excellent gift ideas for the following reasons and more.
1 – A wine bucket is portable
If wine were always enjoyed within a few steps of a refrigerator, perhaps wine buckets wouldn’t be so essential. But for those of us who recognize wine as the ideal accompaniment on a wide range of excursions, portable methods of keeping wine cool are a must. Imagine enjoying wine on a picnic in a beautiful outdoor setting, whether near mountains or close to the shore. While wine would make the perfect addition, it’s important that it be enjoyed at the correct temperature. The optimal temperatures for serving red wines are between 62 and 68 degrees. White wines are best served between 49 and 55 degrees. Some method of chilling the wine is needed, and a wine bucket offers the obvious solution.
2 – A wine cooling bucket is designed to enhance the wine drinking experience
Just as a wine cooling unit in a custom Rosehill Wine Cellars’ wine storage area is designed for optimal wine storage, wine buckets are designed for optimal wine serving. On our Rosehill site, we have “The Greatest Wine Cooler in the World,” which keeps wine both cool and dry. There are two separate compartments, one for wine and one for ice. It allows you to keep the wine at your dining table while ensuring that the wine stays cool. With this bucket, there are no drips from melted ice to have to deal with.
3 – A wine bucket can make an impression
Wine coolers are generally very impressive accessories, in addition to being extremely functional. The Greatest Wine Cooler in the World, for example, is available in gold/brass, titanium, silver, and brass. This wine serving bucket accommodates not only standard wine bottles but also larger sized wine bottles, such as Burgundy and sparkling wines.
Gift giving is always a special pleasure when you are able to give something the recipient can truly appreciate or enjoy. For any sommeliers or wine lovers in your life, why not give them a functional, beautiful wine bucket? Actually, no need to wait for a special occasion.
