They say that smell is the most powerful of the five senses in terms of evoking memory and emotion, and there's simply nothing beats the heady aromas of mulled wine to remind everyone that Christmas has officially started. This is our tried and tested recipe at home.
The American Association of Wine Economists can't be accused of doing things by half measures: a recent study, according to a report for the Guardian by Robert Booth, draws on sixteen years' analysis of the actual alcohol content of 129,000 wines compared with the degree stated on the bottle label.
It's even dog eat dog in the microscopic world of yeasts. Good grief.
Food, glorious food did it for Oliver Twist and the gang. If food does it for you, too, then there are one or two events in Cork in the coming week you should know about.
More than twice as many people in Ireland would give up wine before sex, according to Curious Wines' National Wine Drinkers Survey carried out last month.
Following on from Part I yesterday, where we dealt with the 'where' and 'how much' of wine, Part II of our National Wine Drinkers Survey reveals the attitudes of Irish wine drinkers, on everything from alcohol levels and availability, to what you'd be prepared to go without to have a glass.
Our thanks again to everyone who participated in our inaugural National Wine Drinkers Survey, last month. In all, over 500 of you were generous enough to respond, to give us some real insights into how wine is bought, consumed and regarded in Irish society.
After a Morning in the Barossa on Tuesday, John McDonnell of Wine Australia kindly donated this ultimate guide to the valley and its people and we promptly threw it up as a prize on Wednesday morning.
Yesterday I had the great pleasure of attending the morning Trade tasting of the previously posted Evening in the Barossa, hosted by Wine Australia and Toby Barlow of St. Hallett Wines.
You'd think Santa would have enough to do at this time of the year but it seems even the big man has time to help out in one of Australia's best wineries. We didn't think they needed the help but the team at Langmeil captured these pics on security cameras in their Barossan winery.
All new customers of Curious Wines, and indeed readers of this blog from the start, will be well aware of our love of the humble but splendid Pulltap's corkscrew. I wrote an ode to the Pulltap's in December last, praising it's strength, reliability and most of all it's simplicity.
Straight from the Look and Taste kitchen, we have yours truly on the 3 essentials to picking a wine glass, with the '+1' on how much wine you should put into it (if you're into your wine etiquette!).
To describe Viognier as the bridesmaid of the great whites doesn't just hold a bitter truth, but a serious lesson in the dangers of the global fashioning and commoditisation of wine.
Following last week's post on spicy wines, I thought it appropriate to delve a little deeper into one of the world's most identifiable, if difficult to pronounce, grape varieties. First things first: correct pronunciation. Guh-voorts-tra-meen-er.
One thing I’ve noticed since we started a wine business last year is the giddy nervousness that friends develop when bringing a bottle of wine to the house.
This line is the provocative lead-in on the cover of April's Decanter magazine, and before I'd even got to page 46 it had my mind racing.
For me, dessert wines remain the wine world’s best kept secret. For many people however, I suspect sweet wine brings back bad memories of Concorde and Blue Nun.
"Do take what I owe from these notes. And do remunerate yourselves for the trouble and inconvenience I may be causing you. Please convey my sincere apologies to my fellow guests for any disturbance.
About ten years ago my wife was given a Pulltap’s waiter’s friend corkscrew by an old college friend who’d just started with one of the big drinks companies in Dublin.
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