After a hiatus, Wine Blogging Wednesday is going again with a theme of wine from Spain as hosted by Ryan and Gabriella Opaz of the award winning blog catavino.net. The prompt:
Choose a Spanish wine or wines to taste on Wednesday the 16th of February.
Write a post about the wine, flushing it out with life and subtle detail, then publish it on Wednesday, February 16th.
Tweet about it with the tag: #WBW70 thus creating a live tasting by time zone as we go around the globe!
Finally, send an email to us with a link to your article and include the subject line: “WBW #70 Submission
I’m already in the swim of Spanish wine as I’ve been working on my guest blog for the Secret Sherry Society, published today on their site! So follow my lead and do sherry or go for a distinctly Spanish varietal or style: with Valentine’s Day coming up a sparkling cava would be fun and they’re a great value too. Or do something different: some Spanish wineries are working to capture part of the American market by growing and making familiar wines like cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay to American palates at affordable prices.
Fellow bloggers, have you ever accidentally hit “publish” when you meant to hit “save draft”? That’s what happened with my Egypt wine post. So then I “unpublished” it by scheduling it for a later date–except then I got busy and lo and behold, I came back from a long weekend away and there was that blog post! Right there published on my blog, almost like it had done it by itself!
Part of the problem is how much changed in Egypt from when I started writing that blog post immediately on my return and the sudden turmoil that began a few days after I returned. With all the changes going on in Egypt, it just felt weird if not wrong to be writing about wine as if a revolution wasn’t going on.
Anyway, I have photos to go with the post and more that I want to add, so as soon as I can, I will get to it…
On my recent trip to Egypt, I discovered that not only do they grow grapes and make wine in Egypt, Egyptian wine is good–which is fortunate because it’s the only wine that seems to be available at the bars, restaurants, and the cruise ship I was on!
I arrived in Egypt on the afternoon of my birthday, so after settling in and enjoying the sunset on the pyramids from my room and the rooftop, I was in search of sparkling wine and a place to celebrate!
Nan Akasha suggested we go to Mena House. After a quick, harrowing taxi ride later (they don’t turn on their headlights OR use lanes), and a search under the vehicle for bombs by armed guards, we stepped off the taxi and into the absolutely stunning Mena House, which served formerly as a Presidential Palace. We wandered around appreciating the carved walls, the elaborate light fixtures, and the elegant flower arrangements–and looking for a place with sparkling wine of some kind!
We finally settled into a bar with a live musician and ordered two glasses of sparkling Egyptian wine “Aida” to share amongst our party of four jet lagged women: two from California (myself and trip leader Sequoia Hamilton0, one from Texas (wealth coach Nan Akasha), and one from Vancouver Canada (my roommate Joan Macbeth, a scriptwriter).
Since we were so appreciative of the Aida, the manager refilled our glasses, then when he found out I was a wine blogger, offered to let me taste anything that interested me. While I was tempted, I knew I was jet lagged and with a full schedule ahead and drinking alcohol is not a great idea.
But I couldn’t say no to trying at least one more Egptian wine! So I chose a grenache, and we all shared a tasting. Nan is a big wine fan and an active member of a wine club in Austin, while Sequoia and Joan just enjoy wine in moderation. We were all impressed with this grenache–nice color, fruit, and balance, much better than we would have expected.
I’m about to find out whether they have wine in Egypt because I am on my way there to celebrate my birthday Tuesday with the pyramids and more!
I’ve been promised wireless connections–I fully intend to blog and tweet along the way!
Learn more about the trip below!
I’m heading to Egypt tomorrow Insha’Allah “if it is God’s will.” Almost EVERYTHING is already paid for on this Sacred Journey with Sequoia Hamilton, except for a few meals, which will make it really easy to focus on the sights, sounds, smells, to deeply experience the country, and to go on an inner journey as well. The following itinerary is adapted from an email sent by Sequoia; all photos on this page courtesy of Sequoia Hamilton Travels. I get … Read More
Like shoes to many women, I find it hard to say no to fine wine glasses and fine linens–especially if they’re on sale.
What makes linens and wine glasses better than shoes is that they almost always fit. You have a very good chance that you’ll have a bed in your house for those sheets or you’ll know someone who does.
And wine glasses! I’ve found they make an excellent hostess gift and you can never have too many at home…because, unfortunately, they break. And since I’m often involved in events where wine is involved, I want to make sure the wine is served in decent glasses (and not plastic cups!) both for the aesthetic experience and to be greener. Even inexpensive wine will taste significantly better in a glass of any kind while fine wine really deserves to be served in glass.
While it’s obvious to my eye and my touch the difference between the look and the quality of linens, wine glasses aren’t. And really, I wondered, beyond being a reasonable size, does the shape of a wine glass make that much of a difference?
Yes, Virginia, just like there’s a Santa Claus, there IS a huge difference in how a wine tastes in different shaped glasses.
In the coming weeks, I plan to explore the world of wine glasses to educate myself and to in turn share what I learn with you, dear reader so that you too will know which wine glasses to get!
But in the meantime, some quick advice about a few wine glasses you might be considering picking up Continue reading →
Lenn Thompson, the guy who started Wine Blogging Wednesday, is back in action with a plan to get the monthly event going once again! Here’s his tweet to me:
@ArtPredator Already in the works… keep a look out for an announcement in the new year 😉
Here are some more excerpts from Lenn’s twitter feed lenndevours today that tell the story–read up or down, it’s all good!
Hey wine bloggers…#WBW never went away. Was just on hiatus due to low participation. It’s coming back in ’11 with a vengeance. Post soon.
@swirlsipsnark I agree. I miss #WBW and I’m glad that there seems to be renewed interest.
@swirlsipsnark Thanks…I hope people participate better than they did in the spring. Samples-based Twitter tastings hurt participation #WBW
@GimmeMoreWine Keep an eye out for a post soon after the new year. I hope you’ll join us! #WBW
@GimmeMoreWine#WBW is a monthly wine-tasting for the wine blogging community I founded years ago! Different host and theme every month. Fun
Follow what’s going on by joining the Wine Blogging Wednesday facebook community, checking the #WBW hashtag on twitter, and visiting the Wine Blogging Wednesday blog (where I am now an author!) One way or another, folks, it looks like Wine Blogging Wednesday is back on for 2011. I look forward to seeing where we all take it this time!
And I found this blog post from August where, voila, I discovered I wasn’t the only one who wanted to see Wine Blogging Wednesday revived.
Seems Tim Elliot was wondering the same thing and eight or so wine bloggers commented. Inqvine even suggested a theme: “Fungus Among-us” on botrytis wines.
“I would love to see WBW start up again,” Alleigh of A Glass after Work said in the comments. “It was a wonderful way to really become part of the wine blogging community. It was particularly interesting to see how other wine bloggers approached the same topic or the same wines. Inevitably, I learned something new. Now, as a more comfortable wine blogger, I think WBW would still a great way to meet new bloggers and taste new wines, but it always would be a chance to have further discussions about wine with other bloggers and not just my regular readers.”
So, I propose we get Wine Blogging Wednesday rolling again! I think we need to Continue reading →
After a hiatus, Wine Blogging Wednesday is going again with a theme of wine from Spain as hosted by Ryan and Gabriella Opaz of the award winning blog catavino.net. The prompt:
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 