Wine Diva

I lived in the South of France for a year when I was 19. I studied French at a language college and I au-paired for pocket money. France being France, reasonably priced good wine was readily available. However, students being students, we never had 2 francs to rub together.

At the end of each month we would have a social “soiree” at the college and we would always have pre-soiree warm-up come happy hour in someone’s dorm room. And most of us would go across “la rue” (the road) and buy the cheapest 8-franc red screwcap cooking wine we could find (that’s about R5 at the time)… not a delicious thought (!)… and probably an absolute disgrace to the country and region we were in. But students will be students, no matter where they are, and we were no exception (I’m pretty sure even Stellenbosch students can relate!) Can you see me skipping down cobblestone alleys, clutching a baguette under one arm and my screwcap wine under the other?

So you see, in my mind and memory, any wine accompanied by a screwcap is usually pretty terrifying, to be knocked back with your nose held closed, and the words, “get a kick out of it” doesn’t even begin to describe the aftermath.

But nowaways I see more and more respectable wines coming out with screwcaps. Nice wines, lovely wines, yummy wines. So I had to ask “Why Screwcap?” I am very much a cork-lover myself! I am your typical flimsy-wristed girly girl so I have never been good at screwing the tops off anything and feel a bit cheated battling with the cap on a good wine. Sigh!

I’ll always be a cork girl myself, but I am willing to listen to the Screwcap side of the story. So I asked around and a little birdie named Google was very helpful… here is what I discovered:

(Source: http://www.screwcap.co.nz)
*The advantages of using the screwcap as a wine seal are:
-Total confidence that you will receive wine in premium condition – alive, abounding with flavours and a pleasure to drink.
- No bottle variation – each bottle of a given wine will be just as good as the one before.
- Elimination of cork taint and similar mould flavours that can contaminate wines bottled with other closures.
- Dependable cellaring – the elimination of random, premature wine oxidation (seen as rapid ageing, discoloration, loss of fruit flavours and, ultimately, the destruction of the wine), which can occur when other closure types are used.

And as a bonus, the package is so user friendly. For instance, you can confidently cellar your wines with the bottles standing up. To open a bottle you simply twist the whole capsule to break the seal, and then unscrew the top (no corkscrews to manipulate, no crumbly corks to extract), and if you don’t finish your wine that night, you can happily reseal the bottle for the next day.”

*The above extract has been sourced from Screwcap.co.nz

Article Source: about-wine.net

No matter what your style and mood preference is for wine glasses, here are a few things to keep in mind as you build a collection that suits your taste.

Glasses for Everyday Use — It’s always a good idea to have at least some glasses that you can bring out at parties and events that can stand the test of time, particularly if it helps to use the dishwasher. Affordability is also a primary consideration with these glasses!

Buy two more than you think you need — Yes, it’s true, no matter how careful you are with your stemware, glass tends to break. Kids, spouses, friends and pets can never be trusted. It’s a good rule of thumb to buy two extra glasses to keep in a safe pace when you acquire a new glass set.

Red vs. White: Don‘t worry about it! — It’s one of those traditions that we don’t understand. Smaller glasses for white and larger glasses for red. If you like having different sizes of glass around just for the aesthetic variation, great! But white wine needs as much space to open up as red wine, and the fact that it’s served in a slightly smaller glass is a relic from times long gone. The nuances of today’s whites are every bit as dramatic and complex as the world’s best reds and there’s no reason to discriminate.

Buy flutes for Champagne and Sparkling Wine — Bubbles are not only part of the art form of sparkling wine, they are cool. A long flute ensures the bubbles have a long way to travel before they reach the surface, improving the experience all around.

Yay and yay! And lots of yay. I have a super busy fun weekend planned and it is long overdue. The last couple of weekends have been kinda dreary, but now it’s time to shake off the winter blues and other nonsense blues, and get on with it. Life in Gauteng is not for sissies… anybody seen my wine glass?

Here is what I have planned:

Putting on my taste buds and going to the Jo’burg Wine Show on Saturday.

Going to check out Cars in the Park at Zwartkops race track on Sunday morning, mainly to show off my pride and joy MINI Cooper.

And then off to see Johnny Clegg’s show at the Civic on Sunday afternoon – an unexpected last minute surprise invitation – so yay.

Did I say “yay” yet? … If not, yay!