4 Buenos Aires Cafes That Put Starbucks to Shame

Buenos Aires is known as being a city of coffee connoisseurs. It is packed with wonderful cafes, some of which would put Starbucks to shame. Here are four of the best places that you can go enjoy a lovely cup of coffee and a nice snack or dessert to accompany it. 1. Oui Oui Nicaragua [...]

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Lot18: Schott Zwiesel Forte Burgundy Wine Glasses

Back in 2009, Wine Spectator Senior Editor James Laube wrote a blog post about what he considered the perfect one-size-fits-all everyday wine glass. A Wine Spectator online subscription is required to read the full post, but the glass he highlighted was "the Tritan Burgundy Glass by Schott Zwiesel 'Forte' (model 8465/140)".

Even with the model number, it's a little tricky pinning down the exact glasses he was talking about. Kind of like tracking down a recommendation for a German Riesling with all the precise descriptors on the label - it's challenging. Let's try break it down:

  • Schott Zwiesel is the manufacturer
  • Forte is the line
  • Tritan is the glass technology they use across a number of their lines
  • Burgundy is the shape of the glass
The glass shape (and more importantly the size of the glass with that shape) is where things become most ambiguous. If you look on Amazon.com's listing for these glasses they offer two glass shapes:
  • A "Claret Burgundy" glass which is 24.7-ounce capacity; 8.7-inch tall, 4.4-inch wide
  • A "Burgundy" glass which is 18.3-ounce capacity; 8-inch tall, 4-inch wide
I think you want the larger 24.7-ounce glass, so the Claret Burgundy is the one to get. The smaller glasses are fine, but for me these slightly larger glasses are just right.

Now, if you Google "schott zwiesel 8465/140" the first thing you'll hit is K&L Wine offering these - but the size they quote is 8 5/8" tall, 21.1 oz. capacity. What the heck? That's in between the two sizes offered on Amazon. It's unclear whether there was once one size for Schott Zwiesel's Burgundy glass and they subsequently created a larger and a smaller variant.

At any rate - my point in telling you all this is that Lot18 has these glasses this week.

They're offering six 24.7 ounce Schott Zwiesel Forte Burgundy glasses this week. They confirm (via Twitter) that these are the 140 models you want. $59.99 with $9.99 shipping. Add a second item (wine or whatever they sell) and shipping becomes free.

This may be a good deal if you happen to have some Lot18 referral credits clanging around - especially if you live in a state with tight wine shipping restrictions.

If you're not already signed up with Lot18, use this link for $10 off your first order:

http://www.lot18.com/offer/4350259674689c3fe5501cbde53f42c5/user/1572

Compare the price to what's available on Amazon.com to make sure you're getting a deal:


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?Lafite is out, Conti is in.?

China pivots to Burgundy. Source: Theatlantic Via: The Atlantic Thankfully, the wine market’s sour turn could also just be a sign of changing tastes. Eighty-six of the 100 bottles Liv-ex tracks are Bordeaux, the traditional king of fine wine. But as the Financial Times wrote in May, recent auctions suggest that Hong Kong buyers, perhaps [...]

“Lafite is out, Conti is in.” originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

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2010 Calera Central Coast Pinot Noir: QPR Alert?

When Wine Spectator dropped a 93 point rating on the 2010 Calera Central Pinot Noir it was a second validation that this bottling has become one to be reckoned with in the California Pinot Noir value spectrum.

The 2009 vintage was rated 92 points by the Wine Advocate, and combined with its modest $24 release price and relatively high production levels (around 10,000 cases) the wine seems destined to join the likes of Siduri and Loring as perennial Pinot value plays.

I was just browsing through the Wine Spectator rating database and man...I had a hard time finding a 93 point California Pinot Noir for $25 or less. I had to go back into the early '90s to a time when Pinot was in its infancy in California and producers were just getting started with the grape to find a Pinot this affordable and highly rated.

But when you're buying by the numbers you're hanging your hopes on one person's palate. In the case of Wine Spectator that's James Laube who has a reputation with some for preferring ripe wines - and he states as much in his tasting notes for the wine: "very ripe but still complex". [Spectator online subscription required]

If we consult the wisdom of the masses we currently see a Cellar Tracker community rating for the 2009 at 89.1 and the 2010 is currently averaging 90.3.

If we run these metrics through the WWP QPR Calculator (what's that?) we get a 2.5: A Very Good value.

The wine is also referred to as the 35th Anniversary Vintage - and there's some confusion and duplicate entries on Cellar Tracker for sure. But there's no special bottling to seek out. If you're buying the 2010 Calera Central Coast Pinot Noir you're getting the wine that Spectator rated 93 points. Here are my thoughts on the wine:

2010 Calera Central Coast Pinot Noir [35th Anniversary Vintage]
$24 Release Price
14.9% Alcohol
7,688 Cases Produced

Primary [very] ripe plum notes mug the otherwise nice Pinot characteristics lurking in the background. 14.9% alcohol (up from 14.2% in 2009) and it shows. The wine clings heavily to the glass and there's heat at the backend of every sip. An instantaneous aerator the first night and an evening of rest under stopper didn't help accelerate the aging process. Will this be better with time? I wouldn't count on it. But for $24 retail it's a decent wine I guess. I just can't see my way to 92 or 93 points.

88/100 WWP: Very Good

Where to Buy


In Massachusetts:
Elsewhere: Search on Wine-Searcher.com in your state

Question of the Day: Have you had this wine? If so, what did you think?


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Golf Year Round At Bear Mountain, One of Canada?s Beautiful Pacific Coast Resorts

“The mountains are calling and I must go.” — John Muir (1838 – 1914) It is easy to image that John Muir was on Bear Mountain, Victoria, B.C. in 1864, when he spoke those words. One visit to Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort & Spa and you too will heed the call to return as [...]

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Thank You From the Bottom of My Heart

I’m sitting here in my new home office with a fresh perspective and a touch of the misties, as in misty-eyes.  Rich and I have been moved into the place for just over a month and it has made a huge difference in how we feel about things.  I now recognize that we were both [...]

Source: http://familylovewine.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/thank-you-from-the-bottom-of-my-heart/

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