BookWineTour.com

Author: David Cowley

When was the last time you went to a nice restaurant and ordered a bottle of expensive wine? When the waiter or waitress brought it over, did he or she show you the label before uncorking it? Did you understand anything on that label, or did you simply scan it and nod just for show? Many people are at a loss when it comes to reading wine labels, whether it’s at a restaurant or in a wine store; to them, it’s all just fancy numbers and letters and means no more to them than the chemicals contained in a can of Coke.

If you know a little bit about wines, you’re already well on your way to understanding the wine labels. They typically tell you, at a glance, the alcohol content, the growing region, bottle volume, name of the wine, quality and type of wine, the producer, and the variety and vintage.

The alcohol content and bottle volume may be the easiest to recognize on a wine label. Read the rest of this entry »

Everybody heard about the legendary French monk who is said to be the one who invented the champagne - Dom Perignon. His name is also usually associated with one of the finest champagnes in the world from the famous house of Moet et Chandon. Most of you probably know that Dom Perignon wasn’t the first one to fabricate champagne and this is just a myth, but what other myths about him are out there, what is truth and what’s just monks’ bragging?

Dom Petrus Perignon was a Benedictine monk from the Abbey of Hautvilliers, near Reims. He served there as the cellar master since the age of 29 until his death in 1715. Although he did not invented the champagne, méthode champenoise was developed by him and during his stewardship the Abbey of Hautvilliers flourished and doubled the size of its vineyards.

Back then the in-bottle fermentation process used for champagne fabrication wasn’t defined yet and winemakers faced problems during production: when not all the sugar content from grapes managed to be converted into alcohol during autumn, later in the spring when the dormant yeast began to generate carbon dioxide the stored bottles could simply explode, thus creating chain reactions and entire stocks could be simply lost. What Dom Perignon did is Read the rest of this entry »

Special offer for these discounted wine tours in Australia will be available till August 31, 2008 and offers you 15% discounts on the regular price. Both tours start from Adelaide and our guides will pick you up at your hotel at 9:30 in the morning for a 8 hours tour into the kingdoms of wine.

Barossa valley is a must visit place for Australian wine tasting program, it is a feel of Europe in Australian continent and it is no doubt the most famous wines place in the country of kangaroos. German and Italian settlers of these places discovered early the unique qualities these lands had to offer for wine-growing.

Grand Barossa with Hahndorf Tour from Adelaide is an exclusive one day tour that includes wine tasting at the famous Wolf Blass winery and a lunch with wine at Keaslers Winery restaurant. You’ll be visiting Australia’s oldest German settlement - Hahndorf and enjoy the tea in one of the tea shops later in the evening.

Victor Harbor with McLaren Vale Wine Region Tour starting from Adelaide will take you to the Fleurieu Peninsula vineyards visiting McLaren Vale Wine region traveling through picturesque coastal seaside towns of Christies Beach, Port Noarlunga and Moana. You’ll have the possibility to ride a horse drawn tram across the causeway to Granite Island and will stop at historic Strathalbyn on the Angas River.

For more details on the tours and discounts please click the appropriate links in the description above. Tours available everyday for Barossa valley and on Wednesday and Saturdays for Victor harbor tours.

50 million: This is the average number of bubbles in a bottle of champagne.

P.S.: More shorts featuring various wine related digits will come frequently as a part of our new Wine Numbers section filed under Vinopedia category.

CHAPTER I - The Auction Collectibles
The most expensive wine ever bought is considered to be the 1787 Chateau Lafite which was sold at Christie’s London in December, 1985 for £105,000 (at that time equivalent of US $156,000). This bottle of wine is believed to be from the cellar of Thomas Jefferson (former US President) as it had the Th.J initials etched into the glass bottle. It’s great age alone would have ensured a good price at the auction, but what made the record price tag was the Th.J. etch. There’s a whole story about this bottle of wine which we’ll share with you in the next post.

There was another bottle though, which technically had a higher price tag but was never actually sold. Another bottle with Jefferson’s initials, a 1787 Chateau Margaux from an English owner was offered for sale by William Sokolin, a New York wine merchant. In 1989 he was asking US $500,000 for it when he took it to a Chateau Margaux dinner at the Four Seasons restaurant. A clumsy waiter carrying something bumped the bottle breaking it, so the bottle didn’t actually get sold or get any buy offers, but because it was insured, the insurance company however payed US $225,000 for the damage, thus 1787 Chateau Margaux becoming the most expensive broken bottle of wine.

CHAPTER II - The Drinkable Vintages
On a auction in 2006, the 1945 Mouton Rothschild became the most expensive vintage wine in the world. An auctioneer bought 6 magnum bottles for $345,000 and 12 regular bottles for $290,000 bringing the value of Mouton Rothschild 1945 to US $28,750 a bottle. Previously the same type of 1945 Mouton Rothschild wines were sold for over US $20,000 at various actions as well. The difference between the collectible wines that cannot be drink anymore and the vintage wines is obvious as they can still be enjoyed. The maximum age for a vintage dry wine is around 50 years, but some premium Bordeaux types can resist longer. The desert wines on the other hand can stay drinkable much longer.

The Cricova winery collection from Moldova contains the Hermann Göring’s wine collection, which was seized by the Russians after WWII. This collection contains among others a Jewish desert wine produced in Jerusalem in 1902, for which the rumor has it a price of US $1,000,000 was offered. Several other wines from across Europe make part of this rich collection including five bottles of Mouton Rothschild from 1936.

CHAPTER III - The most expensive retail wines
Pétrus and Romanée Conti are considered to be the most expensive wines in retail. A bottle of a new Pétrus vintage will cost a minimum US $1,000. Although Pétrus does not have any ranking, the quality is the same as any first growth wines from Bordeaux. The winery is located in Pomerol, Bordeaux and the dominant grape is Merlot.

The price of a Romanée Conti bottle is often 2 or 3 times higher then Pétrus easily reaching around US $3,000 for a bottle and even more. Romanée Conti is considered to be one of the best red wines in the world. The winery is located in Cote-de-Nuits in Burgundy and the main grape is Pinot Noir. Wines are produced here in very small quantities but the demand is huge. A bottle of the 1978 Romanée Conti was sold for US $24,000 in an auction.

Robert Mondavi - the man who built a brand name for Napa Valley in California dies at the age of 94 at his Yountville home on May 16, 2008. His name became a brand in U.S. and he was one of the influential personalities of the past century in the wine industry. Probably thanks to him Californian wines gained it’s place on the world market and some fine wines even proved to be able to compete with French wines.

An Italian descendant, Mondavi grew up in Lodi, California where his father with his and his younger brother’s help had a successful fruit packing business. After graduating from Stanford University with a degree in economics and business administration he returns in family business and at that time family already bought the Charles Krug winery. Under the Mondavi’s, The Charles Krug Winery became one of the most successful in Napa Valley.

But after a fight with his younger brother he leaves the family business decided to set up his own winery on borrowed money and he succeeds. He sets up ‘Robert Mondavi Winery’ and starts a passionate work on building a new brand in the wine industry and a wine-empire. He also was determined to make Napa Valley one of the world’s greatest wine regions and today we might say his task was accomplished. He was the first one to introduce the”blind tasting” to California and was brave and confident enough to put his wines against the top French producers and in 1976 his wines manage to accomplish high results at “Judgment of Paris”. Later, together with Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Château Mouton Rothschild, he opens “Opus One Winery” - the first French-American wine venture. Robert Mondavi was selected as the Decanter’s “Man of the Year” in 1989 and was nominated and inducted into the Vintners Hall of Fame by the Culinary Institute of America. In the “Grand European Jury Wine Tasting” of 1997, the Robert Mondavi Chardonnay Reserve was ranked number one.

Robert Mondavi was also a great mecenat and donated large sums of money, but partly due to that fact and to miss-management he was forced to sell. The Mondavi brand name was acquired by the “Constellation Brands” for US$1.36 billion. Today’s association with the “Robert Mondavi” is no longer the brand for the fine wines. Mondavi himself criticized his sons for the business strategy that lead to loose of image with the introduction the of inexpensive Mondavi lines. He said, “We’ve got to get our image back, and that’s going to take time.

Robert Mondavi and his younger brother Peter (the one he had fight with) after 40 years made wine together that resulted in one single barrel (50/50), a blend of Cabernet named “Ancora Una Volta” (”Once Again”) which sold for $401,000 at the 2005 Napa Valley wine auction.

For the ones who wish to find out more about this fascinating person with a great impact on American wine industry we would recommend reading his autobiography “Harvests of Joy” which was published in 1998 and “House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty” by Julia Flynn Siler.

An event like no other! Music, food and wine! Enjoy these fine moment at the Sonoma Jazz + festival which starts today and will continue till Sunday, May 25. This is a no-ordinary event and what attracts the wine lovers is fine atmosphere, fine wines and fine people.

This year’s featuring stars are: Kool and the Gang, Al Green, Herbie Hancock, Diana Krall, Bonnie Raitt and more. An event that will be appreciated by both wine and jazz lovers. What can be greater then listening live jazz tunes and enjoying a Zinfandel or sipping your Pinot Noir.

You can still book your tickets on-line here, but note that Bonnie Raitt and Al Jarreau Sunday evening tickets are sold out already. Still you can book Friday or Saturday nights and Wine & Song around the Plaza are available. Remember that buying in advance will save you $10 of the door price and don’t you dare drive your own car here! $60 ticket includes souvenir wine glass & tote, 7 live music performances, 12 wine tastings and 4 food tastings daily!

And remember that “Sonoma Jazz +” is a not-for-profit organization whose central purpose is raising money to support the Sonoma community’s music education needs, while producing a world-class music festival.

Time for another travel deal, this time in Budapest. “Pearl of the Danube”, “Heart of Europe” or sometimes even referred as “Capital of Freedom” - Budapest, the capital city of Hungary.

Hungarian food is probably better known to the large public then Hungarian wines, but they do have some fine quality wines. And while there, enjoying your food why not combine it with the best local wines? The offer for 10% discount will be available till April, 30th, so hurry up - make you plans! The gastronomic tour with wine tasting, goulashes and Tokay - that’s what we’re after. And you’ll aslo get the chace to try the famous “Bull’s Blood”.More about the tour and booking details here.