The Vino Newbie

My First Wineracks Revisited

2009-02-18T21:51:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about wineracks lately and I thought it would be nice to share my very first design. I started making these last summer partly as a hobby, and partly to make money selling them at the local farmers' market. They weren't a big hit so I move onto another design, but I think I should give these another chance. What do you readers think?

Do you like this design? I think it's simple, but functional.

New Winerack Design

2009-02-18T21:32:00.000-08:00

I'm working on a new winerack design. I made a prototype of it tonight. It's crude, but I think you can see what I'm getting at.

I got the idea from my trip to the Saint Laurent Estate winery last weekend (see previous post). I saw a very similar design there. I also found similar ones online. I have a few ideas to tweak it a little and add a personal touch to the design. Anyway, here it is in the early stages:

Thoughts?

Back in Business

2009-02-15T21:13:00.000-08:00

After a brief hiatus from the blog, I'm back. Don't worry, I only got tired of wine blogging, not wine in general. Trying to maintain two blogs, and deal with work / school was just too much for me. After last weekend, however, I feel ready to take on the Vino Newbie again.

I took a trip to Wenatchee to see my girlfriend last weekend. We went to a local winery, Saint Laurent Estate, and had a great time. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me so I was unable to get any pictures, but it's a beautiful place. I'm sure you'll find plenty of pictures on their website.

After some complimentary wine tastings, we decided to sit down for lunch, which included two more samples, soup, bread, and chocolate. There is a welcoming feel to the tasting / dining room that reminded me of home. The wine was excellent and there's nothing better than sharing a nice meal with a couple of friends. My one regret is that it's the middle of winter right now. I'm sure the scenery would be spectacular in the summer. I'll definitely have to return soon.

My Latest Winerack

2008-11-04T17:48:00.000-08:00

Over this last summer I started making wineracks in hopes of complementing my income. I have a fair bit of carpentry background, and I'm pretty handy (I run another blog called The Collegiate Handyman)

I started off with a very basic design and made about eight of them. They didn't sell to well (at all) at our local farmer's market. I did sell one on eBay though.

Even though I didn't sell many, I did get some offers to make custom wineracks. College started back up for me and I found myself with a lot less free time. Yesterday I completed the first half of an order from my coworker. Here it is:

If you would like more information about my wineracks, please don't hesitate to email me. I would like to continue making custom wood projects, but I always need customers :)

Thoughts on this design?

The Bad and the Good...

2008-10-28T23:32:00.000-07:00

And then the bad again.

Tonight I had an encounter with boxed wine. It's been a while since I've tried that particular niche in the wine market. Back in my not so tame college days, I used to love the stuff. I'll spare the pictures, because I'm not holding back on this review. All I can say is that it came in a square box, maybe 12" x 12" and about 4" deep. There were three different brands fitting this description, and I have a feeling that it doesn't matter too much which one I picked.

(The Bad)
Sure, it tasted like old grape juice, but it did the trick. I mean, if you're going for boxed wine, you have a pretty specific plan in mind. Granted, you don't usually remember why you did it the next morning, but you have to assume that it worked. As I'm writing this, I cringe to imagine how I'm going to feel tomorrow at 7:30 after just having a few glasses of the stuff tonight.

(The Good)
I'll give it this, if you are trying to "drink a little too much", this stuff is great. It's cheap. I did the math, and one box is 6.5 bottles worth. I payed $12 for the box, so that's a mere $2 or so per bottle. Try to remember, have you ever seen a $2 bottle of wine in the store? I very much doubt it. This is probably explained by the rationale that "bums" would buy $2 bottles, but not be able to "invest" in a $12 box, aka, six bottles of $2 cheap drunkenness.

(The Bad again)
This wine is horrible. Prison wine probably rivals it in quality. Think about it, this is the equivalent of a $2 bottle of wine. What would you expect? Give me a gallon of grape juice, a bag of sugar, an old trashcan, and a cool, dark place, and I could probably stumble upon their recipe after a few weeks.

Now there are some legitimate wines out there that have boxed varieties, but you won't find them for much less than $20, and they won't be in 5-liter bladders. The boxed wine concept is pretty smart. I mean, the wine is never exposed to oxygen like the case with conventional bottles. Therefore, you can "open" the wine and it would remain fresh for a long time.

My one suggestion is to know what you are getting into. If you pay $20 for 3 liters or so, you might be onto something. But if you pay $12 for 5 liters, you are probably just setting yourself up for a hangover.

Wine Lovers Unite

2008-10-27T22:38:00.000-07:00

Last week I stumbled upon this site:

Must Love Wine

That link will take you to my profile. Must Love Wine is a social networking site (similar to Facebook and Myspace) that is specifically tailored to wine enthusiasts. You can create and customize a profile, chat, and post in forums.

From what I've seen so far, it's a great way to meet other wine enthusiasts online. I've only made a few forum posts, but I'm already learning a lot.

This site is just one of many similar sites. I know there are quite a few others, but so far, this is the only one I've joined. Have any of you seen any others?

The Start of My Wine Cellar

2008-10-26T23:25:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I never did this sooner, but I've officially started collecting wine. Well, I probably didn't do it sooner because it's an expensive habit! I don't have much disposable (or drinkable) income as a poor college student.

A couple weeks ago, I got a great deal on two bottles of Chateau St. Michelle Syrah. These were a regular $12 on sale for $4 at the grocery store. I couldn't pass it up.

They are actually pretty tasty too. I love a good Washington wine. The only problem is that these bottles don't fit in the winerack that I made for myself.

Let's see how long I can go without drinking these, and more importantly, if I'm able to add to my collection anytime soon.

What's Wrong With My Wine?!!!

2008-10-20T22:25:00.000-07:00

So I got near the bottom of a 3-day old bottle of shiraz, and this is what I found!

What are those black particles? Ewww. I wonder how much of that I drank...

Any ideas? I think the prime suspect has to do with the cork. It was pretty brittle. The corkscrew hardly worked on it. I don't know, Imagine an old rotten cork and that's pretty much it. However, the wine smelled and tasted fine. I'm not exactly sure that's what it should have tasted like, since I've never tried this one before. But it wasn't bad.

The bottle was vacuum sealed between uses.

Here's another angle of the mysterious particles:

Another Great Use for Wine

2008-10-20T22:20:00.000-07:00

As if there weren't enough reasons to drink wine.

Well, I just found another one. I believe wine promotes good dental hygiene. How so?

It's simple. Red wine can give a slight purple tint to your teeth and cause you to brush that away, but it also dyes any gunk in between your teeth purple. This helps you to floss more thoroughly! Right?...

I would post a picture, but I don't think that is needed, nor is it, er, not disgusting. You get the idea.

Growler Lamp

2008-10-19T19:24:00.000-07:00

I shamelessly copied this post from my other blog, The Collegiate Handyman. I think it relates somewhat to The Vino Newbie.

So I was tidying up the garage today, and I found this broken old table lamp. About two years ago, I got the cheapo lamp at a local evil big-box store. Within a month that thing broke. One of the "metal" legs gave out. So I pulled a MacGyver and attached the workings of the lamp, which amazingly still worked, to an empty beer bottle.

It was quite handy, but the 12 oz. beer bottle didn't serve as a good base. I didn't give it much use. Back to the garage this morning, and I'm wondering what I can do with it. Well, I decided to use it with a growler bottle which would serve as a much better base.

This is an easy project and here's how to do it...

You'll need the workings of a lamp. I discovered today that you can easily get everything you need at your local home improvement store. It's all very easy to put together if you have all the pieces. Of course, you'll need the growler bottle. Here's the tricky part, you'll want to be able to pop the lamp part off if you ever need to use the bottle. So the best solution is to attach the lamp part to a cork, which fits snugly in the bottle neck. So go get yourself a cork too.

Here, I had just drilled through the cork and attached the lamp part to it with a bolt. Be gentle when drilling through the cork, since it is a cork and all...

Depending on your lamp pieces, you may not have this problem. I had to find some way to attach the bulb holder to the shade holder. I used a cable tie and some hot-melt glue.

Here's the final product. Not too shabby, huh? It might be a good idea to fill the bottle with something to give it a solid base. Grain or hops would be appropriate. Beer is probably not a good idea.

Not shown is how I did the wiring. It's pretty simple. Just attach the wire to the two connections on the bulb holder part. Pretty easy stuff.

This is a fairly easy project and it sure won't take all day. In fact, this went very quickly and I didn't run into any problems at all.

I hope this inspires you.

2008-09-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

Smell: A little vinegary, but a hint of sweetness.
Taste: Not a very pronounced taste.
Feel: Is this wine or grape juice?

This is an easy wine to drink. I'd say good for the newbie, but a more seasoned wine drinker wouldn't have much interest. Not to knock this wine, but I think I actually don't like it very much. This is a big step for me. I mean, I've tasted bad wines for one reason or another, but this wine is decent, I just know that it's not one of my favorites. Could I be developing an actual wine palette?

Then again, it's hard to complain with a platter of cheese and crackers in front of me...

Now Using Twitter

2008-09-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

I've started using twitter to complement the blog. I guess I can send updates through text messages on my phone. Maybe there will be some interesting stuff, maybe not...

You can see my twitter updates on the right panel of the page.

Review Number Two!

2008-09-10T21:11:00.001-07:00

I'm trying things a little differently here on my second review. As you can see, I have a picture of an *unopened* bottle. This is a good start.

Tonight I have a Meridian again, but this time it is a Cabernet Sauvignon.

My first sip (completely sober, I might add):
The tannins immediately strike me as... hmm
Ok, the bouquet is... err...
Alright, I'll be honest, I don't really know this technical lingo.

The wine tastes strong, but not overbearing. It's good stuff. Well worth the $6. Funny story, I actually got this at a different grocery store in town. If you recall, I tried two other Meridian varieties in my first review. I also saved $6 on this bottle. They must be getting ready for a recall or something... Anyway, it went great with the pasta I had for dinner.

That brings me to the subject of pairing wine with food. I'd suggest first trying it with pasta, because frankly, you can't go wrong with pasta (unless you are my old roommate).

I'd really recommend wine with food if you find the wine to be too strong at first. A lot of wine newbies have trouble because wine is a little more intense than beer. Food can really help calm it down. And no, you should not add pop to wine, that's called pulling a "Rew."

Songs About Wine

2008-09-09T23:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes music and wine go hand in hand. Here are three of my favorite songs about wine:

Artist: The Cat Empire
Album: Two Shoes
Song: The Wine Song

The ultimate drunken chanting wine song. Heck, the singer sounds drunk. This song is fast (at times), fun, and catchy. You'll find yourself humming along the next day, if you can remember it...

Artist: The National
Album: Alligator
Song: All the Wine

Cool and calming. Drink wine and feel good about yourself. Maybe a little too good.

You think you're too good for school, but I got news for you... You're not!

Grab all the wine for yourself.

Artist: The Murder City Devils
Album: In Name and Blood
Song: I drink the Wine

Murder City Devils Haiku:

Resist stabbing him
Enjoy hard rock pipe organs
Feel nothing at all

Any songs that I missed?

I'll be looking for more soon.

Wine Review: Bonus Double First Review!

2008-09-08T16:23:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I made a huge mistake.

Last week I had two new wines that I've never tried before. It would be perfect for my first review, right? Well, I made the dumb mistake of not writing the review as I was trying them. I didn't even take notes...

Both wines are from California by Meridian Vineyards. One was a 2007 Pinot Grigio, and the other a 2005 Merlot. Unfortunately, all I can recall is that the white was not too sweet, and the red was quite strong.

Let me try to salvage this review.

An interesting point is that I chose these two because I am cheap. Yep, I'm cheap. I looked at the local grocery store's wine selection and quite a few were on sale. These two were the best deal in my budget. They were $6 each on sale and a regular $11. Nothing came close to saving $5 like these two did.

This begs the question, does price have any relationship to the quality of a wine?

Well, usually, but it's not that simple.

I wish I could go to the wine isle and ask myself, "do I want a $3 stomachache tonight or just a $5 hangover tomorrow?"

I am a vino newbie myself, but I have enough of a palate to tell the difference between a merlot from a gallon jug and one from the top shelf. So my advice is this - stay away from the jugs of wine, anything that has "MD" on the label, and anything from a box. Try finding something on sale at the grocery store. Get a notebook or some way to take notes on it.

Wine isn't as simple as red or white.

Oh, and for the record, both of the Meridian wines were good.

Serving Faux Pas

2008-09-01T23:46:00.000-07:00

Wine Glasses for the Newbie Wine Drinker

2008-08-26T20:11:00.001-07:00

Before you delve into the world of wine, you need some proper equipment. Do not, under any circumstances, serve wine in any of these:

- A paper cup.
- A coffee mug.
- Tupperware.
- Directly into the mouth via a boxed wine bladder.
- A sippy cup.

Instead of making a fool out of yourself, why not get some decent wine glasses?

A great place to look is local thrift stores. They usually have some pretty strange stuff there.

I'm sure you'll find a decent one eventually. What to look for? Well, you'll know it when you see it.

Welcome to the Vino Newbie

2008-08-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

This blog is dedicated to all the new wine drinkers out there.

Wine is a great beverage (it's right up there with beer in my favorites), but it is often misunderstood by the newbie wine drinker. All too often, people have bad first experiences with wine and never try it again.

I'm here to guide you through the world of wine. I'm a bit of a new drinker myself, but I've already learned to love it. I think you can too.

Many more posts to come, so check back regularly.