In The Bottle with Angelica Nohra! — education

We have all experienced it. That moment your friend turns up, ready for a chat session, last minute. You know they are going to want wine. You look around and darn, only your cheap and cheerful stash is available! Why oh WHY didn't your friend tell you they were coming by? Never fear guys, here is a quick couple of tricks to help your $8 cheapy wine taste like a $20 bottle. SHAKE THAT BOTTLEI had a friend once tell me about this. I watched him shake the heck out of a bottle of Penfolds Rawsons Retreat. I thought that...

As many people would know, we do a lot of wine shows. We love them because we get to see the reactions of people when they try our wine and it helps us understand what is trending. It also means we get some really interesting questions about wine that I always assume is common knowledge but I guess it isn't. One question we get often is about serving temperatures and I was scrawling the internet and found this excellent infogram to highlight it perfectly! Hopefully this helps!

What are Noble Grapes? There are 18 red and white noble grapes (listed below) that define the complete range of wine flavors –from clear, zesty white to deep dark red wine. They are listed lightest to richest. Red Noble Grapes Pinot Noir Grenache Merlot Sangiovese Nebbiolo Tempranillo Cabernet Sauvignon Syrah/Shiraz Malbec White Noble Grapes Pinot Grigio Riesling Sauvignon Blanc Chenin Blanc Moscato Gewurtztraminar Semillon Viognier Chardonnay All other varieties are similar to the ones above. We want to know, how many have you tried from this list? How many are you going to go out and try now?

As a wine seller, we do a lot of shows around town. This allows the consumer to taste the wine before they buy and it helps us see whats popular, whats not a big seller, what is trending, what needs more of a push...its all about consumer insight. when you are doing these shows, we need all sorts. We meet people who only drink Moscato (not that there is anything wrong with that), people that refuse to drink anything other than Malborough Sauvy B (there is something a little wrong with that), people who are just learning to people who...

Is my wine CORKED? This is the most common wine fault (well, not with stelvin caps, just wines with corks in them) Trichloranisole or TCA can make a wine smell musty and mouldy. There will be no fruit on the nose at all when a wine is corked. Help! There is mould on top of my cork! - Don't worry, that is probably a bit of ullage, it shouldn't affect the wine. If you have pieces of cork floating in the wine, don't stress, its probably just a sign that you opened the bottle incorrectly! If your wine has a...

Have you ever heard the terms "Fruit driven?" Did you know when you hear a wine is 'fruity', it is exhibiting what we call, Primary Notes. Have you heard someone say a wine is "nutty" or "biscuity?" Well, that wine is exhibiting what we call Secondary aromas. Then there are people that speak of wines that are "leathery", "oaky", "vegetal". What does that mean? Well, that is Tertiary Notes. When a wine exhibits a high level of Primary fruit characters, it is youthful. If those characters are starting to disappear, usually it suggests a wine is in the developing stage...

So, I'm currently doing my WSET. Wine and Spirits Education Certificate Level 3. I'm opening up my palate to so many different varieties, particularly from France and I won't lie, sometimes it's intimidating and I struggle. Today, I came across this amazing infographic on Pinterest. Super Super helpful! Excellent if you are just learning and want to know the FIRST thing you should be thinking about when you smell or taste a wine. Would love to know your thoughts. It will definitely help me and I hope it helps you.  

This is an interesting question that we get asked regularly at shows and expos. You know when you open a bottle of wine between two people and for some reason, you just don’t finish it? (It doesn’t happen often in my household but apparently it happens in others) Here are a few tips from us about how to preserve those bottles of wine! Sparkling: Firstly, NO, the Silver Spoon doesn’t work. Where on earth did that idea come from anyway? Seriously! Obviously, a champagne cork will not fit back into the bottle so I recommend keeping regular corks from Reds...