In The Bottle with Angelica Nohra! — wine

People may know we do a LOT of wine shows...it's our way of going deep into the market to see what people are saying about the wines and to see what wines work best in each area.  Many other companies think we are crazy for doing all these shows but little do they know how much fun we have at them.  It is also a way to see that it gets to a point after a few wines when people have NO idea what they are drinking.  I recall a funny occasion when a guy approached my dad, his glass...

We do a lot of live shows to go out there and allow people to try our wine before they buy it. As we sell Italian Wine, the Chianti Fiasco bottle gets quite a bit of attention. People have been consistently asking "why does the bottle look like that?" Bottle shapes generally do represent the region or varietal to some degree. 1. Bordeaux: Straight-sided and high-shouldered with a pronounced punt.2. Burgundy: Tall bottles with sloping shoulders and a smaller punt.3. Rhône: Similar to the tall bottles with sloping shoulders and a smaller punt of Burgundy, but traditionally less fat.4. Rhine: Narrow...

Today we explore 5 ways to keep that body looking hot even though you want to wine daily! Alcohol = Sugar - keep an eye on the alcohol content!There are many assumptions that red wine has less calories than white. This is a mistruth. The calories actually come from the alcohol content as well as how many grams of sugar per litre are in the wine!A gram of alcohol has 7 calories compared to a gram of carbohydrate (sugar), which has 4 calories.e.g. In a standard 100mL glass of Italian Sangiovese or Pinot Grigio with 13% alcohol you can expect...

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?

It is very rare that I write a blog about a restaurant or bar that I visit as I usually prefer to leave that to the restaurant reviewers. However, I visited a wine bar/bottleshop a couple of weeks ago that has just inspired me to write. It is also very rare that I frequent the Sutherland Shire of Sydney. By chance, I ended up at Westfield Miranda and met Paul at Beyond The Label when I found myself down the end near Woolworths. Westfield Miranda has gone through a remarkable transformation since the last time I was there and I...

I have to admit something….when I told a lot of my wine colleagues I was doing the Gold Coast Food and Wine Expo, they scoffed and told me it would be a complete waste of time… Well, when they ask how I went, I’ll tell them to stay away because the show was amazing based on the fact there weren’t a huge amount of wineries. What does that mean for us? Well, less competition. Yes, there were 4 different Italian Wine stands but that didn’t deter us from having a fantastic 3 days. The one thing I have to say...