Wine Art

While surfing on Blog Explosion I came across a very nice art blog. Realistic Paintings is a blog that features Emily Zasada's realistic paintings. The series that just got me hooked was a painting of a white wine including glass and bottle. She posted for 10 days the whole development of the painting. She has now moved onto another very similar series with a wine bottle and a couple of wine glasses. Very interesting to see it go from rough to realistic painting. She also sells her paintings on eBay and has an online gallery at Yessy. She does nice still life paintings, I think when we have the money I would like to pick up one or two of the wine paintings for our house (when we have a house too).

Results of the Wine Tasting

The Gazette also did a taste test of boxed wine. The results are as follows:

WHITE WINES

- Black Box Wines Napa Valley Chardonnay ($17.99) — light straw yellow with a soft nose, light oak and citrus flavor.

- Delicato California Chardonnay ($16.99) — pale yellow with a floral nose and toasty, creamy flavor.

- Hardy’s Stamp of Australia Chardonnay ($14.99) — light yellow color with a floral nose and tart, ripe apple flavor.

- Banrock Station South Eastern Australia Chardonnay ($14.99) — light yellow with baked apple nose and lemony apple flavor.

- Carmenet Vintner’s Collection California Chardonnay ($15.99) — straw yellow with apple nose and crisp, dry citrus flavor.

RED WINES

- Black Box Wines Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon ($17.99) — dark plum with very ripe berry nose and vanilla, fresh fruit-forward flavor.

- Carmenet Vintner’s Collection California Cabernet Sauvignon ($15.99) — garnet red with a grapey nose and fresh berry with light tannin flavor.

- Hardy’s Stamp of Australia Cabernet Sauvignon ($14.99) — ruby red with raspberry nose and light oak and cassis flavor.

- Banrock Station South Eastern Australia Cabernet Sauvignon ($14.99) — very dark plum with a cassis nose and spicy berry and fig flavors.

- Delicato California Cabernet Sauvignon ($16.99) — toasted marshmallow nose and stewed fruit and white pepper flavor.

I may have to pick some of these up...

Boxed Wine

In yesterday's Gazette there was an article on boxed wines. I know what you're thinking, boxed wine, yuck! We drink the cheapest of boxed wine, Franzia. My wife uses it to help her fall asleep at night and I drink the red to help my blood pressure. Now available for half the price of bottled wine, you can get premium wines in a box. And the taste doesn't linger, so you only have to have a glass whenever you want and don't have to worry about that $20 bottle going to waste.

Mark Norris, a Colorado Springs bicycle shop owner, couldn’t wait to get his hands on a brand called X Box, filled with a premium California-made wine that had been available only in bottles.

"I had tried X Wine cabernet sauvignon and thought it was delicious — no edges or harshness," he said. "I was paying $18 a bottle for it."

He found out that Vintages Wine & Spirits downtown was going to carry 3-liter boxes of X Wine, the equivalent of four 750-milliliter bottles, for $36. He got his first two boxes of X Box on April 1 — no fooling.

"I had a glass of wine from the box every day for four days," he said, "and every one was as good as the last."

"There’s no downside to box wines. They cost less money, have the same great wine, and they don’t oxidate and change flavor."

Boxed wines, not just cheap swill anymore.

Welcome

This is my blog all about wine and wine tasting. I attend wine tastings on a weekly basis. I intend to review the wines I taste and if possible make them available to buy. Enjoy!