In the latest video installment on 1WD TV, I channel my inner Colonel Hannibal Smith and taste a sample of Emblem’s 2006 Rutherford Cab in order to try out another sample: one of the latest wine aerators to hit the market, the cigar-shaped Nuance Wine Finer aerator – all with some surprising results.  Many 80s brain cells are damaged in the ensuing antics.  It will all make more sense when you watch the vid.  Sort of.  I think.

Oh, yeah – there’s a wine involved here as well, of course:

2006 Emblem Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley, $50)

On twitter, I called this wine a “dark fruit, spice & black licorice savings bond that hasn’t quite yet come due,” meaning that I think it will need 4 to 5 more years to integrate and soften up.  But as noted in the above vid, if you’re the impatient type you can still find a lot to love here, though decanting this kick-ass, beautiful monster from the 4th generation Mondavi clan is a must.  For me, the best part about this wine is that it’s kind of deceptive: the fruit comes off all dark on the nose, but opens up to a lovely, pure, juciy red currant on the palate, like eating a big ol’ handful of the stuff right off the plant.  Enough acidity to pair with meaty dishes, but proceed with some caution.

Cheers!

Ok, peeps – just in time (and plenty of it) for the holidays, we’ve got another giveaway coming at ya!

This week, one lucky commenter will be selected at random to win a pretty spiffy personalized wine gift box (a $45 retail value) from www.personalizedwineboxes.com!

Pictured at left, these wine gift boxes look pretty darn spiffy, and could make a very nice edition to your holiday gift list ( even if, like me, you primarily considered something like this a gift to yourself… you selfish little thing, you…).

Anyway…

Here’s the deal: In one week, I will randomly select a winner from the comments who will be able to design their own personalized wine box! The only catch being that you need to live in the U.S. (I’ve also been asked to add the disclaimer “wine not included” – but if you couldn’t figure that one out on your own then you have problems deeper than can be solved with wine alone).

Our comment topic? What’s the coolest ‘wine gift’ you’ve ever received?  Shout ‘em out!

To get us started here’s my pick…

Read the rest of this stuff »

Because I’m perpetually behind in all aspects of my life, I now find myself spending time that I don’t have perusing productivity websites looking for ways to get time “back.”  So far, I’m (at best) breaking even in terms of getting back the time I spend perusing productivity websites.

One of the cardinal sins of productivity these days is multitasking, which is almost universally derided as the enemy of true efficacy. So, it should come as no surprise to anyone that knows me well when I tell you that I resorted to multitasking in order to get through a backlog of wine and wine product samples to review.

What you might call shiftless otioseness, I call adding value. 

Ok, whatever…

So, I used a product sample to open a wine sample, and poured that wine sample through another product sample (into a glass that I purchased myself, so that part won’t get reviewed – I do have some limit on the number of freebies to be strung together (apparently, that limit is three). 

The result – a review of the True Utility Twistick, the massive 2006 Luce Della Vite red, and the Vinturi Wine Aerator (yeah, I know – I’m the last wine guy alive to try the Vinturi). I had fun, but didn’t get to the semi-orgasmic status suggested by the image on the back of one of the products (see inset pic).

Man, I’m already tired and I haven’t even gotten into any details yet. Can you just come back tomorrow?  No?  Fine, let’s get started…

Read the rest of this stuff »

In the latest 1WineDude video installment, I test out a sample of wine racks from GrottoCellars.com, act like an immature goofball, impose my will onto an unsuspecting Roomba robot vacuum cleaner at high video speeds, and tweak out my back.

Just another day at the office!

Cheers!