Wine may have been with us for over 8,000 years, but France was the center of all things wine until roughly 40 years ago. France still produces excellent wines, but so do many other locations across the planet. You can experience them by sampling reds and whites from each and comparing the different offerings.
The French know wine and the world acknowledged as much. While you could find wines in other areas like Italy, nobody could challenge the quality of the wine in France. Well, at least that was the prevailing opinion until a certain blind tasting happened. The Judgment in Paris in the late 1970s showed that other regions, in this case California, could produce quality wines as well. Wine experts were unable to distinguish between French and California wines and actually gave their highest marks to a California vintage. The world of wine was forever to be changed.
The importing of wine vines and knowledge around the world led to an explosion of wine producing regions. Modern agricultural practices and mechanisms helped further the cause as well. Before you knew it, Argentina was producing wine that compared nicely to some of the better known regions. In fact, many countries were producing quality wine that had never done so before.
A fun thing to do is to gather the wine drinkers amongst your friends and family. Every week or month, hold a wine tasting party focused on wines from a particular region. Hand out wine journals so you can keep notes on the vintages so that comparisons can be made. Slowly, but surely, work your way across the world of wines. The goal isn’t so much to identify the “best” wines as it is to expose yourself to new and interesting variations.
What are the key wine regions in these modern times? Well, the standard bearers like France, Italy and California are still at the top of the heap. That being said, make sure to try wines from South Africa, Chile, Australia and Argentina as well. You just might discover a wine you can’t stop talking about!
Thomas Ajava writes for – where you can buy wine journals that make great for friends and family as well as wine tasting parties and trips.
In fact all catering companies and businesses including bars and pubs need glassware in order to serve a number of beverages and desserts. There are also so many kinds of stemware, dessert glasses, coffee glasses and tumblers.
Glass stemware may consist of clear wine glasses, coloured wine glasses, champagne flutes, brandy glasses, cocktail glasses and sherry glasses. These possess varying shapes and sizes. The red wine glasses for instance have a wide bowl that raises the surface area in connection with air and increases the rate of air flow necessary for red wines. On the other hand, the glass champagne flute has a tall thin bowl that reduces the surface area thereby keeping the beautiful bubbles related with champagne. Indeed there are contemporary and traditional styles of stemware some of which are short and others long. The long stems are normally sought-after for white glasses as this allows the drinker to hold the stem and not increase the temperature of the wine.
As compared to other glass flutes, tumblers have no stem or foot at their base. There are one pint glasses, highball glasses, juice glasses, shot glasses and other kinds. Pint glasses for instance appear in varying shapes and sizes. The most popular are the tulip, nonic and conical shapes. The nonic shapes have a bulge near the top making them stronger and less likely to slither out of the drinker’s hand.
The coffee glasses also differ from the glass champagne flute as they have a handle. Also they possess flat bases like mugs. The ice cream and dessert glasses are normally tall attractive glasses with short stems under glass bowls or tall goblets. Sometimes the latter are known as Knickerbockers glory goblets because they are regularly used to serve the popular dessert of the same name.
Glassware unique from the glass champagne flute is the disposable glassware. It is another option perfect for catering events and outdoor activities. It is less susceptible to breakage than normal glass and does not weigh so much. It is therefore very suitable for activities that require travelling to the venue. It is more replaceable as it’s relatively cheaper compared to others.
Make sure that you care and store your glass very well in order to avoid chipping and breakage. You could equally use glass jacks between the glasses when travelling to avoid them hitting against each other resulting in breakage.