I spend half the week as a bachelor the other half with a 5 year old. Neither condition lends itself to much in the way of gourmet cooking (that's not to say I cannot, just that I need the right audience).

That's why this gift from Bill was such a great idea:



An easy dinner with a matching bottle of wine, what could be better?

Looking for some last minute wine gifts for under $20? Here are three recommendations that are unique, quality wines that are readily available at most wine shops:

Hanna Sauvignon Blanc: This is a highly-rated wine with a crisp clean taste and a hint of lime.

La Crema Syrah: This wine starts small with aromas of cherry and chocolate. It opens quickly and provides a strong finish that lingers on the palate.

Shotfire Shiraz: It doesn't seem fair to include both a Syrah and a Shiraz on the list, does it? Well, the two wines are so different that they really are geared toward different tastes. This wine is also highly-rated and it made Wine Specator's "Top 100 World Wines" list. This a very full-bodied wine, it has a strong taste of pepper and raspberries and strong tannins that stick around for a very strong finish.

A really good article about cork and its impact on the environment in Food & Beverage International:

Cork trees can only be harvested every ten years, so to wind through miles of cork forests with the rustic orange shades of bare bark accenting the hues of the 100+ year old trees, means they have been just harvested. The white painted numbers on the bark indicates what year the tree was harvested. If you see the number 6 painted on the bark, that means it was harvested in 06 and should not be harvested again until 10 years later. The very fact of driving through miles of cork forest, with every tree having a number on it creates a feeling of confidence that the people of Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula use an ancient common sense to preserve and sustain their living off of the land.

I know cork gets a bad rap in some circles because corked bottles are more likely to have "corked" wine than screw top or plastic cork bottles. But, there is something satisfying about a cork. Not just the sound it makes being extracted from the bottle, but the connection with the earth, something that is such an important part of wine.

Sorry about the dearth of postings, I have a whole bunch coming up :).

In case you hadn't heard, there is a new Virginia wine festival in town. The Virginia Wine Showcase is being held at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly Virginia on February 9th and 10th. They even offer gift cards, which is a neat idea.

They look like they have some interesting seminars -- including one on Bordeaux futures -- and most of the big Virginia wineries will be there. All this and it is indoors :).