Interesting Box Wine from Octavin

Just when I was thinking of whipping up a great sangria for a party (according to my friend Marimar Torres's classic Spanish recipe), I was introduced to Octavin's Osborne Seven, a blend of seven red Spanish varietals.
At $21.99 for a 3-liter box that keeps the wine fresh for as long as six weeks, it's quite a deal.
Now before you start questioning the idea of wine in a box, consider this: boxed wine, or bag-in-box, as the French call it, is the fastest-growing segment of the French wine market. If France, that stronghold of wine tradition, can accept wine in a box, I think we can too. For more on this issue, see my story in Wine Enthusiast magazine's November issue.
Osborne Seven has classic Spanish red varietals: Tempranillo, Garnacha, and Graciano, along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Petit Verdot, in a yummy blend that is moderate in alcohol (13.6%) and high on soft tannins and luscious fruit. Mixed with a little gin, Cognac and orange liqueur, plus lots of fresh fruit, it made a fantastic sangria.
Octavin has a line of eight-sided, self-serve packages that contain premium wine, including the one I tried after my sangria success, Herding Cats, a white blend from South Africa. Crisply acidic, with moderate alcohol (13.5%), the blend of Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc was a pleasant aperitif and accompaniment to grilled fish and chicken at a barbecue. $24 for a 3-liter box. Available nationally in the U.S.

China a Power in the Wine World?

Wealthy Chinese buyers are snapping up the world's most valuable wines at auction and, at home, they are entering a whole new world of wine production, enticing some of the world's best brands to their shores.

Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) is currently planting vines on property the company bought in Shandong Province. See my story on this on Wine Enthusiast's web site.  Moet Hennessy is also planning to make a premium sparkling wine in China. 

 Wine Enthusiast magazine will soon publish another story I wrote on wine investment and China figures into this story, too. Chinese buyers are actively involved in making wine one of the most dynamic of the so-called "investments of passion." The Chinese seem to have a special affection for First Growth Chateau Lafite, but it doesn't stop there.

   

Tea is for Terrior

Even though wine and tea are my two favorite drinks, I never thought about what the two had in common. Tea was certainly closer to coffee than wine, wasn’t it? So I was a little surprised to learn, while researching and writing a story on tea for Wine Enthusiast magazine, that there are so many commonalities between these two beverages.

Wine and tea are alike in many ways: growing tea bushes and grapevines in the right climates and conditions is crucial, and there’s an art to blending both for a final sublime product. Tea connoisseurs even taste tea similarly to the way wine aficionados sample wine. Both wine and tea can be variously described using many of the same terms, including “well-rounded” and “full-bodied,” and both can pair well with certain dishes while clashing with others. Like top wines, some of the finest teas even come in packages that list varietal of tea tree, harvest date, and where the leaves were grown ---- because appellation is as important in the world of tea as it is with wine. There are even “tea sommeliers” at several top class hotels like the Boston Park Plaza.

Most surprising to me is that, according to Joshua Kaiser of Rishi Tea in Milwaukee, under some pretty precise and unpredictable conditions, tea can act as a stimulant in a similar way to alcohol. For more on this topic, including recipes, see my story in the October issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine, out now.