Scanning over some of the items related to wine in the news, I thought I would share a bit with you. Just in case you missed a few articles or would just rather read this post then each full article. … because you like it here …. I know! *blushes*

First on the list is Virginia. Yes, the state. Which admittedly I’ve never even tried a wine from Virginia, so I was surprised to see that Wine Enthusiast has ranked Virginia as 1 of the 10 best wine travel destinations. I would not have even put Virginia on my personal “Winery Bucket List” trips. Curious as to what Wine Enthusiast had to say, I hopped over to their site. Here is what I zoned in on:

Budget tip:
October is Virginia’s “Wine Month,” with free or low-cost wine festivals, barrel tastings and harvest parties.

They said free, I couldn’t help it. You can read the full article and winery suggestions here: Virginia Top 10 Wine Travel Destinations

Red wine and women’s health. It’s another report that states the stats on premenopausal women and red wine as it relates to breast cancer. To quote the LA Times:

Instead of promoting the conversion of androgens to estrogen in a woman’s body, red wine appears to block that process. In that sense, it acts more like a class of drug called aromatase inhibitors, which are prescribed to most women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer to prevent recurrences.

The full LA Times article is here: Red Wine Prevents Breast Cancer

and finally …

Flip Flop Wines … the fun wine that does some great charity events and work with a great charity called Soles4Souls (1 pair of shoes is donated with every bottle purchased up to 100,000 shoes the 1st year!). Flip Flop Wines is now expanding their wine line to include 6 new varietals! Those new wines will be: Malbec, Sauvignon Blanc, Sweet Red, Bubbly Chardonnay, Bubbly Moscato and Bubbly Pinot Grigio and they will be available in stores starting in January 2012! Check for those locally! If you need to find a store near you or order direct, stop by their site: Flip Flop Wine Shop

Goodbye to 2011 …. Hello 2012!

Happy New Year Video on YouTube

Video from Kermit the Frog: Kermit Merry Christmas – Jennifer

Sugar plum fairies, candy canes, ginger bread houses and cupcakes could be dancing in your head this holiday season. Also dancing in your head is the fact that the last 2 weeks of the year, every year, come calorie free. It’s like the no-tax day, except with calories. Happy no calorie weeks!

Enter
Cupcake Vineyards
2011 Marlborough
Sauvignon Blanc

Alright, so there is no such a thing as free calorie weeks … but in my world there is because I think we need to enjoy life a little bit more and should do it instead of counting our calories … at least for 2 weeks out of the year! With that said – I was given cupcake vineyards Sauvignon Blanc from an elf working at the winery.

Normally I don’t review white wines – mostly because I just prefer reds. I’m not judgmental … just preferential. This wine had an interesting taste to it! I think this is the first time I’ve had a wine that reminded me of lemons! It’s very much a citrus wine, which when chilled, gives you that wonderful refreshing tart taste! The taste ends on a creamy note. It’s a little like getting a jolt of tartness .. but then a smooth end to the taste! Very interesting.

Pairing? The site indicates that oysters on a half shell or a rich creamy lobster risotto go well with this Sauvignon Blanc. I personally will be picking this up again in the summer. Chilling it and having it with my favorite salad and some great crusty french bread. Also .. I really am looking forward to summer. Already.

I do think that for the price of $13-$14/bottle this would make a good hostess gift to the Christmas party! It’s a great price range and it’s going to be something unique in flavor that hopefully your hostess will appreciate! You can always place this gift of wine in a cute wine bag (see my 5 wine gift ideas post) but the label on this wine is so cute and … cupcake-y … a bow would work just as well!

I hope you all have a great Christmas … enjoy the wine … forget about the calories until after January 3rd … it’s free calorie weeks!

Cheers!

Are you in the last minute “oh no … what do I get for the wine lover” stage? Never fear … I’m here to help … I searched a few sites and came up with a list of 5 gifts you can get for that wine lover on your list! All these places allow for express shipping and priced between $10 and $30 …. so have at it!

Number 1: Godiva Chocolate & Dessert Bubbly Wine Gift Set It’s the gift that you don’t have to wrap! I love buying things off Amazon.com – it’s easy and if you have to ship your gifts to out of state people anyway, you might as well pay to have someone help you wrap and send it! This wine gift set is a great blend of bubbly and chocolate .. how can you go wrong?

Number 2: Wine Monkey Wine Caddy – I know … you have that song running through your head now .. “How you like me now …” right?!? Well, this monkey wine bag will bring a smile to anyone you bring the gift of wine to. It’s great for a hostess wine gift bag too! It’s just that added fun statement. The best thing … you don’t just have to buy this for Christmas … good to use anytime of the year! How you like THAT now …..

Number 3: Wine Bottle Sconces – Remember that great Lifehacker DIY article that showed you how to turn your wine bottles into outdoor torches / sconces? Remember how you were TOTALLY going to do that this summer — but you didn’t. Well … now you can BUY them right off a great store on Etsy! Not only the torches but you can also buy the wine bottle vases! I still have doing this project on my list … but knowing me .. I’ll be buying these for my backyard this summer. Help a friend out – just get these already completed for your friend!

Number 4: Wine cork ornament – this comes in at the “why didn’t I think of that” category. Send the wine lover on your Christmas list some wine cork ornaments! It’s eco-friendly and a lot of fun on the Christmas tree. It could be a whole theme for you for next year. Either way, I love these wine cork ornaments!

Number 5: Wine Glass Shaped Cork Display This is a great way to display all those used corks. The ones that have memories? Throw them in the house cage. Amazon has other designs, a Christmas wreath, wine barrel and even a wine bottle shape. Pick a design that suits the person you are giving the gift to and it’ll be an item they’ll keep using!

Hope these few fun ideas help you out! Cheers to Wine Christmas presents!

Okay, I get it … are box office numbers down? Maybe not as many people going to the movies? I’m not sure — but I do understand the need for a boost every now and then … I always know when I crank out a bad blog post … NO ONE READS IT. If you write a post that actually has some great content — much like the other authors on this blog Alyson Khan and Clayton Grow … people will come.

However, in theory, if I had Gary Vaynerchuk do a guest post here on Jennifer’s Review … people love him, so people would flock to my site to see what he had to say! If I had Gary Vaynerchuk, Jon Stewart (or rather one of his writers), Jenny The Bloggess, Alec Baldwin and maybe Seth Green all write some one-liners on my blog … it would be a celebrity mashup extravaganza! In fact, how many of you clicked on this post because you saw Alec Baldwin’s photo? I DID! … love 30 Rock!

I guess that’s what the creators of the movie New Year’s Eve had in mind. Enjoy the Christmas Day movie parody below … funny and making fun of the movie or not — I love seeing all these celebrities! I replayed this one a few times!

If you haven’t seen the original movie that this short is a parody of – Here is the New Years Eve Movie Trailer

Photo credit: saogroups.com

I’m writing this post as a procrastination post and to unblock my subconsious into telling me where the tasting sheets of the wines I got in the mail to review hid themselves. Notice I NEVER lose the wine … but those darn tasting notes have a whole mind of their own. Personally – I think they committed paper suicide when I decided to “organize” my desk. That’s just one theory however….

So I decided to educate myself on Google images – you never know … my tasting notes could be there!! That’s when I saw these photos and felt I needed to share them with you!

For instance – I learned about Chicken People:

From 4tnz.com There really is no explanation for this photo … I can only assume it’s a chicken ritual to mother chicken. Or something like that.

Then I found out kittens can become spiders aka KittenSpider:

Kitten Spider

OMGKitty.com

Since this is obviously an animal theme I got going here … check this one out… it’s just a bad blonde joke waiting to happen:

(Hint … a blonde and a kangaroo go bowling …)
blackandwtf.tumblr.com

I also learned that white dogs do not make good dry erase boards:

izismile.com

Then I learned that some people have “live” jewelry and apparently, there are also live puppy purses:

weirdexistence.com

And those are just a few things I learned from Google images. Got some good photos to share that have distracted you?? Share them below!! (links welcome)

P.S. — Still haven’t found my tasting notes …

When the Godfather of Zin sends you wine and says “For the family …. taste, enjoy and let me know what you think” … you kiss his ring and taste the wines! Except that didn’t really happen …

Enter
RavensWood Wines
Old Vine Zinfandel Vintners Blend – 2009
Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel – 2009

The team at Ravenswood winery sent over the above mentioned two bottles of wine. I’m sortof a Zinfandel freak and must admit that if I have to choose between my other favorite, Pinot Noir – I tend to lean toward the zippy Old Vine Zin’s when I can. So receiving these was a nice surprise!

Joel Peterson, affectionately called “The Godfather of Zin” has a lot of chemistry in his background. His parents were chemists and he followed their scientific footsteps by becoming a laboratory scientist with a degree in microbiology. Working his full time job and creating wine on the side was just the beginning. Founding Ravenswood winery in 1976 with fellow wine lover Reed Foster – Joel is now recognized as a major authority in the Zinfandel arena … thus “The Godfather of Zin”. Joel is a current member and past president of the Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers Alliance and he’s a founding board member and former 2 time president of the Zinfandel Advocates and Producers — just to name a few!

First, let’s start with the 2009 Vintner’s blend Old Vine Zinfandel: Bright and bold, I found this wine to be not as full as the Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel. With black cherry and a bit of blueberry with it – this is a unique wine. I taste boysenberry in this one … it has that boysenberry bitterness to it. This wine would pair well with some nice red sauces! They also suggest pairing this with BBQ pork. You’ll have to try that one for me and let me know how it goes.

Second bottle for the night was the Old Vine Zinfandel – Lodi. This one was easily my top choice of the two. It’s a smoother, fuller taste to it. With a blend to this of 77% Zinfandel and 23% Petite Sirah it could explain some of the smoothness to this wine. I taste a distinct a nice plum/current taste in this one along with a nice “spice” bite to it and if finishes rather nicely. I really liked this wine on it’s own – but the site suggests pairing it with lasagna. Now I’m going to have to make lasagna and pick up another bottle of this one. I have to add that I taste a hint of vanilla … but this may just be my personal taste on that one. I really like the warmth on this wine!

If you are looking for something nice to bring to the Chirstmas dinner or to give as a hostess / Christmas gift and you want the ease of going to local grocery store – you might want to try one of these.

If your intended audience for Christmas dinner or Christmas party prefers lighter wines – I would go with the vintner’s blend. If your crowd is into wine – I would pick up the Lodi … you’ll be pleasantly surprised on that one.

Pricing on these wines? The Old Vine Zinfandel Vintner’s Blend is the less expensive one of the two coming in around $8/bottle. (Your state/store may vary) and the Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel runs around $10-$12/bottle. (Again — state/store may vary)

Have you seen this wine in your local store? Picked it up and tried it yet? Would love to know what you think in the comments below!

Of course I couldn’t leave you without something fun and interesting. From your friends at Safeway ….

Or you can watch it directly on YouTube here: Safeway Turkey Video

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

There is a lot to be said about the movie industry … they can take the ordinary and thru sound, lighting, effects and great acting …. make the ordinary, extraordinary! So I decided to see what my $5 could get me in the field of movies.

Again … the creativity over at Fiverr.com has me loving the site even more! Enjoy the video with video graphics from a Fiverr.com seller!

Or you can click here to watch my dramatic informational video directly on YouTube: Jennifer’s Review dramatic video

Want a video like this done for you? Head over to http://fiverr.com/higoaway — tell her Jennifer sent ya!

Cheers to great movie making!!