Buying Wine Online

Buying wine online is steadily gaining popularity as everything else on the internet. The internet offers a convenient means to order wine from the comforts of home. However, due to the nature of wine, there are issues you must consider when purchasing wine online. This is especially true if you are new to purchasing anything online.

1. Legal issues. Some states will require you to provide identification as to whether you are of legal age. Some states prohibit the delivery of wine products across different states. Also make sure you read the purchase agreements between you and the online wine store. Don't hesitate to ask questions or make your expectations known. Most online stores have support e-addresses to contact in this case. Make sure the seller has a return guarantee on bad wine.

2. Reliability of the online store. Most people, when new to purchasing online, are tentative regarding online payments and orders. For added security, you should make follow up confirmations through phone and fax. If the company you are purchasing wine from doesn't have numbers regarding such, skip that company and look for others that do.

3. Shipping. Shipping may add a significant amount to your purchase so make sure you consider the shipping costs of each delivery. If your online store doesn't mention the price of the shipping, it would be wise for you to find out.

4. Look at auctions. When you get comfortable with the ins and outs of online purchasing - and feel sufficiently secure in you dealing and buying skills, you may want to look at online icewine auctions and sales. Although they pose a significant risk to buyers (as do all auctions), they present the greatest chance for you to purchase vintage wines at affordable costs.
When doing so, you will have to increase your care ten-fold. However, the payoff for such activities is so big; you might just about find yourself stalking the internet for such deals.

Always make sure that the wine you purchase has an undamaged label. You shouldn't buy those wines that have faded labels. It might mean that the bottle may have been exposed to sunlight and wasn't properly stored in coolers.

Drink up! Niagara wineries celebrate fall

Fall is a busy time at Niagara’s wineries, with a variety of tasting events on offer as well as sales that let customers stock up for the winter entertaining season.

In November, the 21 Wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake revisit their popular weekend touring and tasting program called The Taste Season.At each stop, there’ll be a premium VQA wine and food pairing. A limited number of passes are available for each of the four weekends in November.

Here are some of the sales taking place at Niagara wineries this fall:

Peller Estates Annual Bin End Sale, Oct. 17, noon to 5 p.m.: Get your hands on wines that are in limited supply and only available at the winery. Let Peller Estates’ wine consultants help you try these wines on for size before you buy them at a 15 per cent savings in lots of three, six and 12. Book by calling 1-888-673-5537 ext. 2; visit www.peller.com.

Swirl, Sip and Shop — 2007 Reds, Strewn, Oct. 24 to 25, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Visit Strewn’s Wine Buyers Weekend and discover new rich red wines from the outstanding 2007 vintage. This is your chance to enjoy complimentary tastings of the winery’s premium ready-to-drink reds, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Visit www.strewnwinery.com, or contact 1-905-468-1229 or info@strewnwinery.com.

The Red Sale at Reif Estate Winery, Oct. 29 to Nov. 1, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Visit Reif Estate Winery this fall or buy online to stock up for the season with rich and flavourful reds for fall and winter dining. You will get the year’s best pricing on limited edition and estate bottled red wines, perfect for entertaining and the holidays. This limited time pricing is only offered once a year. Feature wine tastings complimentary. Visit reifwinery.com, or contact 1-905-468-WINE(9463).

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Ice Wine Is More Than Just Frozen Grapes

One of the most rapidly growing trends in the world of wine seems to be with the rise in popularity of ice wines. This is interesting because these wines have been around for almost 200 years yet have not had much time in the spotlight until recent history. The most famous ice wines are from Niagara on the Lake Wineries, however many other countries such as Germany, Austria, and even Australia have been known to produce ice wines of their own. Because Canada is much colder and is capable of more consistent freezing temperatures has actually surpassed Germany in the production of ice wine.

Ice wine is a dessert wine that is made from frozen grapes. Natural ice wines require a hard freeze to occur after the grapes have ripened. In Niagara winery of Canada , this temperature is a minimum of 17 degrees Fahrenheit while in Germany this temperature is 19 degrees. This means that the grapes must remain on the vines for several months after a normal harvest and risk being lost to rot if there is no freeze. At the other extreme, if the freeze is too severe the grapes cannot be harvested and pressed.

Ice wines are becoming the latest trend in the wine world and it is easy to see why. Delicious and refreshing, ice wines are a delicacy and a testament to the skills of the wineries. More expensive than a traditional wine, it is not something that the average person can afford to purchase on a regular basis, but are an essential addition to a special occasion or meal.

North America's top 10 wine destinations

I love touring Ontario's Niagara-on-the-Lake wine region. My friend Lauren lives in St. Catharines and we regularly tour the wineries in the area, stopping to sample whites, reds and ice wines from our favourite vineyards, including Peller Estates, Konzelmann and Hillebrand.

Travellers are particularly interested in wineries this fall, with searches for the term "vineyards" up 10 per cent on TripAdvisor over the past six weeks, compared to the same period last year.

"European destinations often get the spotlight when it comes to fine wine," said Christine Petersen, chief marketing officer for TripAdvisor, "but North America holds its own with varietals, between the wonderful west coast wine regions and other hidden gems across the continent."

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Interesting Facts about Wine Tasting Tour

Wine country tour is planned to enlarge the taste of the tasters, and it could really be enjoyable, since many wine generating regions of the world are very gorgeous.

Characteristically, any wine tasting tour moves around wineries, letting the tasters to view the winery, and possibly meet the wine producer also. In other cases, the trip visits chosen tasting rooms that might pour wines from a unique winery, or several wineries like Niagara on the Lake Wineries. Organizing and managing a wine tasting tour could actually get complex, as the director desires the people on the tour to taste as many wines as probable, while harmonizing the wish to remain in some spots higher than others. The journey may take the shape of a day trip or a more comprehensive quest, and habitually comprise lunch, dinner, and other lodgings as well.

In many cases, a winery or tasting area is open for people during pre set hours. In few cases, a scheduled time needs to be fixed. Scheduled time only wineries are apt to be small, and apprehensive about overwhelming their services with the tasters. By asking visitors to make appointments, the wine producer makes sure that people get a bespoken and frequently cherished experience in the winery tour. In some other cases, the vineyard might in addition offer tours of the wine lab and making rooms that could actually be interesting for people who desire to be acquainted with more about the course behind making wine.

The Benefits of Wine

One of the oldest alcoholic beverages is wine; its existence has been since thousands of years since 6000 B.C. It is made from the fermentation of grape juice. There is whole lot of varieties of wine available. One among these wines is the red wine which in recent days has been proven that it has a variety of benefits.

Increases the longevity of life:
Current data suggests that red icewine has an element in it which extends the longevity of life .An article research suggests that in 2000 there were more than 600 million people above the age of 60 years and this figure in 2025 will reach about 1.2 billion in 2025.

Smoking
Intense smoking damages the vessels and they tend to lose the natural ability to relax. However red wine has some beneficial impacts to remove the negative impact of smoking.

Effects on heart
One of the most proven and studied benefit of wine is that it is very much heart protective effect. Limited consumption of heart disease acts as a protection against the coronary heart disease. It reduces the production LDL (bad cholesterol) and it boosts the production of HDL (good cholesterol).

Blood clotting
Another very important feature of red wine is its ability towards anticlotting. Consumers who consume wine to light and moderate levels have lower levels of protein fibrinogen which promotes blood clot formation.

Hypertension
When the wine is consumed in excess it acts as a risk factor for hypertension .However there have been studies which have proved that if 250ml of wine is consumed along with the meal it can reduce the blood pressure in hypertensive persons.

Kidney stone formation
It also reduces the risk of kidney stone formation.

To conclude with I would not suggest everyone to drink wine wholeheartedly but I would
suggest that if you fall in the above situation that it would be a good idea to consume wines from Niagara on the Lake Wineries but in moderate quantity.

Tips On How To Buy The Best Wines

For most people wine is an essential part or their dining experience. Wine is also mostly present in any social function. The problem with wine is that there are so many types of wines to choose from. As a result the wine selection process becomes very difficult.

What is wine?

Basically, it is a liquor that is made by fermenting various types of fruits. But no doubt, that the most popular icewine type is made of grapes.

Why grape wine is good for you body?

There have been some medical studies that show that drinking one or two glasses of grape wine a day may be beneficial to one's health. This is due to the findings that some properties that are found in grapes have a medicinal effect on the body. This includes decreasing a person's chances of developing heart disease, cardiovascular disease, stroke, etc.

Here are some tips on how to choose just the right wine for you

1. Experiment. Individuals should discover which types of wine suit their taste. The best way to do this is to order a different type of wine every time you dine out.

2. Ask friends for a recommendation. For those who are not wine connoisseurs, the best way to start gaining some knowledge about wine is to ask friends to give you the names of their favorite wines.

3. For those who have found their favorite wines, and want to keep stocks. The best way to go about this is to buy their preferred brands of wine by cases.

4. Know which types of wine go with different types of dishes. For instance, white wine goes well with white sauces, salmon, etc.

5. Be wise when it comes to serving wine. The more costly wines should be reserved for more important occasions. Remember that wines can get very expensive.

6. Canadian ice wine are famous! Some of the more famous Canadian wine includes: ontario wine clubs, ice wine canada etc


Choosing wines may be daunting at first, especially for a person who is not a wine connoisseur. But once a person gets the hang of it, and start to discover the wines that matches their preference, it won't be long until they start to fill up their wine cellar.

Washington wines comparable at better-than-California prices

A MARKETING-SURVEY company has released some telling statistics about wine drinkers. According to the Pointer Media Network, 7.5 million wine drinkers purchase 80 percent of the wine sold in this country. That includes wines at all price points, but the cheapest wines are showing the growth, while expensive wines are losing customers.

Another industry bellwether — Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates — notes that sales of California wines priced at $14 and below are still increasing at a healthy clip, while wines priced above $14 are dropping. So $14 has somehow become the magic number for consumers.

I was chewing on these stats while snarfling through a lineup of pricey California merlots and cabernets the other day, and wondering who actually buys these wines. Why they don't opt for something twice as good at half the price from Washington?

I have frequently opined that California merlots, for example, are almost always watery plonk unless you pony up at least $40 a bottle. The Three Palms vineyard merlot from Sterling Vineyards, perhaps the most iconic California merlot of the past three decades, is a pretty nice bottle of vino. It retails for right around 50 bones. It's also worth noting that, unlike most Washington merlots, it is blended with considerable amounts of cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot, presumably to beef it up.

In Washington it is usually the merlot that is blended in to beef up the cab, rather than the other way around. Most quality California cabernets start their pricing where the merlots leave off. The number of so-so $60, $80 and even $100 bottles being produced is staggering. One fine exception is the Hess Allomi Vineyard cabernet sauvignon, an estate-grown Napa Valley wine, aged in one-third new American oak barrels, meaty and substantial, and widely available (Noble distributes). It retails for about $24.

Being perfectly honest here, those looking for comparable quality in wines priced under $15 are not going to find it. But the Hess wines — their Su'skol Vineyard chardonnay is another gem — offer the sort of quality in the mid-$20 price range that I find in a growing number of Washington boutiques.

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