Uncorked Cincinnati

Wine News – Week of March 10

Bryan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:10:26 +0000

It’s Cincinnati Wine Festival week! Super excited about this weekend. Looking forward to tasting a lot of wines with good friends. In the meantime here is some wine news to whet your appetite for this weekend.

Cincinnati Wine Entrepreneur Finds Inspiration In Heritage
A great story of a former P&Ger who is now President and CEO of Heritage Link Brands, a wine importer that distributes African wine in 41 states.

Wine Bars 2.0
From the Food & Wine magazine blog, this is a quick read on the latest in wine bar trends including new style tasting rooms and places where you can get wine on tap.

Wine-Girl’s 3rd Annual Wine Festival Survival Guide
For those of you attending the big Festival this weekend, Michelle Lentz of Wine-Girl.net offers a great guide to get the most out of your experience.

30 Wines in 30 Days (Wines you should know)
Wine for Newbies is launching a series starting April 1, each day focusing on a different varietal. Great way to get a Wine 101, especially if you drink each lesson!

See you at the Wine Festival! Also, feel free to follow Uncorked Cincinnati on Twitter for regular updates and random tidbits.

A Caberet of Cabernet – The Wine Merchant – 6:00-8:00 PM

Bryan — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 04:47:51 +0000

Bockfest 2010 This Weekend

Bryan — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:36:24 +0000

In Pennsylvania the Grand Groundhog himself, Punxsutawney Phil, announces the coming of Spring with a glance at his shadow. In Cincinnati, it’s beer of course with our own celebration of Spring’s coming…BOCKFEST!!!

Photo by Jim Effler

First a bit of background for those new to Bockfest. Bock-Fest comes from a celebration of Bock beer…a rich and complex lager beer. Back in Cincinnati’s hay day of brewing in the 1800s, the more than 18 local breweries started a tradition of releasing all their Bock beer on the same day. This day marked the end of Winter and coming of Spring and soon became Bockfest as we know it today. Now onto the beer.

Over-the-Rhine’s Bockfest begins tomorrow and runs through Sunday. Festivities kick off on Friday evening around 6 with the Bockfest Parade on Main Street, followed by the Blessing of the Bock Beer in front of Bockfest Hall (located this year in a portion of the Kauffman Brewery at 1621 Moore Street). A free, continuous shuttle bus will take you all throughout Over-the-Rhine to the many great participating Bockfest bars including Arnold’s, Mr. Pitiful’s and Milton’s.

On Saturday the good times continue with the Prohibition Resistance Tours. It’s a great way to learn about Cincinnati’s brewing past while exploring some of the actual historic brewing buildings. Saturday culminates with the crowning of the Bockfest Sausage Queen at 8 PM. The free shuttle also continues all day and night Saturday from 10 AM to 1 AM.

On Sunday a good ticket is the Historic Church Tour which begins at 2 PM at Bockfest Hall and runs about two hours. Music and more beer continues all day at Arnolds.

To learn even more about Bockfest and purchase tickets to the many fun events visit www.BockFest.com.

Deciphering a Wine Label

Bryan — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:25:26 +0000

Wine labels can be a bit intimidating, especially when you’re trying to compare labels from different regions. U.S. labels look a lot different than French labels which look a lot different than Spanish labels. Each label has similar information, though, just presented in different ways. Our favorite wine show, In Wine Country, attempts to crack the code so you can feel more confident the next time you’re at the wine store.

RSS readers please click here to see the video.

Wine Shootout: France vs. California – The Party Source – 1:00-3:00 PM

Bryan — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 03:45:30 +0000

Wine News – Week of February 22

Bryan — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:36:00 +0000

Each week (or almost each week) we comb the world of wine for articles, ideas and insights that we find particularly interesting, and we hope you do as well.

Photo by It's Holly

Wine May Fight Cancer, But How?
From Wine Spectator, a new approach to wine chemistry reveals cancer and obesity fighting properties in wine. Research shows some compounds in wine—including resveratrol—function as angiogenic inhibitors, and those are the real cancer fighters.

Crushpad Hits The Big Time
I’ve written about Crushpad previously on Uncorked Cincinnati, and looks like these guys are still rocking. From Serious About Wine, Crushpad will soon have its very own Napa Valley winery to call home.

Michigan and French wine… more similar than you may think
Interesting article from Cork’d about our neighbor to the north, and how Michigan and France share more similarities than differences as wine regions.

Gary Vaynerchuk Drinks Some Beer
Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV is famous for his highly energetic and fresh approach to wine and wine tasting, so when I noticed Gary was tasting some beer on his show I was intrigued. Definitely interesting to watch Gary’s take on beer tasting with Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver.

Harmony Hill Vineyards Brings Home Two Medals

Bryan — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:08:40 +0000

No, not the Olympics, but equally exciting for Harmony Hill Vineyards as they celebrate two huge wins at the 25th Hilton Head International Wine Festival.

Harmony Hill’s 2008 Rubato took home a Gold medal while the 2007 Refrain took home a Bronze. The Rubato is 100% Chambourcin (French-American hybrid), barrel-aged to produce a vibrant aromas and flavors of toffee, black currant and cherry compote set off by plenty of smoky, toasty oak and a hint of black pepper. The Refrain is a Cabernet blend that pops with ripe berries and firm tannins.

For the past 25 years the Hilton Head International Wine Festival has been promoting the island as a top food and wine destination. Outside of the wine there are several culinary events that also celebrate the Festival.

Harmony Hill Vineyards is one of the area’s premier winery destinations. In the summer time they are known for their Friday and Saturday night entertainment featuring local music talents. Harmony Hill’s underground wine cave is also worth the trip, one of only four similar structures in the U.S.

Harmony Hill is closed for the season but will re-open Memorial Day weekend. In the meantime visit their website or try Harmony Hill Wines for yourself at one of these Cincinnati locations.

Whole Foods – Norwood
Biggs – Hyde Park, Mason, Eastgate, Anderson
Andy’s Mediterranean Grill
Market Wines – Findlay Market

Barrel-Aged Beer In Wine Country

Bryan — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 13:26:07 +0000

Uncorked Cincinnati is all about wine, but it’s hard not to love beer just as much living in a town with such a rich brewing history. So today we focus on beer that has a close connection to wine…oak barrels.

From our favorite wine show, In Wine Country, comes the story of Firestone Walker Brewing Company. They’re unique in that they actually use oak barrels to age their beer, a method usually found only in wine making.

RSS readers please click here to view.

Gentlemen’s Valentine’s Day Wine Tasting – Tino Vino – 6:30 PM

Bryan — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 04:11:45 +0000

ArtWorks and The Cincinnati Fine Arts Fund

Bryan — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 02:40:00 +0000

On Monday as part of a presentation on Cincinnati’s Fine Arts Fund I was fortunate enough to hear about an organization I knew little about and clearly didn’t fully appreciate. The organization is called ArtWorks and they are doing amazing things to transform neighborhoods throughout Cincinnati.

Founded in 1996, ArtWorks is a non-profit Cincinnati arts organization that connects artists of all ages with opportunities in the arts through inspiring apprenticeships, community partnerships, and public art. Their vision is to be the leader in employing student and emerging artists to create art that enlivens the Greater Cincinnati community.

The ArtWorks Summer Program hires teens aged 14 – 19 to work with professional artists to make innovative public art to enrich the Greater Cincinnati community. ArtWorks’ newest program, MuralWorks, seeks to create stunning murals on buildings throughout Cincinnati to help beautify communities. You’ve probably seen some of their stunning handiwork around town. It just blows my mind.

The Raymond Thunder-Sky Legacy Mural – Northside

Before

After

Dreamers of Dreams – Lower Price Hill

Before

After

Mr. Tarbell Tips His Hat – Over-the-Rhine

Before

After

My wife and I are both supporters of Cincinnati’s Fine Arts Fund, largely due to amazing programs like ArtWorks that seek to make art accessible to everyone throughout the Cincinnati area. Makes you feel very proud to live and work in Cincinnati. Please try to donate this year if you can. To learn more about the Fine Arts Fund and Artworks please click on the links below.

Fine Arts Fund

ArtWorks