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Any wine enthusiast can tell you wine drinking can become a lifestyle, not just a hobby. Learning how to pair wine with food and developing a wine palate that enables you to taste subtle nuances can take years to perfect. A true wine connoisseur will often show his or her passion and respect for fine wine by using a customized wine bottle opener. If you’re looking for a way to spruce up your presentation or need a good gift idea for the wine lover in your life, a custom-decorated wine opener might be just what you need.
The secret to making wine mustard rests within a few key areas of your preparation process. Make wine mustard with help from a food host and private chef in Los Angeles in this free video clip.
Measuring a wine glass is something you have to do in a very particular way for maximum accuracy. Measure a wine glass with help from a distinguished wine expert in this free video clip.
Wine can be made out of any fruit or vegetable that you choose. Find out how to make citrus wine with help from the owner of Celebrations Wine Club in this free video clip.
Bottleneck wine has its origins in British Columbia in the Okanagan Valley. Find out how to make bottleneck wine with help from the owner of Celebrations Wine Club in this free video clip.
A good wine stopper is a handy tool to have around for any true aficionado. Learn how to make wine stoppers the right way with help from the owner of Celebrations Wine Club in this free video clip.
Stella Rossa is a brand of wine from north eastern Italy that is both delightfully light and fruity. Make Stella Rossa wine with help from the owner of Celebrations Wine Club in this free video clip.
Sanitizing wine bottles is an important step to take to avoid "off flavors" in the future. Learn how to sanitize wine bottles with help from the owner of Celebrations Wine Club in this free video clip.
You can remove wine bottle labels by soaking the bottle in a warm bath in a sink or a vase. Remove wine bottle labels quickly and easily with help from the owner of Celebrations Wine Club in this free video clip.
Just because you don't have wine doesn't mean you can't still enjoy sangria. Make sangria without wine with help from a published cookbook author in this free video clip.
An attractive wine rack or storage system doesn't have to cost more than the vintages it holds. Standard cardboard mailing tubes are the right size for holding a bottle of wine, so they provide a low-cost storage option. The thick walls of the tubes make them a durable choice, and with just a few minutes of effort and minimal skill, you can can turn them into something as attractive as a store-bought rack.
Just because you don't have a wine opener doesn't mean you won't be able to get the bottle open. Open a wine bottle without a wine opener with help from a chef and culinary instructor in this free video clip.
Lime trees grow year-round in tropical climates outdoors, and you can grow them indoors as houseplants in containers. Their dark green leaves and full appearance make them ideal for the home or the landscape. When it is time to transplant your lime tree, place it in a chic recycled wine barrel planter to frame it and sharpen its appeal. Wine barrels, cut in half to serve as planters, are available from specialty planter retailers and some home improvement stores.
Pity the poor armoire, which was once a prized piece of furniture in which TVs and stereos were concealed behind a beautiful facade. But now the armoire has been replaced by flat-screen, wall-mounted TVs and smaller component cabinets, leaving a beautiful piece of furniture and nothing more. You, of course, are an innovator and a master of repurposing, and your imagination is doing its thing. Turn that empty shell into an entertainment hub by refitting the drawer area with a wine rack.
Upcycling opens up a whole new world of of goods that may previously have been out of your budget or too hard on the environment. Without adding impact to the planet or a dent to your wallet, create an endless variety of things for your home and yard. Instead of sending your empty wine bottles to the landfill or recycle center, use them to make gas lamps, which add a special touch to your yard.
Wine glasses typically have a customary size that you'll see if you order in places like restaurants. Learn about the customary size of a wine glass with help from a past president of the Napa Valley Vintners Association in this free video clip.
Business success is all about effective strategies. They can be the difference between a company rising to greatness and a company sinking to bankruptcy. Well-crafted plans help a company visualize its objectives. The strategy-executing process requires constant adapting because plans often go off course. Good plans involve forecasting and dealing with unlikely, but severe, business setbacks. Effective execution strategies will also measure progress regularly.
Dress up a plain picture frame with wine corks. Any standard wood frame works well, although the frame should be at least 1 inch wide so the corks have enough of a surface to adhere to securely. Use plain, unused corks from a craft store or choose from a collection of used wine corks. Some corks feature a decorative design or the winery name, which adds further embellishment to the finished frame. Rinse off used corks and allow them to dry completely before you begin the project.
Getting a great photo of a wine bottle -- or any other glass object -- is harder than it looks. Glass is tricky to photograph because of its transparency and reflectivity. For instance, you’ll need a flash if you want to highlight certain features of your bottle, such as the label, but the flash itself can cause distracting reflections or distort the bottle’s outlines. Or you might want some reflections to show up in your photo but not others. In either of these cases, you can get the professional-looking results you want by understanding, then effectively manipulating, the relationships between…
A simple bottle of wine can perform a magic trick of sorts when you hold it in a gravity wine rack or bottle holder. Because this special wine rack consists of a single piece of wood, cutting angles and accurate measurement are crucial to getting the wine bottle to hang in midair so the cork stays moist. While anyone can make this rack in less than an hour, take your time to ensure you cut the wood just the right way to make the gravity wine rack work.
Lattice panels that your local hardware or home improvement store sells provide a means to convert an empty kitchen cabinet or a wood box into a wine rack. You must choose lattice panels with gaps wide enough that wine bottles fit through them. The lattice panels also need to be sturdy enough that they will not bow under the weight of the wine bottles, especially if you plan on making a large wine rack. Once you create the rack, paint it to match or complement your cabinets.
One step in winemaking is the racking process, which includes siphoning the wine into another secondary unit to remove sediment, which is referred to as “lees.” This process is repeated several times before the wine is bottled to remove deposits from the wine. Filtering the wine can be done with filters in .5, 1 and 5 micron ratings but if problems occur with the filter, some troubleshooting is required.
Wine pairing events offer a fun, educational approach to the standard wine tasting. While some events focus on pairing wine samples with specific cheeses, more elaborate tastings may involve a variety of side dishes, desserts and h’ors d’ouevres. Wine to Water, a nonprofit organization that hosts wine tasting events to raise money for clean water, recommends setting up an entrance area where guests can sign in and create name tags to help encourage conversation. Depending on your venue, you may either arrange each wine station next to its paired food dish or assign numbers to help guide guests to the…
Wine cork angels make lovely little ornaments or gifts. The corks make light yet sturdy bodies for the angels. Assembling the wine cork angels is even easy enough for children to do on their own, or with a little help. Whether you want to make wine cork angels for Christmas or as gifts to let someone know you care, start collecting them earlier in the year. If you need a lot of wine corks, consider asking a local restaurant that serves wine to set aside used wine corks for you.
Most coasters require that you pick them up separately from the glass or awkwardly hold them in place with your pinky finger when you move about a room. Napkins nicely fold around a glass but eventually turn into a soggy mess. If you are a wine drinker, you can solve this problem with a wine glass coaster. It slips over the base of your glass and stays there until you are ready to remove it.
The modern wine closet is the answer to the medieval wine grotto, an easy and reliable way to maintain a temperature in an area of your home that is more accessible than the deepest dungeon. With a few basic home-building materials, it is possible to create an inexpensive and attractive way to store your wine collection in a manner that preserves and displays it to best advantage. Additionally, this wine closet can be adapted and customized to be as elaborate or as simple as the builder desires by purchasing gadgets and higher-quality materials.
Often uninsulated crawl spaces are not by nature the ideal place for a wine cellar. In the summer, they can be hotter than the rest of the house, and in the winter, they're colder. Yet the right materials and a few hours of work will transform an uninsulated crawl space into an ideal wine cellar. For partially insulated crawl spaces, less insulating work needs to be done. In any case, the end result is a convenient and attractive display that properly stores your wine.
Crafting or creating name tags for a party, dinner gathering or simply a get-together can be as simple as using note cards with names written across the front. However, if you want to enhance the name tags used for decorating a table or area, employing a unique base material is one way to set your tags apart from the rest. Transforming used wine corks into name tags is a simple, inexpensive and eye-catching option to let guests know where to sit.
As you embark on the hosting season, be sure you’re armed with all the appropriate stemware. Joe Campanale and Jordan Salcito give you a quick lesson on the must-haves.
Wine glasses make lovely favors for adult parties and receptions. The best wine glass favors act as decorative place settings during your event. Your guests can later choose to keep the favor as a decoration, or add it to their glassware collection for functional use. With a few simple materials, you can make wine glass favors filled with delightful treats or that will light up the table at your next party. Tailor your wine glass favors to fit the colors and theme of your event.
Nothing can be more embarrassing than breaking your cork while trying to open a bottle of wine with a corkscrew. According to "Wine Spectator Magazine," a broken cork is not always your fault; it can mean the wine has become oxidized and bad or the cork may have been extra long. The corkscrew itself may have been dull or the cork may be fragile from old age. Do not panic. You can recover from it and still serve your wine elegantly.
A dresser can be turned into a wine rack with only a few tools and supplies, allowing you to display your vintage collection of vino anywhere in the house. By removing the drawers of the dresser and replacing them with slats, what once held your clothes can now hold at least a dozen different bottles of wine.
As flavorful to the palate as a properly aged bottle of wine is to drink, fresh wine can be quite the opposite. The taste is usually bitter, as the tannins in the wine have not had the chance to settle, so it becomes necessary to let time take do its magic on your wine. Scientists have developed a number of ways to age wine artificially through chemical manipulation, oxygenation and ultrasound, but these techniques are not yet available to the home consumer However, a small tool, that can be found online or in wine retailers can age your wine quickly…
For small businesses or households with multiple expenses, paying the bills can eat up a lot of time, even when the vendor information is automatically filled out during processing. Multiple recurring charges that need to be manually entered tack on even more time to the bill-paying process. QuickBooks can spare you from some of the tedious work of bill paying because it allows you to memorize bills and specify recurring dates to pay them.
Urtica chamaedryoides is the botanical name of fireweed, which also goes by the common names of heartleaf nettle and stinging nettle. The plants closely resemble other nettles but have sharp thorns along the stems. They grow during the cooler winter months in the southern portions of the U.S., especially Florida. Although the weed is an annual, massive seed dispersion results in yearly regrowth. Killing an existing patch of Urtica chamaedryoides requires herbicides and the proper safety gear.
Old or unused glass knobs have a delicate sparkle that may make you regret not having a use for them in your cabinetry. You can, however, recycle those knobs into other craft projects, such as a wine stopper for either a bottle or your favorite glass decanter. This project is especially useful if you happen to have a decorative bottle on hand that's missing its stopper.
A wine bottle can make a great decoration for a table. Get tips for table decorating with a wine bottle with help from an accomplished author and magazine editor in this free video clip.
Americans consumed a total of 784 million gallons of wine in 2010. Much of that wine is served at restaurants, events and wineries. For wine enthusiasts, proper service gives credibility to a restaurant and adds to the dining experience. Patrons who spend the extra money to enjoy a choice bottle in dining establishments usually have extensive wine knowledge and expect the same from their servers. An expert wine server should have the skills to sell and serve a bottle of wine with ease.
Few things look as elegant as a well-stocked wine rack. One of the most attractive wine rack designs is a lattice pattern. It consists of a series of identical squares, turned on the diagonal, creating diamond-shaped areas for the wine bottles to rest on their sides. You can make your own lattice wine rack from pre-constructed lattice pieces available at your home improvement center. This project is completely scalable, which means that you can build it to fit any area of your home where you would like a wine rack.
When you need a bottle of wine opened, a corkscrew almost always gets the job done, which is why people tend to panic when there isn't one around. Whether you just moved and haven't unpacked the kitchen box yet, or the corkscrew has gone missing in the flurry of dinner party prep, there are other ways, albeit unconventional, to open a bottle of wine.
Sharp knives are essential tools in any kitchen, but keeping them piled in a drawer can be a major safety hazard. You can remove this danger by making a knife holder out of old wine corks. This knife holder is not only stylish, but helps to keep corks out of the garbage. Many wineries with serving bars sell used corks very inexpensively, so you don't have to save them up before starting the project.
Everything is about taking something old and using it to create something new and chic. Recycling is not only the rage -- it is a good practice environmentally. This keeps used and discarded “stuff” from the landfills. Jeans are made to last. When a pair goes out of fashion or starts looking a bit ragged, you can recycle the legs of the jeans into pretty wine bags.
Lightboxes add a "wow factor" to many high-end commercial websites. When you click the website's link, the screen goes dim, a bright box appears to float above the screen and then fills with the webpage. Add this to your site with some basic code and planning. Lightboxes with inline frames (iframes) are as easy to acquire as saving a single folder on your webserver, then adding a few lines of code to any page in your website.
Using a wine lattice is one of the easiest ways to store a wine collection. Because of the decorative style, it's also one of the most attractive and eye-catching ways. Depending on the specific design, a wine lattice can fit well in either a casual kitchen setting, or in a fancier setting, if adding to the decor of a dining room or library.
A heavy key chain can have your keys digging into your leg through your pocket, scratch your cell phone's screen and even ruin the malleable cast metal inside your car's ignition. You can carve the head of your house key into a useful bottle opener to alleviate the weight of your key chain. It is discreet, lightweight and fashionable. All you need are a few tools and a steady hand.
Want a holder for a bottle of wine that will catch anyone's eye while being a conversation starter? Curved wood wine bottle holders are made with curved wood and they play a balancing act with the bottle they hold. Bending wood is often highly involved because of steaming equipment. This project will be much easier for the novice woodworker because it doesn't require steam to bend the wood. Build your own curved wood wine bottle holder out of hardwood to accent the decor of your kitchen or dining room.
It is not always necessary to spend a lot of money to give people interesting presents. A balancing wine bottle rack can hold a single bottle of wine suspended in an inverted position by balancing the angle of the rack with the weight of the bottle. All that is needed to make a balancing wine rack is knowing the angle to cut the wood at and the required dimensions of the wood so that the balance will be correct.
You usually don't see a wine glass dripping condensation, nor a water ring left on a wooden table after lifting up a wine glass, but that doesn't render all wine glass coasters useless. Wine glass coasters still serve two functions. Firstly, they help distinguish one person's wine glass from another's when made from different fabrics. They also protect that fragile circular glass base of the glass from hard surfaces that can cause chips if not handled with care. So, use up some of your fabric scraps to create wine glass coasters for your next party.
Finding new ways to reuse and recycle is an entertaining way to save money and have some arts and crafts fun. Cork is a versatile material with many uses, so that little wine stopper can be repurposed in a number of ways -- including as a fishing bobber. With just a few tools and a bit of time, a wine cork can become a bobber that's just as useful as a store-bought one.
Wine glasses come in various sizes, including large glasses for red wine and thinner glasses for white wine. While some people prefer the clear look of a wine glass, others decide to decorate their wine glasses to personalize them and give guests a joyful experience. In addition, decorated wine glasses can serve as conversation pieces at large dinners or events where alcohol is served. Choose the decorating method of your choice, depending on your design preferences and frequent use of your wine glasses.
