You can never post enough about good, cheap wine!

I am loving a Cabernet Sauvignon by Charles Shaw that I picked up at Trader Joe's for about $3 a bottle...how can you go wrong? The truth is, I've had my share of bad $3 wine, but this Charles Shaw grows a mean grape! It's delicious and you can even buy an entire case (12 bottles) for a very reasonable price. I purchased a case at the beginning of the summer and though I've gone through a couple already, the rest are in my secret stash (a second wine rack in my pantry) so that I know I'll always have some on hand. This knowledge helps me sleep at night.

The only drawback is that not every Trader Joe's sells wine. Ahh, so close to perfection! But it's worth a shot...check it out next time you go!

82 Delicious Facts About Wine

While "stumbling" through the internet, I came across this list of random wine facts from RandomHistory.com. If 82 facts seems like a terribly long, boring list, you're wrong! I thought the same thing, but then I read the entire thing without, I think, even blinking. There are some that are common knowledge, but did you know that King Tut was buried with wine bottles with labels so detailed they could pass today's standards? I didn't! Check out the first 10:

The smell of young wine is called an “aroma” while a more mature wine offers a more subtle “bouquet.” In ancient Greece, a dinner host would take the first sip of wine to assure guests the wine was not poisoned, hence the phrase “drinking to one’s health.” “Toasting” started in ancient Rome when the Romans continued the Greek tradition but started dropping a piece of toasted bread into each wine glass to temper undesirable tastes or excessive acidity. A “cork-tease” is someone who constantly talks about the wine he or she will open but never does. Since wine tasting is essentially wine smelling, women tend to be better wine testers because women, particularly of reproductive ages, have a better sense of smell than men. An Italian study argues that women who drink two glasses of wine a day have better sex than those who don’t drink at all. Red wines are red because fermentation extracts color from the grape skins. White wines are not fermented with the skins present. In the whole of the Biblical Old Testament, only the Book of Jonah has no reference to the vine or wine. Early Roman women were forbidden to drink wine, and a husband who found his wife drinking was at liberty to kill her. Divorce on the same grounds was last recorded in Rome in 194 B.C. The world’s oldest bottle of wine dates back to A.D. 325 and was found near the town of Speyer, Germany, inside one of two Roman sarcophaguses. It is on display at the town's Historisches Museum der Pfalz. There is increasing scientific evidence that moderate, regular wine drinking can reduce the risk of heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, and gum disease.

Read the rest of "82 Delicious Facts About Wine" from RandomHistory.com

New Year's Eve

After a long semester, I came home for winter break and received not one, but three bottles of wine for the holidays. Though two of them are no longer with us, they were among my favorite presents of all! (This is a hint as to what to get me next year...)

One of them was a 2008 Old Vine Zinfandel from Benson Ferry Vineyards in California. I enjoyed this while celebrating the end of 2010, and what a great New Year's Eve wine it turned out to be.

It had a really vibrant taste of blueberry and plum without being extremely fruity and was sweet but managed not to be sugary. With a 14.5% alcohol content, the alcohol taste and smell were strong at the first sip, but the fruit was pungent enough to come through as well.

I had my glass of Benson Ferry with homemade pasta, meatballs, and chicken parmigiana, and because it wasn't too sweet, it worked well with the tomato sauce.

Because I am just getting into the world of wine, I love knowing the price of a bottle. Maybe it is partly because, as previously mentioned, I am a typical tight-pocketed college student, but I just love knowing you don't have to spend a lot on a bottle to enjoy it.

Luckily for me, the price tag was still on this one: $14.99. In all honesty, if I had not known the price of the Old Vine beforehand, I would have guessed that it cost more than fifteen dollars because of the delightful taste and it managed to have a sharp nose and taste with a surprisingly smooth finish. There was no unpleasant aftertaste due to the high alcohol content thanks to the balance of strong, but not sickeningly sweet, fruit.

It was not until I sat down to write this that I realized I drank a California wine with an Italian meal. Here's to hoping I'll find forgiveness in 2011.

Who Wants to Guess What I'm Thankful for this Year?

If you guessed wine, you're right! But more specifically, I am thankful for all the wonderful wine that is also cheap...yes, it does exist. Who would know this better than a poor college student like me? Thanksgiving is one of my absolute favorite holidays and therefore deserves the best wine I can afford...this means I am going to share with you some of my favorites that are under $10.

Now that I have a year of being able to buy wine under my belt, I love bringing a bottle to family get-togethers and holiday parties for several reasons, the first of which is that it makes me feel like an adult. If you're already of age, you know what I am talking about...if you're not, well what are you doing reading my blog?! Either way, bringing a bottle of your own choice means you know you'll have at least one thing you can enjoy drinking, not to mention it's a very nice gesture (which holds true for any situation in which you don't show up empty-handed!)

If you're thinking, hey this is all great in theory but what if my family thinks I'm a cheap jerk who only spent $9.99 on a bottle for a great holiday such as Thanksgiving? Remember to peel off the price sticker before you hand it off! Just as I am not an expert, neither are most people. Unless you are from a family of connoisseurs (or people who think they are,) you're probably safe in bringing a less expensive bottle. What matters is not the price but whether people like it!

All that being said, my first favorite cheap wine is called Voga Italia. (Pretend the bottle in the picture is full of gorgeous red wine....which it is before you drink it all.) It is just $9.99! Not only is the bottle really cool, but the top screws off and, as the cashier told me, can be used as a cup! Since it isn't your typical wine bottle shape, I was a little scared as to its quality, but I decided to give it a try. I'm so glad I did! Voga Italia, a 2006 Merlot from Sicily, is delicious and a great quality for a wine under $10.

My next choice is a favorite of my entire apartment, ringing in at only $8.49. This wine, called "Flaio Primitivo" (Flaio after a city in Puglia, Italia) has a simple but attractive label and is very strong in both smell and taste, which makes it very flavorful. It is dry and red, my favorite combination in an Italian wine, and goes really well with heartier foods like pizza, meat, or even...Thanksgiving dinner. 

The third and final of my favorites is a 2008 Chianti called Gabbiano. This is a simple red wine but one that I find goes with everything. The lazy side of me definitely advocates for Chianti because I like to be able to open a bottle of wine and not have to worry about whether or not it will go with what I'm eating! In my eyes, you cannot go wrong showing up to someone's house with a bottle of Chianti for two reasons: it's delicious, first of all, and there are so many different varieties there is a good chance not everyone has tried it. But wait, it gets better! Every time I've seen this particular bottle, it has been on sale for $6.49, and even when it's not on sale, it is still under $10! If that doesn't say Happy Thanksgiving, I don't know what does.

Sulfites, Histamines and Headaches...Oh My!

I read a great post from Tablas Creek Vineyard's blog about the unfortunately popular myth that sulfites in wine are what give people headaches. Up until the other day, I was one of those sadly misinformed people, but now I have been set free!

Histamines are actually what causes most people's headaches, not sulfites. The number of Americans actually allergic to sulfites is ridiculously low, but people with histamine allergies (such as pollen and a variety of foods like cheese, fish, and some vegetables) are extremely common. Unfortunately, red wine contains a small amount of histamines because the grape skins are kept in with the wine as it ferments. I was fascinated to learn this, especially because I have been badmouthing sulfites for quite some time now.

Another interesting point that Jason Haas, Partner and General Manager of Tablas Creek Vineyard and main author of its blog, makes is that the government seems to want people to think sulfites are what causes reactions, mandating that wine containing sulfites be labeled as such. For some reason, however, histamines do not have to be mentioned even though they are, in most cases, the real culprit. What is that about?

The enthusiasm so many of us have for wine makes it nearly impossible for me to believe not everyone is carrying around a glass of it everywhere they go (this isn't Italy, after all.) If I can make just one person love wine as much as I do, I will have done my job. I know, I know, no one asked me to do this, but it's too late...I have taken it upon myself to try. Luckily, the realm of opportunity has been opened to those that once thought they could never have a glass of wine. Blogs like Jason Haas' will hopefully squash the sulfite rumor for good so that more people will be able to enjoy one of the greatest drinks on earth: a glass of vino rosso.

The First Review...Sicilian Night

Tonight I had two different wines with the chicken piccata I made with friends. The first, which we drank while cooking, was called "Fuedo Arancio", a 2008 Nero D'Avola from Sicily. I know and love many of the different Nero D'Avolas, but this particular one is very inexpensive, (always a plus when you're a college student,) and simply...delicious. It was dry and a little on the strong side, which is what I love in a red wine. Needless to say I would recommend it to a friend. However, if you like your red wine a little sweeter, I would suggest the second wine I had, a Merlot, also from 2008, called "Ecco Domani". This flavorful red is also from Sicily (can you tell I have Sicilian ancestors and am a little biased?) but is completely different from the Nero D'Avola. Tasting this Merlot after the slightly spicy Fuedo Arancio was like drinking candy! Though it is not truly too sweet or fruity, the difference in the two wines is very obvious. The best part about both of these wines, besides the fact that they are both under $10, is enjoying them with friends over a home-cooked meal.

Welcome! Benvenuto!

Ciao and welcome to my new blog, Ready Set Vino! If you couldn't already tell, this blog will be all about wine! My name is Mariel Kennison, and I am currently a Journalism student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. My passions are writing, traveling, and of course vino! I am especially interested in Italian wines because I just recently studied abroad in Siena, Italy and fell in love with the wine and culture there.

My goal is to create a place where I can review wine, wine stores, vineyards and their owners, and share it all with you. I would also love to have your opinions on wine, so this is also a place for the wine-loving community to share favorite wines, places, and stories. Salute!