luxury · wine

Fenty Estates Wine False Alarm

A tweet went viral announcing that Rihanna, beauty mogul and perpetual wine sipper, filed to trademark the name, “Fenty Estates Wine and Spirits Company”. As a wine lover, I was absolutely giddy. If the wine label went anything like the beauty launch, I was anticipating amazing things.

clker wine gif

Unfortunately, Rihanna didn’t file for a trademark, nor did Roraj Trade LLC (the company that trademarked Rihanna’s name and Fenty Beauty). The Fader broke the news, and I must admit, I was a little crushed.

But never fear: I’ve got some other wines I’ve been waiting to try and I’ll be reviewing those soon. If Rihanna wants to trademark a wine, I’m still going to support it. I just have to make peace with the fact that her wine won’t be coming from Fenty Estates.

wine

Adventures in Enology: Cooper’s Hawk Wine Club

Several months ago, I stopped in Cooper’s Hawk Restaurant on a whim. I sat at the bar and proceeded to order to my heart’s content. I chatted with the bartender and decided, at the end of my meal, to join the Cooper’s Hawk Wine Club.

I signed up for the lowest commitment – one bottle per month – just to see if I would enjoy the membership. I’ve since tried 6 of their wines, read several of the monthly newsletters, did a wine tasting, and dined at the restaurant again. I feel pretty comfortable offering an opinion on Cooper’s Hawk.

FullSizeRender (1)

This prosecco was delicious when chilled. I had it with chocolate.

IMG_1514

I really loved how well this went with an Indian curry I had.

 

I found Cooper’s Hawk’s wine club to offer fantastic value. Firstly, they offer a plethora of wines for you to try. Also, you have considerable flexibility with your monthly wine selections; you aren’t “locked in” to any particular wine offering.  They offer generous promotional coupons, both for just being a member as well as coupons in celebration of your birthday. The club also offers monthly themed events where members can enjoy exclusive menu offerings and limited edition wines.

However, if you’re looking for a spectacular wine, I can’t really recommend one from Cooper’s Hawk. I found that the wines are not particularly complex or fascinating, but decidedly SOLID. This is not a condemnation of the brand; indeed, the wines are tasty and enjoyable. I just haven’t had one that I found to be amazing.

These wines are a good option for those new to wine tasting and that want something better than most of the variety available at your local grocer. And again, the wine club is still a great way to get some experience with wine tasting.

Are any of you members of Cooper’s Hawk wine club? Do you have any particular Cooper’s Hawk wines that you could recommend?

wine

Adventures in Enology: School is in Session!

clipartszone

On this journey toward living my best life, I’ve been listening carefully to my “inner voice” and learning what piques my interest. Following my interests led me to wine tasting.

I love wine: dry or sweet, red or white, sparkling or deep. I’ve done wine tastings at different wineries, but I still wanted a comprehensive education that isn’t biased toward a particular winery.

So I searched for viticulture and enology courses. I found one that could work for my schedule, but sadly, it’s located over 100 miles away. But I found the next best thing: an online wine course. Better yet, it’s free!

Wine Tasting: Sensory Techniques for Wine Analysis seemed like a great course to get me reacquainted with wine basics. The class is available through Coursera, which has many interesting free courses. The platform is designed for MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), so that anyone with internet access can gain knowledge from the best universities for FREE.

The beauty of this course is that enrollment is ongoing and you can access all of the materials for FREE (however, you have to pay if you want to get a certificate). I’ll go through the materials and review the course in a few weeks. However, if you’re interested, sign up with Coursera and enroll in the class.

See you all in school!

 

(royalty free image courtesy of ClipArts.Zone)