 What's New in
the Store
Thank you to everyone who stopped by during our Grand
Opening celebration - it was a great week, and it was especially wonderful
to see so many of you come out to the store.
If you haven't been here yet, plan to stop by
soon. In addition to our extensive selection of wines, we have
gift
boxes in all pricing categories, select micro-brew beers, and a fine
selection of cheeses. You can accomplish quite a bit of holiday
shopping, whether for yourself or for others, while in our store!
Another exciting development for us is hosting of private
parties, either off-site or in our store. We've
been happy to help out with holiday parties, and if you're looking for the
perfect place to host a private event, consider our store! The
events we've done in cooperation with the local caterer have been great,
according to the attendees.
Store hours are Monday through Saturday 11 am - 7 pm, and
we'll be open on Sundays through the end of December, from 1 - 5 pm.
We look forward to seeing you soon.
Our next two FREE wine tastings are Saturday,
December 21st and Saturday, December 28th, from 1 - 6:30 pm. See
our Schedule of Events for more details on the
wines & cheeses to be featured on these days.
If you cannot visit the store, we invite you to visit our web
site and send in your order via e-mail. Either way, we are here to
serve you! Send us your questions, comments and ideas.
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In this issue:
Why Join a Wine Club?
Planning Wine for Your Party
Our Schedule of Events
Store Location & Hours
Gift Box Selections
Legal Notice on Ordering Wine
Click here to find out:
Why did you get
this newsletter?
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An
Invitation: Join Our Wine Club
Why join a wine club? In
short, it's the perfect answer for learning about wines and trying new
varieties, with almost no effort on your part.
With our Prairie Wine Club, we
send you a monthly shipment of either two or three bottles (your choice). Each
shipment includes notes about the wine, suggested food pairings and special offers for purchasing
additional bottles at a discount.
When selecting these wines, we
look to expand your exposure to great value wines; we'll usually include a
combination of red and white. Most of these wines go to club members
before they reach our store shelves, so as a club member, you get a
preview and first chance at buying these selections in volume.
Subscriptions are automatic for an
initial six-month time period, but you may have them cancelled or extended
at any time.
Our wine club can make the perfect
gift, whether for yourself or the wine-lover on your list. Contact
us with questions. You can sign up at the store or on our web site.
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Planning
Wine for Your Party
You’re planning a party.
You know what food you’ll be serving, who will be attending the
party, and how you will decorate your home.
Now, for the final touch: the
wine. How much and what types
of wine should you have? What
wines will complement the food you are serving?
Use the following suggestions to round out your party planning.
Getting Started
For a welcoming wine, select
something light, a white or sparkling variety.
A Spanish Cava (sparkling) or a German Riesling usually works well
to open the evening. Rieslings
offer great variety; you can
range from a slightly sweet Kabinett to the sweeter varieties of Spätlese
or Auslese.
Food Pairing
Review your menu to select a
variety of wines to complement the dishes to be served.
If you are planning spicy foods such as spicy chicken wings or
Spanish salsa, then select slightly sweet wines to offset the flavors of
the foods. In a white wine,
German Rieslings of Kabinett or Spätlese varieties work well.
For a slightly sweet red, look for a Shiraz from Hunter Valley
Australia, a Valpolicella from Veneto Italy or a French Beaujolais.
For other non-spicy foods, such as roast beef or pork,
you can choose a red Zinfandel or an Australian Shiraz. For a slightly lighter red, look to a Merlot or
Cabernet-Sauvignon. You
don’t necessarily have to match white wines with chicken and fish or red
wines with beef. While these
are safe guidelines, there are many exceptions you can consider.
We can help you assess your specific menu and
select interesting wines for the evening.
If your menu contains multiple tomato-based dishes or
artichoke hearts, consider minimizing these foods because it is difficult
to find wine that works well with those types of dishes. The acidity of the tomato makes the wine taste flat, while
artichoke hearts are so strongly flavored they tend to overpower the wine.
Surprisingly, cheeses can be some of the hardest foods
to pair with wine. In
general, blue-vein cheeses go with heavier reds and sweeter wines. White wines are a safer bet to match with cheeses; testing
ahead of time will help you identify the wines that work best for your
selections.
Planning Quantities
When planning
quantities, consider the anticipated length of your party.
For cocktail parties, plan 1/3 of a bottle per person.
For an extended evening and/or dinner party, you could plan a bit
more than a third, up to ½ bottle per person.
Once you have your bottle count, add two more bottles to make sure
you won’t run out.
Plan to server other types
of drinks in addition to wine. Be
sure to include and offer plenty of water – a good measure is one glass
of water for every glass of wine. This
will help moderate consumption and keeps your guests hydrated. Watch the consumption levels of your guests, so that no one
drinks more than three glasses of wine over a three-hour period.
These are your friends, and you want to make sure they arrive home
safely when the evening is over.
Serving Tips
White wines should be chilled and
served at 45 – 48 degrees. It’s
best to not serve them icy cold, as you would serve beer.
It’s also a good idea to slightly chill your red wines, to 58
degrees. At the height of a
party, with a warm kitchen, heated serving dishes, and numerous people,
the wine will warm up quickly. Putting
a red wine in the refrigerator for 10 – 15 minutes will bring it to a
good serving temperature.
For serving wine, use glassware if at all possible, to
treat your wine with elegance. Accessories
such as wine glass tags or even paper tags work well for your guests.
To protect your table service and carpet from drips, use drip disks
on the bottles. These small plastic
rings are easy to use and durable; you should be able to find them
wherever you purchase your fine wines.
Wrapping Up
After the party, be sure to save
your partially filled bottles. You
can still enjoy these wines for up to 7 – 10 days if they are kept
refrigerated. You can spray
an inert gas wine preserver on top of the wine before you recap and save.
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Our
Mailing List:
We've
all wondered how it is that organizations get our email address.
Some scan the web, others buy lists of 1000's. We don't agree with
those methods and have no desire to send email to those that would rather
not receive it.
The
mailing list for this newsletter was generated only from the
personal email archives of Wine Expressions' owners. So, if you
don't personally know the owners (Brad Mitchell, Randy Russell, Jack Thew),
someone you know does, because your name was included on an email to one
of us.
We
hope you enjoy the newsletter and decide to remain on our distribution
list. You are welcome to pass this newsletter along to a friend, or
click unsubscribe to
be removed from our lists.
By
the way, we never share your email or address information with anyone
else.
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Our Schedule of Events
Prairie Samplings - We offer free wine tastings every Saturday afternoon
from 1 - 6:30 pm. In December, plan to join us for the following
events:
December 21: Featuring Echelon wines
This
Saturday, we will have several fine wines open, primarily featuring
selections from the Echelon winery in California. We will start
with a mead from Chaucer in California, then sample Marque de Gelida (a
sparkling wine). We will next taste a series of wines from Echelon:
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Cabernet.
Our
sampling of cheeses will include Edam, Cheddar and Brie de Meaux.
December 28: Sparking Wines
In preparation for New Year's Eve, we will feature a variety of sparkling
wines on Saturday, December 28th. We'll provide more details in our
next newsletter, which should be mailed out by December 27th.
We also offer private wine
tastings and consultation, at your place or ours. Contact us for
more information: info@wineexpressions.com
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Store
Location & Hours
We
are located in downtown Lisle at the southwest corner of Burlington Ave.
& Main St.
Hours
of Operation:
M - Sat 11 am - 7 pm
Sunday 1 pm - 5 pm
(We
are open on Sundays just through the end of December.)
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Note: While we make every attempt to
complete all orders as described, occasionally it may become necessary to
substitute items of equal quality and value.
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Legal Notice
on Ordering Wine
You must be 21 years of age or older to order any alcoholic beverage.
By law, we are allowed to ship wine to only the following
states: California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa,
Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
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