BeyondWonderful.com: Barbara Adams, Beyond Wonderful Baking, Cheese, Produce, and Wine Culinary Experts


	Baker \| Cheese \| Produce \| Wine \| Guest Chef \| IHC, India \| IHC, Mexico \|



	Columns to Savor Michael De Loach The Home Wine Tasting Myth, and Why Most Wine Rating Systems are Basically Worthless Wine Tasting Season Survival, Standards, Darlings and Trendy Wines, and A Quick Planning Guide to Visiting the Wine Country Read more about Michael De Loach

Wine Expert
Michael De Loach

Proliferation of Brands
Vintners Gone Wild!

Unless you’ve been living in an ashram for the last five years, I don’t really need to notify you of the mind-numbing explosion of wine brands that have invaded retail shelves like those teeming Australian rats seen in news video. (Now available on DVD from the same guy who brings us “Girls Gone Wild.” Okay, not really.) One is tempted to think it all comes out of one huge vat and is cleverly re-packaged by Madison Avenue suits. In many ways, that would not be far from the truth.

	Picking for a Party Making the Most of a Major Wine Buy For too many people, picking out wine is a less than relaxing experience. Wine stores are flooded with new brands practically by the hour, and the labels, well let’s face it—very few casual enthusiasts really understand them all that well. Add the expense and pressure of shopping for a crowd, and it’s enough to make you switch to club soda.

	Pink Prejudice How come some people love Rosé but hate white zinfandel? I get it all the time. As a producer of both types of wines at Hook & Ladder Winery, I regularly see people in the trade—wine buyers, writers, and other wine industry types -- falling all over themselves to taste my rosé. But when I pull my White Zinfandel out of the bag, even self-professed “non-wine-snobs” say No Thanks with a dismissive snorting half-laugh and a back-wave of the hand.

	Follow your Bliss: Stop waiting for your DADDY to tell you which wine you should prefer I remember going through a very uncertain time in my life when I wasn’t sure of my wine choices. I thought of myself as a kind of a rube; convinced that I was making bad wine decisions, and that I was being “had” half of the time. I distinctly remember thinking that whenever I drank something that I REALLY enjoyed; something tasty and maybe even a tad sweet, that I was betraying my stupefyingly bad taste and utter lack of sophistication. I was probably fourteen or fifteen years old.



	Be afraid, be VERY afraid--if you neglected to make a shopping list.



	In the Costco Era of buying wines in bulk, planning your purchase becomes key.



	All pink wines are not created equal: some White Zinfandels are world-class wines, contrary to what some supposed experts would have you think .

Beyond Wonderful Wine Expert, Michael De Loach: Stop waiting for your Daddy to tell you which wine you should prefer.

Should you have to choose between The Correct Wine and what you actually enjoy?

Barbara Adams Beyond Wonderful features large recipe collections of full-proof quick and easy recipes, classic family favorites, global cuisine, and party ideas. Get illustrated cooking tips and techniques,cooking for beginners, food features, and expert advice on baking, cheese, produce, and wine.

Barbara Adams, Recipe Collections, Quick and Easy Recipes, Party Ideas, Global Cuisine, How To
Cooking Tips and Techniques.