The Rising Cafe

There are thousands of brands of white spirits, whiskys and wines which exist in the market today. But many of us may not be familiar with all the brands and kinds of liquor. All of them are special and distinct in their own respect as they are manufactured in different countries, different distilleries under diverse climate conditions and quality of ingredients.

Whisky, is aged in wooden casks and made generally of white oak unified by characteristics of the different classes and types are the fermentation of grains, distillation, and aging in wood. However, the two most prominent types of whisky are single malt and blended Scotch whisky. Some of the marvelled brands of Single Malt Scotch whiskys around the world are Ardbeg, Dalmore, The Macallan, The Glenlivet, Oban, Caol Ila, Glenfiddich, Laphroaig, Highland Park. Whisky drinking is considered an art.

White spirits is a general term given to identify lighter drinks like vodka, gin, white rum. Vodka is one of the world’s most popular liquors while White rum is often the favored choice of rum for cocktails and other mixed drinks. Some of the finest vodkas of the world come from brands like Jean-Marc XO, Grey Goose, Absolut, Smirnoff, Belvedere, Chopin, Finlandia.

There are times when we need a good red wine. Whether it is for a dinner or for quiet evening at home. Red wines are awesome! However, not all red wines are made equal. Some can be just horrible and have earned the epitome by some as “cheap red wine” or wines that should not be drunk. But, there are some good red wines out there that are cheaply priced but are great. I consider those to be rare gems that I truly enjoy discovering. I am going to share some these gems today.

Falesco Vitiano Rosso 2008

This is a delightful young Italian red wine. The aromas in this wine are luscious and explodes on the tongue. This deep red wine has aromas of ripe black cherries, licorice, and tobacco leaf. This  wine goes well with various dishes, meat and pasta especially. This  red wine was rated 89 points by The Wine Advocate. This is definitely a good red wine that is great for any mood and setting and it is under . More here.

Bouchard Aine & Fils Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2007

1787 Chateau Lafite | article provided by http://www.cocktailsandwines.com

When an enterprising young man named James Christie opened his sales rooms in London in December 1766, his first auction consisted of the estate of a “deceased nobleman” containing “a large Quantity of Madeira and high Flavour’d Claret.” The records don’t relate how much these delightfully described “high Flavour’d clarets” fetched but as the whole sale realized a grand total £175, it is a sure bet that if Christie had known that two hundred years later, in 1985, his now famous auction house would sell one bottle of wine for £105,000, or 0,000, he might have held back a bottle or two to enrich his future heirs.

This bottle was a Bordeaux, a 1787 Chateau Lafite, and, according to The Guinness Book of World Records, 18 years later it still is the world’s most expensive bottle of wine. Its great age alone would have ensured a good price but what gave it its special cachet, especially to American collectors, and ensured the record price tag were the initials Th.J. etched in the glass.

Leading barcode and labelling company, AM Labels develops bespoke label applicator for Wine Industry

Company: Kingsland Wines & Spirits was established 40 years ago and has since grown to become the largest independent bottler of wine and spirits in the UK. Based in Manchester they provide a complete solution from vine to shelf.

Challenge: Kingsland Wines & Spirits (Kingsland) already had a standard application to apply labels to wine boxes that needed modification to ensure that their labelling lines were running more efficiently. Kingsland wanted to apply labels to the front of their wine boxes containing 6 or 12 wine bottles. The previously installed label applicator had never run to their requirements and frequently failed to apply the labels often skipping numerous wine boxes.

Solution: AM Labels provided a customised label applicator to apply labels to wine boxes, the label applicator was initially supplied as a prototype and under went rigorous testing for one year to get the best result. After this testing AM Labels installed a further four label applicators to automate the rest of Kingsland’s labelling lines. The solution solved problems with previous applicators that failed to apply the labels to wine boxes properly.

Tony Mariani (MD of AM Labels) Commented: “We aim to build good partnerships with our customers, we became part of the Kingsland team… we modified the label applicator to fit their purposes and when they took the further four applicators we brought those machines up to the same standard and also supplied Zebra Z4M printers and rewinders – a complete package for their business requirements”

Company Benefits: With excellent communication and collaboration from both companies the benefits were clear to see. An increase in productivity was achieved as production lines were faster and more efficient. From this less time was spent double checking that the labels had been applied properly, the four extra labelling lines saved labour costs as less staff were needed. There was also a dramatic reduction on the costs associated with wasted labels.

Nigel Smith Company Engineering Manager at Kingsland commented on three main advantages of the new system:
1) The old method of printing cartons required 4 people across the shift patterns due to the slow manual rate at which the cartons were printed. Under the new system the printing of labels is managed by just one person as the printers can be programmed and left to run. This has allowed for three employees to be re-assigned elsewhere.
2) Under the old system of carton printing, an automatic additional 5% of cartons were printed to allow for wastage. As the information on each carton is specific to the run, any unused cartons can not be retained for future runs. Hence if the cartons are not used they still have to be scrapped. With the new application carton wastage has been reduced as all unused cartons are returned to Stores at the end of the run.
3) Taking into account the consumables that are required under each system e.g. ink and stereos compared to labels, ribbons and print heads the saving using the online label application is £20,000 per year based on 3.25 million labels.

AM Labels can also supply semi automatic or automatic bottle labellers for labelling wine bottles.

The profile of wine online sales has changed dramatically across the last six weeks as consumers ready themselves for Christmas. Wine online is changing from being very price driven and mass market, to more discerning and quality led.

Fine red wine online growth is slightly ahead of white wine online growth, but with a 9% shift from standard to fine wine, this is a noticeable trend. This trend has bemused some online wine merchants, but people do funny things in a recession. So what is going on in the online space you may ask ?

Online wine sales have been growing steadily for the last five years as the bricks and mortar retailers have been reducing the number of lines they stock. Also as online retail has grown and consumers trust the online space to a greater extent, purchasing from online wine merchants has become more convenient. After all you don’t have to carry the bottles home.

The second trend that is happening is the trend of having less treats during a recession but spending more on them when you do. As a result consumers are trading up to better quality wines online. At the same time online wine merchants are offering 6 bottle cases rather than 12 bottle cases because consumers are consuming less, but want a more premium wine online.

Well here’s an idea that will lift your spirits. Wine, spirits, and yes even beer charity auctions are becoming one of the hottest trends emerging in the charity auction industry. I have written about fundraising auctions in the past and how they can be a wonderful and lucrative addition to an auctioneer’s dossier of services that are offered to their clients. If you perform fundraising auctions, then this is definitely an area that you will want to explore.

Charity wine auctions are becoming so popular and trendy that they are literally creating their own specific niche in the special events fundraising niche. The good news regarding charity auctioneer job security is that wine consumption is at an “all time high” according to the Wine Spectator magazine, and as such, the demand for wine is increasing, especially in benefit auctions.

There is balance in everything, and for every upside, there is also a downside. The upside in charity wine, auctions is the obvious financial opportunities created for charity auctioneers, but the converse is that true wine appreciation requires a tremendous amount of knowledge (i.e. pronunciation of the name, grape varietals, taste description, terroir, appellation, vintage, and dollar value of the wine being sold, etc.). If some of this terminology threw you, then needless to say, you have a lot of study ahead of you.