This week on WG TV Erin shares hints and tips on how to build the perfect ice bucket for chilling wine.
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Submitted by haley on Thu, 07/09/2009 – 10:36.
By Julie Reitsma
It’s that time of year again, chouettes. The invitations are piling up, the dress shopping is in full swing, and we find ourselves with the task of planning the perfect send-off into what we can only assume is the euphoric state of marriage. Now, who doesn’t love a penis cup? Buck a suck? Don’t we all sort of swoon on the inside when we see those loud ladies, drunk on tequila and love, stumbling around Queen Street wearing mini-veils? Let’s be a bit more civilized, shall we? Enter Erin Rosar, a pink hatbox, and Wine in the Kitchen.
A renowned sommelier and teacher, Erin Rosar is not what you’d expect—far from using her powers for snobbery, we’d venture to say she’s totally adorable, and simply wants to make the grapey stuff fun and accessible. Wine in the Kitchen—The Basics of Wine is the first in a series of episodes that transforms what could be an intimidating or stuffy experience into a kitchen party. You’ll end the night with some newfound fancy facts, and with exposure to six types of wine, we’re thinking a bit of a buzz.
What: The pink hatbox that is the first episode of Wine in the Kitchen contains everything but the wine. A host letter and guide helps you plan your soirée, and some extra info, including an enlightening section on the merits of spitting versus swallowing, will help keep the night running smooth as silk. Shopping lists for food and wine, cloth bags and number buttons (more on that later), an aroma and colour poster, tasting sheets and pencils, and a short DVD (actually like having Erin there!) are all tissue-wrapped and nestled within the kit.
How: Erin wants us to be open to new wines (apparently most people will only ever drink a couple types in their lifetime—for shame!), so blind tasting is the way to roll. With your sealed shopping list, six wine bags (don’t forget the number buttons), and budget in mind, head down to the LCBO and, after thanking Dionysus there’s no picket line, ask them to make the selections. Grab your food pairings (buttered popcorn, indeed), invite over the girls, pop in the DVD and you’re off like a bridesmaid’s dress.
Where: Wine in the Kitchen—The Basics of Wine ($55.00) is available online from Wine Girls (Erin’s saucy alter-ego) and a variety of lovely stores in Toronto, including our current retail crush
Ziggy’s at Home
This article and review appeared on the Wine Access website,www.wineaccess.ca
Out of the Tasting Room and into the Kitchen
Wine Girl brings her favorite beverage to the masses in fun, creative ways.
by Mary Beth Tucker
Wine in the Kitchen is a tasting experience unlike any other. Launching February 6, accredited sommelier Erin Rosar brings her expertise to the uninitiated by bringing wine, something many view as intimidating and inaccessible, into the comfort of your own kitchen and surrounding it with friends and family.
Rosar’s love of wine and her desire to bring it to the masses led her to create her consulting company, WG Wines Consulting of Canada, and Wine Girl, the persona that goes with it. As an instructor with the International Sommelier Guild, Rosar believes wine should be fun and accessible to all. She brings this approach into the classroom when she instructs all levels with the Guild’s programs, including the Sommelier Diploma. In addition to her work with the ISG, Rosar is a recognized Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers out of London, England.
The single mom, busy with her three boys, also freelances, writing pieces forWine Access, Calgary’s Child, Mom Magazine, Orb and her own newsletter through WG Wines. As hectic a life as she leads, Rosar believes one should always take the time to enjoy wine with loved ones. That’s why she created Wine in the Kitchen.
“No one was explaining wine in an entertaining and usable fashion,” says Rosar. “Wine in the Kitchen is all about slowing down and enjoying wine with the people closest to you.”
The complete (and very PINK) Wine in the Kitchen kit includes a DVD, a poster, Wine Girl pencils and magnets, wine bags, tasting sheets for making notes, a wine shopping list, a food pairing list (Rosar likes to pair wines with unusual food such as grilled cheese sandwiches), wine bags to make the night more fun by making the tasting blind, and a hostess letter and guide book. And it all comes in a pretty pink hat box.
The kits will be available for purchase for the first time for brides-to-be and those who love them at the Calgary Wedding Fair in Calgary on January 25. After that they will be available from www.wineinthekitchen.com, as well as at select retail stores listed on the website.
In addition to her duties as a mom and Wine Girl, Rosar is also a partner in Vinestone Wine Company wine shop in Cochrane, Alberta and greatly in demand as a speaker. Her expertise and fun, informal approach to sharing it has led to many speaking engagements including Pajama Party events at The Fairmont Chateau, Lake Louise, The Canadian Women’s Expo in Toronto, The Cooking Room cooking school in Red Deer, Alberta, The Red Deer Women’s Conference, the Calgary Interior and Design Show and many other private and corporate events.
The first Wine in the Kitchen kit, called The Basics of Wine, is an introduction to sparkling, white, and red wines. Wine Girl is also planning future episodes on topics such as Wine and Chocolate and Wines of France. Like many fine wines, Wine Girl seems to be only getting better with time.
Find out more about Rosar at www.wgwines.com
REVIEW – A TASTING SENSATION
In Wine in the Kitchen: The Basics of Wine, accredited Sommelier Erin Rosar, aka Wine Girl, provides a very good introduction to the basics of wine by walking the viewer through an evening of tasting. Rosar’s goal is to show viewers that wine doesn’t have to be stuffy and nerve racking, and make people more comfortable with it by making it social. Emphasising throughout the 25-minute DVD that there is no right or wrong, only your own personal feelings about the wines, she explains the language those in the know use so the uninitiated know how to talk about their experiences with the wines they taste. Rosar explains how to taste and what to look (and smell) for. She also provides some history of wine, starting with the Egyptians 6,000 years ago, through the Renaissance when it became more refined, and up to the present day. Rosar’s clear enthusiasm for her subject is contagious, and her expertise delivered in such an informal manner make this DVD a surprisingly easy and fun way to learn about wine. The DVD, along with the complete kit, will be available for purchase for the first time at the Calgary Wedding Fair in Calgary on January 25. After that they will be available from www.wineinthekitchen.com as well as at select retail stores listed on the website. (MBT)
A taste of wine in the kitchen
Calgary sommelier Erin Rosar roped her family into sewing 600 black bags — each big enough to hold a wine bottle for blind tastings — for her latest project. And as if that wasn’t enough to keep them busy, she talked them into sharpening 10,000 pink pencils. Yes, you read that correctly.
“My children are experts at electric sharpeners,” she says with a laugh. “Luckily, they’ve been troopers about it.”
The project? Wine in the Kitchen, a bright pink box that contains everything you need to host a wine tasting at home. Each box contains six of the cloth bags, 10 (sharp!) pencils, a pad of tasting sheets, a host guide (with wine-buying tips), food pairing suggestions, a colour and aroma poster and a DVD of Rosar offering fun tasting tips and instructions. Just add wine, and you’re ready for a party.
(The kits cost $55 apiece at Nectar in Inglewood and at Vinestone in Cochrane. Or order online at wineinthekitchen.com,e-mail orders@wineinthekitchen.comor call 403-851-0635.) The idea for the kits came about last summer. At the time, Rosar, an award-winning sommelier and creator of Wine Girl (wgwines. com) couldn’t keep up with the requests for hosting wine tastings. Also the co-owner of Vinestone, she said she jokingly wished that she could clone herself.
So a DVD of her hosting a party came pretty close. With the kit, Rosar explains, people — even if they know very little about wine — can hold a tasting in their own homes.
“If people don’t feel confident enough to go to a wine class or into a shop yet, but they want to know more about wine, this is a good place to start,” she says.
Since the initial 600-bag sewing bee, Rosar has found a group of Calgary-based seamstresses who are now making the bags for her. Her family, at least for now, is off the hook.
“There was a time when I started to think maybe I should have used plastic bags,” she says with a laugh. “But you know, these bags are nice and they’re reusable.”
In fact, Rosar hopes to soon offer a wine trivia game and more DVDs, which will build on the initial kit. In the works are a beer and barbecue DVD, a food and wine-pairing DVD, as well as a wine and chocolate DVD.
“It’s such a cool story, the wine world . . . I just want people to open up and have fun and try it.”
sboettcher@theherald.canwest.com
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