Wine tasting with The Traveling Vineyard is now even more delicious!

It’s true! Wine tasting with The Traveling Vineyard is now even more delicious.

The Traveling Vineyard reintroduces a unique wine club program that is more convenient and rewarding than ever. Take a closer look at The Traveling Vineyard Wine Club.

Continue the Wine Adventures in your Home
Our redesigned Wine Club makes it easier than ever to sample more wines and SAVE:

• Earn 10% off all orders immediately.
• Earn 15% off all orders when you’ve been in the wine club 6 months or more.

Your discount continues for as long as you remain a member. As a member, you will also be eligible for special wine tasting event host rewards and receive “members-only” email offers.

A Gift for You: Expand your palate and discover new favorites with our exciting itinerary. It's an affordable way to experience the world's great wines while enriching your enjoyment of the winemaker's art.

A Gift for Others: Treat the wine lover in your life by giving our wine tasting experience. For weddings, birthdays, corporate gift-giving, it's the gift that keeps on giving!

There’s more to come

We will continue improving The Traveling Vineyard Wine Club program, introducing enhancements throughout the Fall and beyond to make the program richer and even more rewarding including wine travel partners.

This is an exciting time to be a member of The Traveling Vineyard Wine Club.

Do’s and Don’ts for Entertaining with Wine

If you’re entertaining with wine this summer, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Don’t:

• Don't store wine upright, as the cork needs to be kept moist.
• Don't fill your glass - you need to have room to swirl the wine to release the aromas.
• Don't store unfinished wine in the refrigerator door; the opening and closing motion fluctuates the temperature and ruins the wine.
• Don't get overwhelmed by food pairings; trust your instincts and your own taste.
• Don't run out of wine!

Do:

• Keep your wine out of direct sunlight.
• If you are grilling, make sure your red is not overly oaked; the combination of oak smoke and spices will overwhelm your taste buds.
• Chill your wine - especially the whites, though rosés and some reds (such as Beaujolais) benefit from some chilling, too.
• Keep a back-up corkscrew on hand - just in case!
• Bring a bottle of wine if you’re invited to a summer barbecue - make sure it’ll be a hit, bring a selection from The Traveling Vineyard Wine Club!

Party Up at a Backyard Wine Tasting!

There are so many ways to organize your wine tasting! Perhaps you’ll compare different vintage years … get a taste for different red or white varietals … pick a variety and taste how it differs from region to region … or simply pick the wines you like best!

In general, it’s best to start with white wines, then rosés or lighter reds and on to the heartier reds. Have your guests fill their glasses only one-quarter full, and they should rinse in between so that one wine isn’t affecting the flavors of the next one. Be sure to have ice buckets handy for guests to discard wine, and have plenty of water available. And limit your tasting to six or eight wines; it’s difficult for most aficionados to distinguish among a larger number.

If your friends are particularly sophisticated, you might even sponsor a blind tasting, simply by putting the wine into decanters—or the bottles into paper bags. Give your guests scorecards to record their impressions. And offer a door prize of a nice bottle of wine to the one who guesses best!

Most importantly, keep it simple. That’s what summer’s all about.
Learn More about Hosting a Wine Tasting!

Join us to Uncork the Possibilities!

The Traveling Vineyard Independent Wine Consultants are able to earn extra cash and combine their love of wine with building a financially rewarding business - on their own terms!

It's possible to:
• Gain the financial freedom you deserve
• Build a business and learn more about wine
• Achieve VIP trips to fabulous destinations
• Create a flexible schedule to suit your lifestyle
• Set your own goals and be your own boss

We’re Touring the Country this Spring
Come join us to Uncork the Possibilities!

June 1 Washington DC
June 3 Manchester NH
June 8 - 9 Atlanta GA
June 10 - 11 Savannah, GA
June 15 St Louis, MO
June 16 Naperville IL
June 17 Schaumburg IL
June 22 - 23 Oakland, CA
June 24 Sacramento, CA
June 25 - 26 San Diego, CA
June 27 Santa Barbara, CA
June 29 - 30 Dallas/Ft Worth, TX
July 1 Houston, TX
July 2 Austin, TX

Our Consultants Say...
"In addition to earning great money, the incentive trips are amazing. The Traveling Vineyard has taken me to Sonoma CA, Santa Barbara, Puerto Vallarta, Tuscany and I'll be going to Napa, CA this year. I work with other wonderful Wine Consultants and I’ve developed many close friendships along the way!"
Deb Nilan, Director and Independent Wine Consultant

Contact us for more details why now is the perfect time to become a wine Consultant.

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Did you know the world can't get enough wine?

"...Americans are already spending more on wine than any other nation. In 2007, the U.S. invested nearly $22 billion in wine purchases..."

U.S. could oust Italy as top wine drinker!
Global wine consumption, on the rise in past years, is forecast to continue to grow in the coming ones, with the United States overtaking Italy as the world's biggest consumer by 2012, according to a new report released Tuesday by the International Wine and Spirit Record.

The thirst for wine is set to deepen in emerging economies such as China and Russia, whose consumption levels are soon expected to overtake that of Spain, another nation historically associated with wine, the report said.

It predicted that the financial and economic crisis affecting many wine-consuming countries worldwide would only have "limited" consequences for the growth of the wine sector. The report forecast growth for the coming four years roughly in line with pre-crisis trends.

Global production and consumption are both expected to rise, the report said, with production expected to grow by 3.83 percent from 2008-2012 to slightly over 3 billion 2.4-gallon cases. World consumption is to grow at an even quicker pace -- 6 percent -- over 2008-2012, reaching 2.8 billion cases, the report said.

The report, commissioned by the Bordeaux, France-based Vinexpo wine body and presented at a news conference in Paris on Tuesday, predicted the United States would dethrone Italy to become the world's biggest consumer of non-sparkling wines by 2012.

read entire atricle


By JENNY BARCHFIELDASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Our Story - The Traveling Vineyard

It Started With a Passion for Wine!

Twenty years ago, our founders traveled far and wide on a quest to revolutionize the wine industry! Fueled by the belief that wine is an indulgence to be enjoyed without intimidation, they set out to demystify the process of wine tasting and selection. They tasted and rated fine wines, shared their tasting notes, offered the wine at an exceptional value and delivered directly to consumers.

In 2002, we revolutionized the wine industry again by training a team of traveling Wine Consultants to provide in-home Wine Tasting Events. Since its inception, The Traveling Vineyard has welcomed thousands of Wine Consultants to our team, offering quality, value, exclusivity and convenience to wine lovers nation wide!

Building on our strong reputation for quality and value, we have quickly become one of America's leading direct-to-consumer wineries, producing our own wines both in our Napa, California winery and with international partnerships that have developed over our twenty years experience in the industry.

On a continuous basis, our wine agents around the world seek to find or create these special wines. They taste hundreds of samples and send their best choices to our Wine Director, Francis Sanders in MA. Francis personally tastes each submitted wine and then selects from these samples, often adjusting the blend or other aspects of the wine. Collaborating with these wineries allows us to develop and deliver the most affordable wines to our loyal customers.

Our Award-Winning Wines

I can tell you firsthand what it’s like to be involved in a wine competition, and it ain’t pretty. First, you pick a wine or two or three that you’ve put your heart and soul into and really believe in. Then you submit it along with thousands of other winemakers who feel the same way about their wines. Then you wait … and wait … and wait … for a bunch of strangers to decide whether they think your wines are as good as you think they are.

It’s nerve-wracking.

I’m happy to tell you that, here at The Traveling Vineyard, we offer many wines—some of them exclusively—that have won medals at prestigious competitions, and we deliver these wines to your doorstep at unbeatable prices. But we don’t believe that an award is the only measure of a wine’s greatness. After all, we’ve earned our reputation by offering wines that offer a rare combination of superior quality and exceptional affordability.

So how do we select our wines? Our Associate Wine Directors, Peter van Hoof (Europe), Guy Davis (California), and Chris Brunck (Southern Hemisphere) carefully research the producers and winemakers in the regions they cover, then establish a personal relationship with those who meet their high standards. By going directly to the source instead of through a middleman, they can evaluate the winery and taste the wines personally, then send me their recommendations.

Sometimes we select the wine as is. Other times, we play a part in either modifying the bottle blend to meet the tastes of our loyal customers or creating an entirely new blend altogether. Some of our wines are sold under their original names, others bear our own exclusive labels. Either way, the partnerships we’ve developed with top boutique winemakers around the world make us unique in the marketplace—and ensure that our wines are right for the most discerning customer: you.

Still, we live in a world obsessed by competition, from the Academy Awards to dog shows to TV reality programs. The wine industry may seem glamorous, but it’s a tough business and very competitive.

Our Private Winning Brands

We know what wines are our favorites—and, more importantly, what wines are yours. That’s why we created our own proprietary seal of approval: our Signature Selection Series, a line of winning wines hailing from trusted producers that we regularly keep in stock. The producers of our Signature Selections offer their wines to us in limited quantities with no expensive advertising budget, so we can pass the savings on to you. These brands—which include several award winners—embody our philosophy of finding wines with depth and character at attractive prices. Put our Signature Selection Series to the test!

How the Best Was Won

We’ve earned our reputation by offering wines that offer a rare combination of superior quality and exceptional affordability.

American author William Gilmore Simms once said that the object of true criticism is “justly to discriminate, firmly to establish, wisely to prescribe, and honestly to award.” Whether or not that lofty ideal applies to such TV competitions as American Idol and Dancing with the Stars is debatable. In the wine world, however, awards do serve purposes similar to those Simms described: to reward excellence, encourage improvement—and also help the consumer make an informed choice. While there are innumerable wine competitions around the country and throughout the world, those you’ll find profiled on these pages are the ones to keep your eye out for.

The Best in the World: International Competitions

Concours des Grands Vins Paris. The most important competition in Europe is the Concours des Grands Vins Paris, which the sets the highest standards in the industry. Making the competition even stiffer is the fact that there are no multiple winners in this competition—only one wine claims the gold, silver, and bronze medals. If no wine meets the specific standards for an award, then no award is granted in that category that year.

The International Wine and Spirit Competition. As its name suggests, this prestigious annual event judges not just wines, but also spirits and liqueurs. The competition grew out of an event founded in 1969 by wine chemist Anton Massel, who mandated that all entries undergo chemical analysis as well as a tasting. In 1978, the name was changed, but an ongoing commitment to excellence remained. As in the Concours des Grands Vins Paris, only one award is given in each category.

World Wine Championships. It’s no coincidence that the World Wine Championships were founded in 1981—the same year as the Beverage Testing Institute (BTI). The BTI rates wines every weekday morning, and the World Wine Championships recognizes the wines with the highest BTI ratings over the course of each year. For more information about the BTI, see the sidebar below.

The Best in the U.S.: Domestic Competitions

San Francisco International Wine Competition. The brainchild of Bon Appétit magazine’s wine editor, Anthony Dias Blue, the San Francisco International Wine Competition has evolved into the largest and most prestigious wine competition in the country. Up to 40 judges evaluate more than 3,500 wines at the event, which is held annually in June.

San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Founded in 1983 as the Cloverdale Citrus Fair Wine Competition, the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition (SFCWC) today is acclaimed as the world’s largest competition strictly for American wines, with 4,235 entries in 2008 alone. The SFCWC is also an important culinary event, with proceeds benefiting the Santa Rosa Junior College Wine Studies Program and Culinary Arts Program.

Finger Lakes International Wine Competition. North America’s fast-growing wine competition and the top judging event on the East Coast, the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition is also the world’s largest charitable event of its kind, with net proceeds benefiting Camp Good Days and Special Times, Inc.—a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of children with cancer and AIDS. More than 2,000 wines from the U.S. and around the world are entered in the event.

New World International Wine Competition. Established in 1990 by the late Jerry D. Meade, the New World International Wine Competition was founded to help wineries publicize their wines and to help consumers make an informed purchase. The event is open to all wines produced in the New World (North, South, and Central America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) and judges wines against peers within the same price category. As many as 2,400 wines have been entered in this event.

Meet the Press

More and more, the wine press doesn’t just report on the leading wine competitions—they even hold their own. Here’s how some leading journals have gone into making news about wine instead of simply covering it.

Decanter World Wine Awards. One of the first publications to enter the fray is the U.K.’s Decanter magazine, which began its own annual wine competition in 2004 in an effort to, in the magazine’s own words, “provide credible recommendations for today's wine consumer.” Wines are judged on the basis of pricing and quality, and, with awards given by region in order to promote diversity, the concept of terroir (matching the grape to its ideal soil and climate) is celebrated. Regional winners then compete for the international trophy for their category.

Wine Spectator Restaurants Awards Program. Even restaurants can win a wine award. The Wine Spectator magazine holds an annual Restaurant Awards Program, which presents awards based on a restaurant’s wine list. The program does not evaluate the restaurant as a whole, but rather those whose wine lists are interesting, well matched to their cuisine and appealing to a wide clientele. The appearance and presentation of the list are taken into account in the judging, and all wines on the list must include accurate (and correctly spelled) information regarding vintage, appellation and the name of the producer. Restaurants vie for one of these three awards:
· Award of Excellence
· Best of Award of Excellence
· Grand Award

Putting Wines to the (Taste) Test:
The Beverage Testing InstituteFounded in 1981, the Beverage Testing Institute (BTI) lays claim to being America’s only fully independent wine review and marketing service. The BTI is guided by a mission of providing consumers with fair and impartial reviews of wine, beer, and spirits. Beverages are scored on a 100-point scale, based on blind tastings conducted in the institute’s Chicago lab by highly experienced industry experts, writers, and buyers. The BTI also hosts the World Wine Championships. For more information about the BTI, visit www.tastings.com.


Visit www.TTVstore.com for wine selections

What’s In Your Vinegar, Anyhow?

Whether you’re cooking a killer BBQ chicken or a really mean steak, red wine vinegar is a key component to any marinade. Have you ever wondered if the quality of the wine used to make the vinegar impacted the overall quality of the vinegar in the end?

Red wine vinegars are made from a variety of wine grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir—and even the less expensive Concord-type grapes used to make Welch’s grape juice. Vinegar aging (not the wine aging) is done via two methods: the Orleans method of natural aging, which takes months or even years, or the acetator method, in which the vinegar can be made by machine using a bacteria in 24 hours.

Cook’s Illustrated conducted a recent test to determine whether it was the wine grapes or the aging of the vinegar that determined the overall quality of the vinegar. They learned that Americans prefer sweeter vinegar, which is often derived from the Concord-type grapes. They also determined that the type of aging did not affect the overall quality. In other words, less expensive supermarket brands of vinegar are actually quite competitive.

The Traveling Vineyard - Featured on The Today Show

No boys allowed! Save cash on a girls’ night in
Add wine, movies and games for an inexpensive, grown-up slumber party
excerpt: Womens Health April. 2, 2009

The economy is falling and your mood may be too when your weekend plans seem to be limited by your thin wallet. But you don't have to go out and spend $200 to have fun. In fact, all it takes is a few of your friends and some creativity to update your favorite activity when you were a little girl: a slumber party.

Not only will you save some dough; you'll also finally have a cool excuse to get into your comfy clothes on a Friday or Saturday evening. Here are four ideas that will cover you from food to fun at your next girl's night in.

1. Menu Wine: Every girls' night has to start with the right menu. Start with the beverages: Want to try a wine tasting but don't have the cash to travel? Host a tasting room in your own living room with The Traveling Vineyard.

A wine consultant will come to your home with a selection of five high-quality, affordable wines for you and your friends to sample.

They'll also offer tips on food pairings and the steps of wine tasting, including evaluating the color, body, and bouquet of each wine. At the end of the session, the wines that you enjoyed can be ordered from The Traveling Vineyard through a form provided by the wine consultant...
WATCH VIDEO!

Uncorking Great Ideas

Hold it! Don’t throw that cork away. It’s becoming quite a precious commodity.

Harvested from the bark of cork trees, a genus of oak, the cork you find in wine bottles is prized for being porous, which allows subtle oxidation of maturing wine, as well as the slightly oaky flavor it imparts over time. Demand for cork, which spiked during the 1980s, may be blamed in part for its diminished quality, rushing the harvesting of a bark that thickens adequately only once every nine years or so. Lower-quality corks are more apt to crumble, deteriorate or dry out, and contaminants may occur any time during the production process—from before harvesting to long after bottling.

Help save the cork! There’s plenty you can do with them rather than drop them into the wastebasket. Put them in a glass container for show (or for reference if you can’t remember the label!). Use them as inlay for trays and trivets. Slice the side, and you’ve got a dandy placecard holder. Use them to protect the tips of knives or to store pushpins or safety pins. Glue them to the top of an old CD, and you’ve got a coaster—or you can give an eye-catching new look to the surface of your picnic table! Not only will you be doing something fun and creative, by recycling you’ll also be doing something good for the environment.

Tell us your favorite craft with wine corks!

Shop Wine Accessories at http://www.ttvstore.com/

The Traveling Vineyard

At The Traveling Vineyard, we are passionate about wine! That is why it is our mission to demystify the wine tasting and buying process by offering fun and informative in-home wine tasting events! We invite you to explore your palate for wine and enjoy a wine tasting lesson just like those offered at vineyards and wineries around the world!

We know that everyone enjoys having fun and socializing with friends, tasting and learning about delicious wines and getting a great value on the products they love! That's why we trained a team of traveling Wine Consultants to bring the tasting room to your living room, complete with five full bottles of our exclusive wine to enjoy with your guests - for free!

Turn Your Passion For Wine Into a Rewarding Career With The Traveling Vineyard! http://www.myttv.com/