Oenophiles mark your calendars for October 23: wine mystic Robert Parker will host an exclusive tasting featuring Bordeaux wines from 2005, what Parker says is "the greatest vintage produced during my thirty year career." For $2,000 per person ($1,000 of which is a charitable donation toward Culinary Institute scholarships), tasters will sample 18 wines, including all five of the Premiers Grand Crus from the Left Bank, which are currently priced at $75,000 a case.

Check out Robert Parker's website to learn more about the wines he favors and to search over 100,000 tasting notes from Parker's extensive database.

If you've been waiting to get a taste of the much revered wine from Burgundy but through lack of opportunity or funding you have missed out, do not delay your registration for Le Paulée Grand Burgundy tasting taking place in San Francisco on March 1st. Although $300 to attend, the long list of current releases available that day will treat your passion for wine to an event it will never forget. If you have a penchant for vintage Burgundy, than by all means, sign up for the Gala Dinner following the evening tasting, but it will cost you more. Typically an event for New Yorkers, west coast oenophiles will be delighted by the return of the Burgundies and a most memorable event for its second year.

Another pairing of good wines and good causes, the Tour de Champagne has been a Washington D.C. annual event for eight years. Now the event has expanded to seven more cities: Atlanta, Houston, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, New York and Miami. The Tour de Champagne is an evening of 70 champagnes from over 20 producers paired with fine foods from local chefs. The event also features a silent auction to benefit a local non-profit organization. General-admission tour tickets are $100 and VIP tickets, which are $135, include admission to a hospitality suite, a gift bag and food treats, as well as a tasting of cognacs. The event at the Hotel Derek in Houston is being held tonight.

[via Houston Chronicle]

It would seem that NASCAR isn't just for the Budweiser-drinking, pickup-truck-driving, blue collar folk the stereotypes would have you think.

It's a dream-come-true for any sports fan -- get picked up in a limo, shuttled to the venue by helicpter, led on tours before the event of the pit and garages, then maybe take a trip or two around the track yourself. Then you're rushed up to a private suite overlooking the track by some 80 feet, where you dine on professionally-catered food and drink, trying not to grin like an idiot as the rumble of the vehicles buzzes the floor beneath your feet. Only the best for those who can afford it.

And afford it they do. Not only are luxury boxes available, but several tracks have condominium suites, featuring 8' x 25' windows with a view of the track, complete with bedrooms and baths to the tune of just $23,000 per weekend. NASCAR teams and even drivers own a few of these condos, while corporations and well-to-do fans own the rest.

Even without the condo, life can be good for NASCAR fans depending on the location of the race. The Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, for example, offers up the perfect opportunity for a wine tour and spa package after the checkered flag falls.

[Source: MSNBC]

The Flagstaff House Restaurant which overlooks Boulder, Colorado is hosting a wine tasting dinner with Michael Silacci the winemaker for Opus One Winery on April 7. Executive Chef and Partner Mark Monette will prepare five courses from Flagstaff House menu matched with Opus One wines. The feast begins with hors d' oeuvres and Gosset "Grand Rose" Brut NV Champagne, then a salad of baby arugula and cured salmon with the Cakebread Sauvingon Blanc 2003, next up is a pheasant breast, crispy noodle wrapped with ragout of braised cabbage and pheasant with the 1984 and 1994 Opus One, followed by the chef's version of steak and eggs  with the1995 Opus One and finally a buffalo fillet and foie gras Wellington with black trumpet mushrooms and a sweet onion tart with a sauce of black truffles partnered with the 2002 Opus One. Leave room for dessert, it's a Valrohna chocolate strudel served with 1994 Dow Vintage Port. This impressive meal costs $175 and space is limited.

LifeTips has a great section dedicated to the storage of wine. Pretty much every topic is touched upon from building your own wine rack to wine cellar cooling tips. Some quick and important storing tips to keep in mind: keep bottles on their sides, store where there is little temperature fluctuation, high humidity is important for long term storage, and pay attention to the age worthiness of your wine before they go past their prime. Keep in mind wine cellars are not just meant to only be pleasing to the eye, but they must be just as functional as they are attractive. The need for a vapor barrier is commonly ignored when your designer doesn’t have the necessary knowledge of wine.

A recent Sotheby’s Fine & Rare Wines auction at New Bond Street, London ended yesterday. A particular sale that caught my eye was Lot 12, Chateau Petrus 1982. Hammer price was at about 23,036 US dollars. An ultimate collectors wine, Petrus comes from a small 28.4 acre vineyard named in honor of St. Peter. It is the only site where topsoil and subsoil are composed almost entirely of heavy clay rich in iron. Ironically clay is typically unsuitable for high-quality wines, as it tends to get water logged. Fermented in cement vats, the wine is aged in completely new oak barrels for 22 to 28 months, and right before bottling it is clarified with five fresh egg whites per barrel (they don’t filter). Sotheby’s notes of developed color with great character in the nose of prunes and spices. Licorice with sweet gummy definition and some sweet aniseed. Pruney finish with mocha as it lingers on the palate. At 10 bottles in the lot, average cost per bottle is $2,304.