It’s happened to all of us. The anticipation of opening a new bottle of wine that you’ve probably been looking forward to for awhile, only to have the cork break in the process of opening it. Naturally, there’s an onslaught of emotions, ranging from rage, to panic, to sadness and hopelessness; at least if you take your wine as seriously as we do.

First step? Dry your eyes and take a deep breath. It’s probably going to be ok, unless you end up like us, desperately trying to open a bottle of wine in a hotel room with cheap bottle openers:

Yes, that’s two broken bottle openers stuck in the cork. It took pliers to open once we got home.

While we don’t recommend a cheap bottle opener, we’re talking about something different. We’re talking about a cork breaking inside the neck of the bottle. It happens and it absolutely sucks.

First things first. If the cork isn’t broken too far down, we recommend giving it a second go with your bottle opener but pull it out a bit gentler this time. If the cork is long enough, it should come out with no problems. If it’s not, its time to get creative.

The first reaction is to get something sharp and try to pull the cork out or push it in. While an ice pick will work, it might not be the best idea, especially if you are opening your second (or third…) bottle or are clumsy in general. For obvious reasons. A simple (and safe) alternative to a sharp object would be a wooden spoon handle, or some other type of long stemmed handle to give the cork a good push into the bottle. Be prepared that some of the pressure might force some of the wine to spray out of the bottle a bit (at least speaking from experience).

Now that you have freed your wine (at last!), you’ll want to get it out of the bottle. To create your own homemade strainer, you’ll need cheesecloth and a rubber band. If you don’t have any cheesecloth, you can easily use an unbleached coffee filter in it’s place. This will filter out all the little broken cork pieces that are inevitably floating in your wine.

Everyone has different methods for saving their wine but we recommend just going ahead and drinking it. Isn’t that just easier? We think so.

If all of this seems daunting to you, it might be best to stick to twist tops.

As a precaution, once you have the cork pushed into the bottle or removed, it’s best to smell the wine. If it smells wrong and tastes a bit funny, there may have been a problem with the corking process like a bad or old cork. If that’s the case, it might be a good idea to just cut your losses with this particular bottle. Better safe than sorry, or in the worst case scenario, unable to enjoy that particular wine again.

We hope this helps at least one person save their trapped wine.

If you have any other tips about broken corks or even any tips you’d like us to cover, please let us know in the comments!

Cheers!

There is one other thing we love as much as wine and that is spa treatments! If you love these things too and live in the San Diego area you don’t want to miss the Wine & Spa event at Fifty Seven Degrees hosted by Spaphile.

Fifty Seven Degrees is a retail wine store and wine tasting bar in Mission Hills. They offer an excellent wine selection, high quality services, and a knowledgeable staff. It is located at: 1735 Hancock Street, San Diego CA 92101.

On Saturday, July 23, 2011 from 3-7pm, you will enjoy complimentary spa services, $5 wine specials, tasty bites, giveaways and more!

RSVP to events@spaphile.com or on the Facebook event page.

Spaphile is a daily newsletter and deal site designed specifically for the health, wellness, and beauty community. Each week Spaphile will offer a specific service from a highlighted spa/salon at a discounted rate.

This weekend we went to Bernardo Winery for a wine tasting. It is hidden amongst the homes and golf course in Rancho Bernardo (an area of San Diego County) and is favorite of the locals. The 121 years old winery has been family owned for 3 generations. It is fully functioning and best known for its red wines, which is what we focused our tasting on. Our wine steward, Carleen, poured us Bernardo Winery’s 6 red wines before and after aeration:

2006 Burgundy
This is the family favorite and both of us could taste why! Before and after aeration the wine was very easy to drink. The flavor was smooth and fruity. The alcohol was not overwhelming leaving a great after taste.

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon
This was Miss’ personal favorite. Before aeration the wine has an incredibly strong flavor. Cherry and eucalyptus stood out. After aeration the wine was much smoother. This would be wonderful slightly chilled and served with a nice summer dinner out on the patio.

2006 Merlot
Before being aerated the wine was very dry and earthy. We could feel alcohol burn in our chests and our mouths physically felt dry. After aeration the wine completely changed. It tasted lighter and fruitier. This would go great with a cheese platter.

2009 Meritage – Private Reserve
The first thing both of us notices was the scent. Eucalyptus mingled with the grape. Just breathing it in made us both relaxed. The color is rich and clear. The taste of the wine didn’t change with aeration. It was delicious before and after. It is simply a beautiful wine!

2009 Primitivo – Private Reserve
This wine smelled like a chianti, but the taste is much sweeter. It was quite strong before aeration. After aeration the flavor and sweetness smoothed out. This wine would go great with a very rich dinner.

2006 Estate Syrah – Private Reserve
Both of us agreed that this wine was worth the wait. We appreciate a good Syrah, and this is a GREAT Syrah! Aeration didn’t make much of a difference to the smooth flavor. It was fruity and just sweet enough that you can drink this on its own or with a light meal. This wine is so good, I purchased a bottle to take home!

The Tasting Room is open Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm, and on Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 6pm. It is $8 for 5 tastes.

When we finished our tasting of the Bernardo Winery reds, Carlene was kind enough to pour us a glass of champagne. This champagne is light, not too sweet or fruity, and has just the right amount of bubbles. It is the kind of champagne you could drink a lot of and not wake up with a raging headache. It was so refreshing, on a nice summer day, after drinking all of that red wine.

One of the best things about Bernardo Winery is the Winery Village. Because the village is on the winery property we were able to sip our glasses of bubbly while we explored. We watched a glass blowing class at Stone & Glass Studio, peeked in on the set up of a wedding at Rosario’s, wandered into the Barrel Room and grabbed bagels at the Sweet Pea Coffee Cottage. Our personal favorite is the Sweet Shoppe because they will give you a sample of chocolate perfectly paired to the wine you are drinking. This shop also carries a line of chocolates that will tell you what wines it should be paired with.

Every Friday, from 9am-noon, Bernardo Winery hosts a Farmers’ Market. Every Sunday (from March through November) there is live jazz on the Tasting Room Patio. Follow Bernardo Winery on Twitter and Facebook for more information about their upcoming events.

We love Bernardo Winery and plan on returning to do a tasting of their white wines and have lunch at Cafe Merlot.

This tasting was made possible thanks to great deal we found on Groupon for Bernardo Winery. All statements are our opinion and our opinion only.

We are so happy to have our good friend and amazing dad Marco as a contributor for us, just in time for Fathers Day . He reviewed some amazing wine apps for us and we hope you enjoy them!

Happy Fathers Day from 2 Hot Bloggers!!

In between diaper changes and feedings, there isn’t much time to enjoy my wine.  So when I was asked to contribute to 2HotBloggers, I jumped at the opportunity to not only write about a couple of wine apps, but also to drink a little wine! Thank you 2HotBloggers!

With so many apps to choose from I decided to concentrate on two apps and whether you are  just starting to drink wine or a serious drinker with a well developed palate, one of these two will do the trick.

CORKBIN (Android and Apple) $.99

Ease of Use
Whether I’m at a friend’s house or at a restaurant, I much rather prefer spending my time drinking and socializing and much less time handling my smart-phone and for that reason Corkbin ,with its easy, simple and clean interface immediately became a favorite.

After snapping a picture of the label there’s room for a limited amount of information below so making a quick entry to ‘My Bin’ between sips  is effortless.

Glossary
Ever hear the word ‘Jammy’ come out of a sommelier at a restaurant and wonder if the wine came from Knotts Berry Farm? With it’s handy glossary under the ‘Extras’ menu now you’ll know that it refers to a wine that’s intensely heavy in fruit…come to think of it…I still think about Knotts Berrry Farm.

Food Pairing
Just picked up a bucket of KFC and was wondering what wine would go well with it? No? Just me? Alright, well walking into a BevMo or local wine shop can feel overwhelming due to the hundreds of wines on the shelf and asking an employee which wine will go well with a bucket of extra crispy might get you escorted off the premises (well it should anyway).  Now you can either pair the food to the wine or the wine to the food with Hello Vino’s highly regarded pairing service offered under the ‘Extras’ menu. BTW a good Sauvignon Blanc goes well with KFC….trust me.

Social Media
For those that share way too much about (y)our lives there’s also easy interaction between Corkbin to Facebook and Twitter plus a quick link to the Corkbin Blog.  I also found a free Hello Vino podcast on iTunes!

I would HIGHLY recommend this as the first wine app you purchase if you’re just getting started as a vino aficionado.  The only function missing from the app IMHO is the lack of ability to find individual wine reviews.

You can get Corkbin at the Apple App Store for your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, here and the Android App Store here.

Swirl Pro (Android) ($3.99)

Ease of Use
If you judge a wine by its label, you’re going to miss out on some awesome wines.  So don’t judge Swirl Pro by its initial look.  I know it lacks the “pretty” that Corkbin has but it’s what inside that counts.  It isn’t necessary to enter a picture to get started, unlike Corkbin.  Instead under you get started right away with all the wine details right down to the Region where the wine comes from. The ability to add a picture through the camera plus additional Notes and Tags allow for the most comprehensive review of the any wine. Once the wine information is entered the application presents you withfood pairing information!

Glossary
Although there is no discernible Glossary, there is a ‘Varietals’ pseudo glossary that once initialized presents you with all the information you could want about the wine grapes used to make the specific varietal. (There is no varietal for Boone’s Farm! It’s an Apple Wine…true story.) Plus a link to the Wikipedia page for the varietal. Awesome for us information junkies.  There is also Food Pairing information for the varietal withing thumb’s reach!  Easy right?

Search Ability
Swirl Pro’s search ability allows you to search from thousands of wines at Snooth.com, displaying  individual context on the wines and reviews!  This is great information especially if there’s a bottle of 2003 Rombauer Zinfandel at your local store selling for $40 and you’re tempted to buy it only to find out later that you paid $40 more than you should have on that particular vintage.

Under $20
Lets face it, money’s tight nowadays so if you could find a delicious highly rated red or white wine for under $20 we’d take it and any app that can recommend and provide such wines at your fingertips is already paying for itself. Spend the other $20 on dinner or gas or diapers!

This is one powerful application, perfect for you serious drinkers/collectors/snobs and I know you could get a couple bottles of 2 buck chuck for the price of the app but the amount of flexibility offered is incredible and worth the $4 you’re going to spend. It would take me several days to review ALL the options available with Swirl Pro but sadly I’ve got diapers to change and babies to feed so if you want to give it a go there’s Swirl Free available with limited functionality.

You can get Swirl Pro in the Android Market here.

Whichever you choose, you really can’t go wrong.  I am hooked on both so I’m keeping both, my ADHD commands it so.

Cheers!

Have you ever been to a wine festival? This weekend I went to my first one … the Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival. This festival featured local Temecula wineries who were offering up their award winning wines or showing off their newest vintage. For $20 I got a souvenir wine glass and 9 tastes of my choice of wine.

As you know I prefer red wine, but at events like this I like to branch out. Here are the wines that really stood out to me:

Santa Maria Cellars
Amoroso
It was very sweet. Reminded me of a port. I wouldn’t drink it with dinner or while eating chocolate. Best to pair with strong cheeses.

Lorimar Vineyards & Winery
Duet 2008 Cabernet-Mourverde
I don’t usually like the heavy oak flavor of Cabernets, but having it blended with a Mourverde seemed to soften the wine. This wine could be paired with steak or ribs.

Thornton Winery
2007 Cabernet-Merlot
This was a very oaky and full bodied wine. Not a wine I would personally choose to drink, but it was very good.

Wilson Creek Winery & Vineyard
Almond Champagne
Delicious! I love champagne and this reminded me why. It was sweet and flavorful. It didn’t feel too bubbly that I would end up with hiccups and a headache after a few glasses. This would be a perfect summer afternoon drink with fruit and cheese.

Finally, I discovered Lumiere Winery. Their Sauvignon Blanc Late Harvest is amazing! It has so much flavor for white wine. It one I could drink like I do red wine. What has me very interested in this winery is the white Merlot they are currently bottling. I am hoping they let us do a vlog tasting of it.

So, if you hear of a wine festival near you I recommend you go. If you are a new wine drinker it will allow you to compare many types of wines at one times to help them find what wine varietals they like.