Showing posts with label storage. Show all posts

Which wine, which wine...

As part of the Virgin Wine Club, we periodically receive a knock on the door and welcome a large, heavy box into the house. It's always fun to receive something in the mail, but its especially fun when it's a collection of wines and you get to discover the names, regions and recommended pairings for each.

{l&l} at home - aged oak wine storage cabinet - image by lb for linenandlavender.blogspot.com post: "Which wine, which wine..." - http://www.linenandlavender.blogspot.com/2013/11/which-wine-which-wine.html

As we put the wine away in our oak wine cabinet or wine refrigerator, we make custom wood tags for each bottle...

{l&l} at home - wood labels used for wine bottle labeling - image by lb for linenandlavender.blogspot.com post: "Which wine, which wine..." - http://www.linenandlavender.blogspot.com/2013/11/which-wine-which-wine.html

...On one side of the tag we write the vineyard, variety, vintage and number of bottles (e.g. 1 of 2...2 of 2...).

On the other side we write a taste description and recommended pairings.

{l&l} at home - wood labels indicating flavor notes, recommended food pairings - image by lb for linenandlavender.blogspot.com post: "Which wine, which wine..." - http://www.linenandlavender.blogspot.com/2013/11/which-wine-which-wine.html

The time we spend up-front getting the wine organized and labeled this way takes the pressure off when it comes to selecting the perfect wine for waiting guests or any time we just want to try something that pairs well with whatever meal we're making -(or vice-versa too...sometimes we start with the wine to get inspiration for dinner.)

Another way to determine which category wine bests fit your mood or situation is this fun wine chart (an adapted version of one we received via our wine club.) Try it out by starting at "What time is it?" answering the questions, and following the lines to the recommended category of wine.

What time is it? - a wine chart based on Virgin Wines version, adapted by ab for linenandlavender.blogspot.com post: "Which wine, which wine..." - http://www.linenandlavender.blogspot.com/2013/11/which-wine-which-wine.html

For the Love of Italy

FOR THE LOVE OF ITALY

Rural Pleasures and Hotel Estates

by Marella Caracciolo

Photography: Oberto Gili

The pleasures of farm life, as most of the people featured in this book can tell you, are found in the details of everyday living: the smells, the tastes, the long walks in the woods; picking berries in summer, seeking mushrooms in winter; being aware of the sun and the moon at all time of day and night. Sitting in front of a crackling fire, sipping a glass of wine, and cooking chestnuts on the burning coals.

—excerpt, For the Love of Italy, Rural Pleasures and Hotel Estates

More images from Oberto Gili:

See more of Oberto Gili's work
(including a tour of his own studio and home)
in his book:

Home Sweet Home

Sumptuous and Bohemian Interiors

Gili's passion for the grand, bold and quirky granted him access to the inner sanctums of both high society and the bohemian demimonde. The selection includes numerous homes of French and Italian nobility, lords of the European and American creative class, and the photographer's own remarkable Piedmont farmhouse. –excerpt from the publisher

The images that I am now realizing in the studio... sixty nature-fantasy plates of fruits, flowers, vegetables, and the female form, mixed with tropical insects and butterflies — is a book on natural history for kids and grown-ups, Mon jardin, monde enchant, by André Grangeon (1948) that my mother gave me when I was five years old. I am using the gum bi-chromate printing method, a nineteenth-century technique for creating a painterly color image from a black-and-white negative. It is a combination of two media, camera and brush, and the joint work of the eyes and the hands. —Oberto Gili (excerpt from Home Sweet Home, Sumptuous and Bohemian Interiors)

images 1-5 For the Love of Italy; 6-10: Oberto Gili website; 11: Home Sweet Home

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visit our new site:

www.linenlavenderlife.com

Advice from a French Grandmother...

firewood, image via A Well Kept Home, as seen on linenandlavender.blogspot.com, post: http://www.linenandlavender.blogspot.com/2011/11/advice-from-french-grandmother.html

"It is not necessary to hide your reserve of winter logs. Crude wood gives a different aspect to this dignified room, evoking a Venetian palace." ~excerpt from A Well Kept Home, Household Traditions and Simple Secrets from a French Grandmother

image via Côté Sud Magazine Dec 05-0Jan06 issue, as seen on linenandlavender.blogspot.com, post: http://www.linenandlavender.blogspot.com/2011/11/advice-from-french-grandmother.html

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Côté Sud Aout Sept 2008 as seen on linenandlavender.blogspot.com, post: http://www.linenandlavender.blogspot.com/2011/11/advice-from-french-grandmother.html

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image via Côté Sud Magazine Dec 2001-Jan 2002 as seen on linenandlavender.blogspot.com, post: http://www.linenandlavender.blogspot.com/2011/11/advice-from-french-grandmother.html

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image via Côté Sud Magazine Dec 2006-Jan 2007 as seen on linenandlavender.blogspot.com, post: http://www.linenandlavender.blogspot.com/2011/11/advice-from-french-grandmother.html

image via Côté Sud Magazine Dec 2003-Jan 2004 as seen on linenandlavender.blogspot.com, post: http://www.linenandlavender.blogspot.com/2011/11/advice-from-french-grandmother.html

image via Côté Sud Magazine Dec 2000-Jan 2001 as seen on linenandlavender.blogspot.com, post: http://www.linenandlavender.blogspot.com/2011/11/advice-from-french-grandmother.html

There is no place more delightful than one's own fireplace. ~Cicero 106 BC-43BC

image via Côté Sud Magazine Fev-Mar 2003 as seen on linenandlavender.blogspot.com, post: http://www.linenandlavender.blogspot.com/2011/11/advice-from-french-grandmother.html

"In the autumn and winter months, we strongly recall the smoky burn of leaves and firewood. Accordingly, a priority for many of us when we imagine our ideal home is a fireplace. The hearth is a symbol central to a family's functioning, retooled for comfort and leisure. Today we come together at the hearth, and at the first crackle of fuel set ablaze, we settle into the iconic smell of cold weather—flame on wood. And like all nostalgia of scent, we name the experience: Home." ~Louis Sagar, excerpt from Zona Home