Category Archives: Product & Service Reviews

As you know, from time to time I get products to review. As you also know, I am a wine enthusiast. So you can just imagine how thrilled I was when I was asked to receive a sample shipment from the Gold Medal wine of the month club. The Gold Medal Wine Club features wines from small-production vineyards – no mass-market stuff. Immediately my interest was piqued. When I received my shipment via FedEx, I immediately noticed how well-packaged the wines were. They were snugly placed in protective Styrofoam wine shippers. There was no way the bottles were going to clang around, even during a bumpy ride. The Styrofoam shipper was then placed in a tight-fitting box. Having worked in the wine and liquor biz, and having received other wine samples for writing assignments, I’ve seen packaging from good to bad to ugly, and I was very happy with the quality and care placed into getting these wines from California to New York. The bottles themselves were wrapped with tissue paper and a bow. Also included in the shipment was a gift card and a newsletter. The newsletter contained tasting notes and details on the wines in this shipment. Since I usually end up checking out the vineyard’s Web site any time I try a bottle, I was happy to get the information at a glance without even having to boot up my laptop. Nice presentation, all around.

But now on to the important stuff, right? The wines. In my shipment I received a bottle of Bradford Mountain Grist Vineyard Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel 2004 and a bottle of Belvedere Russian River Valley Chardonnay Sonoma County 2005. Both of these bottles are higher-end offerings from both vineyards. The Bradford Zin retails for around $35 and the Belvedere Chard retails for around $20. Both of these wines are classic California — full flavor, big oak. My husband and I were pleased with both of them. The nose on the Chard is delicious, toasty almond. After a few swirls the fruit starts to come up, but the oak doesn’t retreat. There’s a bit of honeysuckle there too, but it’s subtle. On the palate, this Chard is all wood with a bit of spice and butter at the end. It had a nice mouthfeel and a medium finish. Don’t get the impression that this is over-oaked — not at all. The oak is gentle and well-integrated.

The Bradford Mountain Grist Vineyard Zin also would be considered “big oak,” but really it’s a classic example of a great Zinfandel. Cedar and dark fruit on the nose with the tiniest bit of anise showing up to the party. Right out of the bottle, the wine is totally wood-dominated, but after about 20 minutes, the fruit started to come through. I think that if I had decanted the bottle it would have helped. The wine needed some time to open up but when it did – wow! It also was a star with the filet mignon we ate with it. The wine could benefit from a little time in the bottle — it’s a little young, I think so I’m interested in getting another bottle and holding off for a few years. But it shows a lot of promise and with time I think the fruit will come out a bit more.

The sample subscription I got was from the Gold Tier, which costs between $39-$43 per shipment. Considering the retail value of the wines I received, I think it’s a great deal and I’m actually considering joining. This is definitely a club for true wine lovers — the wines have a lot of character and aren’t the typical mass-market bottles you’re going to find at every Liquorama-type box store. A subscription would be a great gift idea for someone who isn’t afraid of trying different wines and prefers to drink “boutique” wines (like me!). The choices were great, the packaging was top-notch, and the newsletter was informative and interesting. All in all, I was really impressed with everything about the Gold Medal Wine Club.

You all know that I have a weakness for kitchen gadgets, so when I was sent a microwave bacon cooker to use and review, I couldn’t wait to try it out! I often cook bacon in the microwave, just out of convenience, but one drawback is all the grease that soaks into the paper towels. Let’s face it — it’s really gross. The CrispyClean® Bacon Broiler solves this problem. It does an excellent job of cooking the bacon in the microwave 1) without burning it (a problem I often encounter when nuking bacon the regular way) and 2) by allowing all the grease to drip down to the bottom of the cooker so it’s not in the bacon.

The device was really easy to use. It came with instructions that were simple to follow. You can see all the basic steps in the image here. (By the way, if you want to view the images in details, just click on the mosaic and it will take you to my Flickr stream where you can view the individual photos.) I placed the bacon over the vanes, attatched the lid, lowered it into the cooker, secured the lid, and microwaved the unit for four minutes. The result? Absolutely perfect bacon, ready for my BLT! I think that because the bacon is almost “steamed” it keeps it from burning easily. Yet the result was still crispy! My husband and I were both amazed at how much grease was at the bottom of the container — of course, that was good and meant it wasn’t in the bacon. No other method of cooking that we’ve tried has rendered so much fat out of the bacon. It was pretty impressive.

I really liked this gadget, but I did have one concern. The plastic seemed to be a little “thin” for lack of a better word. I think the product could possibly benefit from a higher grade of plastic. I’m sure that would make it a bit more expensive, but I would be willing to pay for that if it meant higher quality. I’m not saying this was low-quality! Not at all. It’s just that with all that we hear about microwaving food in plastic containers, I’d rather use one that is a bit sturdier.

However, I think that the benefits outweigh this slight negative and this is a brand-new invention, so it might not even be a concern in the future. To my knowledge, it’s the only completely self-contained bacon cooker out there. There’s no grease splattered around the inside of your microwave, the bacon was incredibly tasty, and it was probably better for you than traditional cooking methods. The CrispyClean® Bacon Broiler retails for 14.95 plus $5.00 shipping and handling. Or you can purchase a twin pack for $24.95 plus $5.00 shipping and handling. Visit baconcleanlycooked.com for more info.