Vinewords

I’ve seen a few people talking about how great Spotify is lately, so I decided to sign up for an invite a few days ago. I got that invite today, so I’ve been playing with the app a lot today. It’s a pretty cool service, there are an amazing amo9unt of songs available. I found things today for some of my favorite artists that I hadn’t even known existed before. The crux of it though, is that you have to know what you want to listen to. If you’re hoping for a Pandora type experience, then you’re out of luck. But if you’re in the mood for something in particular and just want that, this is amazing.

A friend gave me a great suggestion today, to use the two services in conjunction with each other. If you’re listening to Pandora and come across a new artist, you can switch over to Spotify and listen to more of their music. Seems like a good idea to me.

If you want to get an invite to the free service (there’s also a premium service that gives you offline and mobile options), head over to this website http://www.spotify.com/us/hello-america/. It seems to be taking about a week to get your invite, so the sooner you get on the list, the better. In the meantime, go listen to Pandora and keep a list of the new artists you want to hear more of. Right now I’m checking out Florence and the Machines discography.

I came across this set and just had to share it. it’s a 3-piece cleaning kit for wine glasses. They’re made of a soft foam that won’t chip or scratch your glasses. There’s one for flutes, goblets, and even decanters.

After washing a set of each tonight, I see the immense value in these! Check it out at http://www.after5catalog.com/product_info.php/cPath/1_6_14/products_id/65

I came across this gadget tonight, and thought it was really interesting. The Clef-du-Vin is a device used to simulate aging in wine. For every one second you hold it in a glass, it “ages” the wine a year. Seems like an odd device right? But it can be helpful in determining what wines will age well, and even allowing you to drink wines that may otherwise be too young to drink.

The process has something to do with the type of alloy the Clef-du-Vin is made out of, and how it influences oxidation in the wine. I’ll be honest, I read the press materials on their website, and I don’t fully understand how it works. I think it’d be a lot of fun to try out at a wine tasting though, and potentially very useful. They run a little on the expensive side. At www.wineenthusiast.com they run from $89.95 to $199.95.