Cork Pops, manufacturer of wine accessories, has come up with another great product for wine lovers.

The latest collection is an improvement on conventional magnetic foil cutters.

What makes them better than the wine bottle foil cutter you already have?

First, the cutting blades are so much better than most versions we’ve tried.

They are quite sharp and work very well (the rest of the device is made from hard plastic).

Just place the cutter over the lip of the bottle: With 2 turns the foil cap is easily removed and you’re ready to remove the cork.

Second, it’s a refrigerator magnet! There’s no need to rummage through a drawer looking for your foil cutter: It’s right on the fridge.

There are six fun designs: Fish (in photo), Flip Flops, Frog, Grapes, Hot Lips and Palm Trees.

And at $6, they’re an affordable stocking stuffer, party favor, or add-on to a wine gift.
 
 
Get yours at Corkpops.com.
 
 
—Kris Prasad

[1] A wine foil-cutter and refrigerator magnet from Corkpops, one of six designs (photo © Corkpops).

[1] Make a holiday sangria using Ruby Port. The recipe is below (all photos © Sandeman).

[2] You can serve sangria from a punch bowl as a Christmas punch, but the easiest way is to pour from a pitcher.

[3] Sandeman Founders Reserve, a ruby port, can be used in numerous cocktails, many on the Sandeman website. Here, a Ruby Sling (recipe).

[4] Sandeman Founders Reserve, a Ruby Port. You can drink it and cook with it.

Seven Christmases past, we made a Christmas Sangria with Sandeman Port. It included cinnamon schnapps and clementine soda, and was a big hit.

Here’s the recipe for Sandeman Sangria #1. It has been the official warm-up drink of our Christmas festivities.

But wait: There’s a new Christmas Sangria from Sandeman, and it’s a much simpler recipe.

Sandeman makes several expressions of Port: the classic ruby, tawny and white Ports; aged tawny; reserve wines; and vintage wines (see the different types of port below.

The well-known icon, called Don [Mr.] Sandeman, features a man dressed in a Portuguese student’s cape and a wide Spanish-style hat (photo #4).

International Port Wine Day is January 26th. Raise your glass!

> Below: The history of Port.

> Below: The different types of Port.
 
 
RECIPE: SANDEMAN SANGRIA #2

Ingredients Per Cocktail

 
Preparation

1. FILL a tulip glass (or other wine glass) with ice. Add the ingredients and stir well with a bar spoon.

2. GARNISH and serve.
 
 
WHAT IS PORT?

Port is a Portuguese fortified wine, a red wine made from a variety of Portuguese grapes*then blended with distilled grape spirits.

It is made in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. Only wine here can legally be called Port.

(Wine Trivia: The Douro region is the third-oldest protected wine region in the world, after the Chianti region of Italy, established in 1716, and the Tokaj-Hegyalja region in Hungary established in 1730.

It’s Port in English, Porto in Portuguese, and is sometimes written as Oporto, after Porto, the largest city in the region and the second-largest city in Portugal (Oporto means “the Porto”).

Porto, located along the Douro River estuary in northern Portugal, was an outpost of the Roman Empire. Port wine has been produced since then.

It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, though it also comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties

Port is made in several expressions: Crusted, Colheita, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), Ruby, Single Quinta, Tawny, Vintage, Vintage Character, and White. Here’s an explanation of each type of Port.

See more detail on these types of Ports below.
 

THE HISTORY OF PORT

Grapes have been grown in Portugal since antiquity; ancient writings show that the inhabitants of northern Portugal were already drinking wine 2,000 ago.

The Romans arrived in Portugal in the second century B.C.E. and remained for the next five hundred years. They grew grapes and made wine on the banks of the Douro River, where Port is produced today.

After the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal in 1143, wine from the Douro Valley become an important export. But it was a different wine.

By the second half of the 15th century, a significant amount of Portuguese wine was being exported to England.

The first wines known as Port were exported in the latter 17th century, following the Anglo-Portuguese commercial treaty of 1654. English wine merchants settled in Portugal to oversee the trade.

The fortified wine we know today was first created to preserve the wine during the long journey from the Douro Valley to England. It began to be fortified with the addition of brandy prior to bottling the aged red wine.

Today, the process of fortifying Port is different: The wine is fortified during fermentation and not after aging.

Expressions is an industry name for the different styles, types, or varieties produced by a particular house [brand].

Colheita Port: A single-vintage tawny port is aged for at least seven years. The vintage year is on the bottle, instead of a category of age (10 years, 20 years, etc.). It differs from Vintage Port, which spends only about 18 months in barrels after vinification and will continue to mature in the bottle. A Colheita may have spent 20 or more years in wooden barrels before being bottled and sold. White Colheitas have also been produced.

Crusted Port: Usually a blend of several vintages to achieve specific characteristics, Crusted Port is bottled unfiltered and sealed with a traditional cork. Like Vintage Port, it needs to be decanted before drinking.

Garrafeira Port: Unusual and rare, vintage-dated Garrafeira is maturation for three to six years in wood to oxidize it, with further maturation in large glass demijohns, for at least eight years in glass.

Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) Port: Originally a wine that was destined for bottling as a vintage port, LBV was left in the barrel for longer than had been planned, due to lack of demand. Over time it evolved into two distinct styles of wine, both of them bottled between four and six years after the vintage. However, one style is fined and filtered before bottling, while the other is not.

 
Ruby Port: The least expensive and most extensively produced type of Port. After fermentation, it is stored in concrete or stainless steel tanks to prevent oxidative aging and preserve its bright red color and full-bodied fruitiness. It does not generally improve with age, although premium rubies are aged in wood from four to six years.

Reserve Port: This is reserve Ruby Port, a premium ruby approved by the tasting panel of the IVDP, the industry association.

Rosé Port: A new expression, first released in 2008 by Poças and by Croft, part of the Taylor Fladgate Partnership. It is technically a Ruby Port but is fermented in a manner similar to rosé wine. It receives limited exposure to the grape skins, thus creating the rosé color.

Single Quinta Vintage Port: These Vintage Ports originate from a single estate, unlike most Vintage Ports which can be sourced from a number of quintas. These are only produced in certain years when the regular Vintage Port of the house is not declared.

Tawny Port: These red grape wines are aged in wooden barrels exposing them to gradual oxidation and evaporation. They thus mellow to a golden-brown color, and the exposure to oxygen imparts nutty flavors to the wine. They can be sweet or medium-dry; they are typically served as a dessert wine but can be served with the main course as well.

Vintage Port: Made entirely from the grapes of a declared vintage year, Vintage is by far the most renowned type of Port, the “top of the line.” But from a volume and revenue standpoint, Vintage Port accounts for only about 2%f overall port production. As with Champagne, not every year has grapes ripe enough and balanced enough to declare a vintage. The finest vintages can continue to gain complexity for many decades after botting; some 19th-century bottles are still in perfect condition for consumption.

White Port: Made from white grapes (Malvasia Fina, Donzelinho, Gouveio, Codega, and Rabigato, the white port can be made in a wide variety of styles, from dry to very sweet. Young White Ports make an excellent base for a cocktail; sweet White Port and tonic water is a common drink in the Porto region. Aged whites are best served chilled on their own.
 
________________

*The six most widely used grapes for red Port wine are Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Cão and Tinta Amarela. Here are the other grapes that can be used.
 
 

What do you do when your cocktail arrives with a bit of citrus peel?

It can be lemon, lime or orange peel, depending on the drink.

Do you:

 
It’s a good idea to rub the rim, as is done with a cup of espresso. It leaves an invisible coat of the citrus oil, which will add flavor to the drink with every sip you take.

We love the flavor of the essential oils in the peel (close to zero calories).

We also admit to eating the peel. It’s a habit we picked up in college, when draining our drink to the last drop. With a limited budget, when no liquor was left we stretched the drink by working on the ice cubes and the peel.
 
 
HOW TO CUT PEEL FOR A GARNISH

Different bartenders take different approaches:

 
And now, the rim strip.

What’s a rim strip? It’s name we gave to the orange peel in photo #1.

We saw it for the first time last week, when we reviewed Mr. Black Espresso Liqueur.

Instead of cutting a strip of peel for a twist and tossing it into the drink, some clever mixologist cut a slit on the bottom of the strip so the peel could sit on the rim.

We haven’t seen this trick before, and we love it. It’s so much more elegant—and fun—than the classic twist.

Depending on your perspective, it can look like a quarter-moon, a hammock or a Chinese sampan.

Try it with your next peel garnish.
 
 
THE BENEFITS OF CITRUS PEEL

Most people use only the juice and flesh of the lemon, and throw away the peel.

We suggest that before you juice the lemon, zest it. Save the zest for everyday cooking, for perking up marinades, salads, salad dressings, sauces, sorbet and vegetables to flavoring a glass of water.

If we have no immediate use for the zest, we use it to flavor ice cubes (fill the ice cube tray, then add some zest to each section.

Here are the health benefits of the peel:

 
Here are more reasons to eat the peel.

To your health!

[1] Look closely at this Black Negroni: A slit enables the peel to sit on the glass rim (photo © Mr. Black).

[2] Lemon zest and a basil leaf garnish this Blackberry Bramble (photo © Sugar Cane Raw Bar & Grill | Miami | Las Vegas | Brooklyn).

[3] A Cosmopolitan with a lime curl (photo © Heathman Restaurant & Bar | Portland, Oregon).

[4] A Margarita with a lime wheel (photo © Tequila Avion).

[5] Old Fashioned with a lime wedge (photo © Maker’s Mark).

[1] Zoku’s Iceberg ice cubes (both photos © Zoku).

[2] The classic jumbo sphere ice cube.

If you’re planning to gift a bottle of spirits, how about snazzy jumbo ice cube molds from Zoku?

They create cubes that melt so slowly, they won’t dilute the drink.

Jumbo ice cubes have been around for a while in cube and sphere shapes.

But Zoku has a couple of new shapes to consider.

The Zoku Iceberg Mold (photo #2) looks more like a brilliant-cut diamond.

Other Zoku ice cube shapes include:

 
These ice cubes are not just for cocktails: They also shine in mineral water and soft drinks.

Note that each mold makes one cube at a time, so plan ahead to make the number that you need.

They’re $14.99 each at ZokuHome.com.

The term “smoking gun” is a reference to an object or fact that serves as conclusive evidence of a crime or similar act.

But there’s no crime in purchasing a smoking gun—a.k.a. smoke gun—for cold-smoke cooking.

Creative cooks will love this kitchen gadget. We purchased one after paying $20 a pop for smoking cocktails at one of our favorite restaurants.

When we realized how easy it was to recreate a smoked cocktail at home, we purchased a smoke gun: this Homia Smoking Gun Wood Smoke Infuser Kit on Amazon, which included all the accessories and wood chips so we could immediately get to work.

You can buy a smoke gun for as little as $20, but you also need wood chips.

We’ll share a smoked cocktail recipe below, but first, all the things you can do with a smoke gun.

The smoke not only excites the nose, but it adds a delightful depth of flavor.
 
 
WHAT TO DO WITH A SMOKE GUN (A.K.A. SMOKE INFUSER OR SMOKING GUN)

While a smoke gun is a great addition to the kitchen, first note that a smoke gun doesn’t smoke food in the manner of a backyard smoker, over many hours of cooking.

It is cold-smoking, not hot-smoking: It gives a 30-second infusion of smoke flavor to cooked food or a drink, or to ingredients you’ll use to make a recipe.

Like a kitchen torch (and of a similar size), a smoke gun is a small tool that delivers big flavor. You add wood chips or other flavor agent (there’s a list below), and the gun converts the chips, cinnamon, herbs, etc. to smoke.

The gun blows the smoke into your food or drink, infusing it with smoke flavor.

Far from being exotic, it is easy to use with your everyday foods. You can:

 
And of course, you can add smoke to cooked meats and fish. See the video on this page, showing all the different things you can smoke.
 

FLAVORS TO INFUSE

Depending on what you’re infusing:

 
COCKTAIL RECIPE: SMOKING ROSEMARY FIZZ

When the smoking cocktail is brought to the table (photo #1) and the waiter (or you) removes the dome that’s keeping the smoke inside (photo #2), the whole table gets to enjoy the aroma.

To make it at home, you need a glass dome (or wide-mouth vase, to hold in the smoke), a smoke gun, a smoking agent (e.g. wood chips), and ideally, a jumbo ice cube (it works better than regular cubes).

Instead of a dome, you can use the hose of the smoke gun to blow smoke directly into the cocktail. This is also how you infuse smoke onto cooked food.

Ingredients Per Cocktail

[1] Smoke infusing the cocktail under the dome (photo © Wall Street Grill).

[2] The big reveal at the table (photo © Wall Street Grill).

[3] Infusing chicken breasts with smoke, using a $20 Chefhut infuser (photo © Chefhut).

[4] Spraying smoke atop ribs with the hose of the Breville smoke gun (photo © Breville).

[5] A smoked Manhattan cocktail at Ocean Prime (photo © Ocean Prime).

You can also use this syrup in iced tea, hot tea or lemonade, on fruit salad, as pound cake glaze and sorbet topping, and of course, to flavor sophisticated snow-cones.

 
Simple Syrup Preparation

1. MAKE the simple syrup. Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high, whisking occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Then simmer for a few more minutes until liquid is completely clear. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

2. ADD the rosemary and let it infuse in the simple syrup for 30 to 60 minutes, until the mixture is thick and syrupy.

3. REMOVE the rosemary from the pan and pour the syrup into a glass jar. Refrigerate, tightly capped. It will keep for at two weeks (twice as long for unflavored simple syrup).
 
Cocktail Preparation

1. SHAKE all the ingredients with ice and strain into a rocks glass with a jumbo ice cube. Garnish with rosemary.

2. SMOKE with hickory wood with a smoke gun under a glass dome.

3. BRING to the table still covered. Remove the dome in front of the guest (or yourself) so everyone can enjoy the aroma.
 
 
VIDEOS

Here are videos specific to cocktails.