Damn, why don’t Americans drink more German wine?!

I just attended the Martignetti German Wine Tasting at Box109 at the Hotel Indigo in Newton and was BLOWN AWAY by the offerings. Almost everything I tasted was above average and the prices were stupidly low. That’s because German wine isn’t popular in the US these days.

The big names in German wine, the VDP-classified wines, are pricey but there’s So Much inexpensive quality wine it boggles the mind.

The main wine of Germany is Riesling, of course. And actually, you could stop there. Not because the others aren’t good but because Riesling is So Good, wines that are beautifully balanced and pair so well with food and wine that are downright sublime. But Germany also makes excellent Pinot Noirs. In fact, I attended a blind tasting of Pinot Noir with Adam Japko, publisher of New England Home magazine, where the favorite Pinot turned out to be a German Spatburgunder (with the dots over the a) brought by #winelover founder Luiz Alberto!  In addition to Pinot Noir, there are some other very interesting whites and reds, including the fairly well known Gewurztraminer and the lesser known

Muller-Thurgau, Silvaner and Scheurebe (whites) and Lemberger (red).

Join Audio Video Design at Roomscapes Cabinetry and Design Center on March 8th for a Homeowners’ Workshop and Panel Discussion: Build with Confidence.

From permitting to landscaping, Roomscapes hosts a comprehensive one-night free workshop and panel with the pros to help homeowners navigate the building or renovation process with success from beginning to end. Attendees will learn how to avoid costly mistakes and gain tips and inspiration from an expert panel, moderated by Melanie Perillo, publisher of Boston Design Guide. Questions from homeowners are encouraged.

Topics include:

• zoning and permitting
• the importance of the right architect, construction and interior design team
• creating outdoor living spaces that maximize your property,
• how to get a magazine-style look in your own home
• smart home and AV technologies that bring your home to life
• dream kitchens and master baths

Featured panelists:

• Caleb Anderson, RW Anderson & Sons
• Roger Hoit, Roger Hoit Architect
• Michael Kim, Michael Kim Associates
• Blair Harmaty, Setting the Space
• Brian Frazier, Brian Frazier Design
• Kyle Trip,, Audio Video Design
• July Whalen, Roomscapes

Event Details:

When: Thursday, March 8, 2018, 5:30-7:30 PM

Let’s face it – New England winters were made for TV binge-watching, from Netflix to the televised events we gather around: The Golden Globes, The Oscars, the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics and March Madness. 

Our viewers guide is below, but first let’s talk TV. What do you view your favorite programs on? Then we’ll talk about where you watch and finally, all of the extras that enhance the television experience.

TVs

We are big fans of Samsung’s The Frame TV in either 43” or 55” because when you’re not watching it as a television, it appears as a framed piece of art on your wall. It looks phenomenal. But don’t take our word for it – come see it for yourself in our newly renovated interactive Home Technology Design Center.

We also love the Sony OLED line and recommend the 65” or 75” or 85” 4K models. They are utterly reliable and offer a beautiful picture resolution.

Finally we highly recommend the Seura mirror TV in several sizes and styles – in your bathroom mirror perhaps? Watch the morning news while shaving? Watch Big Little Lies while bathing? And for outdoor locations, we can’t say enough good words about the Seura Storm line. Simply made for viewing by the pool or hottub!

Welcome to Brad’s Wine Corner! I’m the owner and president of AVD and I’ve been a wine guy most of my adult life. It’s crazy now to mingle my two passions, electronics and wine, because they are integral to my love of life!

I’ve been drinking, buying, collecting, selling and yammering about fine wine for a really long time. I’ve written about it in social media venues and a few local magazines. It’s time to have a quiet little corner on the AVD website for those of you who are also wine geeks because it’s who we are, passionate about wine, loving the sub-culture of being cork dorks and sharing our reviews and bottles!

I will post here periodically, enough to keep it interesting and fun but not too much to drive anyone crazy or to begin to think I’m drunk all the time. AND, at AVD, we will have regular wine events. Just because. I think there’s a large percentage of our customer base, both “end-users” and “ABIDs” (architects, builders, interior designers) who are into wine that we will have really fun regular tastings. I have a very large collection that I’m opening up for this purpose. No, I’m not opening crazy expensive Petrus, DRC and Screaming Eagle on a weekly basis. But I’ll be opening lots of really good wine.

My posts will be things you’re interested in I hope. They will be about mostly new stuff that you can still get but also old stuff that’s hard to find but great to hear about. I have a few irons in the fire. The main one of course is Audio Video Design, where I spend 50+ hours, but I’m also a wine advisor and writer and have access to all the trade tastings in which to try great wines, from dirt cheap to crazy money, and I’ll write about those and tell you where to find them if you’re interested. I’ll arrange buying deals for groups when there’s a lot of momentum so my customers have fun buying together at a big discount.

This is purely for fun! I don’t think I’m Gary Vaynerchuk. I’m doing this from a very humble perspective. I’ve been doing this a long time and friends say I know a lot but in the context of other knowledgeable wine geeks, I feel like a babe in the woods. Perhaps they do too. In the company of friends with incredible palates, I shy away from expressing my opinion. I suspect some of you are in the same boat! So talk to me, let me know what you like, don’t like, would like to hear about, etc. I’m manic about wine and will take it as a challenge!