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These Hotel Rooms Come with Wine Machines and We Can’t Wait to Book a Stay

wine machine
At the end of a long day on the road — business or pleasure, it really doesn’t matter — the last thing you want to do after you’ve kicked off your shoes is put them back on to go downstairs for a nightcap. If you didn’t think to pack a bottle of something with you, then your last resort is to pick up the phone and call room service.

This is all well and good, but then you have to talk to people and you have to wait for the drink. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to get booze and not have to deal with any of that?

If you’re at the Confidante Miami Beach, there is. Plum wine machines were created by tech entrepreneur David Koretz, and allow guests to have a glass of wine by merely pressing a button, eliminating the need to talk to people and wait for your booze. Simply pick up your glass, push a button, and boom. It’s wine on demand.

The Plum Wine machine was inspired by hotel room espresso machines. In addition to pouring, the machine automatically chills the wine to the proper serving temperature for both red and white and displays tasting notes while it pours. The machine also ensures the wine won’t oxidize by using a Coravin-like needle to suck the wine out of the bottle.

Confidante Miami Beach Plum Wine Machine Options

Currently, guests can choose from two wines. On the red side, the Plum wine machine will pour Evesham Wood Pinot Noir; for whites, the machine dispenses Josh Sauvignon Blanc.

A two-ounce tasting pour will run you $4 for the Sauvignon Blanc and $5.25 for the Pinot Noir, while a six-ounce glass will cost $12 and $16. Each pour is automatically charged to the room.

The real treat comes when staying in the hotel’s Penthouse and Miranda suites through April 2018. Not only do you get wine at the touch of a button, but you get as much wine as you want at the touch of a button for free.

Think about it. You could literally sit there, drinking glass after glass, watching the Miami sunset from your window, drunk on Pinot Noir and the energy from the beaches below.

The Confidante Miami Beach is the first Plum location in South Florida (the company currently has deals with Four Seasons, Marriott, SBE Group, Langham, Hyatt, Hilton, and Rosewood, with machines in the Four Seasons Silicon Valley and Caesar’s Palace Las Vegas), though if this machine is as magical as it sounds, it probably won’t be the last.

Until then, we’ll use our Jim Beam whiskey decanter and patiently wait for the Plum whiskey machine to join the company’s ranks.

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Gamay Noir Wine Is a Cult Classic That’s Here to Stay
Man pouring red wine in glass during dinner party

Gamay Noir has landed in the New World and its here to stay. The wine manages to be so many appealing things — straightforward, satisfying, cool, down-to-earth, and quite youthful. And it’s enjoying cult-like status stateside these days.
Before we talk about the tasty renditions being produced domestically, let’s begin with Gamay’s home turf. It is most famously tied to Beaujolais, the French wine region just south of Burgundy. But it also started out in the Loire Valley to the west. It’s a near-ancient grape, with shout-outs attesting to its bright acidity and easier-to-grow-than-Pinot qualities dating back to the 14th century.
How long ago is that? Let’s just say that Gamay is believed to have given relief to French villagers in the wake of the Black Death. In French lore, the grape had haters early on. The Duke of Burgundy even banned it, deeming it far inferior to his region’s pride and joy, Pinot Noir. But it grows vigorously and produces everything from deep, reflective wines to food-friendly table chuggers.

Gamay is the only permitted grape in the popular Beaujolais Nouveau family of wines. Historically, these fresh, fruity wines were assembled as quickly as possible and rushed to Paris to eager and thirsty throngs. Legend has it that in the old days, the race was carried out by everything from hot air balloons to elephants towing rickshaws. When the wine arrives, the party begins, with the masses gleefully shouting, “Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!”
The tradition proceeds like clockwork today. The third Thursday of November is devoted to the release of this particular wine. In fact, releasing it any earlier — say, from the cellar to the City of Lights via McLaren — is illegal.
In the New World, Gamay is more like an affront to the old guard of red wine drinkers. It’s consumed early and often, never mind much cellaring. It’s juicy and occasionally complex but is more often just a straight-shooting pleasantry. And there’s no decoding what dish it should go with. Gamay goes with just about everything. You can even chill it. 
In that light, it makes sense that the stuff is so popular domestically these days. The wine echoes the newest generation of winemakers and their unfussy collective mentality. It also happens to do really well in sibling growing areas. The Willamette Valley, in particular, is quite similar to Gamay’s native stomping grounds and is becoming more and more known for the stuff.
Gamay is juicy and occasionally complex but is more often just a straight-shooting pleasantry.

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Ditch the Bottle Opener Because Canned Wines are Having More than Just a Moment
underwood cans

If you haven’t heard of canned wine yet, you’ve been living under a very large rock. It’s the fastest-growing thing in contemporary wine and injects the sometimes stagnant industry with portability, frugality, and a bit of hipness.
Union Wine Company in Oregon is all-in when it comes to the crushable wine movement. They recently moved into a 43,000-square-foot space, armed with both bottling and canning lines. Presently, it’s the most automated and efficient facility in the American canned wine realm. It’s turning out roughly 650 cans per minute in an effort to keep pace with a genre of drinks that experienced growth of close to 70% in 2018. 
“The new facility has allowed us the ability to easily move between bottling and canning,” says Ryan Harms, Union’s founder and owner. That’s doubly important for his outfit, which puts some wine to bottle and cans the rest (under the Underwood, Kings Ridge, and Alchemist monikers). “In the first six months of this year, we’ve packaged 350,000 cases of wine, which is more than we packaged in the entirety of 2018.”

Underwood wine Union Wine Company
Union helped spearhead a genre of wines that now includes dozens of producers from coast to coast. Taking on its own production line was a matter of scale. They are officially the largest producer in Oregon and will extend that lead ahead of the likes of A to Z Wineworks and Willamette Valley Vineyards courtesy of their new space.
Meanwhile, other producers are canning lesser amounts or look to bring in services like Tinman or Iron Heart for specialty packaging. The fact that Union has taken on the entire process from bud-break in the vineyard to sealing the wine in aluminum speaks to their faith in the next generation of wine. Expect to see more and more of the stuff everywhere from your local supermarket to your local soccer stadium.
Of course, there are other arguments in the movement’s favor. The environmental impact is less harsh than the traditional glass-and-cork route. Moreover, the decrease in weight (thanks to a greater ratio of wine-to-packaging) makes shipping more efficient. Also, in a more subtle way, canned wine echoes the increasingly thirsty younger wine audience, eager for something less traditional that's likely collecting dust in some musty cellar.

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You Can Chill Red Wines, Too. Here Are 5 Varietals to Try
chilled red wine

It’s long been said: Chill your white wines and rosés, but not your reds. Why not?
Sure, many benefit from room temperature treatment, opening up and making a bigger presence felt both in terms of flavor and aromatics, but some reds can benefit from a cool-down, especially in midsummer when cold — or, at least slightly chilled — is all the more attractive. (We're not talking as cold as the Rockies, after all.)

Here are some red wine styles you might consider tossing in the fridge for twenty minutes or so just before you pop the cork (or unscrew the cap).

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