Menu for Hope is a charity fundraiser supported by food and wine bloggers worldwide. It was started by Pim Techamuanvivit who blogs at Chez Pim and is now in its 5th year. Last year Menu for Hope raised over $90,000 for a school lunch program in Lesotho. Find out more about the Menu for Hope at Chez Pim.

To help the cause, all you need to do is buy a $10 raffle ticket at First Giving - Menu for Hope and enter the prize code for prize you would like to win. The raffle runs between now and Christmas - please see below for more detailed instructions.

Here’s the prize we’ve donated (that you can bid on - hint, hint):

Giant Wine Map of California

California is the second in our series of wine maps. The regular retail size of this map is 24 x 36 inches, however, this one will be custom printed at a giant 4 feet wide by 6 feet tall. We’re finishing the artwork right now, so be the first on your block (actually on the entire planet) to have a Giant Wine Map of California. To get a better idea of the style and quality, please take a look at our map of the Iberian Peninsula. The map of California will be just as obsessively accurate, up to date and - all importantly - suitable for framing (if you can find a frame that large). This item can only be delivered to US addresses. Estimated Value: $400. Prize Code:WB12

You can see more wine-related prizes at Vinography

or the complete list of prizes at Chez Pim

It’s a tough year financially for so many people - especially the very poor - so if you can give please do.

First Giving - Menu for Hope

Donation Instructions:
1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from our Menu for Hope at http://chezpim.com
2. Go to the donation site at http://www.firstgiving.com/menuforhope5 and make a donation.
3. Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize you’d like in the ‘Personal Message’ section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code.
For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02. Please write 2xEU01, 3xEU02
4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.
5. Please allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

How the mighty have fallen. Last year we were riding high with extreme wine accessories. This year we’re going back to basics for our holiday gift giving. Wines, glasses and books. Period.

Wine
Sweet wines are the perfect wine gift. Practically everybody loves them but either can’t admit it or won’t buy them [...]

Breaking News: The Wine Tasting Notebook Hardbound Version is now available for purchase.

An expanded hardbound version of our Wine Tasting Notebook will be in stock this coming Tuesday, December 9th. It has 160 pages with the Wine Tasting Terms as a pullout in the back of the book and will retail for $14.95. [...]

As soon as we released our first wine map - of the Iberian Peninsula - I started getting emails like this: “Dude, when are you going to do a California Map?”
For some reason, I was under the impression that a bunch of good California wine maps were already available. Amazingly, I couldn’t [...]

The one and only Clark Smith is on the hot seat this week at Enobytes.com. Stop by to ask him any question concerning wine making, the wine industry or just to see the discussion. For those of you who don’t know him, he owns the world’s largest wine consulting company - Vinovation - and [...]

Are vintages subjective?

8 out of 10 cats would agree that wine ratings are based on personal taste. Vintages, on the other hand, seem to be more grounded in the firm reality of weather and climate and their effects on the grapes. A good year is a good year, no?

CLICK TO SEE THE [...]

Riesling is often described as “racy.” The term usually refers to its high acidity but is even more apt when the same wines have that slight whiff of racing fuel.

What causes this? Bottle aging and warm weather are two reasons most often given, but it’s more complicated than that. Isn’t it always? [...]

Selecting the perfect yacht juice

Yachts? Rosés? But the markets are tanking and the summer is over!
Damn the reality1, full speed ahead!
For the past few years rosé sales have power-sailed at a record pace. No one knows exactly why given their perpetual image problem due to (in no apparent order):

White Zinfandel
Rosé d’Anjou (the [...]

¿Por qué Iberia?

We started with Spain and Portugal for 3 main reasons:

It’s the most dynamic (and constantly changing) area in the wine world today
There wasn’t a good map currently available (for France there are a few)
It’s a great looking land mass!

This is simply the only up to date wine map of the region [...]

Move aside Hondarribi Zuri (of Txakolina fame), there’s a new grape in town.
We were in New York City last week for a wedding and the 2006 Stadlmann Rotgipfler was one of the wines flowing freely. The newlyweds are serious foodies so their choice of the latest, coolest and most obscure grape variety wasn’t too [...]