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Cork & Bottle briefs

By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published October 4, 2006

DIY martinis

Bring the world of novelty martinis - chocotinis and appletinis - to the safety of your own home, without $8 prices or the come-hither crowd.

Among the growing list of products for the home bartender in Tampa Bay area liquor stores, Stirrings delivers a wide range of flavored mixers and, most intriguingly, rimmers in a rainbow of flavors. They come in saddle soap cans with the name and look of expensive tea.

For chocolate, Stirrings offers a mix of Dutch cocoa and sugar. Yes, you could duplicate this popular martini bar standard at home for less than $5. Mix the dry ingredients to your druthers (add cinnamon, brown sugar, coffee or nutmeg), pour on a small saucer and rim away.

Other flavors include spiced apple, tangerine, lemon drop and pie crust.

- CHRIS SHERMAN

Wine joins Nextel Chase

After the Earnhardts and Kevin Harvick, the newest entry from the NASCAR stables of team owner Richard Childress is fine wine.

His pit is the growing vineyards of North Carolina wine country, where his palatial winery opened outside Lexington two years ago.

The wines include clean, modern versions of traditional muscadine and scuppernong, introductory red and white blends flying the checkered flag for race fans and a limited-edition "Fine Swine Wine" based on syrah for the annual barbecue festival.

Those $10 wines are aimed at winning customers new to wine, but Childress is focused on a bigger prize: world-class wine from the Tar Heel piedmont. Winemaker Mark Friszolowski, a polished veteran of wine regions on both coasts and brother of Ward, the mayor of St. Pete Beach, buys from 27 North Carolina vineyards, and has a cellar full of French barrels to make more refined wines a la Napa and Bordeaux.

The first efforts are young and the search for the right grapes in the right places is experimental. So far, deep cabernet franc and perfumey viognier are the most promising.

When in the Carolinas, curious race fans and wine lovers will find Childress Vineyards a rewarding pit stop on U.S. 64. You can't miss it, the biggest hilltop Tuscan wine villa in tobacco country. For more information, go to www.childress vineyards.com.

- C.S.

WINE OF THE WEEK

A. Mano, Primitivo Puglia, 2004

This is a great chance to try primitivo, the grape of choice in the rugged far south of Italy, the heel of the boot, this time made by a team of Italians and Americans. This is Italy's entry in zinfandel's Who's Your Daddy competition. One bottle should give you a clear answer and a rich bargain.

This wine is deep purple with a ripe aroma full of red raspberries, blueberries, glazed chocolate and licorice. The taste that follows is much the same, intense with rugged dashes of cedar and pepper. The texture is lush with enough mild tannins to hold it together like soft leather.

As the name implies, it's hand-crafted, much like the old zins loved by Italian immigrants in California, but made with modern stainless steel smarts to minimize the woodiness.

Primitivo Puglia is a remarkably rich wine for an everyday price, good with burgers, great with something grander.

Availability: $11 to $14, at better wine and liquor stores.

- C.S.

[Last modified October 3, 2006, 12:29:50]