Special Guests this Holiday Weekend!

We've got special guests coming in to both of our locations this 4th of July weekend! In Woodbridge on Saturday, June 30th from 1:00pm - 3:00pm, we welcome our friends from Voli vodka and Philippe Nover, UFC fighter, into our store for a meet and greet and bottle signing! Click here for more information!

Our Lawrenceville locations has guests coming in on both Friday and Saturday! Friday afternoon from 4:00pm - 6:00pm, we're happy to welcome Jules Coulaud, French Brand Manager for E. Guigal wines. Click here for more information!

Phillies fans will not want to miss the event on Saturday afternoon from 2:00pm - 4:00pm! Phillies legend Darren "Dutch" Daulton will be at meeting and greeting his fans!

We wish all our customers a happy and safe 4th of July week! Remember Joe Canal's for all your wine, beer and spirit needs - Good times start here, for less!

Wine 101: Riesling

Every month or so, I get together for a childless night out with my Best Friend. We always go out for sushi and I always provide the wine. Tonight I think I'll go with an easy-drinking, semi-sweet Riesling. I love it with sushi! The more Riesling I drink, the more I become a fan of it in all its different styles.

Although Riesling is growing exponentially in popularity and is being made in other countries such as France, Australia, New Zealand, Austria and the US, for the purposes of this blog, I'm going to be focusing on German Rieslings.

Riesling is considered to be one of the world's great white wine grapes. It's a native of Germany, where it's believed to have been cultivated for 500, and possibly as long as 2,000, years. Three common characteristics of German Riesling are that they are rarely blended with other varieties, hardly ever exposed to commercial yeast and usually never exposed to oak flavor (although some wine regions have begun to experiment with oak aging).

Although many people have the misconception that Riesling is strictly a sweet wine, Rieslings are made in a variety of styles, ranging from dry to very sweet.

The driest style is called Kabinett. The grapes are picked when they are just fully ripe. They have a light and elegant character, and are generally semi-sweet by default but can also be dry or off-dry.

Spatlese style is made from grapes that have sat on the vine a little longer, and have gotten riper and have a higher amount of sugar. This results, naturally, in a sweeter wine, but still not one you'd break out to have with your chocolate cake.

Auslese is sweeter still, and is sometimes considered to be a dessert wine. Auslesen can be enjoyed as an aperitif, but are usually best accompanied with food, particularly those that exhibit the hearty characteristics of German cuisine.

Then we get to the actual dessert Rieslings: Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese. The grapes used to make these styles have been left on the vine for a much longer period of time, and generally infected with a certain type of fungus called Botrytis cinerea. This is known as noble rot. This produces a fine and intensely sweet, concentrated wine.

If you're looking for a great white wine, pick up a bottle of Riesling the next time you're in the store. It goes great with fish and pork, and can stand up to the bolder flavors of Thai or Chinese cuisine. The sharp acidity/sweetness in Rieslings can serve as a good balance to foods that have a high salt content. In Germany, cabbage is sometimes cooked with riesling to reduce the vegetable's smell. Serve Riesling as you would most other whites - chilled to about 50 degrees.

Joe Canal's Presents Three Olives S'mores!

Three Olives brings the iconic summertime taste of campside s'mores to your liquor cabinet! Introducing Three Olives S'mores! A mouth-watering blend of imported English vodka with the delicious flavors of chocolate, marshmallow, and graham cracker.

You can be the first to raise the heat with this exclusive, delicious S'mores cocktail recipe, "The Campfire Martini!" Rim a martini glass in chocolate syrup and dip in crushed graham crackers. Pour 3 oz. Three Olives S'mores Vodka into a shaker filled with ice. Stir and strain the vodka into martini glass. Garnish with three toasted marshmallows on a skewer.

Pick up a bottle of this fun new vodka today for only $22.99 in our Bottle Club!

4th of July Cocktails

This year, the 4th of July falls on a Wednesday, so you've got your choice of two weekends to celebrate! While you're grilling poolside, mix up a few of these fun cocktails for your guests to show your patriotic "spirits"!

Red, White and Blue-tini

-2 oz. Hpnotiq
-1 oz. citrus flavored vodka
-1 splash Lemon-Lime Soda
-Grenadine

Shake all ingredients, minus grenadine, with ice and strain into a martini glass. Very slowly, add some grenadine. Garnish with shaved coconut or fresh blueberries.

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Fourth of July

-1 oz. watermelon schnapps
-1 big splash cranberry juice
-1 very thin slice jalapeno or serrano pepper
-1 slice lemon
-1 slice lime
-1 1/2 oz. tequila
-1/4 oz. blue curacao
-1/2 oz. simple syrup

Mix the schnapps and cranberry juice in a shaker; pour into an ice-filled glass.

Muddle the jalapeno pepper, lemon and lime slices, tequila, blue curacao and simple syrup (to make a batch, dissolve sugar in equal parts hot water and chill) in the shaker. Slowly strain into the glass over the red layer. Garnish with watermelon, if desired. via Food Network

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Red, White and Blue Shooter

-1/3 oz. blue curaçao
-1/3 oz. grenadine
-1/3 oz. peach schnapps

Pour the grenadine into a shot glass. Next, float the peach schnapps on top of the grenadine. Last, float the blue curaçao on top of the peach schnapps. The key to layered shooters like this is to slowly pour the ingredients over a bar spoon in a certain order according the density of the liquid. via about.com

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Blue Hawaiian

-2 oz pineapple juice
-3/4 oz rum
-3/4 oz blue curaçao
-3/4 oz creme de coconut
-maraschino cherry or strawberry slices, and pineapple wedges for garnish

Pour the ingredients into a mixing glass with ice cubes. Stir well. Strain into a collins glass filled with ice cubes. Garnish with the cherry/strawberries and pineapple.

Zardetto Portfolio Director Tasting / Meet & Greet this Weekend in Lawrenceville!

Wine Tasting featuring Zardetto
Portfolio Director Salvatore Galati!
Saturday, June 23rd
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Joe Canal's Lawrenceville

We invite you to join us on Saturday, June 23rd as we welcome Salvatore Galati to our Lawrenceville store! Come sample some delicious wines, and bring your wine questions for our expert!

Salvatore Galati was born in Mottola, a little hillside town in the region of Puglia in the South of Italy. Right after graduating he started working as a vineyard tender in the morning and a waiter in the evening. He says, “In my youth I have never encountered anyone that wasn’t involved in wine making or drinking in some kind of way”. During the next 5 years he developed deep knowledge of the relationship between food and wine and at the age of 22 he purchased his first restaurant in the City of Treviso, 15 miles outside Venice.

In 1995 he sold his interest in the restaurant and moved to the US where he started working in Princeton NJ as a Restaurant floor Manager. In 1997 he was asked to join the owners in their new venture in New Brunswick NJ. His new experience in the New World taught him about the importance of educating the public on the subject of wine and he decided to again sell his interests and to join Winebow as a Junior District Manager, representing wines from Italy. His main role was to conduct seminars, classes for consumers, restaurant staff and retail shops.

In 2003 he was promoted to State Manager covering the State of NJ. In 2005 he became an Area Manger covering NJ, PA and DC. In 2007 he was again promoted to the position of Regional Manager covering NJ, PA, DC, DE, MD, VA and WV. In 2009 the State of NY was added to his territory.

Currently he holds the position of Portfolio Director for Winebow Old World Wines, covering Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria and Hungary. Salvatore is a Certified Sommelier by the Court of Master Sommeliers.

A Very Special Guest is coming to Lawrenceville!

Hey Phillies fans! Have you heard who's coming to visit Joe Canal's in Lawrenceville?

Join us on Saturday, June 30th for your chance to meet Phillies legend Darren "Dutch" Daulton! He'll be at our Lawrenceville store for a meet and greet, signing memorabilia and saying hello to all the Phillies fans who can make it out. This special event is sponsored by Yuengling Lager and Yuengling Light Lager.

"Dutch" is best known for his outstanding years in Major League Baseball. As a catcher for the Phillies and the Marlins he made his mark with his work behind the plate and at bat. During his 14-year career he was chosen as an All-Star 3 times.

Mark your calendar for Saturday the 30th, and don't miss your chance to meet "Dutch!"

Temperature Matters

The temperature is soaring into the high 90s in New Jersey this week, and we're cranking up the A/C to make ourselves more comfortable.

What about those bottles that have been sitting on your counter? Well, temperature matters to those, too, and if you don't take care of your wines, you could be left with some not-so-fantastic tasting wine come October.

The ideal storage temperature of wine is 50 to 55 degrees fahrenheit, but a range of 45 to 70 degrees is considered completely acceptable. What's important is that the storage temperature remain constant or, if it changes, that the change not be drastic. The warmer temperatures of the summer cause wine to age faster, so if you're the type that doesn't care much for AC unless it's unbearable, now might be the time to relocate those special bottles you're saving to your cooler basement for a while. If you're like me and don't have a basement, very wine refrigerators are available for under $100. They hold, generally, around 16 bottles of wine and are compact enough to keep on your kitchen counter.

When we're serving pink and white wines during these warm summer months, the ideal temperature to serve them at is somewhere between 40 and 55 degrees, depending on the complexity of the wine's flavor. More intricately flavored wines should be served on the warmer side of this range in order to fully reveal their full scope of aromas and flavors.

Chilling or cooling wine can be accomplished by placing the bottle in the refrigerator for 1 or 2 hours, depending on the desired final temperature. OR wine can be chilled in about 20 minutes by submerging the bottle in an ice (or wine) bucket filled with half cold water and half ice. If the bucket isn't tall enough for the ice and water to cover the bottle's neck, invert the bottle for the last 5 minutes, as long as there isn't a lot of sediment in the bottle. If you're serving the wine on your deck or patio for dinner, bring the ice bucket outside to keep the wine cold. Conversely, wines that are too cold can be quickly but gently warmed by placing the bottle in a bucket of warm water for about 5 minutes.