Welcome To Your Cooking Supplies & Food Store

Cooking supplies and kitchen equipment purchase could bring it’s own strain to bear for want of guide, both in price and brand. We bring you kitchen appliances and cookware from top merchants around the world. Whether you are shopping from the UK or USA, you can select a merchant of your choice and compare prices too before making your purchase.

Looking for fine wine to complement your dinner? We also bring you the best selection of wines from all continents. and a little knowledge on wine too. Please make your selection with confidence.

Talking about wines, this brief history may interest you. In one form or another wine production has been carried out for thousands of years. Pottery discovered in Persia (present-day Iran), dated at 5,500 BC show evidence of grape use for winemaking. From Africa, to the Americas, and even jars from Jiahu in China containing wine from wild grapes date to between 6000 and 7000 BC. Yes. Wine has been an intergral part of man’s menu.

But whether ancient or modern, many of the same conditions are required and similar techniques used. The chemistry of grapes is eternal.

Wine grapes grow, with few exceptions, only in bands delineated by latitudes 30-50 degrees North and 30-45 degrees South of the equator. Unlike most crops, grapes don’t require fertile soil. The thinness of the soil restricts the quantity of the crop, producing fewer grapes of higher quality.

Paradoxically, soils too rich in nitrogen and other nutrients —highly beneficial for most plants— can produce grapes unsuitable for winemaking. Fine for eating, but lacking desirable quantities of minerals, sugars and acids.

The best wines are produced from soil that would be considered poor quality for other agricultural purposes. The stellar wines from Bordeaux are made from grapes grown in gravelly soil, atop a base of clay or chalk. Fewer grapes are grown, but high in quality. The pebbly earth allows for good drainage — grapevines require access to adequate, but not excessive, water. As the roots reach down further, more complex minerals are absorbed.

Vineyards are most often founded in river valleys, with slopes that provide abundant sunshine. Vines there are most often of the European species vitis vinifera, from which many common wines are made, such as Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot.

Viticulture, the practice of growing grapes for wine, is today one of the most complex agricultural undertakings. A master vintner (today, sometimes called an oenologist), must be an expert in soil chemistry and fermentation, climatology and several other ancient arts and modern sciences.

In addition to categorization by variety, the products of these vines are classified by vinification methods – sparkling, still, fortified, rosé, blush — or by region — Bordeaux, Burgundy and Alsace — and of course by vintage, as well as a dozen other methods.

After the farmer, chemist and manufacturer have had their say, the businessman must take over. In 2002, 595 million gallons of wine were sold in the U.S. alone, representing over $20 billion in consumer spending. France led the pack with 22% of export volume, with Italy a close 20% behind.

The bold artists of wine must possess a sensitive nose and palette and balance dozens of time-sensitive factors such as when to harvest, how long to ferment and age, when to bottle. And that’s before considering modern manufacturing and marketing requirements, not to mention legal restrictions.

An art, a science and a business definitely not for the timid.

Yes. We are passionate about wine. And food. And your Cookware. Browse and shop from the category section to your right.

Whatever brings you to our cooking supplies and food store, enjoy your stay here and please contact us if there is any way we can help.

Happy shopping!