zr, cr) cr) w Holiday Safe MUSEUM page 44 0 z m u_ z w m • z 0 25% OFF Over 2,000 Frames to Choose From... Specialty Museum Mounting... Certified Framing Designers a z w 0 20% OFF CUSTOM FRAMING LOWEST PRICE GUARANTE:E All Handblown. Glass & Sculptures r- I 0-50% OFF 5:1 SELECTED ARTWORK expires 12/31/95 expires 12/ 31/95 expires 12/31/95 Gift Certificates • Bridal Registry • Free Gift Wrap • Shipping Available Art Leaders Gaticry ONIZZV A STIEI VH O z • "Leading in today's art world" Simsbury Plaza • 33216 W. 14 Mile Road at Farmington • W. Bloomfield (810) 539-0262 Hours: Mon, - Th. 10-7, Fri. & Sat. 10-10, Sun. 12-5, Other Hours by Appointment JAING • THOMAS MCKNIGHT • JURGEN GORG • BARBARA WO OD Weinstein May 8 through May 21, 1996. The tentative price, excluding air- fare, is $1,850 for the Florence segment of the journey and $1,550 more for the Venice ex- tension. "Quintessential England: Country Houses and Gardens," presented jointly by the Matthaei Botanical Gardens and the Mu- seum of Art, will survey the his- tory and development of the English country house and gar- den. The first five nights will be in London, with subsequent stays in West Sussex, Devon and Ox- ford. Visits to well-known hous- es and gardens will be balanced with access to privately owned gardens. Trip dates are June 5 through June 18, 1996. The ten- tative price, including airfare, is $3,950. For information, call Janet Torno, (313) 747-0518. Vintage Wines For The Holiday RICHARD NALLEY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS JEWELERS OF WEST BLOOMFIELD T Weinstein J ewelers ... Committed to Quality & Customer Satisfaction! • Loose Diamonds • Custom Designs • Colored Stones • Earrings • Pendants • Fine Gold Jewelry • Estate Watches N"STAFF 20% OFF ENTIRE STORE must MERCHANDISE mention ad for 20% Off HOLIDAYS HOURS: Mon., Tues., Wed. 10-5:30, Thurs. & Fri. 10-9, Sat. 10-7, Sun. 11-4 G50 14-day journey to Florence and Rome will include side trips to many important ancient, me- dieval and early modern sites. The tour will survey the art of the ancient world as an ongoing, vi- tal presence in Italian art and cul- ture. Trip dates are April 28 through May 11, 1996. The ten- tative price, including airfare, is $3,950. "Italy 1996: Art and Architec- ture/Then and Now" will explore the landmark achievements of Italian Renaissance art and ar- chitecture in Tuscany and the Veneto. A joint offering of the Mu- seum of Art and the U-M School ofArchitecture and Urban Plan- ning, the tour will explore church- es, villas, palaces and museums. An optional extension of the trip to Venice will have as an added attraction the work of contem- porary architects Carlo Scarpa and Aldo Rossi. Trip dates are 6659 Orchard Lake Road • West Bloomfield, MI 48322 • 810-626-8808 he No. 1 thing about wine is that it is different from anything else. If there are 50 brands of beer, there are probably 50,000 brands of wine. If the taste of your scotch or bourbon will stay stable and unchanging in the bottle through the year 2050, your wine will con- stantly evolve, often unpre- dictably. If the lemon- strawberry-papaya wine cooler you buy this year tastes just like the one you bought last year, the same brand of wine will likely be somewhat different, vintage to vintage. Wine is mighty inconvenient in nearly every modern sense. And this means not only to buy, but to make. Remember, this is a farm product — pure and sim- ple — no matter how much carved stone or how many chan- deliers the farmhouse may affect. Every wine on your package store's shelf had to be cultivat- ed in a field from the ground up, in all vagaries of weather, and then be processed through what is essentially a 7,000-year-old technology. This is not to say that many high-volume, big-brand wineries don't do everything they can to give their wine all the advan- tages of modern product mar- keting, including longer shelf life and a more consistent and uni- form character. These wines, typ- ically budget-priced, can be good, straightforward drinks. But they rarely convey more than a sug- gestion of the full range of flavors, aromas and textures of more in- dividualized wines. The shame is that so many people get stuck at the first rung, buying decent, well-made, but less-than-scintillating wine — like a person who is content with frozen fish sticks for dinner and never learns what a piece of fresh fish tastes like. Wine rewards risk-takers. There is such a world of undull wine flavors out there. Wine grapes are astoundingly complex fruits, and they make an almost alchemical beverage. According to France's emi- nent professor/winemaker, Emile Peynaud, gas chromatographs in laboratories can detect more than 500 substances that make up the smells of wine. Check it out. There are aromas related to spices, to flowers, to wood, to a wide range of other, nongrape fruits. And you don't have to be a French wine profes- sor to appreciate these qualities. Open a good wine, and anyone can taste and smell such things. VINTAGE page 64