Wine
While wine can be made from many types of fruits and flowers, it is iconically produced from fermented grapes. Wine production dates back at least 8000 years, and today it is produced in quantity in more than 70 countries, with Italy, Spain, France, and the United States the largest producers of wine today. The world of wine is vast and complex, with more than 10,000 grape varietals in existence. This is largely due to experimental cross-breeding and grafting that has taken place for millennia, and such experiments have led to some of today’s most popular grape varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. The primary styles of wine today include red, white, and rose. While almost all grape juice itself is white, red wine is made by allowing the juice from black (aka red) grapes to ferment in contact with its skins, while white wine is usually (but not always) made from white grapes. Rose wine is made from black grapes with limited skin contact, which provides the pinkish color.
Top Wine Posts:
Understanding the Wines of France
Wine and Beer Touring in California’s Paso Robles, 2017
Touring and Wine Tasting in California’s Anderson Valley
Harvest in Chile’s Casablanca Valley – A Dusty Paradise
Chateau Montelena’s Dream Tasting: A Retrospective of Five Decades of Wine
Exploring Port Wine: Touring Porto and the Douro Valley
Visiting Tuscany’s Tenuta dell’Ornellaia
Luretta hails from the Gutturnio region, a new DOC in northern Italy, south of Milan. Frizzante style wines are most common here, and while the winery produces sparkling wine — in the metodo classico style — it also produces a still red wine, also reviewed here. NV Luretta Principessa Blanc de Blancs – A brut…
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It’s hard to believe that it’s been 9 years since we’ve reviewed Don Melchor, a semi-cult wine from Chile’s Concha y Toro empire, a wine which launched in 1987. This vintage is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot. One can generate few complaints in tasting Don…
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Here’s a straightforward, plummy cab born in Sonoma that lets its fruit flag fly, at least up front, with notes of red plums and a cherry element giving way to some spicy pepper character as the wine develops on the palate. Moderate oak and notes of tea leaf and cola inform an experience that ultimately…
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Thacher is one of the wineries leading the charge of “Paso Robles’ new school” — lower alcohol, higher acidity, new types of grapes not often found in this region. We recently received a quartet of wines from the operation for review, all new releases. 2020 Thacher Own-Rooted Chenin Blanc Shell Creek Vineyard – Approachable and…
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It’s been twelve years since we last reviewed Banfi’s delightful dessert wine Rosa Regali Sparkling Red, and it deserves another visit, particularly since it is joined this year by a new Sparkling White. Both are lightly fizzy, sweet dessert wines and both show particularly low abv: 7%. Let’s see how the Sparkling Red compares to…
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Sonoma-Cutrer’s pinot-driven rose offers a classic Provence-style construction, a mere 11.9% abv, driven by white flowers, ripe strawberry, and lingering vanilla notes as the wine develops in glass. Lemon notes emerge late in the game, the lightest layer of florals lifting the otherwise vanilla-laden, nougat-like sweetness, just a touch. This wine never tends toward complexity,…
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We’ve seen Loveblock‘s New Zealand-born pinot noir in the past — like, seven years ago — so it’s time for a refresh. Things, it seems, haven’t changed all that much (though the price has come down quite a bit). Straightforward and mild, this wine has an initial edge of cherry and rhubarb, but things fade…
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Thanks to shifts in weather patterns and climate change, supply chain complications, rising temperatures, and fluctuating soil quality, winemakers are facing an expansive list of challenges posing a threat to their craft. It’s not exclusive to the wine industry by any means, either. A quick search on Google will provide any number of articles detailing…
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The three wines below all have different names, but they’re all sister brands of Far Niente — whose fonts and design choices are consistent with the parent brand. At these prices, I certainly would call any of them “second labels.” Let’s see how they pan out in the luxe California wine space. 2019 EnRoute Pinot…
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Josh Cellars wines are widely available and consistently provide good quality for their price point. For wine drinkers that typically drink in the $10-$15 range and want to venture a little further without breaking the bank, these unapologetically big California Cabernets may be to your liking. 2019 Josh Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon California – This…
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