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
It is the most wonderful time of the year for some, and the least wonderful for others: Hallmark Christmas movie season. This Countdown to Christmas in the Hallmark Cinematic Universe (HCU) features many new faces due to major defections to other networks. However, Hallmark still wears the crown, delivering gentle films featuring weird holiday miracles…
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A few weeks ago, we reviewed a Pizzella Malbec from Laura Catena’s La Posta line, which showcases the versatility of growers and winemakers around Argentina and provides infrastructure for production and distribution on a large scale. This time, we’re pouring the line’s Uco Valley red blend, a composition of 60% Malbec, 25% Bonarda, and…
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Two recent offerings from Oregon radio pioneers-turned-wine-impresarios, the King Family. 2021 King Estate Sauvignon Blanc – Bright notes of melon and lemon are dominant throughout. Light lime and a touch of spice show up on the palate, along with some very light minerality. The acidity on the finish dominates the discussion and mutes the more…
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Three years ago we took our first spin with Graham’s 20 year old tawny Port, and recently the winery sent us a fresh bottling to demonstrate what has (or hasn’t) changed. Turns out this Port has extreme consistency, offering a straightforward raisin character up front, touched with light notes of strawberry, moving to a strong…
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It’s been a few years since we’ve dug into Beaujolais Nouveau, the (in)famous wine that marks the first production of the season — and is intended to be consumed before the year on the label is up. These fresh bottles won’t be around for long (we hope), so dig in while you can. 2022 Georges…
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The grapes for Borsao’s flagship wine are grown on the slopes of the Moncayo mountain in Campo de Borja, Spain. It pours medium ruby colored in the glass and exudes enticing notes of ripe blackberries and pepper on the nose. The palate follows suit and shows additional depth. Balanced with bright blackberries and gentle pepper…
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When they said Covid was over, we didn’t think we’d be summarily dropped into a new financial crisis to replace the one we just got out of. The good news is that the holidays have arrived just in time to provide a welcome (if brief) break from yet another year of chaos. At Drinkhacker, we…
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If there is one thing I truly regret not doing sooner, it is aggregating marketing slogans from wine companies imploring me to pursue a different lifestyle than my current and satisfactory mode of operation. Throughout my wine-scribing adventures, I’ve been urged, via various means of stylish typography, to “Live Out Loud,” “Chase Life Meaningfully,” “Pursue…
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With over 20 years of experience making wines in both Argentina and Oregon, Juan Pablo Valot and Doris Cancel’s Valcan (a portmanteau of their surnames) brand offers quite a variety from which to choose at their Corvallis base of operations, including a “bare” Malbec which I hope to try in the near future. But for…
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It’s been a few years since we’ve looked at offerings from this sublabel of Riboli Family Wines, which makes a wide variety of wines sourced from various regions in California. Let’s have a look at three of their more recent releases. 2021 San Simeon Pinot Noir Monterey – Mildly earthy at first, but after a…
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