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.
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Arnaldo Caprai makes a variety of wines, grappa, and (very good) olive oil in the Umbria region of Italy. We recently tried three wines from the company’s portfolio. Comments follow. 2008 Arnaldo Caprai Anima Umbra ...
Tasting through a smaller selection of wines at the trade portion of this year’s Pinot Days event in San Francisco, the printed matter on what Pinot Noir wines was being offered was scarce (OK, there ...
Intense to the point of bursting with dark chocolate, nuts, and over-ripe raspberries, this is Washington state winemaking at its best. You might think Cabernet, but the lack of any real tannin is a giveaway ...
We’ve already given you the lowdown on summer whites. Now let’s look at summer pinks — rose wines from all over Europe, ready for savoring while the kids try to drown each other in the ...
To call Madeira poorly understood would be charitable. This truly ancient fortified wine from an eponymous island off the coast of (and part of) Portugal dates back to the 1400s and comes in infinite varieties. ...
Few brands enjoy the status that Dom Perignon has — and has had, literally for centuries. I had the good fortune to meet the Champagne house’s Chef de Cave Richard Geoffrey, who flew in to ...
Try this experiment: Next time you have a fine meal in front of you, open up a bottle of tequila and see how well it goes with dinner. I had the chance to do this, ...
Meet Emilio Rodriguez. He makes wine at Bodegas Terras Gauda — primarily white Albarino — and Pittacum — primarily from the red Mencia grape. Together, these two Spanish wineries (“bodegas” to those in the know) ...
Summer is here — officially, now — and that means the white wines will be flowing. Why not take the opportunity to look at five different varietals all primed for warm weather? All of the ...
Two Argentine Malbecs go head to head today, showing just how variable this grape and this region can be. 2008 Bodega Tamari Mendoza Malbec Reserva is a burly, smoky beast, a brute that’s a real ...