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
Let’s say you grab a bottle of wine and it’s too warm. What do you do? If you’re like most people, you probably just open it and drink it anyway. Secondary options typically run to sticking it in the freezer for a few minutes, or using a wine-chilling gadget (like one of these) to bring…
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We’ve expressed our fondness for Graffigna’s pinot grigio previously. Now we turn our attention to one of the company’s reds: An Argentinian classic, malbec. With this 2005 Special Reserve Malbec, Graffigna has created a quite enchanting wine. Intensely floral — Graffigna says it’s “violets” but I can’t place what kind of flower we’re dealing with…
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One day it’s a B-, a week later it’s a solid A. Rating wine, spirits, and just about anything else is a dicey affair, and assigning consistent scores day in and day out is nearly impossible. That’s not just anecdotally true, the science backs it up: A four-year study published last week in the Journal…
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Spent some of the afternoon tasting “today’s Bordeaux,” which it turns out is a lot like yesterday’s Bordeaux, only cheaper. Hit hard by the worldwide recession, the days of $1000 bottles of Bordeaux are rapidly coming to an end. And while the first growth chateaux still command hefty prices (just not quite as hefty as…
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I enjoyed Graffigna’s 2007 Pinot Grigio and, sure enough, its 2008 is nearly as compelling. Grapefruit is the predominant character in this Argentinian Pinot Grigio, with mineral, grass, and herbal notes following close behind. Again, this wine is crisp and easy to drink, and it goes well on its own or with food. And also…
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Sorry, les enfants! At long last, it looks like France — where you can drink beer and wine as young as 16 years old — is going to raise its drinking age to 18. The good news: As has always been the case, no one is likely to ask for ID. From the AP story:…
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At long last, the final piece of the Winebloggin’ puzzle is in place. My Winepod is drained, my barrel emptied, and my 2007 Cabernet is in bottles… and to my great surprise, getting rave reviews. Read the final chapter of the epic saga here! Or catch up on the complete tale from the beginning: Parts…
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We last encountered Robert Craig Affinity in June of last year with the 2005 vintage. The 2006 arrives a bit early, but we’re not ones to let good wine sit idle. This year’s Bordeaux-style Napa Valley blend is more “ready” than the 2005, a racier, spicier wine, very fruity and laced with exotic spice like…
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Produced in a style similar to Champagne and made just around the corner in the Alsace region of France, Lucien Albrecht’s Cremant d’Alsace Brut Blanc de Blancs is a very lovely sparkling white wine that won’t break the bank. Elegant and moderately to heavily fizzy, the nonvintage Brut has a very sharp apple nose to…
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Benefiting The Young School in St. Helena, California… some pretty impressive auction items, including: 2005 3L Harlan Napa Valley Red Wine 1.5L horizontal collection of 2005 Bond (Melbury, Vecina, St. Eden, Pluribus) 1.5L Levy & McClellan 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon 1.5L Sloan Red Wine vertical collection (2003, 2004, 2005) Check out the full catalog at the…
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