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
Kenefick Ranch’s Pickett Road Red is a curious blend of 63% petit verdot, 25% merlot, and 12% cabernet franc — all estate grown in Calistoga, California, and aged for 18 months. A dense wine, there’s a dark and dusty quality up front that evokes licorice and dark chocolate amidst a brooding, tannic core. A slightly…
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Oregon’s Pike Road Winery has more than 20 partner vineyards in the Willamette area, using those grapes to produce a huge range of bottlings from numerous AVAs in the region. We were fortunate to recently try three new releases. Let’s dig in. 2020 Pike Road Chardonnay Willamette Valley – A delightful chardonnay with all the…
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Bodega Catena Zapata is the oldest Argentinian family winery, producing under family ownership since 1902. The winery is credited with making Argentina synonymous with malbec, though it also produces a wide range of international varietals. Today we look at three wines produced by the fourth generation of Zapata — all of which were sampled from…
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Don’t call it a liqueur, because it isn’t: Luxardo Antico is a new type of aperitif, essentially a vermouth made from cherry juice. Per the company: Luxardo Antico is Luxardo’s own interpretation of a vermouth. When Luxardo marasca cherries are harvested at the beginning of every summer, part of the juice is separated and left…
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Today we delve in to a handful of wines from Georgia — the country, not the state — mostly comprising indigenous grape varieties you’ve never heard of. Two of the wines in the mix are amber wines, which is essentially the O.G. version of modern orange wine — made with white wine grapes, aged on…
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With eight Grand Prix victories to his name, Australian Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo is no stranger to the champion’s circle. The 33 year-old — who will drive for Red Bull Racing starting in 2023 — is also a lifelong wine fanatic, an interest sparked by his father, who emigrated from Italy. Over the past…
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Etude Winery, based in Napa, built its reputation producing a range of fine Pinot Noirs and Cabernet Sauvignons, but they recently branched out to produce their first sparkling wine. Made with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes drawn exclusively from the Grace Benoist Ranch vineyards in Carneros, this sparkler pours pale straw in color. The nose…
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Here’s a curious wine born from a partnership between music entrepreneur Jay Boberg and Burgundian winemaker Jean-Nicolas Méo, which has been producing Oregon pinot noir in the Willamette Valley since 2014. “Meaning “together” or “whole” in French, this cuvée brings together fruit from Jay and Jean-Nicolas’ favorite vineyards and the best resulting barrels from each.”…
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The black-on-black label of Texas-based C.L. Butaud is as hard to miss as is it is to read. I channeled my inner Johnny Cash to taste this pair of recent releases. 2020 C.L. Butaud Cease & Desist Red Blend Texas High Plains – A tempranillo-heavy blend with cinsault, grenache, and counoise added (if I’m reading…
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This festive, chardonnay-based Champagne — now available in a fancy gift box — offers the perfect celebratory composition, featuring a buttery (and not at all yeasty) body with a semi-sweet and boldly fruity quality that evokes notes of lemon curd, mandarin orange, and a slight layer of vanilla. Chewy and creamy but punctuated by acidity,…
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