What is wine?
In one sentence, wine, regardless of colour, is a beverage made with the fermented juices of grapes.
Technically speaking, a fermented beverage can be made with any type of fruit, apples, grapes, plums etc. but to make ‘wine’ the fruit used must be grapes, and further, wine grapes… not table grapes.
Is Rose a red or a white wine?
Rose wine is basically the middle ground between hearty reds and the lighter whites. It is usually served chilled but not to the extent of a full white and in particular, very dry whites.
Rose wines are not always light pink in color but usually are, hence the name. Also, Rose wines lack the robust tannic structure of red wines but it makes up for this with lovely aromas and crisp tastes.
How to taste wine
Imagine tasting wine, and getting paid for it! Many people do this for a living and when suitably experienced, anyone can!
In this post, I will tell you how to taste and evaluate a wine which will get you started in your wine tasting years to come. People have been tasting wine for thousands of years and have been making money from it for over 100 years. So what do they know that you don’t?
Wine varieties and the soils they are grown in
There are many wine types and many different wine tastes. Have you ever thought of the connections that exist which help to create these different wine flavours, or how the elements combine to produce the wines we drink?
Should I decant wine?
Have you ever noticed when you open a bottle of red wine the taste gets better over time?
The second glass is even smoother! The wine should start to smell better, the flavours should become more pronounced and the tannins become softer.
What is Pinot Gris?
Pinot gris is a white wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. It is produced globally but is mainly cultivated in Alsace. It is thought to be a clone of the pinot noir variety.
What country do the best wines come from?
Such is the advance of modern production techniques used in wine making I would personally say; the southern hemisphere.
By that I am referring to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa etc. All these countries rate highly. However, there are other countries that are challenging the currently accepted main producers.
What is Cab?
Firstly, there is no such wine as Cab. What ‘Cab’ refers to is Carbernet, and in particular; Cabernet Sauvignon, which is one of the world’s most widely recognised red wine grape varieties.
It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country and is known for its full bodied, rich taste.
Wine grape definitions
There are over 10,000 varieties of grapes in the world that are used to make wines with. Many of these are unique original grape types and many others have been developed by using grafting and other methods to produce new hybrids.
Here is a brief definition of the most common grapes used in wine making.
Italian Wines – Part Due
In the first part of the Italian wine journey we identified the main grapes and their usage in the following part we investigate the lesser known varieties.