Oh Merlot, maligned by some (like Paul Giamatti's character Miles in the movie Sideways), loved by others (perhaps too much, making it a victim of its own success). From Carlo Rossi to Miles's beloved Cheval Blanc (oh, the irony) Merlot stars in a wide range of roles, both high brow and low. We like …
Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris (aka Grigio), Pinot Blanc, Pinot Meunier, all once thought to be distinct varietals, are actually genetically identical mutations of the same varietal. This ancient grape, only a couple generations removed from wild grapes, today is grown around the globe from Alsace, the Alto …
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Pét-nat is the pet name for Pétillant Naturel, one of the oldest types of sparkling wine. It is produced by bottling wine before it has finished fermenting. Its bubbles form naturally as the wild yeasts digest sugar in the grape juice and release carbon dioxide that is trapped inside the bottle. Pét …
The Rhone's appellations are grouped into North & South. Northern Rhone comprises Côte Rôtie, or the 'roasted slope,' Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, St-Joseph, Cornas and St-Péray. Southern Rhone includes the Côtes du Rhône, whose wines can come from 140,000 acres around the southern end of the Rhône …
Malbec, also known as Côt or Auxerrois in Cahors, rose to fame as a single varietal from Argentina in the late 20th century (although it had been grown there since the late 1860s). The intensely dark juice produced from Malbec takes on a rustic, earthy, animal nature in Cahors, while in Argentina it …
Even in this modern age, some winemakers choose to work their vineyards with horses. Horses can reach into places tractors can't, they can navigate steeper slopes, their feet don't pack down the soil like tractor tires do and they even leave fertilizer in their wake! Not to mention they make for goo …
Sicily, Sardinia, the Canary Islands...wine from islands of the Mediterranean shows influence of the salty sea breeze, summer sun, volcanic soil...and if you hold the bottle up to your ear you might even hear the ocean.
The earliest red wines made were likely closer in appearance to today's rosés than to modern red wines. Many of the winemaking techniques used to make today's darker, more tannic red wines were not widely practiced in ancient winemaking. Both red and white wine grapes were often pressed soon after h …
Skin-fermented white wines, also sometimes called orange wines (for their color, not the fruit), are white wines left to macerate with their skins. This technique makes for complex wines, with the grippy sensation of tannin not typically found in white wine. Skin fermentation has been used for thous …
The most widely recognized wine made from Gamay is Beaujolais, and is unfortunately often associated with the insipid industrially produced red made famous through marketing. But unlike Beaujolais Nouveau, the mature version of Beaujolais, Cru Beaujolais and Gamay from other regions such as Italy's …
Riesling has been embraced of late by trendsetting wine professionals, but its high regard is nothing new. In the late 19th century the reputation of Rieslings from the Mosel and Rhine rivaled that of Bordeaux and Champagne. Yet, "I don't drink sweet wine," is often a reaction to any mention of the …
In 1997 researchers at the University of California at Davis, backed by DNA analysis, revealed shocking news: Cabernet Sauvignon was the love child of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc, the result of a likely spontaneous cross somewhere in the Bordeaux region. This was surprising for two reasons. I …
Champagne, Pet Nat, Cava, Spumante, Lambrusco, Frizzante, Petillant... From the traditional méthode champenoise and méthode ancestrale to the more modern charmat method, from grapes like Erbaluce di Caluso, Salamino, Grolleau Gris, Gamay, Cinsault, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Macabeo, Xarel.lo and Pa …
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