The Joys Of White Wine

By Paul Buckley

Red wines have been very popular lately, thanks to medical reports about their antioxidant and heart-protecting properties. It’s true that red wines are amazing, but that doesn’t mean the other less noticed kinds of wine are bad. White wines are in fact divine, when it comes to their subtle aroma and taste it’s more than the senses with a right amount of sweetness and delicately combined with mild sources.

Wine service at a nice restaurant can be an unneccessarily difficult ordeal. The following tips will allow you to follow the customs of wine service with ease and confidence.

Many people are confused about wine, especially whites. This makes many estranged from the joys of the cellar. For the uninitiated, here are some of the most common kinds of white wine:

1. Chardonnay – The most renowned type of white wine is very much befitting of the superstardom. This type of wine originated in France from grapes of the same name. Its flavor reminds one of the fruity tastes of pineapple, peach, citrus, apple combined with luscious tang of vanilla, oatmeal, and nuts. Chardonnay looks very elegant in a glass with its deep yellow to light greenish transparence.

2. Sauvignon Blanc – Another wine that hails from France, particularly around the Loire valley, the Sauvignon Blanc can also be found in New Zealand. Its flavor evokes freshness of the pastures around its area, reminding one of the aroma of freshly cut grass, giving the wine an herbaceous flavor with hints of fruits. It is best to enjoy this wine immediately as its fresh flavor doesn’t last long.

3. Chenin Blanc – another product of the Loire valley, this exceptional wine usually goes unnoticed as the underdog of the wine kingdom. However its flavors are truly magnificent with hints of tangy pineapple and lime combined with the sweetness of honey and licorice. This one lasts longer and can keep up to 10 years. Art of Wine Tasting.

4. Gewurztraminer – This one comes from Alsace, France. A wine with a louder character, with hints of spice and floral taste.

5. Pinot Gris – this crisp and smoky wine with hints of apricot comes from Alsace, North Eastern Italy, and New Zealand.

6. Riesling – a noble tea-like, honey flavored wine comes from Alsace or Clare Valley in France, or from Germany.

There are so many other kinds of white wines, all evoking elegant and luscious flavors that make them perfect companions for soft cheeses, white sauced pasta, fish and poultry. Of course one can have a glass with any meal or by itself depending on one’s preference.

When it comes to the joys and pleasures brought about by wine, whites can compete with reds. To know more about white wines, it is best to befriend a wine dealer. Cheers!

When choosing a wine from a restaurant’s wine list, the main goal is to accomplish a suitable pairing with the entrees of your party. If the food orders are too different to generalize with one wine, consider purchasing splits or ordering by the glass. Waiters and sommeliers are there to answer your questions, but availing yourself to their services and advice will be much more beneficial if your questions are relatively specific.

About the Author: Join Wine Tasting Party.

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World Tour Of My Favorite Wine

By Caroline Silverstone

A good Merlot warms the heart, the ambiance and the cheeks. Merlot is extremely popular amongst red wines. It is an easy wine to drink and marries well with hearty dishes, especially so in winter. A wine that originated in France, like so many, now Merlot is produced with great success in other parts of the world as well, such as the United States, Chile and Australia. My personal goal is finding great Merlots from a variety of countries, at a great price.

The United States

Merlots from the Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley in the wine region of California tend to be especially good choices amongst American Merlots. Merlot is a warm-weather grape, and a specialty of these regions. A recent discovery I made amongst Sonoma Valley Merlots is Angeline 2002 for under $15. Two sure bets in Napa Valley Merlots are Sterling Vintner’s Collection, which range in price from $15 to $30 and Edgewood, which is usually under $20.

Chile

Chile also produces some wonderful Merlots. My personal great price for a great bottle from this country is Casillero del Diablo, which is usually found easily for under $10. This wine comes with a great story. In order to dissuade workers from partaking of the wines produced by his vineyard, one owner dubbed his cellar “Casillero del Diablo” or Cellar of the Devil. Amazingly, it kept the workers from going there and helping themselves.

France

My French Merlot favorites tend to come from Pays d’Oc, even though, the “pays” or country wines tend to have a reputation as being inferior to those from the A.O.C. or regulated wine regions. Pays d’Oc wines come from the Languedoc-Roussillon area in the south of France. This area specializes in varietal wines, or wines produced from only one specific grape, of which there has been an increasing demand. One surprisingly good Merlot from this area, considering it comes in a completely recyclable, environmentally friendly box, is called French Rabbit and retails for about $10. Its packaging is either a love-it or hate-it type of thing. I haven’t decided where I stand on it yet, but I definitely like what is inside it.

Australia

Australia’s Little Penguin Merlot is another of those under $10 choices that is surprisingly good. The entire Little Penguin line has gotten good ratings for such a new line of products. It certainly will not hold up favorably in comparison to the Sterling Vintner’s Collection or Edgewood from Napa Valley, however as an everyday Merlot to enjoy, this one is pretty good.

The key to enjoying different types of Merlot is doing some research, asking questions, reading ratings, doing a little taste testing before buying and being open to new experiences. Even if you have always enjoyed a wine from a certain region and tend to always buy wines from there, an occasional foray into another part of the same country or even into another country altogether will liven up your Merlot drinking. So go for it next time you are looking for a new wine and see how many continents you can enjoy.

About the Author: Fine wine gifts like these cool wine accessories can be found at The Wine Standard. Find perfect wine lover’s gifts, like Riedel wine glasses and decanters. For unique and high end wine gifts click here.

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I Love French Wine And Food – Launching A Series

By LeviReiss

This article will launch our new series, I Love French Wine and Food. You may be aware that we have written over two dozen articles in our first series, I Love Italian Wine and Food. This series will continue this labor of love, but for French wine and food. While this article launches the French series, it is actually not our very first one describing French wine and food. We posted the article I Love French Wine and Food – Beaujolais Nouveau in time for the opening of the Beaujolais Nouveau season in mid-November. We will soon be taking a look at other wines in the Beaujolais region of southeastern France.

Let’s start with a few statistics for the French wine industry as a whole. France constantly fights with Italy for the title of the world’s biggest wine producer. As in many other European countries, the French are drinking less wine, but better wine. France has more than 2 million acres devoted to grape vines, and produces more than 600 million cases of wine each year. France exports over one third of its wine production all over the world including a considerable portion to the United States.

We are going to look at eleven wine French regions: in alphabetical order they are Alsace, Beaujolais, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Jura and Savoie, Languedoc-Rousillon, the Loire Valley, Provence and Corisca, the Rh

Wine Making In Tuscany – A Perfect Tour

By Alastair Hamilton

What do France, Italy, Spain, Australia, Chile, the United States of America, Romania, Germany, Portugal, Moldova, Hungary, South Africa, Croatia and Argentina have in common? Wine and wineries. These fourteen countries lead the world in the export of “vino.”

Italy is second only to France in the production of wines, and it’s all thanks to the famous region of Tuscany – or Toscana as the natives call it.

You’ll find Tuscany in the center of Italy. The famous fashion capital Milan is far to the north, near the borders of France and Switzerland, while Rome is a little to the south. Tuscany is a jewel set between the Tyrrhenian Sea on the west and the Apennines mountain range on the east. It consists of ten provinces, including Pisa (famous for the Leaning Tower of Pisa). The capital city is Florence (and it is here that you will find the historic Uffizi Gallery.)

Wine making in Tuscany is just as historic as Italy’s architecture and art. Indeed, it extends as far back as the beginning of time.

The History of Tuscany

Tuscany was first settled by the Etruscans in around 800 BCE, who quickly discovered the wild vines growing in abundance on the “sun-drenched” hills, and these grapes were carefully cultivated to improve their flavor.

Several varieties of grapes are grown in the region. Some of these grapes stand on their own when it comes to wine making – for example Cabernet Sauvignon comes only from the Cabernet Sauvignon grape, and the Lambrusco grape produces a variety of dry red wines: Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro, Lambrusco di Sorbara, Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce, and Lambrusco Reggiano).

Other wines are a blend of grape varieties. The famous Chianti is a blend three grapes -two red: Sangiovese and Canaiolo, and Malvasia, a white. (Although, there’s a story there. Until the 19th century Chianti was made only from the Sangiovese grape. A famous Italian statesman, Bettino Ricasoli, decreed that chianti should be made of the blend of three grapes. But since 1995 that practice has been dying out and most Chianti these days is again made only with the Sangiovese grape.)

The history of the evolution of a certain wine is just as fascinating as the history of the vineyards from which they come.

If you are a wine lover taking a vacation in Tuscany, you’ll want to visit a vineyard or two. Or more! You’ll find fourteen “wine roads” throughout the region – each one famous for the wine production from a particular type of grape. Follow each road and stop in at those companies and cellars which are open to the public.

Each of the provinces of Tuscany have at least one wine road – Florence and Grosseto have three each. Each road has its own sign system that indicates the wine it deals with, and the towns or places to stop of interest on it.

So renowned is Tuscany for its wine-making that several international travel firms offer tours devoted strictly to the wine lover. If you don’t feel like exploring the Italian countryside on your own, one of these tours – with like-minded people, will be just the thing for you.

About the Author: Alastair Hamilton is a syndicated editor of http://www.bikecyclingreviews.com . For additional information regarding tuscany vacations or Italy tours go to cycling in Italy

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