Chablis Wine
Wine naming conventions can be confusing, especially when the wine goes by a growing region and not a grape. Chablis (shah-blee) wines are made from 100% Chardonnay grapes in north-central France. Chablis is a dry white wine with high acid, green apple and citrus notes. Chablis is typically unoaked with a mineral quality making it […]
What’s Vermentino? Everything You Wanted to Know About Vermentino Wine
Vermentino (pronounced vur-men-tee-no) I recently enjoyed a Vermentino as an afternoon aperitif ahead of a large family meal. Our little bottle of Vermentino hailed from Napa, of all places, which was unexpected. Vermentino, a thin-skinned Italian white grape, is grown in Sardinia, Liguria, Corsica, and Provence (known as Rolle). It shares a high-acid style with […]
What’s Better? DOCG, DOC, IGT, and VdT Italian Wines
Reading Italian wine labels can feel a little cryptic, especially if you’re standing in the wine aisle of your local store and holding two bottles that look essentially the same. If you want the highest quality Italian wines, then choose a DOCG Italian wine, sometimes written out as Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita. DOC […]
How to Host a Wine Tasting for Beginners
I actually got started in wine by hosting wine tastings at my home with a bunch of friends. None of us knew anything about wine, but we learned! And if I were to do it again, this is what I would do. Hosting a wine tasting for beginners isn’t difficult. If your group knows absolutely […]
30 Second Tasting Tip: How to Taste White Wine Flavors?
You can divide white wine fruit flavors into 4 broad categories: citrus fruits, stone fruits, green fruits, and tropical fruits. Here’s your 30-second tasting tip to get you started!
Why Does My Wine Taste Like Butter?
If you’ve ever taken a sip of wine and thought that it tasted like butter, you’re not imagining things! It does! The buttery flavors and aromas in wine come from a winemaking process called malolactic conversion. The official name for the buttery flavor is diacetyl. Bacteria are responsible for malolactic conversion. Winemakers will choose whether […]
How Do they Decide What Wine Grapes to Plant?
Have you ever wondered how a winegrower decides to plant one grape variety over another? Some choices Mother Nature drives, but there’s actually a lot more behind deciding what grapes to plant in a new vineyard. Deciding what type of grape to plant where involves a complicated heuristic that takes into account environmental and non-environmental […]
Are You Drinking Bitter Wine? Or Astringent Wine?
Some would-be wine drinkers get turned off by wine’s perceived bitterness, but vino comes in a range of styles. Bitterness in wine is from alcohol. High alcohol wines (13%+) can taste bitter Lower alcohol wines (Moscato, Lambrusco) are less bitter. Astringency, a tactile sensation, dries your mouth. High-tannin red wines feel more astringent. Light white […]