The Casablanca Valley is an important wine growing region situated between Santiago and the port of Valparaiso and is officially part of the Acongagua region of Chile, although the wines are very different here than in the northern vineyards.
Although the solera system sounds almost galactic, it is in fact an Earthly system of fractional blending used most commonly in the region of Jerez, in Southern Spain.
A characterful grape with a distinctive blue-green bloom, Verdejo is the grape mascot (grapescot?) of Spain's Rueda region and the dominant constituent in blends from the area along with (the imported) Sauvignon Blanc.
Veneto winery Terre dei Buth, purveyor of organic, vegan, fresh and fruity Prosecco, and elegant Pinot Grigio, is making a splash with a strong, clean design aesthetic and a genuine environmental sensibility. These factors combined make it one of a growing number of sustainable wine estates to watch.
At the beginning of Argentinian French novelist Julio Florencio Cortázar’s experimental novel 62 Modelo para Armar, the protagonist and intellectual, Juan, asks himself the question ‘And why did I ask for a bottle of Sylvaner?’ You might wonder why indeed, as it seems like an inauspicious ..
Let everything happen to you:Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling isfinal.
PORTUGAL is a refreshingly exotic ‘mainstream’ wine producer: hardly anyone has heard of its regions, with one notable exception; mention of its extensively-used native grapes – 200 are in use – prompts blank-faced head scratching in all but the most devoted oenophiles; and its big wine ..
Committed wine drinkers could rattle these off in their sleep but, anyway, here are the world’s top 10 most-planted wine grapes: 1. Cabernet Sauvignon; 2. Merlot; 3.
The C-wordOkay, let’s be clear: sparkling wine can be any old fizz, but Champagne is always a particular sparkling wine made in a certain way and that can come only from the legally-delimited Champagne region of northern France. (Now, that should keep the Champagne lawyers happy.
Innovative VINO DO PAGO is Spain's most illustrious appellation, the highest classification that can be attained under Spanish wine law.
SOME ADVISE DECANTING EVERYTHING right down to the simplest white, but that's probably overkill.
THE LANGUEDOC, France’s most ‘new world’ wine region, is a massive, diverse expanse, arcing from Montpellier southwest around the Gulf of Lyon towards the Spanish border.
SAUVIGNON BLANC, the world’s eight most-planted grape, hails originally from Bordeaux and the Loire but is today cultivated in every country that makes wine. Famous regions that specialise in it include Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Bordeaux, Casablanca (Chile), Friuli (Italy) and the Adelaide Hills.
THE 'ART' OF FOOD AND WINE MATCHING is actually a relatively recent invention (1980s); before this most people unthinkingly drank local wines with local foods - and lived to tell the tale! But for whatever reason, today, it's an overly-prescribed area that can even create anxiety for some people.
IT HAS BEEN SAID OF CHARDONNAY that if it were a celebrity it would be Marilyn Monroe – golden, voluptuous and easy for everyone to appreciate.
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