Keep Calm and Carignan
The Languedoc has undergone huge changes over the last ten years carrying the mantle of France’s most ‘new world’ wine region.
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Small Sips #17: Carbonic Maceration
CARBONIC MACERATION is a wine fermentation method that’s synonymous with France’s pretty Beaujolais region.
Small Sips #16: Blending
BLENDS are usually taken to mean blends of different grape varieties, of which classic examples include Bordeaux (Merlot, Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc), Champagne (Chardonnay, Pinots Noir and Meunier) and the southern Rhône’s ‘GSM’ (Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvèdre).
New Zealand – No one-trick pony
WITH 70% OF KIWI WINE production (and 85% of exports) accounted for by pungent, ebullient Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand is likely to remain synonymous with this most-distinctive of wine styles for years to come.
Vintage variation – don’t go changing
VINTAGE VARIATION reminds us that wine is really an agricultural product at heart, made in the field.
Small Sips #15: Wine Competitions
WOULD A SHINY GOLD MEDAL sway you in the wine aisle? Wineries think so; that's why the globe's most successful wine competitions - Decanter World Wine Awards, International Wine Challenge, International Wine & Spirit Competition - attract many thousands of entries each year.
Small Sips #13: Turning water into wine
JESUS GETS A LOT OF KUDOS for turning water into wine but this is a trick that wineries across the world do all the time when they irrigate their vineyards, a widely-used but controversial practice that can increase grape and wine yields by up to 300%.
Small Sips #12: world’s most-planted wine grapes
COMMITTED WINE DRINKERS could rattle these off in their sleep but, anyway, here are the world’s top 10 most-planted wine grapes: Cabernet Merlot Airén (used for Spanish brandy) Tempranillo Chardonnay Shiraz Grenache Sauvignon Trebbiano/Ugni Blanc (used for Cognac) Pinot Noir.
Small Sips #11: Champagne
Okay, 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.
Small Sips #10: Ageing Wine
ONE OF WINE’S ENDURING MYTHS is that all wines improve with time; in fact the overwhelming majority of wines sold today are best drunk within a year or two of harvest! The reason for ageing wine is to give time for harsh tannins or acidity to mellow, and to allow complex, ‘tertiary’ aromas ..
Small Sips #9: Vino de Pago
Innovative VINO DO PAGO is Spain's most illustrious appellation, the highest classification that can be attained under Spanish wine law.
Customer Questions #7: Is there cream in ‘Cream Sherry’?
Lactose-intolerant oenophiles will be happy to hear they can enjoy a chilled glass of vinous ‘Cream’ without keeling over – it is dairy free! This Sherry style – whose defining trait is its sweetness – was christened in a moment of inspiration by a nineteenth-century no ..
Customer Questions #6: Does this need to be decanted?
Do you need to decant your wine? Maybe. Decant if: The wine is ancientTo separate it from its sediment. The wine is a very young 'big' redAllowing it to ‘breathe’ can soften its tannins and encourage it to be more expressive.
Customer Questions #5: Is old wine better?
ONE OF THE BIGGEST myths around!The majority of today's wines are at their peak shortly after release. Whites, especially, don't take well to years of gathering dust in a drinks cabinet.
Small Sips #8: Malbec
MALBEC IS A DARK-SKINNED GRAPE that is most associated with the high-altitude (up to 3,000 metres!), desert vineyards of Argentina's Mendoza region. The variety is in fact originally from southwest France, where it is still widely cultivated today, especially in Cahors.
Regional Focus: Bordeaux
HOME TO 10,000 GROWERS farming 120,000 hectares, Bordeaux’s 57 appellations churn out everything from weedy dishwater to the world’s most lionized, weepingly-expensive wines.
Regional Focus: The Languedoc
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.
Grape Focus: Sauvignon Blanc
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.
Curious Small Sips #7: Solera System
NEW RHONE SUPPLIER SAINT COSME'S 'LITTLE JAMES' GRENACHE (whose jaunty label appears below) is unique in that - unlike the vast majority of table wines - it is not the product of one harvest but is instead a blend of wines from a number of years.
Curious Small Sips #6: Crianza
CRIANZA is a general Spanish wine term relating to the maturation of a wine prior to its sale. But it also has a locally-defined meaning: in Rioja, for example, a red Crianza must legally spend at least one year in oak barrel (generally not new) plus a year in bottle.
Country Focus: Portugal
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.
Grape Focus: Grenache
GRENACHE, the world’s 7th most-planted grape, is an increasingly-fashionable Mediterranean variety that is grown extensively across the wine world's warmer spots, particularly either side of the Pyrenees and in South Australia.
Curious Small Sips #5: Screwcap
USE OF SCREWCAPS (sometimes seen as ‘Stelvin’, a brand) today is widespread and growing, especially for early drinking, white, non-premium or New World wines. Some countries (e. g.
Regional Focus: Rueda
RUEDA, 100km northwest of Madrid, was something of a sleepy backwater until the 1980s when massive Rioja house Marques de Riscal ‘discovered’ and popularised local sleeping beauty grape Verdejo, in the process propelling the region into the spotlight.