BIODYNAMIC VITICULTURE (<1% of the world’s vineyards) is a controversial approach to grape growing that is best understood as an enhanced (extreme?) form of organic farming, boosted by liberal additions of mystical sky-watching.
THE WORLD'S MOST ISOLATED COUNTRY, separated by three hours’ flight time from its nearest neighbour Australia, New Zealand lies between 36° and 45° south. Indeed it is the planet’s southernmost wine-producing nation and boasts also its most easterly wine region, Gisborne.
The Rhône, in southeast France, is the country’s second-largest wine region after Bordeaux; but it’s really best considered as two separate, distinct, areas. The elevated north, which grows mostly Syrah, makes barely a tenth of the Rhône’s wine but more-or-less monopolises the zone’s glamour.
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.
Alcohol has gone up, hasn't it? I'm not imagining it?No, you're not - wine alcohol-by-volume (ABV) levels have indeed crept up in the past couple of decades: 12% used to be standard for many red table wines; now that would be seen as anaemic, and 13%-15% is more typical.
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.
FRANCE HAS more land under vine than any other country bar Spain, competes with Italy each year for the title of world’s largest producer, is the world’s top fine wine exporter, its prime source of oak for barrels and its most important exporter of vine nursery material. France is wine.
"IT IS BAD MANNERS to refill your glass without offering to do the same for your neighbours beforehand. Never fill a glass more than two thirds full. Hold it by the stem when drinking and do not gulp it down as if you have been in the desert for several hours.
1. Coax mute wines into life: While the science is beyond the scope of this post (i. e.
THE SECRET INGREDIENT in Rioja and an array of Iberian reds, Tempranillo is widely grown throughout the peninsula, especially the north. Voraciously displacing Garnacha, Bobal and Monastrell as consumers have come to know and love it, it has become Spain’s most-planted variety.
AT A STAGGERING 1 MILLION HECTARES, Spain has more land under vine than any other country in the world, but its parched land and resulting low yields mean that it is only the third-biggest producer globally.
No, is the short answer. And if we did the wines wouldn't have a very long shelf life, and would taste unappetizing, dull and cloying. Acid is naturally present in all grapes, and most wines have a pH between 2.
Someone asked this after spying the word on two of our floor-stacked wines, La Mano Bierzo Roble and Valtravieso Ribera del Duero Roble.
The Chianti Classico Consorzio has created a new classification - Gran Selezione - to sit at the top of its hierarchy. Once the Italian Ministry of Agriculture gives its approval the new law will come into effect later this year and wines from the 2010 vintage - not yet sold - can qualify for the title.
From the unfashionable and sometimes controversial Riesling to the height of fashion and consumer tastes in the last ten years, this week we turn our attention to perhaps a more contemporary great ‘food wine’, Sauvignon Blanc.
In our second contribution to the Look and Taste wine blog this week, we took a step back from our five wine tips to enhance your dining forever to assess the fundamental taste components of both food and wine.
We were absolutely thrilled to follow the launch of Look and Taste this week, surely one of the most exciting, innovative and universally-appealing websites to come out of Ireland.
Along the lines that 73% of all statistics are made up, I’m going to make a brash guess that there’ll be as much Champagne drunk tonight around the world as the other 364 days of the year put together.
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