tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75854337349856324792024-03-08T22:59:32.095+07:00WINE"Men are like wine - some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age." --- Pope John XXIIILefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-61789600755098956742007-05-25T11:52:00.001+07:002007-05-25T11:53:32.725+07:00TASTE: More Than Just Swallowing<span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Taste" doesn't mean only what we sense with our mouths.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">The words also describes the quality of critical discernment, judgment and appreciation that separates most of us from animals at a trough.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">We taste the joy of victory and the bitterness of defeat. We savor life and we sample the flavor of an experience.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Scientists tell us that our taste buds can discern only four basic flavors: Sweet, sour, bitter and salty.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">What we think of as taste, however, is a much more complex sensory experience that combines what our taste buds tell us with the senses of smell and touch.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yes, I said touch. The feel of the wine in your mouth, its sense of lightness or weight, a quality that may range from watery-thin to viscous and oily is very much a part of the experience of tasting wine.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sourness is a fault in wine if it reeks of vinegar, the sign of a spoiled beverage (fortunately, you'll rarely find it nowadays).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the form of crisp, sharp acidity, however, a sour sensation is a desirable trait, offering a brisk, acidic taste that's as amiable a companion to fish as a squirt of fresh lemon.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">A wine with too little acid, on the other hand, may seem mellow at first, but it's bland and uninspiring, lacking the verve to stand up to food.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sour and sweet tastes are mixed in many California Chardonnays, which at their best are crisp, almost dry, with just enough fresh-fruit sweetness to soften the cutting acidic edge.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Finally, sweet dominates the sour in "late harvest" and other dessert- type wines, in which a penetrating sweetness identifies the style, but the sugar is balanced against sharp acid that keeps the wine from cloying. </span></span>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-89420940871249344972007-05-09T07:09:00.000+07:002007-05-09T07:17:51.706+07:00Getting Your Nose Into Wine<span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">from: wineloverspage.com</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><br /><br /><br />Wine</span> doesn't have eyes, ears or teeth, but some say it has a "nose."<br /><br />I won't say the term is snobbish, but I'd feel uneasy about standing around, glass in hand, chatting about a wine's nose. This one's aquiline, that one's pug, the one over there's had an operation?<br /><br />For that matter, I'm not too comfortable with the distinction some tasters make between a wine's "aroma," referring to the natural smell it takes from the fruit, and its "bouquet," the complex overtones it may develop with age in the bottle.<br /><br />Three terms to refer to one sense? It reminds me of the Eskimos, who reportedly have scores of words to define subtleties in snow, from snowball-packing quality to bricks for igloos.<br /><br />So let's strike a blow for clarity in wine language by agreeing to use plain English here.<br /><br />I'll talk about how a wine "smells," and if I feel the need for synonyms, I might refer to its aroma or scent. I'll warn you if I find one that stinks.<br /><br />One thing makes common scents: Smell is important to the wine taster. Much of what we think is taste really comes through our noses. If you don't believe it, try to enjoy a wine - or a meal - the next time you have a bad head cold.<br /><br />When it comes to smelling, we take a distant second place to dogs and cats. Still, we humans can train our sense of smell, and you don't have to be an expert wine taster to learn to sniff out the differences among wines.<br /><br />The aroma of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cabernet Sauvignon</span> and the closely related <span style="font-weight: bold;">Merlot</span> grape, for example, often reminds me of cedar wood and pine needles mingled with a good fruit smell reminiscent of currants.<br /><br />Some add hints that wine tasters call "vegetal:" green olives, green peppers, tobacco leaves or grass.<br /><br />Aging the wine in oak may add touches of vanilla, cinnamon, cloves and almonds. Extended bottle aging may lend a toasty quality and impart earthy scents as variable as mushrooms, old leather, roses and wildflowers.<br /><br />Other grapes have their own trademark aromas: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Zinfandel</span> often evokes berries. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pinot Noir</span>, the fine grape of Burgundy, may recall violets and spice. The pungently floral quality of freshly ground black pepper signals <span style="font-weight: bold;">Syrah</span>, the French Rhone grape.<br /><br />Among whites, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Chardonnay</span> recalls crisp, ripe apples and may add notes of butter, coconut, figs and other tropical fruits, particularly if it's aged in oak.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Riesling</span>, the queen of German grapes, may evoke apples, too, and sometimes citrus fruit, canteloupe and pine.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sauvignon Blanc</span> often shows a grassy smell and sometimes grapefruit.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chenin Blanc</span> reminds me of melons and, occasionally, orange blossoms. A smell of peaches identifies <span style="font-weight: bold;">Muscat</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Gewurztraminer</span>; the latter may add elusive spice. </span>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-38344086397675782342007-05-07T14:20:00.000+07:002007-05-09T07:19:22.446+07:00Looking at Wine<span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >What's the point in tasting wine?<br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><br />from: wineloverspage.com</span></span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br />This is a reasonable question, if wine evokes for you the image of a wine snob, pinky extended, mouthing fancy talk.<br /><br />Certainly no similar mystique surrounds Pepsi-Cola, iced tea or milk.<br /><br />But <span style="font-weight: bold;">wine</span> is different.<br /><br />It's the only beverage I know that appeals to both the senses and the intellect.<br /><br />If you take the time to look for it, every glass contains a lesson in history, geography, agriculture, botany; sometimes anthropology, religion, psychology and more.<br /><br />There's no reason to be snobbish about wine, and none to fear it. But it's well worth talking about and sharing with friends. (We call WineLoversPage.com a "snob-free zone" because we avoid taking wine too seriously, and we recommend that you do the same). This stuff is supposed to be fun. You don't have to pass a test to enjoy it, and you needn't learn a new language.<br /><br />The idea behind wine tasting is as simple as this: Slow down. Relax and take the time to think about what you're drinking and to enjoy it with all your senses. (Well, all except hearing. Nobody listens to wine.)<br /><br />Examine its color. Is it clear or hazy, transparent or opaque?<br /><br />Take a deep sniff. Does it smell like fruit? Flowers? Road tar or sweat sox?<br /><br />Got it? Take a drink. Take two. Swish it around your mouth, sensing not only its taste but its texture and weight. Don't worry about looks; you're enjoying yourself.<br /><br />Put it all together in your head. Think about where it came from. Sip again and enjoy. You won't get all this out of a Pepsi! </span>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-2751772780103523262007-05-01T15:28:00.000+07:002007-05-02T08:21:13.862+07:00<span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >10 Steps to Ordering Wine in a Romantic Restaurant<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >by Randal Caparoso*<br /></span></span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.justindegarmo.com/images/wine&dine_Sm.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.justindegarmo.com/images/wine&dine_Sm.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >So, gentlemen: for once, you've had the presence of mind to make dinner reservations ahead of time for Valentine's night - the second busiest day of the year (after Mother's Day) for restaurants.<br /><br />So what are you going to do if you know she prefers wine, but you know absolutely nothing about it? Tell her, "Why don't we just go for two pints of Guinness?" Wrong! If your dining partner is truly important to you, it is definitely to your advantage to whisper the three magic words: "Let's have wine." And this I can say after 25+ years in the restaurant business: women prefer wine!<br /><br />Which is not to say that the male always does the wine ordering in restaurants. There are, in fact, many women who love to gaze at wine lists. But the fact is that the custom of men actually doing the ordering is still considered as natural as opening doors, carving turkeys, and leading on the dance floor. You don't have to follow it, but that's the way it's usually done.<br /><br />Since you have to start somewhere, here are ten easy steps to finding the right wine, and perhaps the key to a heart:<br /></span><ol><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Bone up. It doesn't take more than a few minutes to prepare by absorbing the introduction of a wine book. It's called a bookstore, or library (the wine books are always in the food sections). For just $11, for instance, you can find all the information you need in a nifty little paperback called The Wine Avenger by Willie Gluckstern. But if you don't want to leave the comfort of your desk, there's always the net. For a perfectly easy introduction to wine, try out Learn About Wine on The Wine Lovers' Page. So now that you've done some homework, here's what you do once you've made it to the restaurant, and you've just been seated:</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >First, a waiter will approach to ask if you would like to start with a cocktail or glass of wine. Rule #1: remember that you are there to please your date, not a server. So without breaking the gaze between your eyes, the thing to do is to simply ask, "Would you care to join me with a glass of Champagne?" If she agrees, ask your waiter for either two glasses, or two splits (the miniature airplane sized bottles), of sparkling wine. In the nicest restaurants, they will usually serve you some kind of French Champagne ($10-$20 a glass). In middle range restaurants, it's usually a California sparkler ($6-$10). Don't worry about the quality, since both are usually quite good and make perfect ice breakers -- and you're on your way! Next, you should be looking at your dinner menus. Perhaps you're worried about remembering what goes with what. Is it white wine with white meat, or red wine with fish? What if she orders pasta, or veal Marsala -- are these white wine or red wine dishes? The answer is -- don't sweat it! Just follow these guidelines:</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Plan to order a full bottle of wine. Why? Bottles are so much more romantic than glasses! Don't worry about quantity. If you say something like, "Let's not worry about finishing it, since the best wines always come in full bottles," how do you think she'll feel? Do words like dashing and debonair mean anything? But do not, under any circumstance, ask for a doggy bag for any leftover wine; since a cultivated man is aware of the fact that in most states (including Hawaii) it is against the law to leave a restaurant with an open bottle of wine. Bottom line: drink slowly, and only as much as you safely can.</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Do take a good look at the wine list, whether you know what you're looking at or not. The important thing is to look good doing it -- this is romance, after all, not a driver's test. You might consider practicing beforehand -- furrowing your brows, raising one side or the other or glancing up with a smile as you turn the pages. You should also remember this: no matter where you are, do not order anything less than $25 -- because if she should happen to find out, you're just not going to look good. I suggest a bottle for around $28-$38, which is the most sensible price range for this day and age, even among connoisseurs. Oh, you can bump it up an extra $5 or $10; but anything more than that could very well be perceived as overkill or, worse yet, an indication of shortcomings.</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Now it's time to order the wine. If you've already forgotten what little you've learnt, don't panic. Just follow this full-proof method: select one of the two most food-flexible wines in the world, one of which is a white, and the other a red. So you ask her, "Would you prefer a white or a red?" If she says white, look for a Riesling (pronounced "REEZ-ling") type wine from Germany; preferably one that says it is of Kabinett or Qualitatswein ("quality wine") level. German Rieslings tend to be a little sweet and extremely light, yet have a crisp, steely quality that allows them go with an amazing variety of dishes. So matter which dish she orders - pasta, salad, meats, and even vegetarian -- somehow a Riesling will complement it.</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >If she says she prefers a red, look for a Pinot Noir ("PEE-no NWAH")from either California or Oregon. Like Rieslings, Pinot Noirs tend to be light yet zesty enough to go with everything from fish to red meats. And like high quality Rieslings, you can find any number of rich and elegant $28-$38 Pinot Noirs in most fine restaurants. Just remember that it's up to her - white wine or red, Riesling or Pinot Noir.</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Say you are hopeless, and can't navigate through a wine list no matter what. Then it doesn't hurt to ask for help! I believe most women are impressed by that anyhow - like asking for directions on the road. Again, the idea is to look good doing it. Call over your waiter - or in the finest places, the sommelier ("so-mo-YAY"), also known as a wine steward - and ask for a recommendation for a good, medium range German Riesling or American style Pinot Noir. Practice this - letting the names roll off your tongue like a native language, maybe even with a politician's wave of the hand. If you must, invite the sommelier to look over your shoulder and point out his suggestions on the list. Make it look like a conspiracy - like the two of you are cooking up something truly special.</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Now I need to prepare you for two possible curves; because as in all things, not everything goes as planned. First, if your date happens to say she likes a very DRY white wine - as opposed to a slightly sweet Riesling - then the coolest, most food-versatile dry white you can possibly order is a Pinot Gris (PEE-no GREE) from Oregon or California, also known as Pinot Grigio (GREE-gee-o) when it comes from Italy. Secondly, if you happen to be in an Italian restaurant, the best possible red wine to order is a Chianti Classico (kee-AHN-tee CLASS-see-ko) - which, like Pinot Noir, is amazing with both fish and red meats, only even better in the context of ingredients like olive and truffle oils, balsamic vinegars, garlic, pesto, porcini, etc.</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >The waiter or sommelier will then wish to perform the serving ritual; which is when he shows you the bottle, opens it, and asks you to taste and approve it. There are few ordeals (like circumcision) worse than this, and so the least made of the entire rigmarole the better. So when he brings over the bottle, look him straight in the eye and ask, "Is this the wine we ordered?" This will make him read the label himself and tell you yes or no, and all you need to do is nod knowingly. Then you ask him to do this simple favor: "Please open the bottle and leave it on the table" (or in the ice bucket, if it's a white). Once he has departed, you can go ahead and do the honors for her and for you -- the proper amount to pour, by the way, is no more than half-way at a time -- before raising your glasses with an appropriate, or even rakishly clever, toast.</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Finally, the finishing touch: how many women don't like chocolate, or sweets in general? Not many at all. So if you really want to make a mark, do not automatically order coffee with your chocolate desserts - but a small glass of Tawny Port from Portugal. Tawny Ports are sweet red wines bolstered with a little extra alcohol and intensity of flavor which make them absolutely divine with chocolate. Some say better than... well, need I say? There is a good reason why food and wine matches are often described in terms as passionate as love. Because in this day and age, it's often as good as it gets!</span></li></ol><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br />*Randal Caparoso has been the v.p., partner, and award winning corporate wine buyer for Roy Yamaguchi's family of Roy's restaurants since their beginning in 1988. He has been in the restaurant and retail business, specializing in wine, since 1974; and since 1981, he has bylined a twice-monthly wine column for The Honolulu Advertiser.<br /><br />Contact Randal Caparoso via email at randycaparoso@earthlink.net or visit Randy's World at The Wine Lover's Page.</span>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-61833594829621503032007-04-17T15:19:00.000+07:002007-04-17T15:21:47.239+07:00Too Sweet to be Invited to Dinner<span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">a provocative article by Eric Asimov in the New York</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Times on 7/19/06, reprinted with minor editing.</span><br /><br /><br />It’s happened so many times that I’ve lost count. I’m having dinner with another person, trying to choose a wine that will complement the odd combination of dishes that we’ve ordered - meat, fowl, fish, or whatever.<br /><br />Back in the old days, 10 years or so ago, California Pinot Noir was one of my go-to wines. Its reputation was poor, and critics lambasted American Pinot Noir as a pale imitation of Burgundy, but I found it a great food wine, light-bodied enough to go with fish, yet intense enough to match up with meat. Not unlike Burgundy, in fact, but a lot cheaper.<br /><br />Not anymore. California Pinot Noir has shot up in stature. Its popularity has skyrocketed, and the critics now love it. But on the dinner table? I rarely look at Pinot Noir nowadays. Not only because it’s gotten so expensive, but because many modern Pinot Noirs have lost the dry, lithe character that made the wine so fine a partner with food.<br /><br />Why is this? Far too often now, Pinot Noir tastes sweet and has a heavy, almost syrupy character. And while Pinot Noir is the most glaring example, it’s often true, too, of many other high-end, supposedly dry red American wines like Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel.<br /><br />Now sweetness itself is not intrinsically a problem. Some of the greatest, most versatile food wines in the world are sweet, like German Rieslings and demi-sec Chenin Blancs from the Loire. But those wines have more than sweetness going for them: they have balance. The sugar is balanced by acidity, which provides structure and liveliness, allowing the wine to be both sweet and refreshing.<br /><br />The American red wines, on the other hand, are meant to be dry, like their French forebears Burgundy and Bordeaux, which are dry by definition. Burly Zinfandels have always flirted with a tinge of sweetness, but nowadays they too taste sweeter and sweeter. I’ve particularly noticed this problem in Pinot Noirs from the Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Barbara County on the central coast of California, in Napa Valley Cabernets, and in Zinfandels from all over.<br />I’m not the only one bothered by this. Dan Berger, a critic who publishes Dan Berger’s Vintage Experiences, a weekly newsletter, called the rising sense of sweetness in American red wines “a sad and pernicious trend. They’re impressive wines, but the word impressive is not always a positive word,” he said in a telephone interview. “There’s lots to them, but maybe more flavor is less good. What you want is a harmony of flavors.”<br /><br />Dry wines that are not really dry are an American tradition. As the old saw in the wine industry has it, “Americans talk dry, but drink sweet,” and the history of American wine consumption bears that out.<br /><br />Popular mass-market wines from California, like White Zinfandel and Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay, have always had more than a subversive touch of sweetness, while the best-selling Champagne in the United States is Moët & Chandon’s White Star, a cuvée made only for the American market that is sweeter than the typical brut Champagne.<br /><br />The rationale has always been that the American palate is shaped by the sugary soft drinks, ketchup, and breakfast cereals of the childhood pantry. Modestly sweet wines, therefore, help a wine-wary population make the transition to more classically dry wines, especially if that population believes it is drinking dry wines.<br /><br />Sweet wines were associated with low-status fortified wines, like Thunderbird, or the sort of syrupy Concord grape wines that appear on many kosher tables. But now, apparently, the sensation of sweetness has triumphed over the belief that fine red wines were dry bordering on tart and even somewhat austere. The changing character of the wines may even change the way people think of drinking wine. Justin Smith of Saxum Vineyards, a small but acclaimed producer in Paso Robles, California, calls them “social wines.”<br /><br />“These wines aren’t meant to go with food,” he said. “They’re for when you get home from work: you open a bottle, pour a glass and sit with it out on the deck.” In other words, they’re to be consumed like cocktails, which they resemble in another way, too. Most of these wines are high in alcohol, at least 14.5 percent and often above 15, which contributes to the impression of sweetness even if they are not actually sugary.<br /><br />California red wines are made in a fruitier style than they used to be, which also contributes to an impression of sweetness, said Dr. Susan E. Ebeler, a flavor chemist in viticulture and oenology at the University of California, Davis. Grapes nowadays are allowed to ripen on the vine much longer than 10 or 15 years ago, resulting in much higher concentrations of sugar at harvest. More sugar requires longer fermentation, which produces more alcohol and more glycerol. Dr. Ebeler said glycerol, whose name is derived from the Greek word for sweet, also contributes to a perception of sweetness.<br /><br />Let’s see: fruitiness, high alcohol, and higher glycerol. Add it up and what do you have? “It could be the sum of the parts,” Dr. Ebeler said. While wines made in this style may try to appeal to the American sweet tooth, they may also reflect the wine business’ dependency on high ratings from critics who taste dozens of wines at a time. “I think it’s a conscious effort on the part of some winemakers to make the wine taste supple, soft, and hedonistic,” Mr. Berger said. “I think this style of wine is designed to be a home run. You don’t see very many people bunting. The more flashy, expressive style tends to be the style that catches people’s eye.”<br /><br />Of course, not all California red wines fall into this sweet category, not by a long shot. I’ve enjoyed many excellent reds in the last year, including recently Etude’s 2003 Heirloom Carneros Pinot Noir, which was full of complex sweet fruit aromas and flavors held together by a firm structure.<br /><br />But the Etude was in marked contrast to two sweet Pinot Noirs that I could not drink with dinner. One was the Loring Wine Company’s 2004 Rosella’s Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands. The other was an ’04 Cuyama River in the Santa Maria Valley from Taz Vineyards.<br /><br />Whatever else wine is, ultimately it must be at home on the dinner table. Obviously Americans enjoy sweet beverages with food, whether Coca-Cola, White Zinfandel, or this year’s top-ranked Pinot Noir or Cabernet.<br /><br />But for the long term, red wine that seems sweet runs the risk of becoming a marginalized beverage, served on the deck before dinner, yes, or maybe afterward with cheese or chocolate, like port. Then it will be time to stop and praise the winemaker’s impressive achievement, and reach for something else to drink.</span>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-8754389097143092802007-04-16T14:06:00.000+07:002007-04-16T14:15:05.020+07:00MORE WINE FACTS<ul><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Jefferson and wine: From Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West, by Stephen E Ambrose, comes the following historical note. Jefferson took up residence in the President’s House in 1801, after his inauguration as the 3rd President of the United States. ... <span style="font-style: italic;">“Jefferson ran the place with only eleven servants (Abigail Adams had needed 30!), brought up from Monticello. There were no more powdered wigs, much less ceremony. Washington and Adams, according to Republican critics, had kept up almost a royal court. Jefferson substituted Republican simplicity - to a point. He had a French chef, and French wines he personally selected. His salary was $25,000 per year - a princely sum, but the </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >expenses were also great. In 1801 Jefferson spent $6500 for provisions and groceries, $2700 for servants (some of whom were liveried), $500 for Lewis’s salary, and $3,000 for wine.”</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Dom Perignon (1638-1715), the Benedictine Abbey (at Hautvillers) cellar master who is generally credited with “inventing” the Champagne making process, was blind.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Thomas Jefferson helped stock the wine cellars of the first five U.S. presidents and was very partial to fine Bordeaux and Madeira.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >To prevent a sparkling wine from foaming out of the glass, pour an ounce, which will settle quickly. Pouring the remainder of the serving into this starter will not foam as much.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Old wine almost never turns to vinegar. It spoils by oxidation.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >U.S. 1998 sales of white and blush wines were 67% of total table wine sales. Red wines were 33% of sales. At Beekman’s, the best we can calculate (since we don’t track the color of wine sales from Chile, Australia or Spain or of jug wines) is that our sales of white and blush comprised only 45% of total wine sales. Reds accounted for 55%. That’s in dollars, not unit sales. American wines accounted for 47% of our wine sales vs. 53% for imported wines.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >In King Tut’s Egypt (around 1300 BC), the commoners drank beer and the upper class drank wine.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >According to local legend, the great French white Burgundy, Corton-Charlemagne, owes its existence, not to the emperor Charlemagne, but to his wife. The red wines of Corton stained his white beard so messily that she persuaded him to plant vines that would produce white wines. Charlemagne ordered white grapes to be planted. Thus: Corton-Charlemagne!</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >When Leif Ericsson landed in North America in A.D. 1001, he was so impressed by the proliferation of grapevines that he named it Vinland.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Cork was developed as a bottle closure in the late 17th century. It was only after this that bottles were lain down for aging, and the bottle shapes slowly changed from short and bulbous to tall and slender.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Merlot was the “hot” varietal in 1999, but in 1949, the “darling of the California wine industry” was Muscatel!</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >The Napa Valley crop described in 1889 newspapers as the finest of its kind grown in the U.S. was hops.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >When Mount Vesuvius buried Pompeii in volcanic lava in A.D. 79, it also buried more than 200 wine bars.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >The “top five” chateau of Bordeaux, according to the 1855 Classification, were actually only four: Lafite-Rothschild, Latour, Margaux and Haut-Brion. In the only change to that historic classification, Mouton-Rothschild was added in 1973.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Grapevines cannot reproduce reliably from seed. To cultivate a particular grape variety, grafting (a plant version of cloning) is used.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Wine has so many organic chemical compounds it is considered more complex than blood serum.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Wine grapes are subject to mold when there’s too much moisture. Tight clustered Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel and Pinot Noir are most susceptible to mold. The looser clusters of Cabernet Sauvignon allow for faster drying of moist grapes and thus make it less susceptible.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >In 1945, Chateau Mouton-Rothschild began a series of artists’ labels, hiring a different artist each year to design a unique label for that vintage. The artists have included such notables as Chagall, Picasso, Miro and Warhol. The 1993 label was sufficiently controversial in this country (the stylized juvenile nude on the label offended the Political Correctness Police) that the Chateau withdrew the label and substituted a blank label instead.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >It is the VERY slow interaction of oxygen and wine that produces the changes noticed in aging wine. It is believed that wine ages more slowly in larger bottles, since there is less oxygen per volume of wine in larger bottles. Rapid oxidation, as with a leaky cork, spoils wine.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Before harvest, the canopy of leaves at the top of the vine is often cut away to increase exposure to the sun and speed ripening.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >The average age of a French oak tree harvested for use in wine barrels is 170 years!</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >The lip of a red wine glass is sloped inward to capture the aromas of the wine and deliver them to your nose.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >“Cold maceration” means putting the grapes in a refrigerated environment for several days before starting fermentation to encourage color extraction. This is being done more and more frequently with Pinot Noir since the skins of this varietal don’t have as much pigmentation as other red varietals.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Frenchman Georges de Latour came to America in the late 1800’s to prospect for gold. He didn’t find much gold, but he founded a truly golden winery: Beaulieu Vineyard.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Mycoderma bacteria convert ethyl alcohol into acetic acid, thus turning wine into vinegar. However, most incidents of spoiled wine are due to air induced oxidation of the fruit, not bacterial conversion of alcohol to vinegar.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >The world’s most planted grape varietal is Airén. It occupies over 1 million acres in central Spain where it is made into mediocre white wine, but some quite good brandy.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Bettino Ricasoli, founder of Brolio, is credited with having created the original recipe for Chianti, combining two red grapes (Sangiovese and Canaiolo) with two white grapes (Malvasia and Trebbiano). Today the better Chiantis have little or no white grapes in them and may contain some Cabernet. They are thus deeper in color and flavor and more age worthy.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >From 1970 until the late 1980s, sales and consumption of wine in the United States held a ratio of about 75% white to 25% red. At the turn of the Millennium, the ratio is closer to 50-50.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >In the year 2000, Americans spent $20 billion on wine. 72% of that was spent on California wines.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >In ancient Rome bits of toast were floated in goblets of wine. There is a story that a wealthy man threw a lavish party in which the public bath was filled with wine. Beautiful young women were invited to swim in it. When asked his opinion of the wine, one guest responded: “I like it very much, but I prefer the toast.” (referring, presumably, to the women)</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >“Cuvée” means “vat” or “tank.” It is used to refer to a particular batch or blend.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Beaujolais Nouveau cannot be legally released until the third Thursday of every November. The due date this year (2001) is November 15th.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >We’re seeing more and more synthetic corks these days, but the latest technology to prevent contaminated corks is the use of microwaves.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Labels were first put on wine bottles in the early 1700s, but it wasn’t until the 1860s that suitable glues were developed to hold them on the bottles.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Top Napa Valley vineyard land sells for over $100,000/acre!</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >In the year 2000, there were 847 wineries in California.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Wine is often called the nectar of the gods, but Sangiovese is the only grape named after a god. Sangiovese means “blood of Jove.”</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Ninety-two percent of California wineries produce fewer than 100,000 cases per year. Sixty percent produce fewer than 25,000 cases.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Egg whites, bull’s blood, and gelatin have all been used as fining agents to remove suspended particles from wine before bottling. Egg whites are still commonly used.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >“Brix” is the term used to designate the percentage of sugar in the grapes before fermentation. For example, 23° brix will be converted by yeast to 12.5% alcohol, more or less, depending on the conversion efficiency of the strain of yeast used.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >In describing wine, the term “hot” refers to a high level of alcohol, leaving an hot, sometimes burning sensation.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >In the production of port, the crushed grapes are fermented for about two days. Then the fermentation is halted by the addition of a neutral distilled spirit or brandy. This raises the alcohol level and retains some of the grapes’ natural sugar.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >American wine drinkers consume more wine on Thanksgiving than any other day of the year.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >As of 2000, 554,000 acres in California were planted to grapevines.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >“Still wine” does not come from a still. The phrase refers to wine without bubbles, which includes what is also referred to as table wine.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Fiasco [fee-YAHS-koh]; pl. fiaschi [fee-YAHS-kee] - Italian for “flask.” The word is most often connected with the squat, round-bottomed, straw-covered bottle containing cheaper wine from the Chianti region. The straw covering not only helps the bottle sit upright, but protects the thin, fragile glass. Fiaschi are seldom seen today as the cost of hand-wrapping each flask for cheaper wines has become prohibitive, and the more expensive wines with aging potential need bottles that can be lain on their sides.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >As early as 4000 BC, the Egyptians were the first people to use corks as stoppers.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >The wine industry generates 145,000 jobs in California.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >California has 847 wineries. Napa County is the home of 232 of them.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Market research shows that most people buy a particular wine either because they recognize the brand name or they are attracted by the packaging. Not Beekman’s customers!</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Portugal has 1/3 of the world's cork forests and supplies 85-90% of the cork used in the U.S.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >There are only three legal categories of wine in the U.S.: table, dessert, and sparkling. In the early 1950s, 82% of the wine Americans drank was classified as dessert wines. These included Sherry, Port, and Madeira. I don’t have current national figures, but Beekman’s sales of wine today are 90% table wine, 7% sparkling wine, and only 3% dessert wine!</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Until 1970, Bordeaux produced more white wine than red. Today red wine represents about 84% of the total crop.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >California produces approximately 77% of the U.S. wine grape crop</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >There is at least one commercial winery in every state of the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska!</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Putting ice and kosher salt in a bucket will chill white wine or Champagne faster.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >The most popular corkscrew, the wing-type, is cheap and easy to use, but it frequently mangles corks and leaves small pieces of cork in your wine. It also tends to pull out just the middle of an old, dry cork. Far superior are the Screwpull, which is also easy to use, and the waiter’s corkscrew, which requires just a little know-how to use effectively. No matter what type you use, you should also have a two-pronged (Ah-So) device to remove problem corks.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Zinfandel first appeared in the United States in the 1820s when Long Island nursery owner George Gibbs imported several grape vines from the Imperial collection in Vienna. One of the vines was Zinfandel. (The current thinking is that Zinfandel originated in Croatia where it is called Plavac Mali.) In the 1850s, Zinfandel made its way to California.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >An Italian white wine called Est! Est! Est! got its name from a medieval story. A bishop was planning to travel the Italian countryside and asked his scout to find inns that had good wines, marking the door “Est” (“It is” or “This is it”) when he found one. The scout was so excited about the local wine found in the area that he marked one inn’s door “Est! Est! Est!” Another version of this story is that a priest was on his way to minister to a congregation in the boondocks. Upon discovering the wonderful local wine, he sent the message “Est! Est! Est!” back to Rome, renounced the priesthood, and spent the rest of his life enjoying the wine.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >The auger or curly metal part of a corkscrew is sometimes called a worm.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Graves is thought to be the oldest wine region in Bordeaux.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >The Puritans loaded more beer than water onto the Mayflower.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >In terms of acreage, wine grapes rank #1 among all crops planted worldwide.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Although “château” means castle, it may also be a mansion or a little house next to a vineyard that meets the requirements for winemaking with storage facilities on its property.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Château Petrus is the most expensive of the Bordeaux wines. Its price is as much due to its tiny production as to its quality. Petrus is made from at least 95% Merlot grapes.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >The Egyptians were the first to make glass containers around 1500 B.C.E.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >The 1855 Classification of Médoc châteaux listed only the best properties. “Best” was defined as those properties whose wines were the most expensive. The top estates were then divided into five categories (the “growths”) based on price.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Margaux is the largest of the Médoc appellations.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Pomerol is the smallest Bordeaux appellation.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >“Grand Cru” is French for “great growth” and designates the best. In Burgundy it refers to the best vineyards which usually have multiple owners. In Bordeaux its meaning varies by the specific region, but it always refers to properties under a single ownership.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Rose bushes are often planted at the end of a row of grape vines to act as an early warning signal for infestation by diseases and insects like aphids. A vineyard manager who notices black spots or root rot on the roses will spray the grape vines before they are damaged.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >In Empire, California, some 400 copies of Little Red Riding Hood are locked away in a storage room of the public school district because the classic Grimm’s fairy tale recounts that the little girl took a bottle of wine to her grandmother. --- Roger Cohen, New York Times, April 23, 1990 [The crazies aren’t limited to Kansas.] </span></li></ul>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-27639608531186855672007-04-16T14:00:00.000+07:002007-04-16T14:03:43.291+07:00WINE FACTS (part 2)<span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Questions</span>:<br /></span><ol><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >When was the first known reference to a specific wine vintage?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >How old was the wine being “reviewed”?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >A bottle of opened wine stored in the refrigerator lasts how much longer than it would if stored at room temp?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >How many oak species are there?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >How many are used in making oak barrels?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >What percent of an oak tree is suitable for making high grade wine barrels?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >The 1996 grape crop in Napa Valley was down what percentage from normal?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >What are the top three U.S. states in terms of wine consumption?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >What percentage of legal-aged Americans contacted in a Nielson phone survey drink wine?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >What percentage of restaurant wine sales do red wines represent?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >What is the average cost of the grapes used to produce a $20 bottle of wine?</span></li></ol><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Answers:</span><br /></span><ol><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >Roman Historian Pliny the Elder rated 121 B.C. as a vintage “of the highest excellence.”</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >200 years old! Pliny the Elder wrote the history of the Roman Empire around 70 A.D.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >6-16 times longer</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >400</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >20</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >5%</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >20-25%</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >CA, NY, FL</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >58%</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >55%</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" >$2.64</span></li></ol>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-9229835888091587632007-04-16T13:55:00.000+07:002007-04-16T13:59:03.635+07:00WINE FACTS (part 1)<span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Questions</span><br /></span><ol><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >How many acres are planted to grapes worldwide?</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Among the world's fruit crops, where do wine grapes rank in number of acres planted?</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >How many countries import California wines?</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >What was the primary fruit crop in Napa Valley during the 1940's?</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >How many gallons of wine were lost in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake?</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >When was phylloxera first discovered in California?</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >How many acres of Napa County vineyards have been replanted in the last 15 years because of phylloxera?</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >How many more acres of Napa County vineyards will need replacement?</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >How long does it take to harvest a commercial crop from newly replanted grape vines?</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >How many varieties of wine grapes exist worldwide?</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >How much does it cost per bottle to age wine in a French oak barrel?</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >How much does it cost per bottle to age wine in only new French oak barrels?</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >How much white zinfandel is consumed in this country?</span></li></ol><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Answers:</span><br /><br />1) 20 million<br />2) #1<br />3) 164<br />4) Prunes<br />5) 30 million<br />6) August 19, 1873<br />7) 10,450<br />8) 4,450<br />9) 4-5 years<br />10) 10,000<br />11) 90 cents<br />12) $2.50<br />13) Too much!<br /></span>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-41041042121155978142007-04-11T16:25:00.000+07:002007-04-11T16:30:29.206+07:00Health Effects<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.thefinalsprint.com/images/2006/12/red-wine-glass.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.thefinalsprint.com/images/2006/12/red-wine-glass.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >From Wikipedia,<br />the free encyclopedia<br /></span><br />The health effects of wine (and alcohol in general) are the subject of considerable ongoing study.[35] In the USA, a boom in red wine consumption was initiated in the 1990s by '60 Minutes', and other news reports on the French paradox. The French paradox refers to the lower incidence of coronary heart disease in France than in the USA despite high levels of saturated fat in the traditional French diet. Epidemiologists suspect that this difference is attributed to the high consumption of wines by the French, however this suspicion is based on limited scientific evidence.<br /><br />A series of population studies have observed a J curve association between wine consumption and the risk of heart disease.[citation needed] This means that abstainers and heavy drinkers have an elevated risk, whilst moderate drinkers have a lower risk. Population studies have also found that moderate consumption of other alcoholic beverages may be cardioprotective, though the association is considerably stronger for wine. These studies have found a protective effect from both red wine as well as white wine, though evidence from laboratory studies suggests that red wine may posess superior health benefits.<br /><br />A chemical called resveratrol is thought to be at least partly responsible for red wines' health benefits, as it has been shown to exert a range of both cardioprotective as well as chemoprotective mechanisms in animal studies. Resveratrol is produced naturally by grape skins in response to fungal infection, which includes exposure to yeast during fermentation. As white wine has minimal contact with grape skins during this process, it generally contains lower levels of resveratrol. Other beneficial compounds in wine include other polyphenols, antioxidants, and flavonoids.<br /><br />Whilst evidence from both laboratory studies as well as epidemiology (observational studies) suggests wines' cardioprotective effect, no evidence from controlled experiments currently exists to determine the specific effect of wine or other alcohol on the risk of developing heart disease or stroke. Moreover, excessive consumption of alcohol including wine can cause some diseases including cirrhosis of the liver and alcoholism. Also the American Heart Association cautions people "not to start drinking ... if they do not already drink alcohol. Consult your doctor on the benefits and risks of consuming alcohol in moderation".</span>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-39131646111154619482007-04-11T16:20:00.000+07:002007-04-11T16:24:51.573+07:00Religious Uses<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://edbatista.typepad.com/vivabatista/images/2005/05/Jerez.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://edbatista.typepad.com/vivabatista/images/2005/05/Jerez.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >From Wikipedia,<br />the free encyclopedia<br /></span><br />The use of wine in religious ceremonies is common to many cultures and regions. Libations often included wine, and the religious mysteries of Dionysus are usually thought to have used wine as an entheogen.[citation needed] Wine plays an integral part of Jewish laws and traditions. The Kiddush, a blessing said before starting the first and second Shabbat or festival meals and Havdallah, a blessing said after the Shabbat or festival are required to be said over wine if available. On Pesach (Passover) during the Seder, it is also required to drink four cups of wine. In the Tabernacle and in the Temple in Jerusalem, the libation of wine was part of the sacrificial service.<br /><br />In Christian services wine is used in a sacred ritual called Communion or the Eucharist, which originates in Gospel accounts of the Last Supper when Jesus blesses the bread and wine and commands his followers to "do this in remembrance of me." Wine was used in the rite by all Protestant groups until an alternative arose in 1869 when Methodist minister-turned-dentist Thomas Bramwell Welch applied new pasteurization techniques to stop the natural fermentation process of grape juice.[citation needed] Some Christians who were part of the growing temperance movement pressed for a switch from wine to grape juice, and there remains an ongoing debate between some American Protestant denominations as to whether wine can or should be used in moderation for the Eucharist or for merriment. Outside the United States, most Protestant groups use wine.[citation needed] The use of wine is forbidden under Islam. Iran used to have a thriving wine industry that disappeared after the Islamic revolution in 1979.</span>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-91660581832587566192007-04-11T16:13:00.000+07:002007-04-11T16:19:18.564+07:00Appellations<span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >From Wikipedia,<br />the free encyclopedia<br /></span><br /><br />The taste of a wine depends not only on the grape species and varietal blend, but also on the ground and climate (known as terroir) where it is cultivated. Historically, wines have been known by names reflecting their origin, and sometimes style: Bordeaux, Rioja, Mosel and Chianti are all legally defined names, reflecting the traditional wines produced in the named region. These naming conventions or "appellations" (as they are known in France) dictate not only where the grapes in a wine were grown, but also which grapes went into the wine and how they were vinified. The appellation system is strongest in the European Union, but a related system, the American Viticultural Area, restricts the use of certain regional labels in America, such as Napa Valley, Santa Barbara and Willamette Valley. The AVA designations do not restrict the type of grape used.<br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.stratsplace.com/7ich/graphics/aus_appel.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.stratsplace.com/7ich/graphics/aus_appel.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >The inconsistent application of historical European designations offends many producers there.[citation needed] For example, in most of the world, wine labeled Champagne must be made from grapes grown in the Champagne region of France and fermented using a certain method, based on the international trademark agreements included in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. However, in the United States, there exists a legal definition called semi-generic that enables U.S. winemakers to use certain generic terms (Champagne, Hock, Sherry, etc.) if there appears next to the term the actual appellation of origin in order to prevent any possible confusion.[</span>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-42467918129318694982007-04-11T16:07:00.000+07:002007-04-11T16:12:19.654+07:00Wine Names<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/39c/dbb/39cdbbee-efdf-4caa-bf03-850bc9186b4b"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/39c/dbb/39cdbbee-efdf-4caa-bf03-850bc9186b4b" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >From Wikipedia,<br />the free encyclopedia<br /></span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Wines</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > are usually named either by their grape variety or by their place of production. Generally speaking, European wines are named for the place of production, with the grapes used often not appearing on the label. Wines from everywhere except Europe are generally named for the grape variety. More and more, however, market recognition of particular regions and wineries is leading to their increased prominence on non-European wine labels. Examples of recognized locales include: Napa Valley, Barossa Valley, Willamette Valley, Cafayate, Marlborough, Walla Walla, etc. Still, though, the grape variety is almost invariably present on the label. This is not the case with most European wines because of tradition and legal restrictions.<br /><br />Within Europe, a major exception to the no-grape rule is with German wines and wines from the Alsace region of France, for which it is not uncommon to find this information on the front label. To accommodate market demands, an increasing number of French wine makers are labeling their bottles with the variety or varieties of grapes included, as permitted by law.[citation needed]<br /><br />Some blended wine names are marketing terms, and the use of these names is governed by trademark or copyright law, rather than a specific wine law or a patent on the actual varietal blend or process used to achieve it.[citation needed] For example, Meritage (pronounced to rhyme with "heritage") is generally a Bordeaux-style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and may also include Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. Use of the term Meritage is protected by licensing agreements by The Meritage Association.</span>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-77031943350387174132007-04-11T16:02:00.000+07:002007-04-11T16:06:18.641+07:00Tasting<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.lifeinitaly.com/wines/img/wine-tasting-fancy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.lifeinitaly.com/wines/img/wine-tasting-fancy.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >From Wikipedia,<br />the free encyclopedia<br /></span><br /><br />Wines may be classified by their primary impression on the drinker's palate. They are made up of chemical compounds which are similar or identical to those in fruits, vegetables, and spices. The sweetness of wine is determined by the amount of residual sugar in the wine after fermentation, relative to the acidity present in the wine. Dry wine, for example, has only a small amount of residual sugar.However, a technically dry wine might taste sweet when its not. For example, fennel might taste sweet, but it isn't.<br /><br />Specific flavors may also be sensed, due to the highly complex mix of organic molecules such as esters and terpenes that grape juice and wine can contain. Tasters will also distinguish between flavors characteristic of a specific grape (e.g., Cabernet Sauvignon and blackcurrant) and flavors that are imparted by other factors in wine making, either intentional or not. The most typical intentional flavor elements in wine are those that are imparted by aging in oak casks, and virtually every element of chocolate, vanilla, or coffee are actually a factor of oak and not the native grape.[citation needed] Banana flavors (isoamyl acetate) are the product of yeast metabolism, as are spoilage aromas such as sweaty, barnyard, band-aid (4-ethylphenol and 4-ethylguaiacol), and rotten egg (hydrogen sulfide). Some varietals can also have mineral flavour, due to the fact that some soils are soluble in water (as limestone), and thus absorbed by the vine.<br /><br />Wine aroma is the result of the interaction between components of the grapes and those produced during winemaking process, fermentation and aging. Being served at room temperature increases the vaporization of aroma compounds, making the wine more aromatic. For some red wines that are already highly aromatic, like Chinon and Beaujolais, the volatility of the wine makes it better served chilled.</span>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-77249344435966976062007-04-11T15:53:00.000+07:002007-04-11T16:01:07.738+07:00Vintages<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.chowbaby.com/10_2000/wineryimages/winery_default.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.chowbaby.com/10_2000/wineryimages/winery_default.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >From Wikipedia,<br />the free encyclopedia<br /></span><br />A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown in a single specified year, and are accordingly dated as such. In the United States for a wine to be vintage dated (and labeled with a country of origin or AVA, such as "Napa Valley" or "New Zealand") it must contain at least 95% of its volume from wines harvested in that year. If a wine is not labeled with a country of origin or AVA, such as "Napa County", it must contain at least 85% of its volume from wines harvested in that year. Many wines, particularly good quality red table wines, can improve in flavor with age if properly stored.[citation needed] Consequently, it is not uncommon for wine enthusiasts and traders to save bottles of an especially good vintage wine for future consumption. Most countries allow a vintage wine to include a portion of wine that is not from the labeled vintage. Recent research suggests vintage year may not be as significant to wine quality as currently thought.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.wineweb.com/public/w2093/Merlot%20f03.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.wineweb.com/public/w2093/Merlot%20f03.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >For some types of wine, the best-quality grapes and the most care in wine-making are employed on vintage wines and they are therefore more expensive than non-vintage wines. Whilst vintage wines are generally made in a single batch so that each and every bottle will have a similar taste, climatic factors can have a dramatic impact on the character of a wine to the extent that different vintages from the same vineyard can vary dramatically in flavor and quality.[citation needed] Thus, vintage wines are produced to be individually characteristic of the vintage and to serve as the flagship wines of the producer. Non-vintage wines, however, are blended from a number of vintages for consistency, a process which allows wine makers to keep a reliable market image and also maintain sales even in bad vintage years.[citation needed] Superior vintages, from reputable producers and regions, will often fetch much higher prices than their average vintages. Some vintage wines are only made in better-than-average years.</span>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-39822382382125435622007-04-11T15:23:00.000+07:002007-04-11T15:51:16.268+07:00Wine Classification<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; font-family: georgia;font-size:85%;" >From Wikipedia,<br />the free encyclopedia<br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wine</span> experts generally classify wine into categories, with the distinctions among the classes based primarily on major differences in their manner of vinification.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.weimax.com/images/Table_Wine_Photo.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.weimax.com/images/Table_Wine_Photo.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Table wines</span> may have an alcohol content that is no higher than 14% in the U.S.. In Europe, light wine must be within 8.5% and 14% alcohol by volume. As such, unless a wine has more than 14% alcohol, or it has bubbles, it is a table wine or a light wine. Table wines are usually classifed as White, Red or Rosé, depending on their color.</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Sparkling wines</span> such as champagne, are those with carbon dioxide, either from fermentation or added later. To have this effect, the wine is fermented twice, once in an open container to allow the carbon dioxide to esc</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.winepalate.com/images/AA041871c.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.winepalate.com/images/AA041871c.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >ape into the air, and a second time in a sealed container, where the gas is caught and remains in the wine. Sparkling wines that gain their carbonation from the traditional method of bottle fermentation are called 'Bottle Fermented', 'Méthode Traditionelle', or 'Méthode Champenoise'. The latter designation is considered wrong by those who hold that Champagne refers to the origin as well as the method of production. Other international denominations of sparkling wine include Sekt or Schaumwein (Germany), Cava (Spain), Spumante [[Italy). 'Semi Sparkling wines' are Sparkling Wines that contain less than 2.5 atmospheres of carbon dioxide at sea level and 20 degrees C. Some countries such as the UK impose a higher tax on fully sparkling wines. Examples of Semi-Sparkling wines are Frizzante Italy, Vino de Aguja Spain, Petillant France.</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Dessert wines</span> range from slightly sweet (with less than 50 g/L of sugar) to incredibly sweet wines (with over 400 g/L of sugar)</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >. Late Harvest Wines such as Spätlese are made from grapes harvested well after they have reached maximum ripeness. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.frenchentree.com/languedoc-aude-pyrenees-orientales-food-drink-shopping/images/dessert-dulcie2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.frenchentree.com/languedoc-aude-pyrenees-orientales-food-drink-shopping/images/dessert-dulcie2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Dried grape wines, such as Recioto and Vin Santo fron Italy, are made from grapes that have been partially raisined after harvesting. Botrytized wines are made from grapes infected by the mold Botrytis cinerea or noble rot. These include Sauternes from Bordeaux, Numerous wines from Loire such as Bonnezeaux and Quarts de Chaume, Tokaji Aszú from Hungary, and Beerenauslese from Germany and Austria. Eiswein is made from grapes that are harvested while they are frozen.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gfwc.com/images/wines1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.gfwc.com/images/wines1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fortified wines</span> are often sweeter, and generally more alcoholic wines that have had their fermentation process stopped by the addition of a spirit, such as brandy, or have had additional spirit added after fermentation. Examples include Port, Madeira and Banyuls.</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.hormel.com/images/glossary/w/wine_red_cooking.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.hormel.com/images/glossary/w/wine_red_cooking.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cooking wines</span> typically contain a significant quantity of salt. It is a wine of such poor quality, that it is unpalatable by itself and intended for use only in cooking. (Note, however, that most cooking authorities advise against cooking with any wine one would find unacceptable to drink.)</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br />The color of wine is not determined by the juice of the grape, which is almost always clear, but rather by the presence or absence of the grape skin during fermentation.[23] Grapes with colored juice, for example alicante bouchet, are known as teinturier. Red wine is made from red (or black) grapes, but its red color is bestowed by a process called maceration, whereby the skin is left in contact with the juice during fermentation. White wine can be made from any color of grape as the skin is separated from the juice during fermentation. A white wine made from a very dark grape may appear pink or 'blush'.</span>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-29118225929632733692007-04-11T14:36:00.000+07:002007-04-11T15:49:33.311+07:00Grape Varieties<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wine.appellationamerica.com/images/grapes/web_photo-Chardonnay.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://wine.appellationamerica.com/images/grapes/web_photo-Chardonnay.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">From Wikipedia,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">the free encyclopedia</span><br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wine</span> is usually made from one or more varieties of the European species, Vitis vinifera. When one of these varieties, such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, or Merlot, for example, is used as the predominant grape (usually defined by law as a minimum of 75 or 85%) the result is a varietal, as opposed to a blended wine. Blended wines are in no way inferior to varietal wines; some of the world's most valued and expensive wines from the Bordeaux, Rioja or Tuscany regions, are a blend of several grape varieties of the same vintage.<br /><br />Wine can also be made from other species or from hybrids, created by the genetic crossing of two species. Vitis labrusca, Vitis aestivalis, Vitis rupestris, Vitis rotundifolia and Vitis riparia are native North American grapes, usually grown for eating in fruit form or made into grape juice, jam, or jelly, but sometimes made into wine, eg. Concord wine (Vitis labrusca species).<br /><br />Hybrids are not to be confused with the practice of grafting. Most of the world's vineyards are planted with European vinifera vines that have been grafted onto North American species rootstock. This is common practice because North American grape species are resistant to phylloxera. Grafting is done in every wine-producing country of the World except for Chile and Argentina, which have yet to be exposed to the insect.<br /><br />The variety of grape(s), aspect (direction of slope), elevation, and topography of the vineyard, type and chemistry of soil, the climate and seasonal conditions under which grapes are grown, the local yeast cultures altogether form the concept of "terroir." The range of possibilities lead to great variety among wine products, which is extended by the fermentation, finishing, and aging processes. Many small producers use growing and production methods that preserve or accentuate the aroma and taste influences of their unique terroir.<br /><br />However, flavor differences are not desirable for producers of mass-market table wine or other cheaper wines, where consistency is more important. Producers will try to minimize differences in sources of grapes by using wine making technology such as micro-oxygenation, tannin filtration, cross-flow filtration, thin film evaporation, and spinning cone.</span>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585433734985632479.post-44243079630924888332007-04-11T14:03:00.000+07:002007-04-11T15:48:43.983+07:00Wine<span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >From Wikipedia,<br />the free encyclopedia</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.wise1.com/winecellars/images/wineglass.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 254px;" src="http://www.wise1.com/winecellars/images/wineglass.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wine</span> is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of unmodified grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they ferment completely without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients. Although other fruits like apples and berries can also be fermented, the resultant "wines" are normally named after the fruit (for example, apple wineelderberry wine) and are generically known as fruit or country wine. Others, such as barley wine and rice wine (e.g. sake) are made from starch-based materials and bear more resemblance to beers, while ginger wine is fortified with brandy. In these cases, the use of the term "wine" is a reference to the higher alcohol content, rather than production process. The commercial use of the English word "wine" (and its equivalent in other languages) is protected by law in many jurisdictions. or<br /><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/18727/99153/f/650096-Leprechauns-and-wine-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://img2.travelblog.org/Photos/18727/99153/f/650096-Leprechauns-and-wine-1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >The word "wine" derives from the Proto-Germanic *winam, an early borrowing from the Latin vinum, "wine" or "(grape) vine", itself derived from the Proto-Indo-European stem *win-o- (cf. Ancient Greek οῖνος oînos). Similar words for wine or grapes are found in the Semitic languages Arabic ﻭﻳﻦ wayn) and in Georgian (gvino), and the term is considered an ancient wanderwort.<br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span>Lefidus Malauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07511480507143578415noreply@blogger.com0