Taking the world one wine at a time.
Oxidation Aeration opens a wine, but too much will result in oxidation and therefore spoilage. Similarly, if the wine has a cork that leeks in too much air, or if a wine goes through multiple temperature changes in the bottle over a long period, oxidation may also occur. I find oxidation to be one of the the most common wine flaws you’ll encounter, and is the main reason that I generally don’t drink wine by…
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The mere mention of the word “garrigue” brings back vivid memories of my childhood summers spent in the south of France. I’m just kidding. That never happened… The term “garrigue” actually refers to the low-lying vegetation on the hills that often surround vineyards on the Mediterranean coast. This wild brush is made up of herbs such as rosemary, thyme, sage, mint and lavender, as well as juniper. Therefore; when describing a wine as having an…
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Cloudiness / Haziness All wine starts off cloudy, that’s a fact. During winemaking and after the grapes are pressed, the juice is fermented, and the wine is run off the skins, stems, pips et al., therefore there’s plenty of smaller particles left behind. Wine is generally allowed a period of rest, to allow this sediment to settle, however this only does so much. Winemakers must filter and fine a wine (to different degrees depending on…
Read MoreFirst of all, no I didn’t go! Once again my invite must have been lost in the mail…however, Eric Levine (the creator of Cellartracker) was in attendance. Since the wines served with the State Dinner are not printed on the menu, Eric was so very kind to post the list of wines served on his website, and I crudely added the courses they were paired with (in red font on page 6) to the PDF…
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Tartrate Crystals [Tar-trate] I’ve worked in restaurants my whole life and have encountered tartrates quite a bit. Before a wine is bottled to be sold, wineries usually employ a procedure called cold stabilization (which brings the wine down to a near freezing temperature) in order to remove these “wine diamonds” as they’re sometimes more fondly called. It’s worth noting that Potassium Bitartrate (to give tartrates their full name) is a natural byproduct of the…
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Bubbles Sometimes when you open a bottle of still wine, you might find it to be unexpectedly sparkling. I’ve ran into this mainly with white wines which are light and fruity (i.e. Sauvignon Blanc, Albarino, Vinho Verde etc) and primarily with screw-cap sealed bottles. This is due to a winemaker sometimes adding a little CO2 to keep them crisp and refreshing. In white wines this is often referred to as “petillance”. How to tell if…
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“Ermmmm excuse me, Garçon. This wine is bloody terrible!” – just doesn’t sit too well in most restaurants; therefore over the next couple of weeks I’m going to list some of the most common faults you may encounter on your travel through the wine-wonderland, as well as my suggested course of action should you stumble upon a “bad bottle”. A lot of the time faults in wine go unnoticed, mainly because people just assume that’s…
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…and who said creativity in the wine industry is dead!?!? Check out these very cool wine packaging and label designs.
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I truly do think it’s unfortunate that the art of reciting a proper “toast” is a lost tradition. Only at weddings do we hear the occasional “Cheers!” but a toast (when it’s done right) can make an otherwise forgettable “clink” of glasses that ever-the-more memorable. For this reason, if you’re going to attempt a toast, I recommend it be short, witty and appropriate to the situation (NB: you may want to skip toast #10 in…
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There are about 5 different ways to make sparkling wine. The methods range from the most simple: carbonation (like they do with soda), right the way through to the method we’re about to discuss. Méthode Champenoise or Méthode Traditionnelle (Champagne Method) is easily the most time-consuming, but arguably yields the highest quality result. It’s also the oldest and most traditional way to make a wine “bubbly”. History boffins are a little confused as to who exactly…
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