The origins of this tremendously versatile and popular grape are not known for certain, although it is thought to have come from Southern Italy as a cousin of Primitivo. It is the most widely planted red grape in California (though Australia has also played around with the grape). Much of it is vinified into white Zinfandel, a blush-colored, slightly sweet wine. Real Zinfandel, the red wine, is the quintessential California wine. It has been used for blending with other grapes, including Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah. It has been made in a claret style, with berry and cherry flavors, mild tannins and pretty oak shadings. It has been made into a full-bodied, ultraripe, intensely flavored and firmly tannic wine designed to age. And it has been made into late-harvest and Port-style wines that feature very ripe, raisiny flavors, alcohol above 15 percent and chewy tannins.
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Posts Tagged ‘Review’
Zinfandel Red Wine
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011Tempranillo Red Wine
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
Spain’s major contribution to red wine, Tempranillo is indigenous to the country and is rarely grown elsewhere. It is the dominant grape in the red wines from Rioja and Ribera del Duero, two of Spain’s most important wine regions.
In Rioja, Tempranillo is often blended with Garnacha, Mazuelo and a few other minor grapes. When made in a traditional style, Tempranillo can be garnet-hued, with flavors of tea, brown sugar and vanilla. When made in a more modern style, it can display aromas and flavors redolent of plums, tobacco and cassis, along with very dark color and substantial tannins. Whatever the style, Riojas tend to be medium-bodied wines, offering more acidity than tannin.
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Pinot Noir
Sunday, December 18th, 2011
Pinot Noir, the great grape of Burgundy, is a touchy variety. The best examples offer the classic black cherry, spice, raspberry and currant flavors, and an aroma that can resemble wilted roses, along with earth, tar, herb and cola notes. It can also be rather ordinary, light, simple, herbal, vegetal and occasionally weedy. It can even be downright funky, with pungent barnyard aromas. In fact, Pinot Noir is the most fickle of all grapes to grow: It reacts strongly to environmental changes such as heat and cold spells, and is notoriously fussy to work with once picked, since its thin skins are easily bruised and broken, setting the juice free. Even after fermentation, Pinot Noir can hide its weaknesses and strengths, making it a most difficult wine to evaluate out of barrel. In the bottle, too, it is often a chameleon, showing poorly one day, brilliantly the next.
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Gruner Veltliner White Wine
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
The most widely planted grape in Austria, it can be found to a lesser extent in some other parts of eastern Europe. It achieves its qualitative pinnacle in the Wachau, Kremstal and Kamptal regions along the Danube River west of Vienna. Gruner, as it’s called for short, shows distinct white pepper, tobacco, lentil and citrus flavors and aromas, along with high acidity, making it an excellent partner for food.
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Gewurztraminer White wine
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
Gewurztraminer can yield magnificent wines, as is best demonstrated in Alsace, France, where it is made in to a variety of styles from dry to off-dry to sweet. The grape needs a cool climate that allows it to get ripe. It’s a temperamental grape to grow and vinify, as its potent spiciness can be overbearing when unchecked. At its best, it produces a floral and refreshing wine with crisp acidity that pairs well with spicy dishes. When left for late harvest, it’s uncommonly rich and complex, a tremendous dessert wine.
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Gamay red wine
Monday, December 5th, 2011
Beaujolais makes its famous, fruity reds exclusively from one of the many Gamays available, the Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc. Low in alcohol and relatively high in acidity, the wines are meant to be drunk soon after bottling; the ultimate example of this is Beaujolais Nouveau, whipped onto shelves everywhere almost overnight. It is also grown in the Loire, but makes no remarkable wines. The Swiss grow it widely, for blending with Pinot Noir; they often chaptalize the wines.
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Carignane and Carmenere
Sunday, December 4th, 2011
Carignane
Also known as Carignane (California), Cirnano (Italy). Once a major blending grape for jug wines, Carignan’s popularity has diminished, and plantings have dropped from 25,111 acres in 1980 to 8,883 in 1994. It still appears in some blends, and old vineyards are sought after for the intensity of their grapes. But the likelihood is that other grapes with even more intensity and flavor will replace it in the future.
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Barbera
Sunday, December 4th, 2011
Most successful in Italy’s Piedmont region, where it makes such wines as Barbera d’Asti, Barbera di Monferato and Barbera di Alba. Its wines are characterized by a high level of acidity (meaning brightness and crispness), deep ruby color and full body, with low tannin levels; flavors are berrylike. However, plantings have declined sharply in the United States. A few wineries still produce it as a varietal wine, but those numbers too are dwindling.
Its main attribute as a blending wine is its ability to maintain a naturally high acidity even in hot climates. The wine has more potential than is currently realized and may stage a modest comeback as Italian-style wines gain popularity.
Chardonnay South Australia
Monday, October 31st, 2011
Bright with fruit and supple in texture, this harmonious white has a generous dose of peach and pear flavors and a hint of honey on the finish.
An 87-point wine is “very good, a wine with special qualities,” and this Chardonnay offers virtues without flaws. Australia is known for a full-bodied, ripe style of winemaking, and that heritage is reflected in this wine’s “supple” texture, “generous” fruit flavors and “hint of honey,” which all imply fully ripe grapes. Yet the adjectives “bright” and “peach” suggest some refreshing tartness, so it avoids fatness or dullness.
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“Knowing how to taste wine” Enrico Bernardo
Saturday, June 11th, 2011
After Best Sommelier of Italy in 20 years, Enrico Bernardo became World’s Best Sommelier in 2004 to 27 years. In writing this book, he wanted us to convey his passion for wine and some of his knowledge. In this context, the book is divided into two main parts: one on the art of wine tasting and a second where he reviewed the great vineyards of the world.
The approach of Enrico Bernardo tasting is particularly methodical and orderly, witness this long chapter on visual inspection, which opens the book. It is even rare to see this first phase of the tasting so finely detailed, a first phase that many amateurs tend to overlook (me included …)
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