11:44 PM

10/01/08 - Wine Accessory

Another Great Wine Accessory Article

Know Your Kind of Wine Today

The right combination between food and wine is a source of ultimate bliss for every connoisseur. Both wine and food can benefit from the right pairing. The right wine can accentuate unexpected gastronomical aspects of food and vice versa, wine can shine in a new light when accompanied by the right dish. In order to savor the splendor of such combinations, one does not need to frequent expensive restaurants and buy overpriced wines. Rather, when combining food and wine it is one???s intuition and curiosity that are of paramount importance.
It is a pleasure to the palate and it teases the senses when you combine fine dining with a glass of good wine. White wine is excellent when you are dining on fish or chicken, while red wine goes perfectly with red meat dishes.

You might be confused when it comes to classifying the kinds of wine manufactured by vintners.

Wine-makers use the word ???varietal??? to refer to the type of wine made, as there are many variants to choose from.

France and Italy are amoung the leading countries when it comes to exporting wine all over the world. In the United States, you can find great wine producers in California.

Wines can be named according to the wine-maker, the vintage - which indicates the year when the grapes were grown - and the place where the wines were made.

However, most wine names are derived from the grape they are made from.

Here???s a quick look at the general types of wines that you can choose from to suit your taste:

1. Sparkling wine

This is more popularly known as champagne. Sparkling wine takes the form of a bubbly clear liquid which is most often used to signify a celebration.
They are further divided into different types. There is a type of sparkling wine which is very dry and they are light and a bit sweet when tasted. There are champagnes made from white or red grapes, and they are more popularly known as Blanc de Blancs.

2. Aperitif

These are wines drank as an appetizer before the actual meal. Vermouth and dry sherry are a couple of examples of an aperitif.

3. Red wines

Red dinner wines are best served with red meat dishes or pasta. Cabernet Sauvignon is a popular red wine brand.

4. Rose dinner wine

This is related to the red wine variety and is also known as ???blush wine??? or pink wine. It has a lighter color and a sweeter flavor than the regular red wine.

5. White wine

White wine best complements fish or chicken meal. It brings out the natural aroma of food and further enhances flavor when served chilled. Chablis and Chardonnay are examples of white wines.

6. Table wine

Table wines can be red, white or pink wine which have no more than 14% alcohol content.

7. Dessert wine

Sweet sherry is an example of a dessert wine which is mostly of the sweet variety.

8. Cooking wine

Cooking wine is not intended for drinking because they contain salt.

From all these wine types and more ??" you get to take your pick of which bottle you would like to take home, sip and enjoy. Join Wine Tasting Party.

About the Author

Art of Wine Tasting.

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Know Your Kind of Wine Today

The right combination between food and wine is a source of ultimate bliss for every connoisseur. Both wine and food can benefit from the right pairing...

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7:56 PM

09/30/08 - Wine Icon

Today's Wine Icon Article

A Restaurateurs 30 Interesting Wine Facts

As owner of a winery and also a restaurant, I often get asked a lot of questions about wine and also about the wine industry in general. So here are some great wine facts for you to savour.

1. There are 20 million acres are planted to grapes worldwide.

2. Among the world's fruit crops, wine grapes rank number one in the amount of acres planted.

3 164 countries import California wines.

4. Prunes were the primary fruit crop in Napa Valley during the 1940's.

5. 30 million gallons of wine were lost in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

6. On August 19, 1873, phylloxera was first discovered in California.

7. 10,450 acres of Napa County vineyards have been replanted in the last 15 years because of phylloxera.

8. 4,450 more acres of Napa County vineyards will need replacement.

9. It takes 4 to 5 years to harvest a commercial crop from newly replanted grape vines?

10. 10,000 varieties of wine grapes exist worldwide.

11. It costs around $1 per bottle to age wine in a French oak barrel.

12. It costs around $3 per bottle to age wine in only new French oak barrels.

13. When was the first known reference to a specific wine vintage? Answer: Roman Historian Pliny the Elder rated 121 B.C. as a vintage ?of the highest excellence.?

14. How old was the wine being ?reviewed?? Answer: 200 years old! Pliny the Elder wrote the history of the Roman Empire around 70 A.D.

15. A bottle of opened wine stored in the refrigerator lasts about 6 to 16 times longer than it would if stored at room temp.

16. There are 400 oak species.

17. 20 of them are used in making oak barrels.

18. 5% percent of an oak tree is suitable for making high grade wine barrels.

19. The 1996 grape crop in Napa Valley was down 20% - 25% from normal.

20. California, New York and Florida are the top three U.S. states in terms of wine consumption.

21. 58% percentage of legal-aged Americans contacted in a Nielson phone survey drink wine.

22. 55 percentage of restaurant wine sales are red wines.

23. $2.64 is the average cost of the grapes used to produce a $20 bottle of wine?

24. Dom Perignon (1638-1715), the Benedictine Abbey (at Hautvillers) cellar master who is generally credited with ?inventing? the Champagne making process, was blind.

25. Thomas Jefferson helped stock the wine cellars of the first five U.S. presidents and was very partial to fine Bordeaux and Madeira.

26. 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.

27. Old wine almost never turns to vinegar. It spoils by oxidation.

28. In King Tut?s Egypt (around 1300 BC), the commoners drank beer and the upper class drank wine.

29. 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.

30. 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.

We hope you enjoyed these facts.

Ian Macdonald as founder and owner of Macdonalds Gourmet Burgers combines his passion and knowledge of food, wine and nutrition with savvy business tactics. He is also the MD of a corporate consulting firm that advises on strategic negotiation, dispute resolution and workplace change. Clients are mainly from top 100 corporations. For lots of free resources from their extensive website go to:
www.MacdonaldsGourmetBurgers.com

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