Overview To Sampling Wine
The fundamentals of tasting red wine are reasonably straightforward to find out. As soon as the basics are understood, the nuances and details can be enhanced over a lifetime. Like any kind of various other skill, More »
Red Wine Types
Red wine has a lot of different types, among which, the most popular include Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. Moreover, More »
Category Archives: Malbec
Wines Of Niagara
Niagara Wines – there’s an appellation that just doesn’t roll off your tongue. Some wine growing regions are instantly recognizable even to the most casual of wine drinkers…. places like Napa, Bordeaux, Montepulciano… but Niagara?
Why not? Grapes are grown all over the world now… anywhere they can find the right microclimate and the proper grapes to grow there.
The Niagara wine region actually sprawls across the Ontario and New York border making it a two country wine region. There are over sixty wineries in this area, and the number is growing.
The majority of wineries are in Canada. If you want to visit and taste on both sides of the border, remember that you now have to show your passport even when driving across the border between Canada and the United States.
The Niagara Wine Trail represents some of the wineries. It is well organized with maps and special events at the participating wineries.
The wineries in this region will tell you that the Niagara Escarpment and Lake Ontario create a unique microclimate. One of the wines that they are most famous for is Ice Wine…. that makes a certain amount of sense doesn’t it? It gets cold there in the winter. They have a similar latitude to Bordeaux and Montepulciano, but it’s the microclimate that lets them make this liquid gold.
Ice Wine (or Eiswein borrowing from German) is a dessert wine made from grapes frozen while still on the vine. Some late harvest wines just hang on the vine forever increasing the sugar content…. In good years when the frost comes at the right time, they produce small quantities of great Ice Wine.
But Ice Wine isn’t all they make. Expect to taste wines made of all the usual suspects from Rieslings and Chardonnays to Merlots and Pinot Noirs. Plus some local varietals and natives like Catawba and Frontenac, and oh yes, even occasionally from Niagara grapes.
There are tasting fees at most of the wineries… generally between two to five Canadian dollars. If you plan to taste at more than a couple of wineries you might want to consider a “Vino Visa Passport” from the Niagara Wine Trail wineries…. that might save you money. It’s good from one year of purchase. It gets you free tastings at some wineries, discounts at others, and even some discounts at hotels and restaurants.
Whenever you are wine tasting, if you are driving yourself, remember to have a designated driver or taste responsibly.
The beauty of the Niagara Wine Trail is that you’re in the country, but not far from other tourist destinations. Niagara Falls is only minutes away from many of the wineries. You can stay at Niagara-on-the-Lake, a well-preserved town with Victorian architecture that’s worth a visit in its own right. You’re only about an hour and a half from Toronto and half an hour from Buffalo.
So if you’re visiting Toronto or Niagara Falls, treat yourself, and do a little wine tasting…. if you never knew about this wine region before, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
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Wine Access Magazine
What was it? We’d become utterly disenchanted with all but a handful of Spanish wines sent to us by struggling national importers, most were overpriced and overrated. Billions of Common Market euros poured into new Spanish plantings, fancy bodegas with circular tasting rooms and surround sound. What was there to show for it? The funny money paid for fancy labels and (too much) American wood, but none of the expensive trimmings could replace the real deal. So when we heard about a pre-Franco vineyard, tasted the exquisite 2004 Partal — we just had to go see for ourselves.
Our lunch with Pepa was a lesson in 20th century Spanish history viewed through the eyes of a winegrower. Over roasted baby goat paired with the 2004 Partal, Pepa told us about his grandmother, “La Balcona”, a tenant farmer who, in 1940, right after the end of the Spanish Civil War, was given the opportunity by one of the local terratenientes to buy one of the prime vineyard sites in Murcia for next to nothing. She immediately ripped out the wheat and saffron and planted Monastrell bush plants. But Murcia would pay a hefty price for its opposition to Franco during the civil war. Franco cut off state funds to the region, and the young people fled, moving to Barcelona and Madrid. The fields were lying fallow, and the few grape growers selling to the local co-op found their Monastrell wines selling for 10 cents a liter in the retail stores of Madrid!
It took almost 35 years for Franco to pass and for Murcia to begin its comeback. And it took still another 30 years for the roots of La Balcona’s Monastrell to spider underground, searching out water and nutrients, infusing these incredibly healthy bush plants with the explosive red fruit intensity that is found in this brilliant, utterly singular Spanish red wine.
Production of Partal is tiny. Today, most is sold in Murcia. But we weren’t making an 8 hour trek just for a history lesson and some roasted goat. The 15 remaining cases of the 2004 Partal have been earmarked for WineAccess members, a sensational tribute to La Balcona. Not to be missed for the wine, its history, and that old-vine Mourvedre.
Wine and Cooking!
Cooking with wine and the type of wine being used for the cooking process is a question that is highly debatable, because the dish prepared clearly shows the wine that was used to make it. If the wine was a good quality one it’ll show and if it was a cheap low quality one, it’ll show!. Some people use drinking wines to cook while others use only cooking wines. Of course it must be remembered that a drinking wine can be used to cook, while keeping in mind that you are overspending where not required, but a cooking wine cannot be used to drink., Infact a cooking wine is salty and generally an inferior quality wine as compared to the drinking and is ok only for cooking and for nothing else.
Cooking with wine is as old as wine drinking itself. Infact it is assumed that originally fermented grape juices were used to prepare stews and casseroles and various other dishes. This fermented grape juice was accidently drunk by a member of a royal family, while he was in his kitchen and he liked it to the extent that a refined and better quality of the same juice was also created for drinking purposes from then on. That drinking juice later came to be known as drinking wine while the one that was used for cooking retained its name as a cooking wine.
As it was mentioned earlier, while purchasing a cooking wine keep in mind that whatever you buy will be reflected in the taste of the dish that is the end result. You can buy wine online. So a cheap quality cooking wine will give a bad tasting dish, and a connoisseur or a sommelier will easily be able to identify the type of wine that had gone into your dish! This does not mean that the higher priced a wine the better it is and the lower priced wine the cheaper It is. It only means that whenever you are purchasing wine for cooking, purchase the same from a reputed store or purchase wine online or go for the recommendations of someone who has bought and used a wine for cooking. Infact person to person recommendations are the best way to ensure that the wine you are purchasing is the best for cooking.
Another thing to remember is that older wines and vintages are usually not recommended for dishes that have a long cooking process. These wines somehow don’t hold up to the actual cooking process and long simmers. When using wines for cooking, especially at a time you are not buying a cooking wine and are using a drinking wine, shop around for bargains on young and powerful wines that have their own taste and mild aromas. These wines hold up well in the cooking process and easily intensify the taste of the dish by several folds! Also remember that a good quality leftover drinking wine can also be used in a recipient that calls for an option of a drinking red wine, white wine, champagne or rose!
Constantia Wine route
The Constantia wine route is located in the Constantia Valley in Cape Town. Constantia is on the eastern flank of the Cape Peninsula in the coastal zone. The maritime climate and cool position create ideal conditions for a wide range of grapes to grow. In South Africa viticulture usually takes place at a latitude of 34 degrees south and thrives in an area with a mild Mediterranean climate. This climate features warm summers that are cooled by south easterly winds and cool winters with very little frost.
Positioned in the heart of this magnificent wine route is the elegant The Last Word Constantia, one of 4 boutique hotels owned and run by The Last Word hotel group.The Last Word Constantia is surrounded by the majestic Cape Mountain ranges that form a backdrop to the most scenic wine producing regions in the world and makes for an ideal form of Cape Town luxury accommodation for those wanting to explore the winelands and experience some tours of the eight wine farms that make up the region.
The eight farms, which all offer tasting tours, are Buitenverwachting, Constantia Glen, Constantia Uitsig, Eagles Nest Wines, Groot Constantia, High Constantia, Klein Constantia, Steenberg Vineyards all of them boast a rich history, dating back to 1685 as well as a unique terrior. This 5 star boutique hotelis situated conveniently close to main roads that lead to the Stellenbosch Winelands, for discerning wine connoisseurs seeking to experience other types of wine.
The Last Word Constantia has a swimming pool and surrounding tanning deck, set amongst manicured gardens and rolling lawns, allowing guests to take advantage of more than the extravagant mountain views that encompass this luxury hotel.
This particular luxury boutique hotel is also situated close to other Constantia attractions such as the up market Constantia shopping center and many high quality restaurants.
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Buy wine online
“The soft extractive note of an aged cork being withdrawn has the true sound of a manopening his heart.” —William Samuel Benwell
Wine is a popular drink around the world,bringing joy, happiness and a hearty cheer. But wine of yester years was not the drink weknow of wine today. In those days there was no fermentation in stainless steel vats, no controlled temperatures and most definitely no technological advancements that we enjoy intoday’s production.
But then even without the modern facilities of today’s wine played an important role in those ancient times. Recent archaeological evidence suggests a thriving online wine industry in Greece as early as 4500 BC, supported by evidence of crushed grapes in the ruins. The ancient Greeks believed that wine was a gift from god Dionysus. And since corks did not exist as a wine closure the wine bottle mouths use to be coated with olive oil and sealed with pine bark. This method retarded evaporation of the wine and the olive oil prevented contamination by the air. The pine bark also lent the wine a nice fruity and piney aroma, a prized feature in many of the Australian wines of today.
It may surprise you to know that wine grapes are highly sensitive. The slightest change in the climatic conditions can spoil the grapes totally. Powerful winds can break the flowers from the wine and spoil the crop. Too much rain can cause the wine grapes to rot and too much sun can over ripen the grapes and quickly destroys the taste achieved by a long and slow ripening process. There are wines that don’t come to life until the grapes rot. For example Sauternes are a classic style of wine that can only be made when the grapes have been infected by the botrytis cinerea fungus. This infection is called the noble wine rot.
The barrels the wines are stored in, have a major impact on the taste of wines. White wine is normally stored in stainless steel vats and red wines in oak barrels. However contemporary winemaking is leaning to unoakedstyles as consumers prefer the lighter fruitier wines that are less oaked. This idea is backed up by many wine enthusiasts arguing that wine is supposed to taste like the fruit and not a tree.