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: Merlot
Consider the Wines of Abruzzo For Your Next Wine-Tasting Party
The wines of Abruzzo, Italy, can offer more than just wine for your next wine tasting party. By offering your guests a little history on the legendary wine making region of the wines you feature, you provide more than a great tasting wine. You can complement the taste as your guests can picture the vineyards where the wine originated. The Abruzzo region of Italy has a vivid ancient past, both in history and wine making. This article looks at this region, including Scarpone, one of the most prized wineries of the area, providing some information you can share at your next wine tasting party.
Abruzzo
Abruzzo has its fair share of art and architecture throughout its hill towns and mountain villages, but the Apennine mountains dominate the region, taking up two thirds of the area and attracting hikers and skiers to resorts. The vast Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo is one of Europe’s most important nature preserves.
Descendants of various hill tribes who settled the region in the Bronze Age, the Abruzzesi were difficult to unite, although the Greeks, Romans, Swabians, Aragonese, and Bourbons all tried. Before the advent of modern transportation, the inhabitants were isolated in hill towns and villages clinging to the sides of mountains. After the 12th Century, the Abruzzesi were ruled by a succession of dynasties based in Naples to the south. As a result, their diet, speech, and customs are more similar to their southern neighbors than to their neighbors to the north or west.
The hills in the region are highly favorable for grapevines. The two classified wines are Trebbiano and Montepulciano, not to be confused with the town of that name in Toscana, where Vino Nobile is made. When grown on the lower hills, Montepulciano has an irresistible character, full bodied and smooth with the capacity to age. In the higher areas, the vines produce a lighter version, Ceraruolo, which is a sturdy, cherry-colored rosé. The white Trebbiano d’Abruzzo has been described as a phantom vine since its origins are unclear. At its best, the wine can develop a Burgundy-like complexity after four or five years of aging.
Scarpone
The small estate of Lorenzo Scarpone is located in Abruzzo in the Colline Teramane zone named after the nearby mountain town of Teramo and thought to produce the finest wine in the Abruzzo region from the native Montepulciano grape. It is the first and only zone in the Aburzzo to be given the Italian government’s highest quality ranking of DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata E Garantita).
Owner Lorenzo Scarpone is well known in the United States among Italian wine lovers for his Italian wine import company, Villa Italia, founded in 1989. Villa Italia’s wines have received outstanding reviews from Italy’s leading wine journal Gambero Rosso, wine club associations, and from Wine spectators, Robert Parker and Stephen Tanzer.
Lorenzo, an active member of the Slow Food Organization, founded the first convivium in the United States in San Francisco where he resides with his family. Born and raised in the same area where his wine estate is located, Lorenzo grows only the native Montepulciano grape. Highly respected Loriano di Sabatino is the winemaker and the wines have gained critical acclaim in the short time that the estate has released them.
The fine wines of Scarpone as well as other wineries within the Abruzzo wine making region of Italy are a favorite of many wine club associations as they produce robust wines with grapes possessing a vivid past that is sure to interest and intrigue your guests.
Wine Storage Units
Wine is one of the more popular alcoholic drinks today because it goes with almost any type of food, can be served at any party and is easy to store. If you are an infrequent wine drinker, one who only has one bottle in the house at a time, then you do not need to purchase a wine cooler or build a wine cellar. Instead, you can store that one bottle of wine in your refrigerator or cabinet, replacing it when it is empty. On the other hand, avid wine collectors need to be able to store their wine when it is open so it does not go bad. You will also need to store the wine before it is opened so you do not have wine bottles in random spots all over the house.
The first option for wine storage is a wine cooler. Wine coolers come in all types of shapes, sizes, colors and prices. Deciding on which wine storage units to purchase depends on how often you enjoy wine. If you have more than five unopened bottles in your house at a time, purchasing a medium sized wine cooler is your best bet. If you have less than five unopened bottles at a time then you should purchase a small cooler. If you have more than 10 unopened bottles of wine in your home then you should purchase a large wine cooler to store all of those bottles and keep them cool at the same time.
Wine is not just for consumption anymore these days. In fact, hobbyists across the country purchase wine bottles as an investment. Some wine collectors have bottles of wine in their cellar that are over 30 years old, some even older than that. These collectors usually do not drink this wine. Instead, they hold onto it until it reaches a certain value, then they turn it around and sell it for a profit to other collectors. When you purchase a wine cooler, no matter its size, the humidity of the cooler should sit at 70 percent. The cooler can be kept at temperatures 10 degrees either above or below the 70 percent mark. If the humidity were to dip below 50 percent, the corks can shrink, allowing air into the bottle and ruining the wine.
If you are an avid wine drinker or collector, and have hundreds of bottles of wine in your home, it might be in your best interest to purchase a wine cooler and have a wine cellar built in your home. The wine cooler will hold ten bottles that you plan to drink soon and the cellar will hold the remainder of your collection. A wine cellar costs thousands of dollars to build but will keep your wine collection safe from harm and fresh. When you store wine in a wine cellar you should keep the temperature between the degrees of 68-73 so the wine stays fresh and does not lose its luster. You should also not move the wine once it is placed in the cellar. Have shelves built that hold bottles of wine in a specific pattern so you do not have to move one bottle to get to another.
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Dual Zone Wine Coolers
When it comes to red and white wines, two different temperatures are required, and in the past this need was addressed by a wine cellar. The problem these days however is that most people do not actually have a wine cellar. Why? Because modern conveniences and technology have allowed us to cool our wine without the need for huge cellars. This is most certainly helpful, but it doesn’t mean we don’t have choices to make. For instance there are a number of different wine cooling options when one looks at a wine refrigerator, one of which is happens to be dual zone wine coolers.
Wines are an interesting commodity as you have probably discovered over the years. There are some who like red wine, and then there are those who like white wine. There are also those who hate one with a passion but love the other. In direct contrast there are those who love both types of wine, and this is where dual zone coolers come in handy.
These are precisely what they sound like, and that is to say that dual wine coolers are actually a wine refrigerator that contain separate compartments that maintain separate temperatures. Yes, red wine and white wine should be stored at different temperatures, and dual zone wine coolers make it possible to do so without owning more than one refrigeration unit.
In the center you should find a divider, and on the divider there would be a control panel capable of governing the temperature on both sides. There are a few things that you will need to ask yourself before you actually start utilizing one of these devices. For one, does it really maintain different temperatures? You can test this with a thermometer, and in some cases one will actually be built into the cooler.
In addition to that you need to determine whether or not the cooler seals properly. You cannot have any leaks outside or within as this will defeat the purpose entirely. Dual zone coolers can be very delicate objects, and ensuring that they are made properly will certainly go a long way. That being said, you’ll certainly want to look into them, and even determine what the price happens to be.
It will depend on the size of course, but you can normally expect to pay about $ 300 for a cheaper unit, while you would pay about $ 1500 for a high end model. It all depends on the options you want and how many wine bottles you actually need to store. Either way, it is clear that wine storage has become much easier, and overall, it has become less expensive, even if the initial cost is a bit high.
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Thanksgiving Wine Picks
Along with that glorious Thanksgiving feast, another critical consideration is the wine that can accompany the meal. Here are some top picks of white wine for Thanksgiving drinks to make that meal go down sweeter and smoother. White wine is the customary accompaniment to white meat.
Chardonnay
This wine that leaves a multi-layered taste of different fruits will make a wonderful accompaniment for that turkey and fruit-flavored stuffing and sauce like that made with cranberry. A full-bodied, well rounded very good Chardonnay will incorporate tastes of citrus, perhaps apricot and other lush fruits.
Beaujolais Nouveau
This is another favorite for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s normally the very initial vintage to be released. Beaujolais Nouveau comes from the Gamay grape which has thin skin and really little, if any tannins. It has a light, red fruit flavor and just a hint of banana taste. Its lightness indicates one can appreciate it at the table with the food and still get pleasure from a stronger or totally unique after-dinner Thanksgiving drink.
Riesling
This white wine is offered as very dry or medium which is fairly sweet. Either way, this wine is fantastic with Thanksgiving dinner thanks to its mix of fruit flavors like apricot and apple, the honey and clarifying acidity which goes well with herbs and fruit flavored turkey sauces such cranberry sauce.
Sauvignon Blanc
This 1 will go down well with a bite of turkey thanks to its citrusy taste that makes a good accompanying undertone to herbs within the meal.
Pinot Grigio
This 1 will please the palate when it combines with the taste of onions, garlic and herbs that will go into the primary dish and side dishes.
Gewurtraminer
This is one more white wine with an aromatic punch and a spicy undertone which will improve the taste of turkey and all of the herbs in it. Its an additional Thanksgiving favorite.
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Wine industry in Ravello
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Born in the climate of the Thousand and unification of Italy, the wines of the Bishop’s 145 years ago. When Pasquale Palumbo cured with extraordinary wisdom and dedication, the vines attached to the Bishop’s house in Ravello, better known as Bishop’s. Hence the name of the wine. The brand is maintained through four generations now managed with a sure hand by Marco Vuilleumier, heir of so much tradition. Then the wine Pasquale Palumbo joins the hotel of the same name, which will in a few years to such an audience of distinguished guests, which has few comparisons in terms of Europe.The list of personalities – from Wagner to Greta Garbo is the real Sweden and Denmark to Humphrey Bogart, John Huston, Lauren Bacall, Grieg, Malaparte – always accompanies it, and correspondingly, the hotel’s history and that of wine .
The Bishops of Palumbo became a close pair, where one refers to the other and both are identified with the unique image of Ravello. Curated and produced the old fashioned way in not more than thirty thousand bottles of wine cellars Episcopio born between Ravello and Scala, in Vigna San Lorenzo 350 meters above sea level. The types are the classical ones provided by the specification of Doc: Red, Rosé and White. The first, with an alcohol content of 12.5, is extremely durable and perfectly preserved, almost twenty. Born from a blend of Aglianico and Piedirosso Serpentara, the variety it very local. The output of around eight thousand bottles.The Rose, Ravello Rosé labeled as Doc, uses the same blend and is credited for the full structure, soft and intense. The production is far less, only four thousand bottles, a wine whose streak of fresh acidity hides good 12 degrees.
For the Ravello Bianco Doc is the only grape used instead of scale, variety in San Nicolas, Tender White, White Zita window. Even in this case the first vine is not reflected across the boundaries. The wine of great personality and finesse, with a pleasant aftertaste, is the most widely produced. More valuable is instead the other White, Vigna San Lorenzo, built in only five thousand bottles.Here the composition of the Ravello Bianco adds Pepella, a grape of ancient and renamed as among the most typical of the area. Bishop’s also produces, as table wines, two reds, a Special Reserve (vintage ’92) from Aglianico grapes, and Piedirosso Serpentara, and Confalone from Aglianico.
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