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 »
Wine-Making Countries – Old World Vs New World
No matter how you prefer your wines, one can say without a doubt that this is one of the more exciting times in wine history. This is due to many factors. The Internet gives us so much more of a worldwide round table to discuss wine. International markets and globalization are erasing the old barriers to import and export of wine; you can go to your corner store and buy five bottles from five different countries today. The New World wineries are coming into their own, meeting the challenge of displacing the Old World from the throne of wine-producing.
For purposes of definition, let’s get it straight that when we say “Old World”, we’re talking about Europe, at least as far as wine-making countries go. And when we say “New World”, we’re talking about almost everywhere else, but notably the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and even South Africa.
You can see the sharp divide between the two worlds. Old World wines tend to be classified by terroir – that is, the region where they’re produced. New World wines tend to be classified by their breed of grape. Some New World wineries are starting to try to take the mantle in this regard, promoting themselves as regions just as relevant to the wine world as the Old World. So Napa Valley is almost a household name in the United States, while Australians may find their wine proudly labeled “Barossa Valley” and New Zealand boasts the prestige of their Marlborough region.
“Terroir” means more than a dot on the map, however. It also stands for the conditions of the winery itself – the soil, the climate, the environment, and even the local ecosystem. Wine, more than any other beverage, is influenced by many more things than the kind of grape; you can plant the same grapes in clay soil, gravel soil, and sand and cultivate them the same way and make wine the same way but still end up with three different tasting wines. Tiny variations, like what kind of pollen spores are in the air, or whether you got 12 inches of rain in May or 10, or whether temperatures were 3 degrees hotter over the summer, can make a noticeable difference in the taste.
Amongst wine enthusiasts, there is much disagreement and debate about whether New World wines can hold their own against the Old World. The majority consensus is that Old World is still holding the reigns, while the New World is trying to catch up. Certainly, the New World has produced some very good wines, but the Old World of Europe and the proud lions of wine-making, such as France, Italy, and Spain, simply have loads more experience. The bottles that win all the medals at world-class competitions still bear European labels, and will for quite some time.
But for the consumer-level market, it’s a different story. The United States and Australia have pushed their way into the world market, sometimes by cutting the price to make their bottles more attractive to retailers. It is this practice of producing cheap, industrial wine and competing for price that led to the epithet “plonk”. If you want to make a New Zealand or South African wine-fancier mad, drop the word “plonk”. It isn’t all plonk, of course, and even an Old World winery or two has begun to fight back with its own plonkish offerings, but the fact remains that the Old World simply loves wine too much to dirty their hands with making wine a cheap, uncouth business.
On that note, we will just leave it at this: the New World will have to strive harder to prove itself in the global wine arena. But there is no doubt that they will. The New World will also have to get a lot more experience under its belt before the global market takes its wines seriously. But that is almost guaranteed to happen over time. In the meantime, we can all look forward to a more diverse market, with many intriguing developments still ahead.
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Wine Cabinets Make an Excellent Showcase For Your Wine Collection
If you are a wine lover, you may have already collected a number of good quality wines in your home. Whether to enjoy yourself or to entertain friends, it is a pleasure to increase your collection with a wide variety that are available today. If you do not have a wine cellar, then you may be considering having one or two wine cabinets to store your collection.
They have other functions than just providing space for storing; wine cabinets can also keep your wines at the right temperature to preserve their flavor and quality and make an excellent showcase for your collection. You can have your cabinet custom-made for your purpose, and to match the design and available space in your home. There are cabinet makers who can design and build the type you want. You can have a small cabinet just enough for a few bottles, or very large wine cabinets that can accommodate the number that you would otherwise have stored in the cellar — a veritable wine cellar within easy reach anytime you need a drink or anytime friends come over for dinner.
The tradition of having wine with dinner has come to be regarded not only as socially desirable, but also a healthy practice. Wine infuses a certain kind of relaxing atmosphere, a happy mood into any occasion. After-dinner conversations become more interesting and engaging, and parties become a little livelier. It is always good to have a selection of various wines that you can serve on any occasion. Your wine cabinet will make this all very convenient for you. It can even be a conversation piece during the gatherings that you host in your home. You will therefore have to take into consideration a few things to make your wine cabinet serve all these purposes.
These are a few points to consider for your wine cabinet:
Temperature control to preserve the quality of your wines.
Storage capacity — it should be big enough to accommodate your present collection as well as future additions.
Convenience of maintenance and durability of material.
Compatibility with the size and design of your home.
So whether you have a wine cellar or cabinet, you can store your wine collection with peace of mind knowing they will be stored the best way possible and maintain their quality and flavor. You can also build your collection with good quality wines very inexpensively if you know where to look!
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Wine Bottles Dressed to Impress With Foil and Embossed Wine Labels
A high-impact wine label can go far in ensuring a sale, and the right label can secure your place as a producer of a well-rounded product.
Many factors go into producing an eye-catching wine label, such as color, quality, shape and finish. These all combine to catch the attention of the perceptive wine buyer and help the bottle stand out from the other wines on the shelf. The success of the Yellow Tail marketing campaign attests to the power of an interesting, good quality wine label. In addition, studies show that 80 percent of customers who pick up a wine bottle off the shelf will buy it.
The increased competition in the wine industry has resulted in increased demand for high-quality wine labels at a reduced cost. How can the small to medium-run wine maker take advantage of advances in wine label design and production without breaking the bank? Hot foil stamping and embossing is a cost-effective solution to the need for extraordinary labels at an affordable price. Wine makers must convey more than brand name, alcohol content or variety-the label is the wine’s ambassador to the discerning buyer.
Advances in digital offset and flexographic printing combined with processes such as foil stamping and embossing are a smart option for wine makers who want to stand out.
Foil Stamping and Embossing for Small to Medium Runs
Foil stamping and embossing takes digital printing to the next level, and only a few custom wine label manufacturers are capable of creating a quality foil-stamped or embossed digital label. Custom wine label companies featuring the HP Indigo digital press are poised to take best advantage of the small to medium-run market niche. When looking for a wine label printing service, look for a service that uses top of the line presses and has extensive experience in printing for your industry.
Printing premium wine labels on an HP Indigo digital label press and high-end Flexographic presses ensures a superior product. Foil stamping, embossing and unique custom color matches should all be available from the label maker for printing your order. With a professional wine label printing company, labels can be printed on textured stocks, linens, and silver or gold materials.
Foil stamping and embossing adds dimension to an otherwise flat digital label. Adding multiple foil colors can drastically enhance your labels and give them a unique look. Embossing your wine labels gives even more dimensionality. The edges of the embossing may be straight, beveled, or sculpted to make the image pop. A label with texture and dimension brings that ‘something more’ to your label. A strong image presented on a unique material can make the difference between a customer picking up your bottle with interest, or simply passing by.
In today’s wine industry, having a good wine simply isn’t enough to guarantee a sale. The wine label itself has also become paramount in making a sale, so making sure that you have a unique and professionally-printed label can take you a long way in the wine business.
The Enemies of Wine – Why You Need a Wine Bottle Refrigerator
A well made wine bottle refrigerator will help the collector overcome the four enemies of wine: temperature, light, humidity, and vibration. Most home environments are not suitable for the storage of fine wines. Let’s review each of these factors in more detail.
Temperature
The optimal temperature for storage depends on the type of wine:
Red – Store between 55 to 60 degrees F
White – Store between 49 to 56 degrees F
Rose – Store between 49 to 51 degrees F
Champagne – Store between 53 to 59 degrees F
Bottles kept at higher temperatures will age too fast, causing a lack of freshness and subtlety. Lower temperatures paralyze wine, retarding its natural development.
A quality wine bottle refrigerator will not only keep your bottles at the proper temperature, they will also maintain a constant temperature within the unit.
Light
Darkness is ideal for a cellar. Exposure to ultraviolet light will prematurely age and damage wine. This is a primary reason why wine is traditionally bottled in colored glass. Thus it is prudent to store your collection away from the potentially damaging effects of such light sources.
Quality cellars will have U.V. protected glass doors to help create an ideal environment in which to store wine.
Humidity
Maintaining proper humidity is essential in preventing the corks from drying out. This is also achieved by laying the bottles on their sides, so that the wine is in constant contact with the cork. A cork that is kept moist does not lose its shape, thus maintaining a good seal. Prolonged exposure to oxygen will spoil a good wine.
A well functioning wine bottle refrigerator will have natural ventilation that allows for condensation to form on the walls of the unit, which helps produce the correct humidity for preservation of the collection. Proper air circulation and filtering is needed to create the right environment free from mold and odor.
Vibration
Moving bottles too often is harmful to good wine preservation. Wine needs to sleep, and frequent disturbance will agitate it. Vibration interferes with the biochemical process of maturation and is often fatal to the best wines. Therefore, the best wine cabinets are designed to house the greatest possible number of bottles of all sizes, and built to keep harmful vibrations to a minimum. Unlike conventional refrigerators, wine bottle cellars have no or few moving parts.
By reading this you are obviously care about your wine! Wouldn’t it be great to be able to store your wine in your own cellar? Where you know your valuable collection will be protected from the four enemies of wine. Remember, a wine cellar doesn’t have to be an expensive separate room; it could be a refrigerated wine cabinet that is sized to your needs and budget.
Featuring the Wines of Umbria at Your Next Wine Tasting Event
If you’re planning a wine tasting event in the future, consider serving the wines of Umbria, Italy. The colorful ancient history of this region provides the perfect backdrop for giving your guests a little more than a glass of wine. By sharing this knowledge of Umbria, you can bring a wine alive in more ways than taste. This article looks at the Umbria winemaking region of Italy, focusing in on one of its red wine club favorites, Arnaldo Caprai.
Umbria
Umbria is a combination of pastoral countryside and mountain wilderness. Nurtured by the Tiber and its tributaries and Italy’s fourth largest lake, Lago Trasimeno, this region known as “the green heart of Italy” produces fine olive oil, truffles, grains, tobacco, and livestock along with its vines. Umbria also has a cluster of ancient cities that offer a glimpse into the past. The Umbri, Etruscans, and Romans all left their mark here.
Magnificent Orvieto is perched on a plateau that looks down on the vineyards below. Its grand Duomo is among the greatest of Italy’s Romanesque/Gothic cathedrals. Perugia’s ancient center embraces a 15th Century Duomo and the city’s most extravagantly decorated church. Founded in the 10th Century and rebuilt in the 15h, the Duomo stands beyond the old walls.
Medieval Assisi with its beautiful views and piazzas is the home of St. Francis, who is buried in a basilica frescoed by Giotto among others. The nearby hill towns of Todi, Spello, Gubbio, and Montefalco blend medieval monuments with Roman remains. Spoleto, surrounded by woods, is the loveliest of the hill towns and hosts one of Europe’s leading art festivals in June and July each year.
Noted mainly for its white wines, such as Orvieto, Procanico, Malvasia, Grechetto, and Trebbiano, the region also produces two noble red wines a favorite of red wine club members with special DOCG status, Torgiano Rosso, which is called Rubesco, and Sagrantino, both unmistakably grand wines capable of aging for decades. The sweet white Vin Santo is a local favorite and is made from semidried Grechetto or Malvasia grapes.
Among the many outside varieties planted in Umbria, Merlot and Barbera have been prominent for more than a century. More recently, Pinot Nero and red Cabernet Sauvignon have produced some fine wines appearing on many red wine club lists.
Arnaldo Caprai
Arnaldo Caprai is located in Umbria, Toscana’s eastern landlocked neighbor. The Umbrian hills, valleys, and soils are extensions of Toscana’s prestigious Siena-Montalcino-Montepulciano triangle. Until Marco Caprai produced his award winning Sagrantino di Montefalco 25 Anni in 1987, the area showed no promise of measuring up to its illustrious neighbors in Toscana.
When Marco’s father Arnaldo, a textile manufacturer, bought the property in Val di Maggio in 1971, Sagrantino had almost disappeared. Five hectares remained when Arnaldo decided to plant five more. Today, Sagrantino has become the signature wine of Umbria because of Marco Caprai’s success with the variety. The estate has expanded to 370 acres, 220 of which are planted to vines on three different estates, the principal one in Montefalco, another in Bevagna, a village in the hills of Montefalco, and Gualdo Cattaneo, a village near Spoleto.
In addition to native Sagrantino and Sangiovese, Marco has planted a whole series of foreign varieties, including Tannat, Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnay. He has enjoyed so much notoriety from his accomplishments, especially with Sagrantino, that others have arrived in the Montefalco zone to mimic his success.
In 2001, Marco was named “Best Italian Producer of the Year” by the Italian Sommelier Association for his success in respecting the long tradition of Italian winemaking while incorporating innovative research and technology practices. In 2005, Caprai was named the “Winery of the Year” by Gambero Rosso, the most important and most consulted wine guide in Italy.
The history of Umbria and the winemaking expertise of Arnaldo Caprai make a perfect partnership that can enhance your next wine tasting event. Sharing the ancient past of this area is sure to make the wines of Umbria come alive for your guests.