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The 5 Minute Guide To Nero D’Avola

HOW TO PRONOUNCE?

Nair – oh da-vo – la

WHERE DOES IT COMES FROM?

Nero d’Avola is originally from Sicily; the name comes from Avola, which is a city in the province of Siracusa, on the Italian island of Sicily.

Nero means “black” in Italian, which suits the colour intensity of the grape wery well indeed.

It is a grape variety that’s extremely well suited to dry, hot climate (not unlike Malbec) and so is right at home in Sicily.

WHAT DOES NERO D’AVOLA SMELL LIKE?

The main aromas, typical of this grape variety are:

Black cherry

Black plum

Liquorice

Tobacco

Chili

WHAT DOES IT TASTE LIKE?

Nero d’Avola wines are typically dry, full bodied and rather high tannic wines making them rather big wines with rich flavours of bold black fruit.

The wines age beautifully thanks to this rather big structure, but some examples can be enjoyed young when they are fruit forward and not overly concentrated.

WHAT FOOD WILL IT GO WELL WITH?

For me, it’s a simple question, and the answer is: Nero d’Avola pairs beautifully with meaty meat!

Think burgers, think barbecue, think meaty pizza.

And of course for non meat-eaters, there are fish options too, such as a strong tuna steak for example (Tuna is much loved in Sicily so no surprises there), or maybe even some mushroom rich, vegetarian dishes could work here too.

WHERE ARE THE BEST REGIONS FOR NERO D’AVOLA?

Italy, and more precisely Sicily is THE home Nero d’Avola.

Slowly but surely, some winemakers further afield are starting to experiment with Nero d’Avola, and you will find some wineries in South Africa, California and even in Australia starting to play with this beautiful grape variety.

WHAT TASTES SIMILAR?

If you love Nero d’Avola, then the natural suggestions are to go for grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah. But I’m guessing if you know Nero d’Avola, you probably already drink these classic grape varieties, so I will try and suggest some maybe less well-known wines:

Pinotage: this (mostly) South African grown grape variety produces high tannin. Full bodied wines with earthy and smokey notes. Sourced from good wineries, it is guaranteed to delight. Give the Radford Dale, Frankenstein Pinotage 2014 a go.

Petite Sirah: one of my favorite grape varieties. Widely planted in Australia and California, it also produces tannic, full-bodied wines with good acidity. It tends to also develop aromas of black fruit, as well as black pepper and herbal aromas.

BEST NERO D’AVOLA: 5 TO TRY

Planeta Plumbago 2014, Sicily

Azienda Agricola Cos Contrada Labirinto Nero d’Avola, Sicily

Torre dei Venti by Fazio, Sicily

Baglio Rosso 2014, Sicily

2014 Amato Vino Nero d’Avola, Australia

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Cheese And Wine: The Essential Guide

For wine lovers, the real question is not which of the egg or the chick came first. It is rather more whether cheese was first made to go with wine or was it the other way around.

This answer to this question though, I am sorry, but I will not be able to give you now.

However, if the sound of cheese and wine has got you excited then read on..

Cheese and wine pairing is one of the most written and talked about subjects when it comes to gastronomy. It’s probably also one of the most common themes for wine tastings.

And it is definitely a subject on which I have received many, many questions from you guys.

So, I’ve decided to give you a short guide to matching these 2 together.

The first rule to matching cheese and wine, is one that always gets most people surprised:

Do not pair cheese with red wine… Yes, you’ve read that right. Choose white wine.

Apart from a very few exceptions, the best wine for cheese is practically always white.

WHY?

There are a few reasons to this:

The acidity of the white wine is best to match high fat and saltiness from cheese

Lactose which is a sugar is far better matched with the residual sugar of white wines

Milk protein precipitates the tannin from red wines.

So why do so many people in Italy, in France and elsewhere in the world drink red wine with cheese?

I am a fervent supporter of regional wine to regional dish, and most times, in the old world, the wine that is drunk with the local dish is the best possible match.

And yes, I know, many people back home in France think that nothing matches a camembert better than a solid Bordeaux.

But I am sorry to say that it is probably the worst pairing you can go for.

This is probably a result of people having red wine left over from the main course and finishing it off with cheese. It’s probably been passed on from parent to child as the perfect match, but it’s wrong.

Thankfully, many gastronomic personalities are also coming out and expressing the view, that white wine is best with cheese. From top sommeliers and chefs to wine writers, things are changing.

So, is it just any white wine with any cheese?

Well, it’s not quite that simple… the tastes, flavours and aromatic profiles are so varied that the wines you need to pair them with are going to have to be very different.

To make this easier than looking at every cheese and pairing them up to their ideal wine, I’ve broken it down to the different categories of cheese.

GOAT’S CHEESE

Crottin, Briquette, Charolais, Berkswell, Innes Brick, Innes Log, Ragstone, Cypres Grove Chevre, O’Banon, Acidina, Caprino, Ircano, Cabecou, Rocamadour.

These cheeses go really well with crisp, unoaked white wines with a good aromatic profile.

Think Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, dry Rieslings or dry crisp Chardonnay.

SOFT CHEESE WITH WASHED RIND

Epoisses, Maroilles, Livarot, Munster, Taleggio, Soumaintrain, Langres

Here you’re going to need weight and intensity to stand up to the intensity of the cheese as these cheeses are often very powerful

Old white wines such as old Burgundies (Meursault, Chablis Grand Cru, Puligny) or old slightly sweet Rieslings, or Gewurztraminer can make for an unforgettable pairing.

SOFT CHEESE WITH BLOOMY RIND

Camembert, Brie, Brillat Savarin, Neufchatel, Wigmore, Chaource, Coulommiers

Here, the ideal match is really going to be with Champagne or sparkling wine with a bit of weight; which makes for a delightful match.

If you want to go white, I would recommend Chardonnay or Chenin Blanc without any oak but with a bit of weight.

HARD CHEESES

Cheddar, Comté, Tome, Edam, Gouda, Manchego, Parmesan, Provolone, Pecorino, Cantal, Mimolette, Fontina, Coolea, Lancashire, Red Leicester, Caerphilly.

As a rule of thumb, the harder the cheese the bigger the wine you’ll need. By this I mean the weight of the wine. The saltiness in these cheeses will also be calling for a good sweetness.

You can go for some old Viogniers or big, old Chardonnays or white Rioja. These wines with a will have developed nutty flavours to match the cheese and their richness will be superb with the saltiness.

For the softer, semi hard cheeses, you can have more fruit and less weight, so younger wine will be great matches.

BLUE CHEESE

Stilton, Gorgonzola, Roquefort, Queso de Cabrales, Bleu d’Auvergne, Cashel Blue, Ba Ba Blue Sheep.

For blue cheese, we’re going to match the saltiness of the cheese with sweetness from wine.

Wines such as Sauternes, Sweet Muscat, Tokaji, Recioto, Sweet Gewurztraminer, Sweet Sherry and port will really blow your mind away.

These matches will delight anyone.

I will dive in deeper to cheese and wine matching later where we will try to look at each category in more detail.

So for your next wine and cheese tasting even or party, try getting white wine principally and a the odd red wine just to see as a comparative tasting and you will realise how much of a delight white wine is with cheese – and you won’t go back!

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The Essential Guide to Rioja Wine

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The Ultimate Guide To Cabernet Sauvignon

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What Are Tannins in Wine? Our Special Guide.

Tannin is quite an important component in wine, and it’s a term is quite key, and that you should be comfortable with and understand well.

So what is tanning? Tannin is actually the name of a compound that is found in red wine and that has a bitter taste. From there we have the word “tannic” which is how we describe a wine that is very bitter because of its high tannin content. Along with sweetness and acidity, tannic is one of the 3 basic tastes that are found in wine.

But tannin is only found in red wine!

So a wine can be low in tannin as certain grape varieties like Gamay for example can be.. or it can be high in tannin and be described as tannic as Malbec or Cabernet Sauvignon can be.

Why is tannin only found in red wines?

The tannin compound is found only in the skin of the grape, the stalks and the seeds. When red wine is made, the grape juice (which doesn’t contain tannin) is left in contact with the solid parts of the grape. It is during that phase of contact that tannin is extracted from the solid parts and transferred into the juice (it is also during that phase that the red colour is transferred from the skin to the juice which otherwise would be clear).

However, when making white wine the juice and the solid parts of the grapes are immediately separated, so tannin doesn’t have time to be extracted from the skins and seeds.

How can you pick out the tannic taste in a wine?

When tasting a wine, you need to look out for a bitter taste, that kind of dries out your tongue, gums and inner cheeks.

Tannin is also found in tea… and a good exercise is to put a couple of bags in a cup, leave with boiling water for a while and then taste that tea as you would a wine. You will really understand what tannin is like. This will also enable you to create a scale for tannin. This is very useful when marking a wine. Imagine water being a 0 and your super strong black tea a 10..

Then, when you mark tannin when you taste wine you have an idea of a scale.

Although some people dislike tannin, it’s very important in wine.

Firstly, it helps make wine a great partner to certain styles of food. This is very true for high protein food such as red meat, or certain fatty dishes where tannic wine can be an ideal pairing. Secondly, it also helps the wine age as tannin is an antioxidant. Also, when a wine ages, it becomes less tannic, so it’s important that wine is tannic to start off with, if you want to age the wine or it will be very imbalanced.

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Chenin in 5 Minutes All The Essential Information

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Everything you need to know about Chablis

Chablis is one of France’s most famous appellations and lies in the main winemaking region of Burgundy.

It is, by some way the biggest “village” appellation of Burgundy. Chablis also has more Premier Crus and Grand Crus than any other appellation in the region.

Here’s your guide to this great wine.

HOW TO PRONOUNCE?

Shah- Blee

WHERE IS CHABLIS?

Chablis is a Village appellation situated at the North of Burgundy, just an hour and half’s drive to the South-East of Paris.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN GRAPE VARIETIES OF CHABLIS?

Chablis is only produced as a white wine… and the grape variety used is Chardonnay.

This always comes as a surprise to many people who thought that Chablis was maybe the name of the grape variety, or thought that the wine was made from other grape varieties.

But no.. Chablis is made 100% from Chardonnay.

This is probably because of the style, which is very dry, whereas most people imagine Chardonnay as a rich, creamy grape variety.

YOU TALK ABOUT VILLAGE, ABOUT APPELLATION, ABOUT PREMIER CRUS AND GRAND CRUS, WHAT ARE THEY?

Appellation in France is the name under which a wine is classified. There are different levels of appellations, but just see it as a guarantee of quality. It also guarantees a place of origin. This can be a region, or a city or smaller even a single vineyard.

In Burgundy, wines are classified into 4 different categories:

– Regional appellations such as Bourgogne Blanc and Bourgogne Rouge

– Village appellations such as Chablis but also Petit Chablis or Meursault or Beaune.. These are named after the town where they come from (and not the grape variety)

– Premier Crus are parcels of vineyards which are recognised for their superior quality

– And finally at the very top of the classification pyramid, there are Grand Crus.. These wines come from parcels that are the very best in the region, but only few villages have Grand Crus.

In Chablis, which is the main village appellation there is also the Petit Chablis appellation which is a village appellation. There are also 40 Premier Crus AND 7 Grand Crus.

You can recognise them on the label where the mention is stated.

Normally the name of the “climat” (the parcel where the wine comes from) is cited:

For example Chablis Premier Cru Mont de Milieu of Chablis Premier Cru Vaillons.

And for Grand Crus, it’s the same.. Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos or Chablis Grand Cru Grenouilles.

WHAT’S THE TYPICAL NOSE OF CHABLIS WINES?

Chablis wines are made from Chardonnay and as such have a very pure nose of Chardonnay from cold climates.

Green apple, lemon, flint, chalk, in their youth.

With ageing, you’ll find the wonderful aromas of honey and nuts.

WHAT DOES CHABLIS TASTE LIKE?

The typical style of Chablis wine is dry, crisp, nearly zingy. The wines are light delicate, by which I mean the fruitiness is delicate. The fruitiness of the wine is not super full, not rich and ripe. Traditionally, these wines are not oaked, or only very slightly.

The typical flavours are mineral, iodine, smoky flint, but these are very subtle..

Petit Chablis wine is often juicier and less acidic, can and should be drunk young

Chablis Village, which is going to be very steely dry needs a bit more time to mellow.

Chablis Premier Cru and Chablis Grand Cru wines are more complex and more concentrated. They will nonetheless be very acidic in their youth and have tremendous ageing potential.

It is not uncommon to have Premier Crus and Grand Crus aged in oak barrels to give them more weight and complexity. The oak ageing also helps to make the wines more approachable in their youth.

WHAT KIND OF FOOD SHOULD I PAIR CHABLIS WINE TO?

In their youth, these crisp, steely and delicate wines are superb with seafood, and shellfish.

The perfect match for Chablis in its youth is oysters.

These wines can also be interesting with vegetable terrines, creating a perfect fresh summer pairing.

With a bit of ageing these wines will need more richness and acidity to match the creaminess. Think fish, think creamy dishes..

Zander is a particular classic, but sole, monkfish or scallops can be amazing too.

You could also go for certain white meats such as veal or poultry, especially with mushroom sauces.

For the very old wines food pairing becomes unbelievable…

I have had amazing experiences with dishes as varied as pan fried foie gras, Epoisses and other super powerful cheeses. Even red meats in creamy sauces.

WHAT TASTES SIMILAR?

If you like steely, crisp mineral Chablis its youth, I would recommend you try Sancerre. The appellation is only an odd 100 kilometers away, of course it is going to be more expressive and aromatic, but you’ll enjoy this crispy mineral wine.

A bit further away, I would definitely recommend Gruner Veltliner from Austria. The wines there can often have a similar structure and minerality.

For the older wines, I recommend you go south to the Cote d’Or and it’s magical wines, especially the likes of Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet or Chassagne Montrachet.

TOP 5 BEST WINES OF CHABLIS:

There are lots of amazing wines in Chablis, so the job for me to narrow down to just 5 wines has been extremely tough

I have taken my favourite wines, but pretty much any wine from the below producers rocks.

First I will name my top 3, but note that these don’t come cheap!

However, they are absolutely mindblowing and should be on your to drink list:

Chablis 1er Cru Les Lys, Daniel Etienne Defaix

Chablis Grand Cru les Clos, Domaine Raveneau

Chablis 1er Cru la Foret, Vincent and René Dauvissat

Then, I have decided to add 2 at a more affordable level:

Chablis 1er Cru Les Vaillons, Domaine Long Depaquit

And

Chablis Village from Patrick Piuze

But I definitely want to also add the following Domaines and houses as they are also fantastic:

Domaine Laroche, Domaine Droin, Domaine Gérard Tremblay, Domaine Billaud Simon, Domaine Bernard Defaix and Domaine William Fevre all deserve to be noted.

Négociant or Domaine?

When you’re looking for Chablis wine there are 2 directions you can go. You can buy a wine from a Domaine, basically a single estate, a grower, or you can buy a wine from a négociant.

A négociant buys in either grapes, juice or actual finished wine from several growers and blends it together into a wine. The wines from négociants will NOT have the mention of Domaine. They’re marketed under the name of the négociant which in Burgundy is a maison or a Négociant house.

Negociants can also have Domaines which can make things a bit complex, but just think Domaine = grower and no mention of Domaine = negociant.

BEST VINTAGES

Vintage has a very important influence on Chablis, especially for Premier Crus and Grand Crus, which are wines that are best enjoyed with a bit of age.

The best Grand Crus can age for over 20 years, and having good acidity and fruit is paramount.

The best vintages:

1980s’: 82, 83, 85 and 89

1990s’: 90, 92, 96 an 97

2000s’: 02, 05, 06 and 09

2010s’: 10, 14 and 15

Acidity is very important for the ageing of a wine, but so is fruit, the fruitiness of the wine.

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The 3 Minute Guide to Viognier

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Learn how to appreciate all the little secrets of a wine

How to taste wine and why it is so important to appreciate wine

You must have seen it on TV, in tastings and the likes… Wine Tasting!

The swirling, the smelling, the calling out of names…

But is it really useful?

Is it something you need to learn about if you have no intention of being a wine professional?

The answer to this is yes! If you want to be serious about your wine and you really want to learn to appreciate it, wine tasting is at the very base of all this.

It gives you the base understanding that is needed to move forward and really get into wine.

You can think of it as learning to run if you’re going to play football or rugby. You need to grasp running pretty well to really enjoy these sports even if you don’t want to become a pro. Jogging, sprinting, change of speed… when you get good at these, it will help you become better than someone who has no fitness, no speed, even if they are great with a football.

Wine is multifaceted drink. There are a lot of things happening and some of those are small details, tiny aspects that you don’t appreciate if you don’t really look at them in detail.

And tasting wine allows us to go in the depth of the wine, look at and appreciate the details… just like a top car! It’s more than just a loud engine. There’s the sound which you need to appreciate, the power you get to feel, the feel of the steering wheel, the feedback from the road.. there’s the interior, the use of different materials, the stitchings. It’s a sum of so many things!

Wine is just the same. And the better the wine, the more there is happening.

So how exactly do we go about wine tasting? What is it we need to look out for?

Wine tasting is done in three steps, in 3 phases and in each phase we’re going to try to concentrate on 1 of our senses.

Before we start: what do we need?

All we need is a wine glass.. which is a glass that needs a stem, and a head, a tulip shaped head.

The stem is for us to have to hold the glass by.. so we don’t hold it by the head, where our hand would 1st of all warm up the wine, but also because our fingers would leave marks on the glass.

And of course wine.

Step 1

First of all we start of by examining the colour..

To do this, we’re going to tilt our glass forward at about a 45 degree angle.. We’re now going to look at the surface of the wine.

Is it light or deep? Is the colour the same everywhere?

You’ll start noticing that it isn’t and that the colour in the centre is not the same as the rim: this where the wine is in contact with the glass.

Do this every time you taste a wine and you’ll start seeing and appreciating differences.

Step 2

This is the most romantic part of tasting..

In this step, we’re going to study the aromas, using our sense of smell.

To do this we’re going to swirl our wine and smell it.

Simply put the glass down on a flat surface and make it go around in a circle, this will give the wine inside a swirl which is going to help make the smell more intense and easier to analyse.

Try and see if there are any aromas you can pick up?

Does it smell of fruit? Of flowers? Of herbs? Of spices?

It isn’t easy, but the more you do this the more you’re going to be able to pick things out.

Step 3

Finally we actually taste the wine…

Now, in this step we use our sense of taste, using our taste buds.

Contrary to popular belief there are only 5 tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and finally umami. These are the only tastes our palate can pick up

So we’re going to try and think at where, on a scale of say 1 to 10, the wine stands on each taste.

Now, I told you contrary to popular belief there are only 5 tastes, that is because things like “it tastes fruity” or “it tastes of blackcurrant” are not really tastes but flavours.

This is when our sense of smell brings an extra dimension to the wine.

This happens through a phenomena called retro-olfaction, this is basically when the wine in our mouth releases aromas that are picked up from inside our mouth and up our nose. This then is picked up by the brain as a taste but is actually a flavour.

This is exactly why, when we have a cold and our nose is blocked we feel like we can’t taste anything… we can taste.. so you will pick up sweet, sour, bitter in wine but not the flavours.

So how is it we actually taste? What’s the technique we use to strengthen the taste to make it easier to analyse? What’s the equivalent of the swirling of the glass for the smell stage?

Well for the taste it’s pretty easy too.. although it does have a bit of a tricky part.

So we first start of by putting a small amount of liquid into our mouth and instead of swallowing it straight away, we’re going to whirl around our tongue.. around our palate.

Just like when you rinse your mouth after having brushed your teeth.

Then we’re going to tilt our head slightly forward we bring the wine to the front of the mouth… and we’re going to slightly relax the lips, and create a tiny gap while at the same time inhaling a bit of air and then tightening the lips again.

We do this a couple of times.

This is going to basically explode the taste and flavours in your mouth and you’re going to be able to appreciate all the small flavours and the taste much much better.

And when you’ve done that, that’s basically it!

You are ready to go out there and really taste wine and appreciate its little secrets.

Try it the next time..

Try smelling the wine first before swirling and again after and you’ll see the difference.

Try tasting the wine as you did before and try with a bit of swirling around the palate and oxygenating that’s when you inhale air through it..

You’ll see the difference!

I hope you enjoyed this introduction to wine tasting and this introduction to wine appreciation.

In the meantime, if you have learnt anything I’d love to know! Let me know down in the comment section.

What’s your one take away from this article?

Also do let me know when you try these tasting methods, how was it for you?

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What you really need to know about Torrontes

How to pronounce?

Tor-ron-tez

Where does it comes from?

Torrontes originally comes from Mendoza; Argentina’s main winemaking region. Which is about 1,000 km to the west of Buenos Aires, by the Andes mountains and close to the Chilean border.

What does it smell like?

Torrontes has a nose that is very aromatic, much like Muscat. The main aromas are rose, jasmine, peach and grapefruit.

What does it taste like?

Although the nose might point you towards a sweet wine, Torrontes is dry. The wine will have a medium intensity on the palate, and an acidity that goes from medium to high depending on where it comes from. The sweetness also depends on where in Argentina it comes from but will generally be medium.

What food will it go well with?

The great thing with Torrontes is that it is super expressive! Really aromatic and a palate full of those fruity flavours.

It makes it ideal for dishes that have more intense tastes such as some Indian curry dishes, or some super aromatic Thai recipes.

But remember it still delicate and crisp so don’t go for heavy dishes or dark meats.

Where are the best regions for Torrontes?

Argentina, of course, but in Argentina, the best examples come from Salta.

The unique climate of this region helps Torrontes show a full array of aromas while keeping its acidity and not being too rich in terms of alcohol.

This is thanks to the altitude… Many vineyards there are more than 1,500 metres above sea level, some even going up to 3,000 metres!

What tastes similar?

If you enjoy Torrontes, I will firstly recommend Muscat. But ensure you go for dry Muscat as many Muscat wines are sweet.

Another grape variety you could also explore is Gewurztraminer, but again, ensure you go for dry examples.

And then you of course have Albarino from North Western Spain which can have a very similar freshness and fruit and be beautifully aromatic.

Torrontes is similar to other aromatic white wines including Riesling and Muscat Blanc (Moscato). The major difference between Torrontes and these aforementioned white wines is that Torrontes is commonly made in a dry style. This makes it a very interesting wine to enjoy because its salty lean taste is in opposition to its sweet perfumed aromas.

Best Torrontes Wines

First and a huge favourite of mine is the Colomé Torrontes from Salta. A superb wine that is amazingly affordable! Unbeatable value for money.

Colomé’s vineyards are actually the highest in the world at over 3,000 metres altitude.

Also high in altitude, there is the San Pedro de Yacochuya Torrontes which is grown at 2,000m.

Piatelli’s Alto Molino Torrontes, Porvenir Laborum Torrontes are also both 2 other great wines from Salta

And finally, Riccitelli’s the Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree is a lovely example from Mendoza

Anecdote

There are actually 3 different Torrontes grape varieties..

Torrontes Riojano, Torrontes Sanjuanino and Torrontes Mendocino

Torrontes Riojano, is the variety used in Salta and Mendoza, and the variety you have most probably tasted.

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A Simple Guide to Meursault Wine

Meursault is one of the 3 appellations of the golden triangle of Burgundy.. With Chassagne Montrachet and Puligny Montrachet, this triangle is place where you’ll find the world’s very finest whites.

Here is our guide to this unbelievable appellation.

How to pronounce?

Muhr - Saw

Where is Meursault?

Meursault is the name of a village in the heart of Burgundy. It is just about halfway between Paris and Lyon, in the French department of the Cote d’Or.

It’s a tiny appellation spreading over just under 400 hectares, which is basically 2km by 2 km…

What are the main grape varieties of Meursault?

Meursault is mainly renown for its white wines but it also produces reds.

The grape variety for whites is Chardonnay, while the reds are produced from Pinot Noir.

There are 2 levels of Meursault.

Meursault in both red and white has 2 different levels: village and 1er Cru.

Although the wines of Meursault are unbelievable, there are no Grand Crus in this appellation.

“Meursault Village” will be presented as just Meursault but it can also be presented alongside the name of the vineyard, the “Lieu-dit”.

So you could have Meursault from Domaine des Comte Lafon. Here the wine can be made from grapes grown anywhere in the appellation.

Then the village wine with the lieu-dit for example Meursault Les Narvaux from the Domaine Vincent Girardin. In this case the grapes must come solely from that vineyard.

Then there is “Meursault 1er Cru”.

These wines will state “1er Cru” on the label as well as the name of the vineyard, also known as the “climat”.

For example Meursault 1er Cru Les Poruzots, from the Domaine Jobard.

What’s the typical nose of Meursault wines?

White Meursault is made entirely with Chardonnay just like most Burgundy whites but the typical style of Meursault is to have intense, rich, oaky white wines.

Think: Apple, Peach, Hazelnut, Brioche.

With ageing, you’ll find the wonderful aromas of dried fruit, honey developing as well.

The red Meursaults will show a delicate nose of Pinot Noir: aromas such as black and red fruit, liquorice, undergrowth and spices.

What does Meursault taste like?

For the whites: Think of big, full, intense rich white wine that will typically be rather oaked.

These are wines that can age thanks to their high acidity and sweetness.

For the reds: there the mouthfeel is round, supple, with a medium to high acidity and tannin, and medium fruity sweetness.

What food to pair with Meursault?

I personally I am not a fan of Meursault paired with seafood.

I feel the intensity of the wine overpowers seafood served simply.

Now, add some creaminess and everything changes.. Especially if you have some spices or mushrooms.

Delicate curry, saffron, truffles, morels in creamy sauces with poultry, seafood or fish and you’ll be going to heaven and back.

Creamy, washed rind cheeses are also particularly superb alongside a Meursault, especially with a bit of age.

For the reds, I think delicate meats such as veal or very lean cuts of beef are particularly interesting.

What tastes similar?

Now, if White Meursault is your thing, I recommend you try the neighbouring appellations of Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet.

Puligny, typically will be sharper, more compact. Chassagne on the other hand is slightly lighter than Meursault and more delicate.

If you want to splash out and really go all out, get yourself a bottle of Le Montrachet and Batard-Montrachet, Chevalier-Montrachet, Bienvenues-Montrachet, Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet.

If you’re looking at more affordable options, I’d recommend Auxey-Duresses which is a wonderful appellation. Some of it’s Lieux Dits that border Meursault such as Les Vireux, Les Boutonniers or la Macabrée are truly wonderful. For the reds, Monthelie and Auxey-Duresses will be great go-to appellations.

Top Best wines of Meursault:

There are way too many fantastic Meursault for me to name.

But let me give you a selection of the best growers from this fantastic appellation: Coche Dury, Domaine d’Auvenau, Comtes Lafon, Domaine Jobard, Domaine Jacques Prieur, Domaine Marquis d’Angerville, Domaine Vincent Dancer

Meursault is without the shadow of a doubt one of the greatest white wine appellations in the world.

Of course, as with everything relating to wine whether you like it or not is a question of taste…

One thing is for sure though is that you need to try Meursault at least once in your life.

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What is Blanc de Blanc? And how is it different to Blanc de Noirs?

What is Blanc de Blanc? And how is it different to Blanc de Noirs?

You must have seen this before..  Does it ring a bell?

On Champagne labels, or maybe on other sparkling wines.

Do you know what it means?

It’s one of those things most people have seen or heard, again and again yet only very few know what it means.

Blanc de Blanc in French literally means white from white. While Blanc de Noirs means white from black.

Does this help?

Ok, Blanc de Blanc means it’s a white wine made from white grapes.

Duhhh you must be thinking! Of course white wine is made from white grapes!

Well.. not always!

The term originates in Champagne, but is now used in most sparkling wines and even for a few still wines.

Champagne is produced with 3 principal grape varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

Most Champagnes are going to be a blend of these grape varieties and you won’t see any mention of neither Blanc de Blanc nor Blanc de Noir.

However, many house will have cuvées (wines), with these mentions.

You see, both Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier are black grape varieties. Which means they would normally be used to produce still red wines.

But, they can also be used to produce white wine.

Without going into the depths of wine making, the flesh and the juice of the grapes used to produce wine is white!

Yes! The juice of Merlot is white, and so is Syrah!

What makes the colour of a wine red is leaving the skins of the berries, which are black (or red) in contact with the white juice. Slowly the skins are going to release colour and turn the white juice to pink and then red.

This means that if you don’t leave the skins in contact with the juice, you’re going to get white wine.

And that’s what a Blanc de Noirs is: A white wine made from black grape varieties.

In Champagne, it therefore describes a wine made from Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Elsewhere those grape varieties can be pretty much any red grape variety.

Conversely as you’ve probably figured out, Blanc de Blanc is made solely from white grape varieties.

In Champagne, of course is that grape Chardonnay.

So why are those mentions added to the label?

Well, this is simply to give you an idea of the style of the Champagne.

Typically, Blanc de Blanc Champagnes are generally going to be crisper, more mineral. While the Blanc de Noirs Champagnes are going to be more powerful and round.

Generally, the freshness of Blanc de Blanc Champagnes makes them perfect aperitif wines, or to be enjoyed alongside delicate dishes such as seafood.

Blanc de Noirs, being more powerful, are more suited to be enjoyed alongside dishes such as warm canapés, and even alongside main courses such as fish and poultry.

I hope this post will help next time you’re choosing either a Champagne or a Sparkling wine.

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Gewurztraminer: All the secrets you need to know about this grape variety

How to pronounce?

Gev- oor- strah- mee- nair

Where does it comes from?

It’s believed that Gewürztraminer comes from the village of Tramin in South Tyrol, in Italy.

The province is called Sudtirol, Alto-Adige and there are 2 official languages: German and Italian.

What does it smell like?

Gewurztraminer is a wonderfully aromatic grape variety.

It has a really delightful sweet, floral nose. Aromas of lychee and rose petals are the ones that are typically associated with Gewürztraminer. Other common aromas are quince, pear, cinnamon and even pepper.

What does it taste like?

Gewurztraminer can be found in two main styles of wine: dry and sweet.

The dry styles are typically of medium acidity with a medium sweetness. The intensity however is often high.

They often have a rich, oily texture.

This is even more the case for the sweet examples… In Alsace, they are often referred to as “Vendanges Tardives”.

These wines are going to be really luscious and sweet and the best will have a matching acidity to keep the wine balanced.

What food will it go well with?

Gewürztraminer is an amazing food partner, but what you need to watch out for here is the intensity of this grape variety.

This intensity can quickly overtake your dish so you need to ensure you have a dish that is also intense and ideally aromatic.

It’s a perfect matching partner to many slightly spicy aromatic dishes. I’m thinking of many curries of course, of many Thai dishes with a lot of different spices and aromas.

But also of many sweet and sour dishes as much in Asia as in North Africa where the pairing with the sweetness of tagine is beautiful.

It’s a wine that is also great to match with cheese. Munster, an Alsatian cheese of course springs to mind but also Cheddar, Gouda, Parmesan and a few Ewes milk cheese.

For sweeter wines, I would of course recommend a few pies and tarts such as apple or pecan, but they are also a great match to salty, strong cheeses such as Parmesan and Roquefort.

Where are the best regions for Gewurztraminer?

The Northern Italian province of Sudtirol- Alto Adige which is its birthplace of course where it can also be referred to as Traminer aromatic.

Then Alsace, where Gewürztraminer has found a second home, and which today produces many amazing examples.

The Pfalz region of Germany, and Styria region of Austria also produce some fine examples.

Outside Europe, Gewürztraminer has been most successful in New Zealand and in the USA.

But there are also some great examples in Australia and in Chile.

What tastes similar?

There aren’t many wines that compare to Gewurztraminer.

If what you enjoy is the aromatic profile, Riesling, Dry Muscat, Torrontes or Albarino could be great wines for you to try.

If however you like the palate profile, the richness and the roundness I recommend you try Viognier from the Rhone Region of France or from California, or maybe you could be a bit more adventurous and try a Marsanne from Australia.

Best Gewurztraminer Wines

In Alsace, there are many, many wine producers I would recommend, but I’ll narrow it down to 2:

Schlumberger and Marc Kreydenweiss.

In Italy I think the Cantina Terlano and Elena Walch really stand out but there are many others.

In the US, Abiqua Wind Vineyard in Willamette Valley Oregon and Lange Twins in Clarksburg California are fantastic.

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Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano Wines: The Ultimate Guide

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is an Italian wine region situated in Tuscany. It is often confused with Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, but the 2 have very little in common apart from the fact they are both red wines.

One is a wine region, the other a grape variety.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano can be literally translated Noble Wine from Montepulciano, which in this case is the name of a city.

It is only produced as a red wine and as a Vin Santo - a sweet style of wine. It has received the DOCG status in 1980. DOCG stands for Denominazione di Origine Contrallata e garantita. This means the wine is produced in a designated area and made and aged in a specific way using only authorised grape varieties. It basically guarantees a higher quality of wine.

Let’s discover this stunning and noble region together.

How to pronounce?

Vee –No        No- bee- leh              Dee                 Mon- teh- pull- chia- No

Where is Vino Nobile di Montepulciano from?

The wine must come from a designated area situated around the town of Montepulciano.

It is a gorgeous medieval town that is situated on top of a hill in the South East of Tuscany.

What are the main grape varieties of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano?

The main grape variety is THE king grape variety of Tuscany: Sangiovese which in Montepulciano is called Prugnolo Gentile, but it is Sangiovese.

Sangiovese has to make up at least 70% of the wine.

The remaining 30% can only be made with other grape varieties allowed in Tuscany. Typically though the main varieties will be Canaiolo, Colorino, Mammolo, and also international grape varieties such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

What are the different levels of wine?

The main wine is of course Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. The wine has to be grown in the designated area and made from the grape varieties we have just discussed.

The wine has to be aged for a minimum of 2 years before being sold.

There then is the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva, which has to be produced in the same area, using the same grape varieties, but the wine needs to be aged for a minimum of 3 years.

We then have Rosso di Montepulciano, which is a younger often more fruity wine. Rosso di Montepulciano, follows the same rule as the “Nobile” but does not require any ageing.

Finally, we have a wine that is very different in style which is Vin Santo.

Vin Santo is a sweet wine. To make this wine, the best grapes are picked and then put out to dry to give a sweeter, more concentrated grape berry which in turn is going to help produce sweet wine.

There are 3 levels of Vin Santo di Montepulciano:

Vin Santo di Montelulpciano: Made with Malvasia and Grechetto grape varieties and aged a minimum of 3 years

Vin Santo di Montepulciano Riserva is also made with the same grape varieties as above and is aged for a minimum of 5 years in oak barrels.

Occhio di Pernicce Vin Santo di Montepulciano, must be made with at least 50% Sangiovese with the remaining 50% coming from other regional grape varieties. Occhio di Pernicce must be aged for 6 years in oak barrels.

What’s the bouquet of Vino Nobile like?

The typical nose is going to be a mix of fruit aromas such as raspberry, strawberry, plum together with notes of violet, tobacco and spices.

Rosso di Montepulciano will be more on the fresh fruit whereas the older riserva wine is going to also have notes of nuts and leather.

What does it taste like?

The typical style of Vino Nobile wine is high in acidity and tannin and generally medium in terms of sweetness.

The wines are very much classy and oak is often well integrated, helping round the wine to make it more elegant and velvety.

The wines age superbly and the wait or the extra price is well worth it for the best examples.

What food to pair with Vino Nobile di Montepulciano?

The acidity and tannic structure of these wines really makes for a great match to tomato based sauces, meats, especially fat rich meats and stronger meats.

Wild boar ragu and pasta is a fantastic and common match as is the local Tuscan sausage and bean stew.

Also great matches are grilled meats, especially beef or stronger meats such as game.

What tastes similar?

If you enjoy this great wine, I would definitely recommend you look around Tuscany’s other amazing wines:

Brunello di Montepulciano and Chianti Classico are of course 2 classics but maybe you could go off the beaten track just a bit and maybe try a Morellino di Scansano.

Top 5 Best Vino Nobile di Montepulciano

Avignonesi

Fantastic estate, producing stunning Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Rosso di Montepulciano and Vin Santo

Their “Grandi Annate” and Occhio di Pernicce Vin Santo are mesmerising wines!

Poliziano

All the Vino Nobile wines from this estate are great but “Asinone” really stands out as a fantastic wine.

Corte alla Flora

A younger winery producing great examples of Vino Nobile, however their Riserva is something very special

Boscarelli

Beautiful range of Vino Nobile. All the wines really are very good. A special mention to “Il Nocio” which is fabulous.. A beast!

La Braccesca

Part of the Antinori family empire. Again, you can really select any of the wines from the estate in the confidence they will be outstanding.

Best Vintages

The best vintages:

1980s’: 85, 88

1990s’: 95, 97, and 99

2000s’: 05, 06 and 07

2010s’: 10 and 12

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How to understand acidity in wine?

Acidity is one of the 3 basic tastes present in wine.

The word makes it sound a bit barbaric and not something very qualitative.

Acidity is the word we use in the wine world to describe the sour taste.

It is important to look at each taste in isolation as well as in relation to the other tastes.

So what does acidity taste like?

The simplest way is to think of lemon juice.. or biting into a lemon.

What happens?

Well we have our palate that’s awakened, that’s brightened and feels cleaned.. Our glands then rapidly create very liquid saliva.. you kind of get the impression of having your palate cleansed with fresh water.

Of course you will not feel acidity of that intensity with wine, it’s going to be more subtle and it’s also going to be muddled up with the other tastes and with flavours.. so it’s not always super easy to focus on this single taste.

How do we rate it?

To examine the acidity of a wine, we’re going to taste it and mark in on a scale of 0-10 or from low to high..

Whatever scale you prefer, imagine water being a 0 or a super low…

Then for the other end of the scale we have lemon juice as a 10 or an off the scale high.

So where would you situate the acidity of the wine?

If it is low, of course, you can describe the wine as having low acidity, but the ideal way to describe it is as “flabby”.

Then moving up the scale we have a “fresh” wine which has medium acidity, after that we have “crisp” which is between medium and high and then “zesty” for wines with a high acidity.

Is acidity good or bad?

The acidity in wine is super important!

Firstly for matching with food.. originally wine was made to sit alongside food. And with food, the acidity of a wine is very important.

It’s going to cut through the fatness of certain dishes and refresh the palate, and it is also going to blend perfectly with acidic dishes.

But that’s not all. Acidity is also essential for ageing a wine.

As a wine ages, it’s acidity slowly decreases.. If you want to enjoy a wine with a bit of age, it’s going to need good acidity to start with. Or you’re going to end up with a flabby wine.

Plus this acidity is an anti-oxidant which means it slows down the ageing process.

No acidity, and your wine will age super quick and become undrinkable very quickly.

So here’s to acidity!

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The Wine Sweetness Guide

Sweetness is one of the 3 basic tastes of wine.

Unlike acidity and tannin, sweetness is pretty self-explanatory… it’s the same word as we use for food in everyday life.

There isn’t much I’m going to teach you about sweetness; you know exactly what it is.

Think of sugar and you know what sweetness is.

As you put something sweet like sugar on your palate and eat it, what happens?

Your saliva thickens, you get something like a thin film or layer of something that feels nearly oily covering your tongue, and the inside of your cheeks.

Give it a go so you really understand that feeling and that taste.

The reality is that only when you taste sweet wines will you feel that much sweetness and that the vast majority of wines aren’t sweet so you’re going to have to examine more subtle differences.

Also you’ll have other tastes blending on your palate too, so it will take a bit of focus to single out this taste.

All wines will have some sweetness, even the dry white wines.. and the more you taste, the more you’ll be able to see the differences.

How do we rate it?

To assess the sweetness of a wine, we taste the wine and mark it on a scale of 0-10 or low to high.

Whatever scale you choose, try to imagine water as a 0 or an off the scale low. For the other end of our scale we’re going to have sugar as a 10 which would only be used for sweet wines.

For a Low-Medium-High Scale, we would create a special Super high rating which we’d only use for sweet wines.

It is important to remember that alcohol will also give us an impression of sweetness..

Make sure you look at this taste the next few times you drink wine and see if you can tell the difference in sweetness between the wines.

And then the more you taste, the more you’ll be comfortable with rating the sweetness of a wine.