by Stefani Jackenthal
Matching wine and chocolate can be tricky as cooking a soufflé. It requires a focused balance of ingredients to rise to its full savory potential. A similar fineness is needed finding the ideal chocolate to match a particular wine’s characteristics. All too often chocolate’s sweetness overpowers the wine, making it taste tart. But the right wine and chocolate pairing is divine. Global dark chocolates with citrus, spicy and rustic nuances do especially well with wine. Much to my pleasure, I spent excruciating hours scratching, sniffing and sampling some of the world’s best exotic chocolates to showcase in some of my recent wine and chocolate tasting. It was grueling work, of course, but I eagerly took on my mission. Oh, the sensation!As summer roll through like a chocolate truffle on...
by Stefani Jackenthal
Chilean wine growers and happy sippers worldwide are rejoicing for this mouthfilling, bold grape sporting dark berry overtones and soft vibrant tannins. Plummy, rich, and spicy, the Carmenère grape has been rediscovered!Following the epic phylloxera epidemic in Europe during the 1860s, when most vineyards were destroyed, grape growers replanted crops hoping to regain their livelihood. Unlike the five other “Noble” Bordeaux wine grapes (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec) that thrived when reintroduce to European soil, Carmenère became difficult to grow. Consequently, it slowly faded from of European viticulture. The grape was brought to Chile in hopes that it would find root in the Chilean fertile soil. Some years later, Carmenère lost its identity ...
by Stefani Jackenthal
What heck is Pinotage? It’s a robust, spicy, viticulture cross of Pinot Noir and Hermitage (also known as Cinsaut) grapes. In 1925, Abraham Izak Perold, the first professor of viticulture at Stellenbosch University, in the Western Cape of South Africa, physically brushed a male Hermitage (Cinsaut) flower against a Pinot Noir pollen donor, an oddball duo. Its speculated that Perold was trying to combine the rich burgundy flavor of Pinot Noir, a finicky grape to grow, with hearty Hermitage, a sturdy and easy-to-grow varietal, to meld their feature characteristics. Although it only makes up about 6% of grapes planted in the country, Pinotage has since, become South Africa’s signature grape. Known for its rustic red hue and smoky, earthy overtones layered with dark fruit, it’s terrific w...
by Stefani Jackenthal
With a big reputation for fresh, fragrant, fruit-filled white wines and light, luscious reds, the pocket-sized wine region Friuili-Venezia Giulia in northeast Italy, is surely one of Italy’s hidden jewels. Bordering Austria, Slovenia and Croatia, between the Adriatic Sea and the Giulie Alps, the sloped vineyards are protected from frosty winter winds and thrive on the warm southern breeze. Plenty of spring rain and a relatively dry summer produce robust roots and vines, which grow in rich limestone-clay soil. This unique mix is recipe for slowly ripen grape and an evenly-paced harvest, which produces wickedly wonderful wines.Traditionally crafted, wines are best drunk within two to five years of the harvest. Nearly 60% of the lip-smacking juice produced comes from white varietals such as...
by Stefani Jackenthal
Nestled between Argentina and Brazil, Uruguay is crafting nifty wines and is now ranked amongst the top four South American�s winemaking countries. Perhaps, best known for their flagship Tannat grape, with a brick red hue, tannins and touch of grittiness (in a good way), they also produce Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, amongst others. But it�s Tannat�s versatility that has paved the way to success. Made in a variety of styles, the Tannat grape is used for fruity roses, everyday bold sippers and well-aging complex reds, which are a terrific with bold fare like steak, stews and stinky cheese. While many Uruguayan wines are produced in stainless steel or epoxy-lined cement, some forward-thinking winemakers are experimenting with smaller Ame...
by Nancy Yos
A friend who collects stamps and other interesting documents recently gave me an envelope or "cover." Inside is a wine order written in English on a German language form. Destination: the Jacob Brenner Wine Company of Doniphan, Kansas, May 1904.The customer, John Gruenewald of Wayne R.F.D. Q. (?) Nebraska, ordered ten gallons of Red Seal at $5.35, "extra packing" for 25 cents, and requested "wine corks not to (sic) big" for another dollar. Grand total, $6.60. Incidentally Mr. Gruenewald also had that excellent handwriting which bespeaks the epoch of fine-nibbed fountain pens and painstaking schoolboy classes in penmanship.I hedge my bets and say it appears to be a wine order only because how can I know, before doing some historical digging, the intent of the customer confidently filling in...
by Marisa Dvari
… So did you ever wonder how wine got on a restaurant’s wine list? For many upper end restaurants, the wine list is one of the primary reasons customers come to dine at their establishment. Some very high end restaurants spend upwards of a million dollars on their wine program, which includes stocking wine, cellaring wine, and renovations in the cellar in addition to the salary of the sommelier and his or her assistants. Yet wine in fine dining restaurants is not just about the wine’s pedigree. Sommeliers and beverage mangers must find a variety of wines to suit the various dishes on the list, and at many different price points. A sommelier would also have to find wines to be sold by the bottle and also to be sold by the glass, typically consumed as an aperitif, or to pair with vari...
by Karen Hardwick
The Roman legacy in England is breathtaking in its variety. Along with straight roads, bath houses, central heating and aquaducts the Romans also brought vines to England. Perhaps not the first thing you pack for an invasion but wine was needed for communion wine and also reminded the Roman soldiers of home.Englands cool , damp climate lends itself to crisp, acidic white wines, the ideal base wine for sparkling wines. In the southern counties Champagne houses have already started buying vineyards in Kent and Sussex to make sparkling wines as the climate starts to warm up in Champagne itself. In Cornwall you can enjoy a selection of traditional method sparkling wines which knock spots off many Champagnes at Camel Valley Vineyard.Also at Camel Valley you can enjoy crisp elegant white wines, ...
by Stefani Jackenthal
Bulgarian winemaking has deep roots. Who knew? Domain Menada Winery in Bulgaria’s Thracian Valley, has been producing barrels of juicy, fresh wines for over a century. But it’s only been since joining Europe in 2007 that Bulgaria’s wine industry has been flooded with foreign investments and oenophile expertise, spurring distribution into North America. Snuggled in the southeast corner of Europe, Bulgaria’s fertile countryside is divided into four main geographic regions – the Danube, Balkan Mountains (called locally the "Old Mountains"), Rhodope Mountains and Thracian Valley. The latter, home to the “Valley of Roses,” is known for producing perfume and tobacco and growing a grab bag of well-known grapes like Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon - and obscure indigenous v...
by Bobby Lee Lawrence
Cork vs. Screw cap, the Debate ContinuesCorks used to seal wine bottles have been the standard for centuries. Lately however, scientific studies have shown that there are better ways to seal wine bottles. Some of the methods include screw caps & synthetic stoppers. So far, all have met with various hurdles to climb. Some hurdles are political, some are cultural and some are driven by tradition. Arguments to support each closure abound. Here are some of the scientific findings so far. Of course, because some French wines are aged for many years, study results are yet to come in.Starting with the traditional cork closure, some issues that come into play are driven by the well-known “corked” bottle of wine. When a wine has a musty smell, it’s referred to as being corked. This stems from...
