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austria, burgenland, carnuntum, chardonnay, zweigelt -

austria

Austria is a landlocked, largely Alpine country which bridges western and central Europe. It has many connections with neighboring countries, such as Hungary, Slovenia, and Italy, particularly in terms of wine. Because of the Alps, wine production is in the east of the country, in a horseshoe shape spreading from north of Vienna all the way south to the Slovenian border. It's an affluent country and that means the quality of the wine is consistently high. Blackpoolmatt's wine club has featured Austrian wine in the past, from Grüner Veltliner, which is the most planted variety, and from Blaufränkisch, perhaps Austria's...

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burgundy, chardonnay, meursault -

Value Burgundy?!

I recently tasted a white wine from Burgundy. On the first smell, I said "Meursault." But it was labeled Bourgogne Blanc. Why? Because 80% of the fruit is from Meursault, but the other 20% is from Pommard and Volnay which are—in terms of the appellation labelling rules—red wine (i.e. Pinot Noir) only. Therefore, the wine can't be classified as Meursault. (And look at me for immediately identifying it as Meursault even if technically it isn't.) The wine in question is by Pierre Girardin, a young winemaker producing superb expressions of Burgundy. It's still an expensive wine, at $55: but less...

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california, castilla, chardonnay, Friulano, grüner veltliner, malvar, marlborough, new zealand, ribolla gialla, spain -

unusual white varieties

blackpoolmatt's wine club likes to find unusual wines that you're not going to easily find in most retail outlets and as there are so many producers around the world making wines from unlikely grape varieties there are lots of choices. Producers make wine from lesser-known varieties to stand out from the crowd (how much Chardonnay does the world need?), but also because they feel different grape varieties can express a sense of place in various ways. This can happen in two ways: returning to grape varieties which have been neglected but long planted in the region, which is how Rías...

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