washington RSS

alcohol, bugey, côte roannaise, itata, nebbiolo, rheingau, savoie, valtellina, washington -

low alcohol wines

A couple of years ago, I tasted a wine from Napa which shall remain nameless and which had a relentlessly high alcohol of 15.8%. Not only did this level of alcohol cause the wine to be out of balance, it's dangerously high: a glass, let alone a bottle, would get you drunk. The wine was borne out of the trend in the late 1990s and 2000s for high-alcohol wines. The grapes are left on the vine for a long time to build up sugar levels, in the belief that it results in more flavor in the wine. Some producers and...

Read more

oregon, Ribera del Duero, rosé, washington -

when rosé isn’t a rosé

The beginning of the week here in Petaluma, California saw temperatures in the low 30s (that's centigrade, US friends). It's the beginning of May and that heat takes some getting used to. As the heat builds up during the day, a glass of rosé becomes extremely appealing. some rosé history Rosé is, to put it as simply as possible, a pink wine, made mostly from black grapes but with minimal skin contact or extremely gentle pressing to reduce the color of the wine. Various versions of rosé have been made for centuries: the British term for Bordeaux is Claret, which...

Read more

Tags