Archive for March, 2010

Because the southwest region sits right beneath the Bordeaux region, people often confuse wines that come from southwestern France as being from Bordeaux.  But make no mistake; the southwest region of France also produces some very high quality wines.  A visit there can become an adventure, with the Pyrenees available for some gorgeous viewing.  Each wine you find will have a unique personality, so save room to test them all and get the full flavor and experience of the southwest.

Red wines you can find made in the southwest region include Bergerac, Buzet, Cahors, Gaillac, and Madiran.

If red wines aren’t your style or you are ready to move on to dry white wines, search out the two produced in the region: Bergerac and Jurançon.

When it is time for dessert, there are three sweet white wines that can work beautifully on your palate: Gaillac, Jurançon, Monbazillac.

You may note that some names are repeated; this is due to the different vines and grapes able to produce different flavors depending upon what they are and who may be growing them.  If you’re curious about what you’re drinking, examine the label or, even better, ask the growers themselves!

People have a lot of different theories on how to store wine once it has been opened.  The goal is to keep wine as fresh as possible for as long as possible.  Wine lovers know that a bottle will simply never be as good after it has been first opened.  But that doesn’t mean we will stop trying.

Some people believe that as long as wine is cold, it stays fresher, longer.  The trick is that many wines are best at certain temperatures, and sometimes even a refrigerator isn’t the ideal place for a wine bottle (though it is still better than leaving it on the kitchen counter).  Others wonder about the potential of freezing wine.

While it is possible to pop the wine into the freezer, there are no guarantees that it will come out in tip-top shape.  Some bottles may simply fare better than others for an extended period of time within the freezer.  If you feel inclined to try with a cheaper bottle of wine, you may, but it is important to note that freezing wine isn’t recommended, nor will it always work.  Likewise, doing so with a very expensive bottle of wine is generally not the best idea. 

Ever since the creation of wine and the discovery that oxygen + wine = a less than fresh taste, people have attempted to create wine-preservation gadgets to help keep wine fresh.  You can find many on the shelves at stores, but the real question is knowing whether or not they actually work.

A Vacuvin is a pump device that uses suction power to draw the air out of the bottle, which then leaves behind a partial vacuum.  While the idea behind it isn’t a bad one, several testers find that it has no real effect in maintaining wine freshness.

The Private Preserve claims that it is the number one wine preserver in the world.  You spritz in a bit of nitrogen into a bottle, and because nitrogen is heavier than air, it settles in as a layer over the wine, thus protecting the wine from oxygen.  So far, testers are so-so about this gadget.

You can always go completely old school and drop clean glass marbles into a bottle, forcing the wine to the neck, pushing oxygen out completely.  Of course, as you reach the end of the bottle, you’ll need a lot of marbles!

Corsica is a lovely little island just off the southern coast of France that produces some delectable wines that carry along subtle flavors and light tones that will put a smile on your face.  Some of the best Corsican wines come from right along the coast, giving them a light and airy quality.  Corsican wines are also best consumed when they are fresh, which also means they’re readily available and don’t take long to create.

Drink these wines with a light meal or aperitif – just before a meal as an appetizer to stimulate the appetite.  The best known Corsican wines are Patrimonio and Ajaccio.  Patrimonio includes both red and white grapes and can create a full body red wine, a light and fruity white wine, or a dry rose.  The Ajaccio takes 3 to 5 years with unique aromas such as pepper and candied fruits.  Try it with lamb or a bit of goat cheese.

The next time you find yourself in France, be sure to take a trip to Corsica to luxuriate in the soft sands, beautiful coastlines, and delicious wines. 

If you want the full experience of wine tasting, then it is best to visit the vineyard from which the wine comes.  If your favorite wines are from France, then you may find that a wine tour within some of the country’s finest wine regions is in order.

France practically blossoms with fragrant wines and areas that make them.  There are many places to visit, many of them absolutely breathtaking as you sit back and sip your wine.  Being in the place wine is created can give the drink a little something extra, as you will be able to smell and sometimes see some of the essences that manage to slip into the wine as the vine grows and the grapes ripen.

Wine tours can be a lot of fun as well as a great way to see the country and relax.  Talk to your travel agent or do some research online.  There are a great many wine tours available that will take you to some of the premiere estates in France with gorgeous accommodations and endless views of vibrant green vineyards.  Some tours even allow you to customize your own dream wine tour within France so you can see everything you desire and taste all the great wines that you love.

When you are cooking up a dish, throwing in some wine does not automatically make it into a gourmet meal.  Likewise, just because a meal includes wine does not necessarily mean it is a complex dish to make.

Many people aren’t sure how to handle wine in cooking.  The idea that wine makes a meal upscale often makes people afraid to use it.  They also don’t want to purchase a full bottle of wine, use it once, and then the rest of it slowly goes bad.  But there is nothing wrong or scary about cooking with wine.

This is exactly why when you decide to cook with wine, you choose a recipe that includes a wine you are willing to drink.  Many “cooking wines” actually lack much of the unique flavors that real wines have, and also include additives and other undesirable ingredients.  It is simply a good rule of thumb; cook with wines that you are willing to drink.  This also ensures that you will more thoroughly enjoy some of the flavors that a wine can impart upon a dish.

Some wines just wouldn’t be wine if they weren’t grown in the Burgundy region of France.  Burgundy produces some of the most exciting wines that the world has seen.  The area is only a small sliver within France, but it is a unique spot that delivers two of the most popular wines in France, the Beaujolais and Chablis.  But that doesn’t mean Burgundy doesn’t have plenty of other options.  Just take a look at this list of appellations in the region:

Chablis

Côte de Nuits

Gevrey Chambertin

Clos Vougeot

Vosne Romanée

Nuits Saint Georges

Côte de Beaune

Corton

Pommard

Volnay

Meursault

Chassagne Montrachet

Macon

Mercurey

Givry

Pouilly Fuissé

Rully

Bourgogne aoc

Bourgogne Aligoté

With so much to choose from, when visiting this French region, you may want to take your time and visit plenty of different vineyards and taste all sorts of different wines.  Burgundy offers up a range of beautiful reds and amazing whites.  Some of the best foods to eat with Burgundy wines are red meat, including game for reds and grilled fish and oysters with whites.

Getting the cork out of the bottle can occasionally turn into an unflattering escapade.  No one wants to wrestle with a wine bottle.  But corks are still the best when it comes to keeping a bottle fresh as the rest of us wait for it to blossom into its full maturity.  So while we can easily appreciate the job the cork does, getting it out so we can enjoy the wine is another matter.

Some typical cork removers do the job well enough.  Other, less sophisticated versions can occasionally eat up the cork, leaving you with a cork in bits.  Not quite what one wants when a bottle is being opened.  Bartenders ready to offer up wine take a different approach with a mounted cork remover.  These can either be mounted on the wall or on a counter, making them a very stable device as you work the cork free.  It is simply a matter of putting the cork in at one side, pulling a handle, and the cork is free.

Just about anyone can appreciate the ease of cork removal.  After all, when you love wine, you always know that the first thing it comes with is with a good cork!
For the finest in mounted cork removers, CLICK HERE

If you want to find some good wines but you aren’t sure where to go, then it may very well be time for a wine guide.

Take some time to peruse your local bookstore in search of wine guides.  Consider whether or not you are willing to go out of the country or if you just want to visit another state, and then choose your book accordingly.

There are many great wine guides to choose from, and most of them tend to put out a new book each year in order to keep information up to date.  Kevin Zraly brings out the American Wine Guide, which can be great if you want to stay within the United States.  Food & Wine Magazine has a wine guide and it is organized alphabetically by country, allowing you a broader look at the world.

Most wine guides are also small in size, which allows you to carry them wherever you decide to go.  They also tend to include additional information that you may find handy, from wine prices to a wine-tasting guide.

The most important wine region in France, the Bordeaux region has around 7,000 chateaux constantly producing delectable wines.  Bordeaux also has a huge range of wines that come out of the area.  In fact, there are 21 different appellations that are produced in Bordeaux:

Médoc

Haut Médoc

Margaux

Saint Estèphe

Pauillac

Moulis Saint Emilion

Saint Julien

Cotes de Castillon

Listrac

Cotes de Francs

Pomerol

Cotes de Bourg Graves

Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux

Fronsac

Barsac

Sauternes

Pessac Léognan

Bordeaux aoc/supérieur

Entre deux mers

Located in the southwestern area of France, it makes one-third of all high-quality French wines.  These wines also range greatly, from full-bodied red wines to sweet white wines.  Many of the wines made here are so good that a ranking system was created in order to separate the best of the best.  Though critics now question the system, it still can’t be denied that Bordeaux is a prime place to taste wine.