Archive for the ‘Wineries’ Category

The Trebbiano grape is widely used in Italy, France, and Australia. But it is in Italy where it is the more commonly planted grape. Trebbiano carries with it a high versatility. The vine yields up many white wines that tend to become the foundation for many of Italy’s table wines.

Generally, it produces a dry white wine that contains a neutral flavoring but has a crisp finish. It is relatively high in acid as well. Often Trebbiano is blended with Malaysia Blanca grapes for an improvement in the flavor and an overall boost for the palate. In Australia, Trebbiano is often used to make brandy.

While it can be blended and mixed with other grapes, Trebbiano may not sound familiar to you. In this case, Ugni Blanc may be what you know more of. When it goes by this name, you can find it as the primary grape in the creation of cognac.

Trebbiano grapes yield a wine that goes with a wide number of foods. Because of its lightness, it pairs best with lightly flavored pastas and shellfish. Enjoy it with appetizers as well.

Where should you and your significant other wed? Have you considered the beauty that a wedding at a winery can bring?

Many wineries are open to offering their services as well as their gorgeous landscapes to couples who wish to get married. Take some time to do the necessary amount of research. Don’t be afraid to visit the winery before making a final decision. A first hand look at the location will let you know if it is right for you or not. Consider other factors as well, such as how difficult or easy it is to get to the winery, how far it may be from other locations you intend to be at that day, such as the reception or photo opportunities.

If you like, you can also have the reception at the winery. That can be much easier on a bride with a big dress as well! You can have the wedding outside or inside, and even take photos throughout the vineyard for a truly memorable experience.

A wedding at a winery can be a delightful choice. The winery will already have wine available for guests as well! A few phone calls should solidify the date, time, and location. Any winery will likely be pleased to have the business and make your day as special as possible.

When people think of Ireland, they don’t often think of wine. Rather, it brings to mind stout beers and amazing liquors. But that doesn’t mean Ireland should be counted out when it comes to wine.

Ireland, however, has had a very slow start when it comes to wineries within the country. The weather and land isn’t ideal for many grape varieties. Indeed, even in 1996 wine seekers would have a difficult time finding vineyards. At most, one might discover a few personal vineyards that only contained a handful of vines.

However, the years have passed and grapes have changed as they always do, and Ireland has had a few people grow more and more interested in producing their own wine. With care and precision, there are now a few wineries in Ireland. The country primarily produces white wines, but there are a handful of reds in production. The majority of these vineyards are around Cork, which is located in the southwestern corner of the island.

The European Commission now recognizes Ireland as a wine producing country. Do some research before visiting so you know where to go and what to taste first!

Whether you want to give the gift of wine to someone in a special way or simply want a different kind of vacation, you can always look into wine tours.

Going on a wine tour can be a great deal of fun. It doesn’t matter if it’s just yourself or you have a whole group of people coming along, you’re in for a great change in scenery, some interesting information, and, of course, good wine. You can start doing searches online for various wineries in your local area, or if you want to look at wineries elsewhere, that’s fine, too. Wineries can be found in even some of the most surprising and unlikely of areas, all thanks to modern technology and the sheer willpower of some vineyard owners.

See if they have special events that might make your visit extra fun. Check out some of the wines you might be able to taste, as well as the food they might offer. You may want to do a little search offline, too. After all, not every winery is going to have a website.

Ice wine is indeed a type of wine, crafted from the strong liquid from naturally frozen grapes. It is a rich and very sweet dessert wine. It is very popular throughout Germany and Austria, though at the present, Canada is overtaking the market for this particular style of wine.

The stories claim that a German winemaker was away from his vineyard when all his grapes ended up frozen right on their vines. Because it happened during harvest, he used them anyway, thus resulting in the very first ice wine.

Typical grapes used for ice wine are Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Gewurztraminer, or Vidal. This is because their acidity levels help to keep the final product from being too heavy, or as some might describe it, “sticky.” Many are experimenting with different grapes, however, in order to create something new when it comes to ice wine tastes. When made, the grapes must be frozen on the vine before being squeezed out and taken through the fermentation process.

Expect ice wine to be a little pricier because frozen grapes yield less juice, thus requiring more of them in order to make a single bottle of wine. Ice wine is a great choice for a wine gift.

So when is the best time to visit wine country? Ideally – anytime you have vacation time! But if it doesn’t matter or you need to plan ahead, you can always ask travel agents or consult travel books for ideas specific to the region you intend to visit.

Generally, however, people have found that the best times to visit a vineyard are during early spring and, of course, during harvest time.

Early spring times, such as between April and June, are good times to visit because the crowds will be fewer. You will have more quiet time and more room to yourself and your travel companions (if you bring any). By these times, green should be coming back into the vineyards to provide for some stunning scenery that you can enjoy.

Harvesting time is always exciting. These times tend to stretch anywhere from September to October. There are many festivals that tend to occur in the fall, such as varying truffle seasons in locations in Europe (fresh truffles and wine? Good deal!), as well as cheese tasting and other delights. At this point in time, colors are changing, which provide a contrast in beautiful scenery from spring.

So choose your favorite seasons and visit a vineyard the moment you have time off.

Wine flavors can appear in many different forms, from buttery to berry, you never know what you might get. Usually certain wines tend to have similar tones – most people associate Chardonnay with butter – and they each get these tones from various locations throughout the process. From the vine to the bottle, you never know what might sneak in.

Berry flavors come to life during the fermentation process due to chemical compounds that change throughout the process. Grapes grown in cooler climates tend to have tighter berry flavor, such as cranberry or currant. If the grapes are grown in a warmer environment, they may exhibit flavors more closely related to strawberry and blackberry.

White wines can occasionally share some of the same flavors even if they are from differing grape varieties. Some of the more common ones you may experience are citrus, pear, peach, melon, apricot, mango, pineapple, kiwi, banana, and even warm florals.

The same can be said for red wines. Most of the time you’ll experience darker berry flavors such as cherries, cranberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and even others such as plums, raisins, and figs.

When you can see the year that the grapes were harvested, you may have a better idea of what the wine may taste like. Better than the year before? Worse? It doesn’t matter if you buy wine from the exact same vineyard from the same grapes grown there and so forth because the vintage year can mean all the difference.

The changes are due to weather patterns and the micro-climate around the vineyards. Did the grapes have to tough it out with a hot year? Was there a late frost this time around? Harvest time can also make a difference in how a wine can taste from year to year. There are several grape varieties that can’t handle damp conditions or flourish best in toasty environments. When these conditions are not met, grape quality can suffer.

However, that doesn’t mean you need to worry on a yearly basis what your wine might taste like. A skilled winemaker won’t let a little adverse weather affect his wine if he can help it. It may not be as good as the previous vintage and its ideal conditions, but it won’t be a lost cause either. If anything, you can put your trust in the creator of the wine – especially if you’ve never been let down yet.

Wine is made from grapes – so why does a glass of wine taste like flavors ranging from cherries to butter and back again? Why don’t wines just taste like grapes?

The majority of these answers come straight from the fermentation process and some of the ingredients that vineyards add to their wines during their creation. No, they’re not throwing in apples or butter to the barrels. Instead, when the yeast eats the grape sugar, a wide range of complex chemical compounds are also being created. The things we are familiar with, scents like berry and so forth, have similar molecular arrangements. And you thought chemistry was boring!

So buttery goodness in a wine comes from the compound diacetyl (also found in artificial butters). Apple flavors come from the malic acid that is made during fermentation. Often this acid is then softened into lactic acid, giving the wine a creamier feel but with those apple tones.

Vanilla actually comes from the oak barrels that the wine is stored in. Vanilla isn’t the only flavor that can appear either. How about mocha, tea, caramel, clove, cinnamon, toffee, and more?

For many years, wine grapes were crushed in the fashion that many people are familiar with — feet. Because wine grapes tend to have thicker skins, it was important to get them crushed quickly and effectively to hurry and begin the fermentation process before the grapes went bad.

With numerous people stepping on the grapes, they were well-crushed against what was usually a stone floor, ground up to release juices and break up the skins. Another element about using people to do the work is the temperature was slightly warmer than surrounding areas and items that might be used to crush grapes.

Because of the effectiveness of the foot, some wineries and companies have created machines that do the same process. The machines act in the same way, essentially grinding the grapes into the floor as well as being warmed at the same temperature. The benefit of these machines is that they can work all day and all night, if necessary, whereas with humans, only a handful of hours was possible before becoming too tired to smash the grapes effectively.