Posts Tagged ‘winemakers’

Ice wine isn’t your typical wine. Instead of the grapes being harvested before the weather grows too cool, winemakers actually allow the grapes to freeze right on the vine. Their sugars become more concentrated this way, and they are harvested after freezing.

Typically made into dessert wines because of their sweetness, ice wines are also rather expensive. The tradition is strongly rooted in Austria and Germany, but has since spread to other regions, such as Canada. Canada has made some fine ice wines over the course of the years, and has in fact surpassed Austria and Germany in ice wine output.

Ice wine is often made in a full- to medium-bodied style, with scents of stone fruits like apricots and peaches for white wines and strawberries and candied fruits for red wines. They’re quite delicious, with tones of honey for white and a bit of spiciness in the reds.

The alcohol levels in ice wine are rather low. German wines are often only 7-12% and are, in fact, lower than the Canadian bottles.

So if you want to try something different this season, match up the frost outside with some ice wine inside – but be ready to spend anywhere from $50 to over $100 for a bottle!

Folle Blanche grapes have an interesting history when it comes to beginnings and replacements. Initially, Folle Blanche began as a foundation grape for Armagnac. Over time, vineyards and winemakers discovered new grapes and better ways to handle the land and growing of the grapes. Eventually, Folle Blanche would lose ground to Ugni Blanc grape variety. One of the main reasons for this takeover was due to the early maturity of the Ugni Blanc.

Alone, the Folle Blanche grape makes a white wine that is relatively tart and thin. Typically this grape is grown in the Muscadet region of France with soil and weather conditions favorable to it there. Take a look along the Loire Valley and you will find Folle Blanche grapes growing on their vines.

France is not the only place that Folle Blanche is grown. It can also be found in certain areas of California in the United States, as well as Spain and Uruguay. No doubt as time continues to move, so will the use and planting of Folle Blanche.

Focusing on kosher foods and drinks means strict adherence to guidelines and making sure that ingredients follow those guidelines to make a final product that is acceptable to eat or drink. A Jewish rabbi must preside over the process, and only Sabbath-observant Jewish workers may create the product.

In the past, kosher wines have been associated with being sweet or as some describe it, “sticky.” There was little focus on the actual winemaking process with most of that focus on the kosher aspect.

However, as time progressed, so did the quality of kosher wines. It has taken a bit of ingenuity on the part of the winemakers due to the lack of options when it comes to extraction methods, common additives, and refining agents as they are not considered kosher. The grapevines must be four years old before harvesting and only kosher ingredients can be used, and equipment (such as the oak barrels) must be strictly used for kosher wine. There is no wiggle room when it comes to this type of wine. Either it’s all kosher or not at all!

You can’t have a great bottle of wine without the vineyard to make it.  Of course, you can’t have a vineyard without the grape vine.  And if you intend to enjoy wine to its fullest, you may easily appreciate the knowledge of how it came to be.  So just how does one start up a vineyard?

Once the future vineyard owner chooses the land for its climate, sunlight, soil, and other important factors, seeds are planted in carefully formed rows that allow for proper irrigation and room for workers to thread through.  Support is also offered for the vines to grow on as they get larger.

The simple fact of a vineyard is that it can take many seasons and many times of trial and error to find a quality grape that produces a good bottle of wine.  Luckily for many growers, there are so many varieties of grape out there, it is relatively simple to find grapes willing and able to grow in soil that is light and sandy or that may be thick clay.

Starting and maintaining a vineyard takes time, money, and a lot of patience and know-how.  But for those who love wine, the wait and the reward is well worth it.  Salud to all the winemakers of the world.

Wines and religion have had an interesting, intertwined relationship for centuries.  Many churches and monasteries during the Middle Ages – and often earlier – derived much of their income through the creation of wine.  Two of the most prolific winemakers were the Cistercians and Benedictines.  It is said that members from these two orders actually tasted the soil to find out how it differed from location to location.

Orthodox Jews can drink wine as well, but it must be kosher in order for them to do so.  This means that the wine cannot be touched at any time by someone who is a non-observant Jew or a “Gentile.”  This means from the grapevine to the bottle, wine can only be handled by certain members of the religion, and it must also contain only kosher ingredients.

The prophet Mohammed affected the way wine was handled in the Arabian areas; after his death, wine was banned from the majority of countries that listened to him.