Wine
So what is wine?
Today, we know more about wines than ever before. We know how to cultivate the highest quality grapes to produce fine wines, and how to pair them with foods to show both at their very best. We have learned or perhaps rediscovered, wine as a principle source of nourishment and the benefits it can bring when consumed in moderation as part of a healthy diet.
Below you will find many definitions of todays popular wines, some you will know and others you might not.
Red wine - A little something from the red section
Kinds of red wines:
Cabernet Sauvignon
The Cabernet Sauvignon grape is the leading red wine grape in the world. Cabernet Sauvignon has spread to every corner of the globe as is by far the most paramount in it home town of bordeaux. The Cabernet Sauvignon grape produces superior wines that are tannic and keep well for prolonged periods. For optimum tasting pleasure store for about 5 to 10 years.
Cabernet Sauvignon is a small dark thick skinned grape which needs a slightly warmer environment than most other varieties to attain maturity. DNA testing shows that it is descended from both Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc.
A good Cabernet Sauvignon gives of tastes such as dark cherry, cedar, tobacco and black currant a cool climate when growing can also give a green pepper or olive taste. It takes up to a year and a half of oak barrel aging before bottling Cabernet is to achieve more complexity.
When you think of the finest red wines in the world, you often are thinking of wines made with Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Sauvignon is known in some parts of the world by other names including: Petit Cabernet, Sauvignon Rouge, and Vidure.
Cabernet Sauvignon is a red grape mainly used for the production of wine, and is, along with Chardonnay, the most common grape variety in the world today. Although a cabernet grape takes a long growing season to ripen and doesnt give out high yields, many of the world's greatest red wines such as Red Bordeaux, are predominantly made from the Cabernet grapes.
The thick skin of the Cabernet grape results in the wine being high in tannin which provides both structure to the wine and lends it self to giving long life. This varietal, and aromatic with an attractive finish, also tends to lack mid-palate richness and so is often blended with lower tannin, but "fleshy" tasting grapes, particularly Merlot and, especially in Australia, Shiraz / Syrah.
Here is a list of the major cabernet vinyard countries Bordeaux
The grand daddy of it all, this is were it all began, the Cabernet grape is strongly associated with the finest red wines of Bordeaux, such as those of the Médoc, where it is blended with varying quantities of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot just to name a few. Although Cabernet Sauvignon will more often than not be the biggest single variety in the top Bordelais wines, its overall use is usually no more than 50 percent of the wine. Elsewhere in France it is used in varying quantities in several Roussillon wines, though generally in an attempt to imitate the wines of its Bordeaux neighbour. Italy
Generally speaking, Italian vinters have long regarded the Cabernet Sauvignon grape with mistrust, despite a long history there, and appears in very few of Italy's DOCs. In Tuscany in the 1970s however, a number of top vinters deliberately introduced Cabernet Sauvignon into their wines, despite knowing that it fell outside of the DOC system, and produced the top class wines that are often known as "Super Tuscans". United States
California is second to Bordeaux in being the world's largest cultivater of Cabernet Sauvignon, most notably in the Napa Valley and warmer AVAs of Sonoma County. In the early 90's in california cab-sav wine yeild doubled, abruptly lowering prices and throwing the wine industry into chaos. As in Bordeaux, it is often blended with Merlot and Cabernet Franc to produce 1st class wines. Other New World Producers
Over this past decade a number of notable changes have come to light in the form of the "New World". The consistently optimal climates (more so than in Europe), strong investment and innovative winemaking techniques have allowed countries such as Chile, Argentina, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia to produce excellent Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines at competitive prices. Aroma
Cabernet Sauvignon has a well defined aroma. it has the fragrant smell of violets, blackcurrant, cedar and spice. New World wines of this grape can often share the aromas of their Old World counterparts, but are more often dominated by aromas of chocolate, ripe jammy berries, oak, pepper and earth. In Australia, there is often a strong smell of eucalyptus, particularly in wines made in Coonawarra.
Merlot
Merlot is a variety of wine grape used in the production of many popular red wines, merlot-based wines usually have medium body with hints of blackcurrant, plums and berries.
Most consider it an easy wine to drink in comparison to its counterpart reds, Cabernet Sauvignon being in particular. Its softness and "fleshiness", combined the earlier ripening of its grape, makes Merlot ideal to blend with sterner, later-ripening grapes like Cabernet. Many Merlots are made in a style popular with newer red wine drinkers (though good Merlots accompanying appropriate food are popular with many more experienced wine drinkers as well).
The main producers of merlot are, France, California and Italy, on a lesser scale in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, Switzerland, South Africa, Croatia, Slovenia, some parts of America. Most wines from the Bordeaux region contain some trace of Merlot, and in the regions of Pomerol and Saint-Emilion it is not unusual for Merlot to become a major part of the blend. One of the most famous and rare wines in the world, Château Pétrus is almost all Merlot.
The Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon grape are alike in many ways, merlot is lower in tannins and makes wines that mature faster and are softer in texture. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignonare often mixed together in order to soften the blend. A really good merlot can make a wine that is dry, rich in flavor and smooth as it finishes in your throa, and a not so good merlot, can make a wine that is dry but thin in taste and texture, hard to go down. But most varieties of what you would buy are pretty good.
Merlot is able to mature in regions that are cooler than those required for Cabernet Sauvignon. Merlot is a bit harder to grow because of the fact that it is open to many types of fungus and mold diseases (so even wines can get colds.....). Producing a merlot depending on a number of factors, 2 being location and climate. This variety was first known for its success in the Saint Emilion and Pomerol areas of Bordeaux. Chateau Petrus is the stellar example of fine Merlot.
Merlot usually has ripe berry components in the bouquet. Its wines tend to be fruity, soft and smooth in texture. There are a few varieties of Merlot that have a long life potential but the mojority are ready to drink in 4 to 8 years. Merlot is usually bottled in a Bordeaux (high shouldered) bottle.
Merlot should be served slightly below room temperature. When alcohol reaches 23 (C), it then has an unpleasant sharpness in the taste. Cooling the bottle for 15 or 20 minutes (but no longer) in a refrigerator can be a good way to reach the desired serving temperature.
Shiraz
Shiraz or Syrah is a variety of grape used in wine. The names are interchangeable, although the original name is Shiraz. It is mostly known as syrah in america and france. In South Africa, Australia, parts of europe and Canada its known as Shiraz.
The Shiraz name was taken from a city Iran known as Shiraz, it has been speculated that wine making started nearly 7 millenia ago. The evidence that was dug up at the site of Hajji Firuz Teppe in northern Iran has confirmed that wine making originated in the Kurdish regions of that country around 7000 years ago.
The french have attempted to rebut the orign, saying that the grape found its roots in their soil. This is according to French DNA study in 1998 The study concluded that the grape variety in its modern cultivated form has originated in the vicinity of the Northern Rhône valley of France, as the result of a cross of the "Dureza" and "Mondeuse Blanche" grape varieties. Historic accounts, on the other hand, state that the Syrah/Shiraz was brought into southern France by a returning crusader, Guy De'Sterimberg. He became a hermit and developed a vineyard on a steep hill where he lived in the Rhône River Valley. It became known as the Hermitage.
Syrah continues continues to be the dominant grape and is associated with classic wines such as Hermitage, Cornas and Côte-Rôtie. In the Southern Rhône it is used as a blending grape in such wines as Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas and Côtes du Rhône. Although its best products will age for years to come, less-extracted styles can be enjoyed young for their lively characters and smooth tannin taste. Shiraz has been used as a blending grape in many countries because of its fleshy fruit mid-palate, balancing the weaknesses of other varieties and resulting in what being called a "complete" wine.
Wine
It is a grape variety widely used to make dry red table wine. Shiraz is often vinified on its own, but is also frequently blended with other grape varieties, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Viognier. It is grown in many wine producing regions around the world.
Many of the 1st class Shiraz-based wines are at their peak after a time aged in a cellar approximatly 10-15 years. In Australia Shiraz is also used to make the unique "sparkling Shiraz", a deep-red sparkling wine which also ages well. There is also a small amount of rosé wine produced from the Syrah grape. Before the popularity of Australian Shiraz wine it was very often used to make port.
Taste
Wines made from Shiraz are often full bodied and very potent flavors. The variety produces wines with a wide range of flavor notes, depending on the climate and soils where it is grown, as well as other viticultural practices chosen. Aroma characters can range from violets to chocolate, berries, coffee and black pepper. No one aroma can be called "typical" though blackberry and pepper are commented on the most.
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