Wine Blog

The last time you went into a supermarket or off-licence and you saw a wine labelled as ‘organic’, ‘biodynamic’ or ‘produced from organically grown grapes’ were you confused? This short article will dispel the myths and help you make an informed choice.

There is much debate regarding whether a moderate consumption of wine is actually healthy. It is widely understood that consuming large amounts of wine, or any other alcoholic drink for that matter, has serious health implications both long and short term for the drinker. However, there is a large array of substantial statistical evidence that a moderate consumption of wine, particularly at meal times has numerous health benefits.

For many years German wines have been regarded pretty much as the ‘ugly sister’ when compared to their Spanish, Italian and French ‘Old World’ neighbours. However, over the past few years, German wine production has encountered somewhat of a renaissance, with fine Riesling wines becoming some of the finest and undervalued white wines on the shelves.

Purchasing a premixed wine case is one of the easiest and frugal ways to increase a wine collection. However, there is a skill, although some would say rather unscientific, in opening a wine from within a premixed case that meets, or perhaps even exceeds, your expectations.

The fizz in sparkling wine is produced due to saturated carbon dioxide bubbles within the pressurised bottle.

When making red wine the skins of the grape, and sometimes the stems too, are incorporated into the fermentation process. In fact, the juice of a red grape is as clear as the white grape, it is the grapes´ skins that create the red colour and unmistakable flavour.

When making white wine, the grapes are almost always crushed and de-stemmed before being transferred to the press, where they are squeezed, separating the juice from the pips. The skins, stems and pips are removed because they often contain butter tannins which are undesirable in white wines, although often sought after in reds.

For this first blog I will discuss some general information about grapes, vineyards and a quick mention about ‘Terroir’, something that is inextricably linked to a wine’s character.