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Learn about the basics of wine each week.
And, get great recommendations for affordable and attainable wines in the weekly Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week.
2012 Paniza Reserva ($7)
This was a recent find. And, in true fashion for a Behind the Cork™ wine feature, it’s a great value!
This is blend of 80% Tempranillo, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Grenache. And it’s a tasty blend.
The Tempranillo and Cab give this blend some definite tannin structure while the touch of Grenache helps to smooth it out a bit.
I paired it with some English Cheddar and really enjoyed. At $7, it’s hard to beat for a tasty red wine.
Look for it!
Have you ever taken a sip of red wine and noticed that your mouth feels dry or dusty? Almost that ‘cotton-mouth’ feel? Well, that is a sensation that is associated with red wine. Some red wines.
The dry sensation is due to the wine being astringent and its effect on the tissue in your mouth. Some people have also described the sensation as making their mouth pucker.
The culprits that causes this drying sensation in your mouth are actually chemical compounds (phenolics) that naturally occur in tannin. And in wine, these tannins come from the grape’s skin, the seeds and the stems.
Now, this is where we get to why red wines dry out your mouth but white wines don’t. White wines actually do contain low levels of tannin, but red wines contain a whole lot more tannin. That’s because the process used in making red wines involves leaving the grape skins, seeds and stems in the juice of the grape while in white wines, they are immediately removed.
But, not all red wines have the same levels of tannin. Pinot Noir is a varietal that has low to medium tannin. A Malbec is going to have medium tannin, while Merlot is going to have medium-high tannin. Then we get to the high tannin wines — Sangiovese, Tempranillo, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Tannat. What about Cabernet Sauvignon? Well, although you think of a Cab as having high astringency, it’s typically in the medium-high category.
So, tannin just naturally gets introduced during the wine making process. But, there are ways to deal with highly tannic wines. And, we’ll get to those next time. Until then, “Cheers!”
A few months back a friend of mine told me that, in the past, he really didn’t like white wine. He said white wines just didn’t have as much flavor as red wines. He preferred the flavors of a red wine.
But, on a wine tasting trip he went ahead and tried a Chardonnay. And he really liked it!
What was immediately obvious to him was that the Chardonnay was very lightly chilled as opposed to refrigerator temperature.
His experience with white wines had all been with very cold white wines. And the chill had taken all the flavor out of the wine.
This is indeed true. And, often the reason that people like their wines (including red wines) heavily chilled — to make them have less flavor.
So, the answer to the question is no, white doesn’t have to be chilled at all. But a light chill will allow you to experience the white wine as it was intended by the winemaker.
A rule-of-thumb that I’ve always used is that for white wine is that you should take the bottle out of a standard refrigerator (which is typically 35-40 degrees F) approximately 30 minutes before you want to serve it. That should leave a chill on it. Or, if you own a wine refrigerator, you probably already know that it should be set to approximately 50 degrees F for white wines.
But, as my friend found out, the serving temperature of wine generally is a matter of personal preference. Whatever your preference, enjoy!
I was recently shopping in my local grocery store and noticed the overhead signs for the wine aisle included “Red Wines,” “White Wines” and “Table Wines.” Ever wonder what Table Wine really is?
Well, in the U.S., Table Wine is simply a designation for any non-sparkling wine with an alcohol content of 7% (min) to 16% (max). That’s it.
Before the passage of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in the U.S., a Table Wine had been defined simply as any wine up to 14 percent alcohol by volume (ABV) for taxation purposes, but that percentage was increased to 16%
In Europe, there are varying standards for wines designated as Table Wine. But, in general, they are the lowest category of wine and not strictly regulated like other “Old World” European wines. And, they are not often permitted to be sold outside of the country where they are produced.
If you do find a European Table Wine, the label will state “Vin de France” when it’s from France, “Vino da Tabola” when from Italy and “Tafelwein” when it’s from Germany.
Table wines are usually meant for immediate consumption as opposed to aging, and for enjoyment with even the most basic meal.
So, don’t overlook this category of wines. They are very good values and often very tasty. Cheers!
Last time, we learned that a wine bottle’s glass thickness, or weight, doesn’t really tell you anything about the wine’s quality. But, the thicker glass can serve to make a sparkling wine bottle more structurally capable of holding the high pressure.
Then there’s that odd ‘dimple’ on the bottom of a lot of wine bottles. What’s up with that?
While you may hear or read multiple reasons for this ‘dimple,’ it seems that these indentations, called ‘punts’ were actually put there by early glassblowers to ensure a bottle could stand on its own. Without a punt, the rounded bottle needed some other means of staying upright, including the woven straw baskets so famously associated with Italian bottles of Chianti.
It’s also thought that the punt adds to the bottle’s structural integrity, such that the thin layer of glass at the end of the glassblower’s bottle would not so easily rupture.
Regardless of the many plausible reasons for a wine bottle punt, today’s bottles are much better made. So, the punt is simply part of tradition. Except, it may be useful for sparkling wines. Giving their bottles a bit stronger structure.
But, much like the thickness or weight of a wine bottle, the type of punt on a wine bottle really doesn’t mean anything about the contents of the bottle. So, while it may be difficult to ignore the packaging of the product, try to focus your attention on the content of the bottle rather than the bottle itself. Cheers!