French Country Wine

Looking for good value in French wine? Check out “Vins de Pays” or French Country Wine. The majority of these are produced in the south of the country on the Mediterranean in the Languedoc-Roussillon regions. Originally, they were the local wine producers sold in bulk or by the pitcher full at the side of roads next to their estates. However, these wines have seen a jump in quality level over the last number of years and are now varietally labeled or chateau-bottled. Here sun-baked vineyards produce many of your favourite varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.  So avail yourself of these. Simply look for “Vins de Pays” on the bottle. Cheers!

Drink Pink to Support Breast Cancer Research

Since the PINK ribbon is an international symbol of breast cancer awareness, it seems only fitting that a PINK wine should support the cause. Bottega, an award-winning, Italian grappa producer and winery, will donate a portion of the sales of its newly released Vino dei Poeti Rosé bubbly, sold in Ontario in October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month in North America), to the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. This delightful, PINK sparkler, made from Pinot Nero and Raboso grapes, is delicately fresh and spicy with apple, raspberry, blackcurrant notes. At $12.45, it’ll put a smile on your face and a glow in your heart knowing you’re supporting such a fantastic cause, so buy some and feel good.

Higher Scores for Advertisers

Do wine magazines award higher scores to advertisers?

Apparently, there’s some evidence that suggests certain wine magazines rate advertisers’ wines higher than non-advertisers. A study awhile back in a Journal of Wine Economics implied that if a producer advertised in a publication and presented wines for review, it might garner a higher score; possibly have their wine retasted, if necessary; have unsolicited wines tasted and stand a better chance of making their “best of” list, as opposed to non-advertisers. Hard to say and/or prove, the only sure solution to this dilemma is as follows. Producers should simply not advertise in publications that are reviewing their wines and/or publications should not accept advertising from those producers.

Wining Your Turkey

With Thanksgiving a few short days away, you’re probably wondering what wine to serve with turkey. It’s pretty versatile when it comes to wine matches. As the dark meat possesses a little more flavour than the white, unstuffed, I like Chardonnay for the white and Cabernet Sauvignon for the dark. Stuffing, however, can really alter the wine match. For traditional sage or herb, Sauvignon Blanc or Cabernet Franc are great. Wild rice works best with unoaked Chardonnay or rosé. If you like chestnut, check out medium-dry Riesling or Viognier. How about Ham? You’ll require a fruity red like Gamay. For oyster, try Muscadet. Sausage sings with Valpolicella and for apple-walnut, medium-dry Riesling or Chenin Blanc. Bon apettit! 

Crémant

Within the champagne-method of making bubbly, there’s a style called Crémant. Like Champagne, 2nd fermentation takes place in the bottle. However, when the primarily fermented vino is given its mixture of wine, yeast and sugar to induce bubbles, less is used. The resulting wine possesses a lighter, more delicate spritz and effervescence. This style used to be allowed in the Champagne region of France prior to 1996, but since, is only reserved for other champagne-method sparklers made elsewhere in the country, often from different grapes. Examples are Crémant d’Alsace, Crémant de Bourgogne, Crémant de Loire, Crémant de Bordeaux, Crémant de Jura and Crémant de Limoux. 

Oak Chips

There’s no question that oak treatment adds complexity to wine as long as it’s not over done. Oak barrels are usually the norm, but they’re expensive. An alternative and less costly approach that many wineries use are oak chips. Providing oak flavour, small fragments of oak in netted bags are immersed or floated in wine, similar to a tea bag in water. Certainly not as elegant or romantic as barrels, most producers would never admit to using these as it is considered inferior. However, it’s not too difficult to tell if they’ve been used. If the back label of a bottle describes a wine as having been oak treated, but mentions nothing about barrels, type or length of time in them, chances are, oak chips are the culprits.   

Late Harvest Wines

If you leave grapes on the vine after the regular harvest and pick them later, you end up with “late harvest wine”. By leaving the grapes on the vine longer, the sugar content increases so the finished wine is sweeter. However, by doing this, producers run the risk of losing some fruit to frost and marauding animals, so late harvest wines tend to be pricier as they’re more work to create. The ultimate late harvest wine is Icewine, which is extremely sweet and expensive. Regular late harvest wines are usually medium-to-medium sweet, more reasonably priced and sport flavours of honey and fresh fruit. Great on their own, they’re divine with fruit-based desserts, cookies and veiny cheeses. Got to love them!