Champagne Terms

Lots of Champagne will flow this holiday season and there’s some interesting terminology used on labels. Vintage Champagne (year on the bottle) is a blend of many wines from the same year. Non-vintage Champagne (no year on the bottle) is a blend of wines from different years. “Blanc de blanc” implies the use of white grapes only (Chardonnay). “Blanc de noirs” says strictly red grapes were used, either Pinot Noir alone or blended with Pinot Meunier. No designation and it’s a bubbly made using red and white grapes. “Grand Cru” means all the fruit that went into the wine was harvested from vineyards rated at 100% (veritably perfect) while “Premier Cru” says all the fruit came from vineyards rated 90 - 99%.

“House Wine” in Restaurants

Dining out is wonderful and who doesn’t enjoy some vino with their meal? However, the intimidation factor involved for most diners when ordering wine is huge. That’s why many folks simply order the “House Wine”. Here’s a little tip about “House Wine”, my friends. As a rule, it’s usually pretty mediocre in quality, doesn’t specifically work well with any specific dish, but roughly meshes with most things on the menu. Perhaps even more importantly, its price is marked up the most, more than any other wine on a restaurant’s list. You’re further ahead to spend a few dollars more and order a better wine as the mark-up will be lower and you’ll get a superior drink. Don’t just settle for “okay”. Simply ask your server for advice and sip better.

Cat Wine

If you have a cat, you won’t have to sip wine alone anymore. A Japanese company, B & H Lifes, has come up with wine made specifically for your feline friend. It’s called “Nyan Nyan Nouveau”. “Nyan Nyan” means “meow meow” in Japanese. The wine does not contain alcohol, but juice made from Cabernet grapes mixed with catnip. In Japan, it costs about $4 a bottle and only about a thousand bottles have been made. These folks must have had a few too many when they thought of this. I wonder what animal activists make of it. This “cat wine” or “Chateau Puss Puss” could easily start a new trend. What’s next… “Bark-o-Velha” for your dog, “Rabbit Riesling” for your hare or  “Parrot-tage” for one’s pet bird?

Perception of Components

When it comes to perceiving components in wine, like sweetness, acid (sourness), tannin (dry puckering sensation on the gums), consumers are all over the place. Some folks think a particular wine is too dry while others not so much. Many people find a specific vino too acidic (sour) when other tasters find the same wine quite palatable. Many more react extremely to tannin or bitterness in one wine while others find the same wine fine. It all comes down to an individual’s threshold or sensitivity to certain components. We’re all different and only by tasting with others and comparing notes can individual perceptions to components be realized. Once realized, you can compensate for your individual sensitivity to some extent.

Nouveau Wines

This is the time of year when all the “nouveau” wines come out on the market to celebrate the latest harvest. Whether it’s French Beaujolais, Italian Novello or others, these are wines made in a hurry that cut corners in their production. Hype is built up about them weeks before urging the consumer to be the first to taste the new wine from the harvest. It’s a great excuse for restaurants, hotels, bars, clubs and private individuals to host celebrations to herald this event. Artistic labels, that become collector items, are often commissioned for the bottles. It’s really marketing genius. One must however keep in mind that these are not serious wines that will keep or age. They’re theoretically created to be consumed before Christmas.

Versatile Riesling

One of the greatest white grape varieties on planet is Riesling. Why? First of all, it’s relatively easy to grow as compared to other varietals and what you get out of the vineyard basically goes into the bottle. There’s very little manipulation in the winery and it remains pure as it does not see oak. Secondly, it is extremely versatile. It can be made bone dry, dry, medium dry, medium sweet or even extremely sweet. It is very susceptible to noble rot making some amazing dessert-style wines. Riesling Icewine is fabulous and probably the best in the world. Some great sparkling wines are made from it as well. From a taste perspective, it has great acidity that makes it amazingly food-friendly and age-worthy.

World’s Largest Wine Producer

For the last number of years, it’s been a battle between Italy and France as to who produces the most wine on the planet. Sometimes Italy, sometimes France! Last year France reigned supreme, but this year Italy has regained the lead edging out France as top dog. Italy was up 10% from 2014 while France increased only 1 %. There are so many wines produced in Italy that some aren’t even definitively documented and many do not leave the area of production. They simply get consumed right where they are made. Spain took third spot while the U.S. Argentina and Chile followed. Australia, South Africa and New Zealand were next. Overall, global wine production was up 2% from last year and the year isn’t even over yet.