Wine Guide for Beginners

By: Jamie Jefferson

You do not have to spend a fortune or spend hours reading labels to make good wine selections for your dinner guests. Here is a concise wine guide for beginners.

Wine Styles
Although the basic winemaking process is always the same, every wine has a unique flavor, depending on a number of factors, including the type of grape and the conditions in which the fermentation occurs.

Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc grapes make white wines. Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir grapes make full, rich red wines. Merlot grapes produce lighter, softer red wines.

The six styles of wine are:

Red: Includes Bordeaux, Burgundy, Cabernet, Chianti, Merlot, Petite Sirah, and many more.

Sparkling Red: Includes Brachetto, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gutturnio, Lambrusco and Syrah/Shiraz.

Soleras: Includes Malvasia delle Lipari, Marsala, Moscatel, Palomino, Pedro Ximenez and Porto.

White: Includes Chablis, Chardonnay, Frascati, Goldmusketellar, Meursault, Muscat, Riesling, Vidal Blanc and many more.

Sparkling White: Includes Champagne, Moscato dAsti, Spumante and more.

Pink: Includes Busuioaca de Bohotin, Lagrein Rosato and Rose.

Most red wines improve with a bit of aging, some for as long as ten years. Most red wines are not distributed until about two years after they are put in the bottle. Most white wines, on the other hand, do not benefit from aging (except for champagne and sweet dessert wines.)

What kind of wine should you choose?
While there are guidelines, there are no hard and fast rules, because wine pairings really are a matter of personal preference. The general rule of thumb for selecting wine to complement your meal is to choose a light bodied wine with lighter fare and a full bodied wine with hearty, robust dishes.

Red wine is traditionally paired with beef, veal, ham, poultry, pasta, lamb, and pork. For poultry, ham, pork, and veal, try a Beaujolais or a red Zinfandel. For pasta, beef, and lamb, consider a merlot or a cabernet sauvignon.

White Chardonnay complements pork, poultry, seafood (including shellfish) and strong cheeses. For appetizers, mild cheeses, desserts, ham, lamb, poultry, and seafood, you might choose a white Zinfandel or Rose wine.

Sparkling wines, such as Champagne or Spumante can also be served with mild cheeses, appetizers, and desserts.

Wine Categories
Wine is often classified as one of the following:

1. Aperitif: Appetizer wines such as Madeira, Sherry and Vermouth.

2. Red: Dry wines typically served with red meats and pasta dishes.

3. Rose: Pink wines typically served with seafood and pork dishes.

4. White: Dry to sweet wines often served with chicken and seafood.

5. Sparkling: Wines often served in formal settings as an appetizer. If a sparkling wine comes from the Champagne region of France it is named after that region.

6. Table: Inexpensive, lower quality wine, usually served with lunch or used to make cocktail beverages.

7. Dessert: weet tasting wine, often served with desserts.

8. Cooking" Salty, poor quality wine used for cooking.

Eight More Helpful Tips
1. Alcohol Content: Wine is considered an alcoholic beverage unless otherwise indicated.

2. Chilling Wine: Place the wine bottle in a bucket of ice water for 10 to 15 minutes. For sparkling wine, refrigerate for at least 4 hours prior to serving (or place it in the ice bucket for 30 minutes.)

3. Labels: If you reside in North America, you will want to remember that domestic wines will be labeled with the type of grape used followed by its origin, whereas imported wines will list where the wine was made and then the type of grape used.

4. Chilling: Sparkling and white wines are best served chilled. A red wine should be served when it is only slightly below room temperature. Both wines are best left to stand before opening. Some red wines have sediment, which should stay at the bottom of the bottle.

5. Serving: You can serve a white wine immediately after removing the cork, but a red wine benefits from breathing for about half an hour after the bottle is opened. For best results gently decant the red wine into another container. This allows a greater surface area of the wine to breathe and leaves the sediment behind in the bottle. Filling a glass just half full also allows the wine to breathe.

6. Storage: Wine storage involves cool temperatures, preferably away from heat and light. Cellars can still become hot, humid and sticky during the summer months and it is suggested that keeping wine in a constant, cool environment will allow it to age properly and achieve its best attributes.

7. Variety: Also known as terroir. The climate, soil, land slope or slant, type of grape(s) used, elevation, weather conditions, topography, fermentation process and yeast cultures are all key factors in the wine appearance, aroma and how the wine ultimately tastes.

8. Vintage: Further classification involves the year that the grapes were harvested. For example, the wine output from one vineyard might taste significantly different from one year to the next Good wines usually have their year of production on the bottle. This is called the vintage. Some years produce better wines than others.

Once you become familiar with the different types of wine available on the market, you will feel less intimidated and more apt to impress your guests with excellent selections. Enjoying wine is a life long process because there are always new sights, aromas and flavors to discover along the way.



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Jamie Jefferson writes for Susies-Coupons.com and Momscape.com, where she features the latest coupon codes from leading online wine merchants www.momscape.com/coupon-codes/wine.htm

Growing Wine Grapes

By: Jimmy Cox

I think it quite safe to say that more has been written about the cultivation of grapes than has - or ever will be - written about any other fruit. This is not surprising, considering that the grape is probably the oldest of known fruits. Evidence that grapes have been grown here for centuries is found in certain parts of the country where careful inspection of sloping land shows remains of terraced vineyards.

Contrary to general belief grapes are quite easy to grow outdoors in this country and should be grown by the ordinary householder far more than they are. It is a mistake to believe that grapes need tropical weather to grow and ripen well; if this were so they could not be grown in Russia and Canada, where the vineyards are buried under snow each year. Even the vineyards of France are not harmed by an annual blanket of snow. Then why should they suffer here?

The abundance of advice offered by experts about growing grapes, and the recommendations they make, are more likely to deter the would-be grower of grapes than encourage him in this worthwhile hobby. In any case, the advice and recommendations of experts usually apply to tender vines needing specialist treatment - not the good all-round varieties that do well almost anywhere. Here the reader will find sufficient detail to enable him to get on with the job and to make a good show of it into the bargain. Surprisingly, grapes do not need loads of manures and fertilizers; they grow well on quite poor soils and need little after-attention.

The soil above the vine I once grew was covered with crazy paving, the only part exposed to sun and air being about a square yard where the vine had been planted years earlier. So you can see that lack of space is no excuse for not growing grapes. The roots will search out and find what they want; all we have to concern ourselves with is where to put the top-growth - the vine itself.

If one wall of your house faces south, south-west or even west, that problem is solved very easily. If you cannot plant the vine under that particular wall, plant it round the corner and train the vine round to the sunny side of the house. Grapes may be grown in the open garden in similar fashion to loganberries, or they may be trained over sheds, garages, out-houses and such-like.

Vines are not expensive - about 10 shillings and sixpence is a decent price to pay for a vine (at the present time), and if two are planted, the yield for one guinea may be regarded as fantastic when considering the value of the wine that may be made for many years.

The best outdoor, general-purpose vine is undoubtedly brandt. This is a free-growing black that crops heavily and does well almost anywhere. Brandt is the vine for the amateur wherever he may be living, for it is very hardy and needs very little attention. It is the only variety I need concern myself with here.

Planting is best carried out in autumn and in any case before Christmas. If planting against a wall, take out a hole about two feet each way and plant so that the stem of the vine is about fifteen inches away from the wall itself. It's very hard to make wine if you can't even get the vine to grow so pay close attention to where you plant the vine.



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Australia As A Wine Making Region

By: Derek Both

Over the last twenty years, Australia has become the world's fourth largest wine producer with exports to over a hundred countries and is known for its uniqueness and quality. The largest importer of Australian wines until this year was the United Kingdom followed by the United States. In 2007, the United States overtook the United Kingdom as the primary importer of Australian wines. Australian wine exports mainly comprise the products of large commercial vineyards which competed with other wines on quality for price. Certainly, fine, higher priced wines are also exported from smaller vineyards as well as the larger vineyards; however they do not have a high market share.

One of the most interesting aspects of Australian wines is the diversity of flavours as a result of the influence of soil and climate on a number of grape varieties. This is due to the size of the continent and the fact that grapes are grown in many diverse areas. Australians are very fortunate in that even the less expensive wines tend to be good. The quality of the grape stock combined with the skill and experience of Australia's wine makers has produced a wide variety of Australian wine styles of superb quality.

Australia has a long history of wine making which began from plantings imported from Europe and was primarily created for export to England. European grape production is said to have begun in 1791 when grapes were harvested from vines in the Governor's garden. Between 1820 and 1840, many vineyards were established around the country. In 1822, Gregory Blaxland shipped 136 litres of wine to London where it was awarded a Silver Medal by the Royal Society of Arts.

These days, Australia boasts about sixty wine producing regions, most of them being in the south east of the country where the climate is cooler. However, it is possible to find viable vineyards in other parts of the country. The most popular wine growing areas are in South Australia (Barossa Valley, Clare Valley and Coonawarra being the most well known), Victoria (Rutherglen, Swan Hill and Yarra Valley are good examples) and New South Wales (Hunter Valley, Mudgee and the Riverina are the main producers). Most of Australia's wine comes from these areas; however Tasmania, Queensland and the south west of Western Australia (particularly the Margaret River and Swan Districts) also produce some well known brands.

Australian wines are usually named for their grape variety. The most popular varieties of red wine in Australia are Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Grenache and Merlot and for white wine are Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Traminer, Verdhelo and Semillon. Wine makers also create a number of blends from these popular varieties. While these are the most popular Australian wines, there are certainly a great many more varieties that have their adherents.

Four major conglomerates produce seventy percent of Australia's wines: Beringer Blass, The Hardy Wine Company, Southcorp, and Orlando. These companies produce the most well known and successful export brands of Australia: Jacob's Creek, Nottage Hill, Banrock Station, Hardy's Stamp, Lindeman's, and Wolf Blass. Successful though these brands undoubtedly are, there is a growing increase of complaints from wine connoisseurs that among the big brands it is becoming difficult to tell one wine from the other. Such complaints are not likely to be heard from ordinary people who are seeking a good quality wine for a reasonable price which, quite frankly, is the intention of the wine makers. They are not trying to fill the fine wine niche. Nevertheless, there are other excellent Australian brands that manage to do both. These include Peter Lehmann, McGuigan, St Hallett, Yalumba, Cape Mentelle, and Wynn's.

Australian wines offer good quality at affordable prices as well as superb quality for much higher prices. It is an industry that is evolving, developing and improving continually. If you plan to visit Australia, taking a tour of one of the many wine growing districts can be a highlight. In the meantime, you can get a taste of Australia when you sip an Aussie wine.

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