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Archive for January, 2010

Fortified wines

January 17th, 2010 by admin

Fortified wines are those in which the alcohol content has been increased by the addition of brandy or neutral spirits. They usually range from 17-21 percent alcohol, by volume. Ports, Sherries, Marsalas, and Madeiras all are fortified wines. In the U.S., many look on these as a matter of acquired taste.

Dessert wines are almost always fortified wines. Most, though not all, are quite sweet. They are best suited to drinking by themselves or after a meal. The terms fortified wines and dessert wines often are used interchangeably.

Sparkling wine

January 17th, 2010 by admin

Sparkling wine is wine with bubbles-like soda, but not artificially carbonated. Sparkling wine was first perfected in Champagne, France, in the early 1700s by the Benedictine monk and cellar master Dom Perignon. (So that’s who he was!) Upon seeing the bubbles in his glass, the good brother eloquently captured the essence of his discovery with the words, “I am drinking stars!”

In the United States, the terms champagne (that’s a lowercase c!) and sparkling wine often are used interchangeably. Legally, winemakers in the U.S., Canada, and Australia are allowed to use the name champagne for their sparkling wines with one catch: The bubbles must be produced naturally during the fermentation process and not added through artificial carbonation. Within that requirement, the choice of grape varieties is up to the producer, and champagne can be made by several methods (not necessarily those used by the French).

In France, the home of the real (capital C) Champagne district (or appellation), the story is entirely different. Understandably, the proud French are not amused that others use the name of their fine and cherished creation for just any effervescent wine.

In France, only sparkling wines made from grapes grown in the Champagne region may bear the name Champagne (or anything resembling it). This rule is law, also, in all the member nations of the European Union.

When giving wine gifts

January 17th, 2010 by admin

It is very interesting how wines affects the life of each everyone of us. For us, wines are like an icon of prosperity. An icon of that we developed that takes long years to be refined. Anyway, everyone have different ways of looking to a wine. Some may look at it as a classification of people. As the price of wine gets high, the greater chance that he belongs on a higher society group that are well respected.

When we are talking about people who gives wine gifts, we are thinking that the person receiving that wine is well respected, well that depends. That depends on the type of wine that is given. There are wines that are expensive and there are those which are cheap ones, but they are also good. Wines that are ranging on high price have these very colorful taste, some even thinks that they’ve reached the heaven when sipping on one of those.

Well yes in deed they are perfect gifts, but finding one that will be enjoyed is not that easy actually. For one to have the ability to determine whether a wine is good and not, will take long years to understand the basic concepts of that. It is the ability of wine tasting, a very hard job to be perfect. So I would suggest that you ask the professionals in the business. When you are buying on a wine shop, try to ask the wine merchants for some opinion. By the way, wines finds its master. What I mean by that is, wines can be enjoyed by people who likes it. An specific wine is dedicated for a person, like a dress fitted to a sophisticated type of person. So asking a merchant will be helpful, just ask for opinion. This is only my opinion, tell me if you got more. Just post your comments below.