Wine Guide

© FOTOLIA GUIDE | A WORLD OF WINE Where Is This Wine From?

Wine is grown all around the world, but the most well- known regions are in , and the west coast of the United States. Here’s a quick guide to where your wine comes from. Italy: Italy is the world’s larg- est wine producer with more than one million under cultivation. Three regions make up the bulk of alking the wine Italian production: Tuscany, Sicily and the Piedmont. W shelves often looks Italian include the mos- like a trip around the globe. cato blanc, mainly used in the sparking Moscato d’Asti; crisp, clean pinot grigio; and the mighty grape, which produces and other Tuscan wines. France: France has eight key wine-making regions. They are Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy, , Languedoc, the , Provence and the Rhône Valley. Popular French wines include Champagne, the which can only be called Champagne when it comes from that region; ; Bourdeaux; Burgundy; and many, many © FOTOLIA others. Higher-end French wines are known for their “ter- roir,” environmental factors and is best known for bold, South American country. Chile South Africa centers on Cape region of the U.S., but grapes that affect a particular grape spicy shiraz. is known for its reds, particu- Town. The country is known are also grown in Washington crop’s taste. Austria: White wines make larly and for its fortified wines like Cape and Oregon. The temperate Argentina: The fifth largest up the bulk of Austrian pro- . port, shiraz and . West Coast climate means that producer of wine in the world, duction. The country is also : Germany pro- : The most widely almost every kind of grape is Argentina is best known for home to Riedel, manufactur- duces far fewer than planted wine country, Spain grown there. , a that origi- ers of high-end wine glasses. France or Italy, but some of has more than 2 million acres Don’t limit your palate to nally came from southwest Chile: Chileans have made the plantations there trace under cultivation. It’s known just these locales. Nearly every France. wine since the days of the back to Roman rule. Famous for its , a state boasts at least a handful Australia: Wine is produced conquistadors, but a rapid wines from near the Rhine produced in southern Spain, of local . Let your in every state of Australia. The modernization and influx of include and a type of and sparkling cava. local grocery store or liquor country is the fourth-largest French families has resulted in . United States: California is store point you in the right wine producer in the world a fresh new wine market in the South Africa: Production in the primary direction. WINE GUIDE | TYPES OF WINE Get Your Fizz On ling goes on more than Bjust your wrist with a bright, sparkling glass of wine.

The sparkle in sparkling wine comes from carbon dioxide, introduced through fermentation in the or tank or, in some cheaper wines, by an injection of the gas. The bubbles were originally considered a fault in the wine and endangered workers as the pressure tended to blow up the bottles. The British were the first to like the bubbly and engineered stronger bottles and corks to contain it. Hail, Britannia

WHAT’S IN A NAME? Champagne is the most popular of these fizzy wines. Only wine from the Champagne region of France can bear the name, others must be called sparkling wine. Other sparkling wines can also be referred to by region, such as cava from Spain, espumante from and asti from Italy. Sparkling wines can be either fully sparkling — five to six atmospheres of pressure per bottle — or semi-spar- kling, one to two and a half atmospheres. The amount of pressure in the bottle depends on the sugar added during fermentation. More sugar means more bubbles. The name of the wine can indicate how sweet it is. Brut nature has no added sugar; extra brut has up to six grams of sugar per liter; brut is up to 12; extra dry, extra sec or extra seco has 12-17 grams; dry, sec or seco goes from 17-32; demi-sec or semi-seco has 32-50 grams; and the sweetest, doux or dulce has more than 50 grams per liter. While most sparkling wines are white or , red wines can sparkle, too. Italy makes brachetto, a light-bodied red with strawberry notes, and lambrusco, a semi-sparkling lambrusco.

© FOTOLIA WINE GUIDE | FOOD Cooking With Wine

ine isn’t just for pouring with a finished dish. The right W variety can add depth and flavor to a variety of sweet and savory dishes. Here are three quick tips for cooking with wine.

Choose a wine you’d drink. cook down with your dish, ROASTED CHICKEN While it’s tempting to skimp on a imparting flavor and moisture as WITH POTATOES wine you’re going to put into a pot most of the alcohol cooks off. 4 Yukon gold potatoes with other ingredients, a bottle Good examples are bold reds 1 tablespoon olive oil that you have to choke down on added to a spaghetti sauce or Rosemary, to taste its own won’t do your dish any chicken roasted in . Salt and pepper, to taste favors. Go with one you’d enjoy on When in doubt, color code. A 4-6 chicken thighs its own. That doesn’t have to mean good rule of thumb is that lighter 1 cup white wine expensive, though. Ask the wine colored wines should go with 4-6 tablespoons of butter expert at your local grocery or more delicate foods like seafood liquor store for reasonably priced and chicken while more boldly Wash and cube the potatoes and bottles that will enhance your rec- flavored reds can go with darker arrange in the bottom of a casserole ipe. foods with bigger flavors like red dish. Simmer down. The wine should meat and anything spicy. Drizzle with olive oil and toss light- ly to coat. Sprinkle with rosemary, salt and pepper. Pour the white wine over the potatoes. Arrange the chicken thighs on top and put a pat of butter atop each thigh. Season again with salt and pep- per. Cover the dish with foil and bake in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and cook until chick- en is brown and crisp and the juices run clear.

© FOTOLIA WINE GUIDE | WINE CULTURE Wine Etiquette

or the uninitiated, F the world of wine can be a minefield. Here are some tips to make you look like a pro.

Go in order. For every bot- tle, there’s a proper time. Serve in order from lightest to dark- est, driest to sweetest. First come bubbles, then lighter whites like Riesling, heavier whites, rosés, light reds like pinot noir, heavier reds like , and, finally dessert wines.

KNOW THE RIGHT TEMPERATURE Reds can be served at room temperature, right? But whose room? Ideally, in the wine cel- lar, that bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon would be kept around 55 degrees, not the 72 degrees of our kitchen or, even worse, after a trip in a warm car. So pour your reds with a bit of a chill. For quick results, try popping it in the freezer for © FOTOLIA about 15 minutes before serv- ing. White wines should be served between 50-60 degrees, and all the bubbly should be ice cold. There’s a reason for the champagne bucket.

SERVING, POURING ing the butt of the bottle, not your clinking partner in the AT THE RESTAURANT dish. No matter how many AND DRINKING the neck. Hold your glass eye. Lastly and most impor- If you’re ordering for the times you’ve seen it on TV, Make sure you serve your around the stem or the base. tantly, keep pace with those table, get a red and a white. don’t sniff the . Do, how- wine in the proper glass (red, When clinking glasses, clink around you. Don’t imbibe too Your bold, tannic red may ever, taste the wine before it’s white or sparkling). Pour hold- glass to glass gently and look quickly. overwhelm someone’s seafood poured for everyone. WINE GUIDE | TYPES OF WINE Dessert Wines e’re used to ordering a nice red W with our steak and a white with our fish, but wine can also come with dessert.

Dessert wines are, as the name until the very end, concen- implies, heavy on the sugar either trating the fruit’s natural from naturally sweet grapes sugar. and chenin like or by adding blancs are good examples of sugar. Adding sugar before late- wines. fermentation is called chap- wines are a type of late-har- talization; if it comes after, vest wine where the grape is süssreserve. Wine can also infected by Botrytis cinerea, be fortified before all the a fungus that punctures sugar is fermented, usually grape skins to dehydrate with brandy, or water can be them and concentrate fla- removed from the wine to vors and, most importantly, concentrate the sugar, like sugar. is perhaps in raisin wines or the most famous wine of (eiswine, in Germany). this type, and among the Fortified wines are per- most famous dessert wines. haps the most famous of the Produced in the Bordeaux sweet dessert wines. Port, region of France, it bears from Portugal, comes in notes of honey, apple, dried ruby port with chocolate fruit and saffron. and berry flavors and tawny port with nut and toffee PAIRINGS notes. Sherry comes from A general rule of thumb is the Jerez region of Spain and that the wine should be comes in a reason-defying sweeter than the dessert blend of categories. The itself. For example, on a hot wine can be dry with day, pick a lightly sweet, almond or citrus notes crisp wine and a vanil- (), darker brown la-based or fruit dessert. A with hints of caramel Gewürztraminer, with its (Oloroso), or full-on sweet floral aromas, is a good (Moscatel). Madeira, from choice, as is a Riesling or the island of the same name . Chocolate is a off Morocco, repeatedly tough call with dessert heated and oxidized. It can wines, but a fortified red can range from dry to sweet and do the trick. When in doubt, can age for centuries. seek out the wine expert at Late-harvest wines come your local grocery or liquor from grapes left on the vine store. © FOTOLIA WINE GUIDE | WINE CULTURE Gifts for Oenophiles hile a new W bottle is always a great gift, here are some other things to please the wine lover in your life.

The perfect stemware. So that they always have the right glass to hand, pick up a set of stemware. You can get dish- washer-safe, shatter-resistant stemware that will flatter both the wine and the drinker. The ideal set would have glasses for both red and white. Want bonus points? Have them per- sonalized with a monogram. An opener. There are almost as many ways to get into the wine bottle as there are types of grapes. Keep in mind where and how your oenophile nor- mally imbibes. Have wine, will travel? Look for a sturdy pock- et corkscrew in a lightweight material. Drinking at home? Look for an ornate mounted corkscrew that matches their © FOTOLIA decor. These heavy-duty devic- es usually come in antique designs and finishes. There are also electric corkscrews, air pressure corkscrews and a whole host of devices named after animals. Get hands-on with openers at your local liquor or home goods store. Journals and label savers. isn’t enough, look for a wine break a bottle en route to din- chemical reactions and one develop, but beware, it can Wine creates great memories club that will deliver bottles on ner again. The market is full of way to help a bottle achieve its also harm a delicate wine. Of and you can help preserve your timeline. Check to make totes, and even portable full potential is to allow it to course, sparkling wine them with wine journals and sure you can have wine wine racks designed to keep breathe in a or by shouldn’t be decanted at all. If label saver kits. shipped to your wine lover’s your bottles safe and sound. using aerator to introduce oxy- your wine lover likes bubbly, Wine club subscription. address first. Decanter or aerator. Your gen. As a wine breathes, it gen- maybe choose a swanky chiller When giving just one bottle Wine totes and bags. Never bottle of wine is chock full of erally allows the flavor to bucket instead. WINE GUIDE | BEYOND THE GRAP3 Fruit-based Wines

ost wines M come from one or more varieties of grape, but there are a bushel of fruit- based wines, too.

Technically, wine can be made from any plant that can be fermented, but legally, most drinks just labeled wine are made from grapes. Fruit wines are generally labeled with the type of fruit fermented, like cherry wine or plum wine. Berry wine: Just about any berry can be made into wine, though sometimes the natural- ly occurring high acid contents mean that water must be added to produce a more pleasant drink. Plum wine: Popular in Asia, plum wine is made from plums steeped in distilled liquor. It has a higher alcohol content than most wines. Cherry wine: Cherry kijafa (Denmark) and Maraska (Croatia) are two well-known types of cherry wine. In the United States, Michigan leads the way both in tart cherry pro- duction and making cherry wine. Cherry wine can be used to make fortified wines and liqueurs. Pineapple wine: Made from © FOTOLIA pineapple juice instead of grape juice, pineapple wine is a dry with a strong Caribbean. U.S., but with a little searching, around at specialty stores in wine. If you’re into that sort of bouquet of pineapple. It’s pop- Fruit wines aren’t as popular there’s a good chance some- your area, and you’ll soon be thing, fruit wines can also be a ular in Asia, but is also made in as they once were as a staple of one’s making a wine out of sipping from your own bottle good way to get into winemak- Hawaii, Africa and in the rural homesteads across the your region’s staple crop. Ask of locally grown apple or pear ing yourself.