For all wine lovers, a trip to San Francisco should also consist of day trip to some of the fine vineyards that are in driving distance of the city. Many of these vineyards have charter packages available that will pick you up and bring you on a tour through the vineyard and allow you to sample their wines and then take you back, no worrying about drinking too much and then driving.

The wines that are available in the Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley of California have been known to change the minds people who claim that they don’t have a taste for wine. The vast majority of the wines here are fine quality and are specially selected to show the level of quality that these vineyards have to offer. Whether you are an experienced wine taster or not doesn’t matter, you will receive an excellent education about how the wine is made as well as be informed of all the different varieties available in the area.

If you aren’t the tourist type and don’t want to take one of the chartered bus tours you can also check into the smaller and more intimate option of an SUV tour. Granted, a tour like this will be much more expensive than the bus tours, but if you have the money to spend they are well worth the price just for the level of personal attention that you receive and the piece of mind that someone else is driving instead of you. You will also be able to take in some of the smaller independent wineries that don’t make themselves available to the larger bus tours. If you think you may want to try this type of tour, plan ahead at least a week because they do not have the flexibility of filling empty seats that they larger charters have.

When you are going to a vineyard or winery for a tasting experience there are some things you will want to keep in mind to make the visit as enjoyable as possible. One of the things that many people don’t think about is wearing fragrances. Don’t wear any perfumes or other scents as these will interfere with the taste and fragrance of the wine. Also, to avoid warming the wine you want to hold the wine by the stem. To cleanse the palate you should have some crackers or plain bread that you can eat between tastings.

A visit to the California Wine Country will give you a great education about all of the varieties of wines and the regions they come from as well as the differences between them all which will be fascinating even if you have never had a glass of wine in your life.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about wine and Wine Gift Baskets at http://www.oldworldvineyard.com

The color and characteristic of a wine is derived from the grapes used. In this article, we take a quick look at white wines commonly enjoyed by wine enthusiasts.

When discussing white or red wines, it is always important to remember that much of the discussion falls into a bit of a fuzzy area. Why? Well, white wines are rarely white for the first thing. Second, many a winery actually mixes wines of all varieties together to produce a desired flavor and aroma. Thus, the ?white? wine you are drinking may not be entirely white. Having said that, there is little reason to avoid discussing what are traditionally known as white wines.

The dominant grape in the white wines is undisputedly the Chardonnay. It is a rare day you can find any wine drinker who has not sipped more than a few Chardonnay whites. The wine is incredibly popular for a number of reasons. First, there is a lot of it because the vine can be grown practically anywhere and is! Second, the wine is known for an ?oak? flavor, which is extremely popular with wine drinkers. Third, the wine is very flexible and can be produced with a wide variety of fruit aromas and flavors. Chardonnay white wines traditionally have been very dry and full bodied. With the wide range of wineries producing vintages, however, a wide variety of flavors and bodies are on the market.

Sauvignon Blanc should either be next or dead last on our list of whites. This is a take it or leave it grape. The taste is sharp and dry. This is a not a wine where you will find fruity mixes and such. It is a classic, traditional white that people either love or hate. Personally, I love it and it goes number two since I am writing this article!

Riesling white wines are next on our list. This is a German wine that is excellent if you buy from a German winery. You can find French and American wineries producing it, but it simply isn?t the same. This is a light wine often described as ?refreshing? although I must admit I have never understood that term. The Riesling whites take a beating by wine gurus, but you can find this dry, light white to be just the trick. It is markedly different than the Chardonnay, so give it a try.

There are a variety of other white grapes that are used to produce interesting vintages, but we are going to skip them to discuss a less-known grape that is up and coming. The Viognier grape is found in the Rhone Valley in France and is used to produce a flavorful, dry white that is excellent. It is typically a medium body wine with low acidity and often has a fruity aroma to it. It is a personal favorite that I suggest you try.

When it comes to white wines, there is no disputing Chardonnay is the king of the vine. Still, you should make an effort to move beyond the king to discover the interesting other vintages available.

Xavier Moldini is with WineriesforYou.com – a directory of wineries.

There are two fundamental types of wine based on grape color — red (from red or black grapes) and white (from white grapes). Grapes of these different colors can have hundreds of varieties, which is why types of wine are so numerous on store shelves. Consumers are the most familiar with names given to the different varieties of grapes. The grape variety is the most important factor in how the wine will taste.

The most popular red types of wine are cabernet sauvignon. Connoisseurs will tell you that the best cabernet sauvignon types of wine come from the Bordeaux region of France. Merlot is another red wine that holds flavors of chocolate and cherry. Grenache is a red wine derived from grapes that hold a raspberry and/or smoky flavor. Pinot Noir is a red wine that is very important to the Burgundy region of France. It is difficult to cultivate, but when done right, it gives hints of mint, raspberries, and black cherries. Zinfandel is a very popular red wine that comes from Europe but is grown mostly in California.

The most-purchased white types of wine are chardonnays. Chardonnay contains fruity tastes mixed in with hints of vanilla. The most cultivated white types of wine in California are Chenin Blancs. This grape is an inexpensive alternative to chardonnay, and has hints of fruit in its taste. Pinot Blanc is often compared to chardonnay, containing tastes of apple and spice when you drink it. Pinot Gris hails from Oregon and is rich in spice flavors. Riesling is grown predominantly in Germany, and has a fruity taste. Semillon contains a peachy flavor and is inexpensive to produce. White Zinfandel is produced in California and has a sweet taste. To produce this wine, red zinfandel grapes have their skins removed during processing, giving a pink end result.

Find wine, bar and alcohol accessories online at WineandBarAccessories.net: whether you’re hosting a dinner party or a wine tasting event, there are a variety of wine and bar accessories any good host should have on hand. From wine racks to cabinets and glasses and corkscrews, a variety of items exist for the wine lovers and hard liquor drinkers in your life. For more on information on fine wines of the world visit Killerwines.com

Wine Tasting Component I: Look

The first step you have to undertake in wine tasting is visual.

1. Fill up the glass up to 1/3 of its volume; never fill it more than half;

2. Hold the glass by the stem. Initially you may find this too pretentious but there are good reasons for it:

а) by doing it this way you can actually observe the wine in it;

b) this will keep your fingerprints off the bowl;

в) the heat from your palm will not change the temperature of the wine.

There?s a good saying by one of the greatest French wine lovers, Emil Painot: Offer someone a glass of wine and you can immediately tell whether he/she is a connoisseur by the way they hold the glass.? Even though you may not think of yourself as a connoisseur, you could still learn how to hold the wine glass.

3. Focus on the color intensity and the transparency of the liquid.

a) the color of the wine, and more specifically its nuances, are best observed on a white background.

б) the wine?s intensity is best judged by holding the glass without slanting it and looking at the liquid from above;

4. Next comes the swirling of the glass. This can also seem too pretentious or even dangerous if you have a full glass or a white top. But this movement is important since it prepares you for the next step in wine tasting ? the Taste. The easiest way to swirl the glass is to place it on a table or other even surface, and to swirl your hand while holding the glass by the stem. Swirl hard and have the wine almost touch the rim of the glass. Then stop. The wine leaves tiny traces with irregular shapes on the inside of the glass. Some ?experts? then read them with as much zeal as coffee-tellers. The truth is however, that they are just an indicator for the quality of the wine ? the more alcohol a wine has, the more wine traces it forms.

What does the color of the wine tell us? The wine?s color tells us many things about its character.

First, the color shows the grape variety. Let?s take two popular varieties as examples ? cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir. Cabernet?s grapes are smaller, with a thicker and darker skin than those of pinot noir. As a result, the color of wines made from cabernet sauvignon is usually described as violet to dark while the color of wines made from pinot noir is associated with ruby.

Second, the color is influenced by the climatic conditions. A hot summer and dry fall result in ripe grapes, with a dark, intense color. A cold summer and rainy fall will produce undeveloped grapes with a lighter color. Third, wine-making practices also have an influence on the color of wine. For red wine, the grapes are fermented with the skin. Since the coloring agents are in the grape skin, and not in the juice, the longer the process of maceration, i.e. the longer the skin stays with the juice, the darker the wine color will be.

Fourth, the process of wine aging also has an influence on the color of wine. The young red wines are rich in coloring agents and that makes their color denser and fuller. In the course of time chemical reactions take place in the bottle and sediment is formed at the bottom. The wine?s color gets lighter and is often described as brick or amber.

Let?s go through an example: you pour yourself a glass of red wine and after carefully observing it, you notice a full granite color, good density, and not so good transparency. What conclusions can you draw? Well, you can safely say that the wine is:

- from cabernet sauvignon grapes;

- from a Southern region;

- relatively young;

- from a good yield;

- that the wine-maker has gone for a good long maceration.

If you know the wine, compare what you know with what you see: maybe the wine has a very full color and the yield has been bad ? this speaks of a good wine-making technique; or maybe the wine is too pale for its age ? this speaks for undeveloped grape or poor wine-making technique.

http://www.wines-resource.com

The Carignane grape variety is one of the most widely planted grapes in the world. It’s popularity stems from the high crop yeilds that it produces as well as the characteristics that it can bring to a wine. Wine made from Carignane usually has red-fruit characteristics, deep violet and purple color, strong tannin structure and high levels of alcohol content. It is sometimes peppery like Syrah. These characteristics have made it very popular as a blending agent in the vast quantities of local table wines (jug wines) that are consumed around the world. It often provides the ‘backbone’ of these wines and is blended with other grape varieties that bring additonal flavor characteristics.

Carignane is thought to have originated in northern Spain and grows well in a ‘Mediterranean’ climate. As a result, it is widely grown in many of the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea including France, Italy, Spain, and Algeria. Carignane is the most widely planted grape in France. It has also found a home in almost every other wine producing country around the world.

Carignane Wine Tip:

The Carignane wines are generally dry and range from medium to full-bodied. They have lots of life to them, are recommended with fuller-bodied foods and are best served at cool room or cellar temperature. Carignane grapes produce more red wine than any other grape variety.

Wine Ratings – Wine ratings, wine and winery related information for the enjoyment of fine wines.

Wine is commonly produced all over the world on properties we refer to as wineries. In addition to wine production, in order to finish the production processes, larger wineries may also include areas such as: warehouses, bottling lines, laboratories, expansion tanks, tank farms.

The grapes which are used in wine production at these wineries can come from vineyards owned by the wineries themselves, or it can be made from grapes that are bought and imported from other vineyards around the world. As wineries are becoming popular attractions for tourists, many different types of wine tours are now offered by many wineries around the world.

Wine touring often includes experiencing the actual production of wine, however, they are often revolved around tasting the wine, as well. To allow everyone to participate in this aspect of touring, many different types of wine tours are being made available. These types of tours most generally include personal guides for the tours, as well as vary with their modes of transportation. Some of the various tours with different modes of transportation include:

• hot air balloon tours
• limousine balloon tours
• bike wine tours
• hiking tours
• bus tours
• train wine tours

With wineries becoming such popular tourist attractions, just about any type of wine touring is now available.

Custom touring plans are often offered by wineries. These type of tours are where a personal guide will go over various touring options with you, and help you to determine which type of tour would best fit the needs of your individual group. These guides will often suggest an itinerary, and revise it any way you may want it to be revised.

Touring options are nearly endless! Your winery tour can include a picnic to gourmet meals, and are great for company picnics! Whether you have a small group of two, medium sized groups of less than 15, or a large group of 15 plus, a wine tour could be the perfect experience. From romantic balloon tours to luxurious limousine touring, a wine tour can be an unforgettable experience for all!

About the author:
Fabien Ponson invites you to read some more articles about wine tours and regions on the website Wine Region Tour.

For all wine lovers, a trip to San Francisco should also consist of day trip to some of the fine vineyards that are in driving distance of the city. Many of these vineyards have charter packages available that will pick you up and bring you on a tour through the vineyard and allow you to sample their wines and then take you back, no worrying about drinking too much and then driving.

The wines that are available in the Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley of California have been known to change the minds people who claim that they don’t have a taste for wine. The vast majority of the wines here are fine quality and are specially selected to show the level of quality that these vineyards have to offer. Whether you are an experienced wine taster or not doesn’t matter, you will receive an excellent education about how the wine is made as well as be informed of all the different varieties available in the area.

If you aren’t the tourist type and don’t want to take one of the chartered bus tours you can also check into the smaller and more intimate option of an SUV tour. Granted, a tour like this will be much more expensive than the bus tours, but if you have the money to spend they are well worth the price just for the level of personal attention that you receive and the piece of mind that someone else is driving instead of you. You will also be able to take in some of the smaller independent wineries that don’t make themselves available to the larger bus tours. If you think you may want to try this type of tour, plan ahead at least a week because they do not have the flexibility of filling empty seats that they larger charters have.

When you are going to a vineyard or winery for a tasting experience there are some things you will want to keep in mind to make the visit as enjoyable as possible. One of the things that many people don’t think about is wearing fragrances. Don’t wear any perfumes or other scents as these will interfere with the taste and fragrance of the wine. Also, to avoid warming the wine you want to hold the wine by the stem. To cleanse the palate you should have some crackers or plain bread that you can eat between tastings.

A visit to the California Wine Country will give you a great education about all of the varieties of wines and the regions they come from as well as the differences between them all which will be fascinating even if you have never had a glass of wine in your life.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about wine and Wine Gift Baskets at http://www.oldworldvineyard.com

Wines are one of the most elegant of all drinks. Wine is not good unless it is served properly and chosen correctly. Did you know that there are hundreds of different choices? Did you know that you could make your own? Wine is a wonderful quality drink that can add a lot of flavor and elegance to a dinner party or to a simple dinner with a loved one.

Wines are available to all people over the age of 21 to consume. Do not forget that wines do have alcohol in them and therefore should be drunk in moderation. It is important that you never consume wine when taking medication as well. It can make you very sick.

But, back to the good stuff. Did you know that drinking a glass of wine a day can keep you healthy? It can and does. Think for a moment about the French. The foods they eat are rich and full of calories, yet it is Americans who have the most weight problems. Why do the French get to eat all that good food without gaining so much weight? It is because they drink wines religiously. Wine has some of the most powerful antioxidants in it. Antioxidants help to cleanse the body of harmful toxins. It can aid in digestion as well. So, in this area, wines can be quite healthy.

Wines can be purchased in a variety of flavors. It seems that everyone has their own preferences and choices. There are red and white wines. There are chardonnays and there are zinfandels. There are many options. In order to know which type you like, you are simply going to have to try several!

Wines are made around the world. In general, it is wise to purchase older wines that have aged. That is because as it ages, the flavors become bolder and fuller. If you have the time, patience and expense, you can actually make your own wines. It can be quite a learning experience! Adding wine to the diet can be a great way to add a lot of flavor and maybe even a little bit of health! Why not add wines to your diet?

Tim Jackson
Wines Directory

The wine regions of Austria are divided into 4 areas, called Lower Austria, Styria, Burgenland, and Vienna. Each of these regions is then further divided, for a total of 19 designated wine growing areas. To roughly get your bearings, Lower Austria encompasses the wine growing areas north and west of Vienna, with Burgenland south and east of Vienna and Styria south and west of Burgenland.

Lower Austria, called ?Niederosterriech?, is divided into 8 sub-regions: Wachau, Kremstal, Kamptal, Danubelands, Traisental, Carnuntum, Weinvertel, and Thermenregion. Calling this region ?Lower Austria? may be a bit confusing. As mentioned above, the four main wine regions of Austria are all in proximity to Vienna, and so are all in the eastern half of the country. Of the four, Lower Austria is the northernmost. Geographically, one might think of the area to the North as being ?upper?, not ?lower.? In this case, it is called ?lower? due to its lower altitude, not latitude. Burgenland, however, claims the lowest altitudes of the four regions, but nonetheless, it is this higher, more northern region that is called Lower Austria.

The Wachau, while not the largest region (that claim to fame belongs to Weinvertel) is perhaps the best known of the 8 sub-regions. There are 3500 acres of vines, mostly Gr?ner Veltliner and Riesling, planted on the steeply terraced vineyards above the Danube River. The area also grows Sauvignon Blanc, M?ller-Thurgau, Neuburger, Gelber Muskateller, and Chardonnay (which they used to call ?Feinburgunder?). There is a regional association called the ?Vinea Wachau Nobilis Districtus? that labels the wines under three classifications: Steinfeder (light, young and racy), Federspiel (elegant and medium-bodied), and Smaragd (complex, ripe and powerful). Some of the most famous wineries of this association include Alzinger, Donabaum (Johann), Gritsch Mauritiushof, H?gl, Knoll, Pichler and Prager.

Kremstal and Kamptal produce some wines that are equal in quality to those of the Wachau, which isn?t surprising since the western part of Kremstal is geologically identical to its better-known neighbor. Then in the Kamptal region there is this enormous crag called the Hell Rock, around which the old-vine Rieslings yield beautiful wines. The best-known wines from these two regions come from the wineries of Nigl, Schloss Gobelsburg, Brundylmayer, Jurtschitsch and Marion Ebner?s Melusine.

Weinviertel means ?wine quarter?, and is named so because it is the largest wine producing area in all of Austria (45,000 acres.) The wine quarter encompasses the Danubelands, Traisental, and Carnuntum. It has a varying terroir as you move across from where it borders the Pannonian southeast European climate (thick layers of loess as well as lime, silicates, and clay) to the northern border with the Czech Republic (where they grow red wines), west to it?s southern edge of the Danubelands (a relatively ?new? wine growing area) and east to Carnuntum (more thick loess, but gravel deposits from the Danube and small areas of loam.) Gr?ner Veltliner is a specialty here, where its aroma is distinct from those made in the Wachau, Kremstal or Kamptal regions.

Thermenregion means ?thermal region,? named for the volcanic fault line that runs through and the many public spas it has. The conditions here are comparable to those of the Cote d?Or, with a climate that is mild, and heavy, rocky soils of limestone and clay that produce intense white wines and full-bodied reds. They have had the right to sell wine since the 13th century here, and the main varietals are Neuburger and Pinot Blanc, with the best known coming from the winemakers of Gumpoldskirchen.

For regional maps and more on the other wine regions of Austria, visit Winemonger.com.

Emily Schindler is a wine importer based in Los Angeles. To read more about the wine regions of Austria, or to find great wines imported from there, visit http://www.winemonger.com

Don’t we all love receiving food as a gift? Who cares what the occasion is? We all love to get good food. Food is one of those meaningful presents that says so much more than when you receive just another useless object. Food represents comfort and the good things in life.

This holiday season, or for any reason, when you’re trying to figure out a good gift to give, you ought to look into wine gift baskets. For the wine connoisseur or the wine novice, wine gift baskets are a great way to tell someone you care and give them something interesting, different, and delicious.

A variety of wine gift baskets are available for your gift-giving pleasure. You can select a basket which features red wine. Such a basket can consist of just one type of red wine like merlot or red zinfandel, for example. You can find wine gift baskets which will have a variety of merlots so the recipient can taste and compare different brands. You can also get a wine basket which contains a variety of wine styles. That way your friend can compare a merlot with a cabernet sauvignon. Wine gift baskets are available with white wines and blushes, too. Don’t know what type of wine to give? A good idea is to give them a basket which contains a chardonnay, a merlot, and a blush. Then you have all the bases covered.

Wine gift baskets come in a number of price points. There’s a basket to suit every budget. You can spend anywhere from around $30 to in excess of $200. Obviously this means there are a wealth of options from which to choose.

Wine gift baskets don’t have to be just wine, either. You can select a gift basket which includes complementary food items such as candies, fruits, and cheeses. Imagine their joy when they receive a lovely wicker basket containing a bottle of exquisite Californian sauvignon blanc, a bar of delicious Swiss chocolate, a box of fine British crackers, and a block of fresh Italian mozzarella cheese.

Wine gift baskets can be educational for the novice wine drinker and an exciting gift for the wine lover on your gift shopping list. One of the best things about them is their convenience. There a number of mail order companies which will be happy to send you a free catalog from which you can select your gifts and have them shipped to your friends and family. In addition to catalogs, there are plenty of online companies from which to choose. Often, a business will allow you to shop both online and through their catalog. Online ordering is safe and convenient and allows you to do more research on your gift items.

This holiday season, or any time you’re in search of a thoughtful gift, look into giving a wine gift basket. It’s certain they’ll love it.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as wine gift baskets at http://www.winegiftbasketsplus.com.