The regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy in France are world renowned for producing some of the best wines available anywhere. Let?s take a look at them individually.

First we have Bordeaux, this world famous region in France near the Southeast coast makes some of the best and most famous red wines as well as white wines and dessert wines. Of these, the most notable of the red wines come form Medoc, Saint-Emilion, and Pomerol. Most of the high quality white wines hail from the area called Graves while the best dessert wines are found in Sauternes and Saint-Croix-du-Mont.

With the red wines of Bordeaux we usually see blends including Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and occasionally a little of Petit Verdot. The dessert wines and white wines from the Bordeaux region are mainly of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillion. Some of the most expensive and in demand wines come from the Bordeaux region including the world famous Chateaux Lafite-Rothschild.

The Bordeaux region is a diversified wine growing area with nearly ten thousand wine making chateaux, and over thirteen thousand wine growers. Due to the sheer numbers you will find a variety of wines from old and established aged Bordeaux wines to young wines. Bordeaux wines offer everything from the top quality wines like the Rothschild mentioned above which deserves the price it brings, to even the more common table wines that are much less expensive but still of superior quality. You can?t go wrong with a wine from this region.

The Burgundy Region is located in North Central France reaching from Dijon south to Beaujolais. It is said that the farther north you go in Burgundy the better the wine. The far northern area of Burgundy called Cote d?Or means hills of gold and probably for this reason! It is here that we find the Pinot Noir grape that is responsible for some of the world?s most delicious and complex wines. Some of the very best vineyards in Burgundy are right here in the hills, sitting in the actual hillsides.

Beaujolais is located in the southern area of the Burgundy region and instead of the Pinot Noir grape, the wine producers here choose the Gamay which is known to be fruitier. These wines are made to be consumed while they are young and it is recommended that they be chilled to even further enhance the berry taste. A good Beaujolais wine will be fruity and yet still be dry.

Many of the Burgundy vineyards are ranked ?Grand Cru? which indicates the very best vineyards and quite a few others are labeled ?Premier Cru? which means exceptional. When looking at the label of a wine from the Burgundy Region you will find the exact location the grapes come from and that is usually all the information given.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about the Bordeaux and Burgundy regions and their famous wines, now go out and get some and try it for yourself!

Gregg Hall is a consultant for online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida. Find out about personalized wine bottles at http://www.winebottlespersonalized.com

Nobody likes to look like an amateur when doing anything and wine tasting is no exception. By simply following a few guidelines you can look as if you have been to dozens of wine tastings even if you don?t know a cabernet sauvignon from a pinot noir. Chances are that no one is going to come up and ask you to be a head judge!

The first step to tasting wine is a visual one, fill the wine glass to no more than half full at most, one third is better. Secondly, hold the wine glass by the stem so as not to influence the taste by heating it with the heat from your hand and also so that you are able to better see the wine. Observe the intensity of the color as well as how transparent the wine is. When observing the intensity you should look at it from above.

Now comes the fun part, swirl the wine in the glass to prepare it for tasting. The wine will leave small traces inside the glass, the more alcohol the more traces it will leave. Next, observe the color which shows the variety of grape that the wine comes from. Generally speaking you will find a cabernet sauvignon is usually violet to dark while pinot noir is more of a ruby color.

The color of a wine is also determined by the conditions of the climate during the season of growing and harvesting that the grapes went through. For example a very hot summer combined with a dry fall will produce full ripe grapes with a very dark color while a cooler summer and wet fall will give more undeveloped grapes which are much lighter. The type of wine making process has a lot to do with the color as well; red wine is fermented with the skin and the longer the process the darker the wine ends up.

The age of a wine also tells its color. When a wine is young it is full of coloring agents that make it denser and rich looking and as time goes by these agents are affected by chemical reactions that result in sediment being formed at the bottom and the color lightens up. When you see a wine with a lot of sediment at the bottom you can usually assume that it is older and has been aging for quite awhile.

So there you have it a basic overview of wine tasting that will at least give you some semblance of knowing what you are doing, so enjoy!

Gregg Hall is a consultant for online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida. Find out about personalized wine bottles at http://www.winebottlespersonalized.com

You?ve heard of them, but you?ve never thought about having a wine tasting party of your own. Then again, maybe you have thought about it, but changed your mind because you were afraid that everyone would come just to taste all the wines and go home a little on the inebriated side. You can remove those thoughts from your mind because the purpose of a wine tasting party is to do just that: taste it!

Your wine tasting party can consist of red wine, white wine, sparkling wine, or a combination of all three. You can serve unsalted bread or crackers with water in order for your guests to cleanse the taste of the wine before tasting another. You may also choose some light appetizers that will complement your personal wine theme. Spice it up a little if you like with a little light humor. It is a party, after all, and does not need to be stuffy just because the theme is wine tasting rather than just fun and games.

For your wine tasting experience, you do not want to drink the wine as you would if you were seated at the dinner table with a nice meal. For wine tasting, you want to first take the glass and hold it up to the light or against a white background. It should be clear with a brilliant color. While holding the stem of the glass and keeping the base on the table, gently swirl the wine in the glass. Doing this allows the wine to mix with the surrounding air, which releases it aroma into the air. While you inhale deeply, take in the fragrance of the wine. In most cases, a wine that smells good will taste good. To taste it, you want to sip it and roll it in your mouth to savor all of the flavors, while taking the time to pick the very essence of its aroma, flavor, and delicacies. Make note of every little thing including whether it tastes fruity, bitter, sour, or some other combination. Your host or hostess should have little booklets for you to write down information about each wine that you taste.

Mrs. Party… Gail Leino is the internet’s leading authority on selecting the best possible party supplies, using proper etiquette and manners while also teaching organizational skills and fun facts. Free Party Games to help complete your event.

In the Rioja region of Spain Temranillo is known as the exclusive red wine from the grape of that area. Now across the ocean from Spain this delicious red wine is now on the verge of dethroning Sangiovese as the top red varietal wine in the land of Oz, not that Oz, Australia!

The win growers in Australia are now harvesting plantings of the Tempranillo from over the last few years and the new grape on the Australian wine scene is becoming more popular than any other wine as far as a percentage basis is concerned.

So what is it that is so special about this particular grape? Some of the characteristics that are making it so popular are that the wines that come from it have a great color and delicate fruit flavor as well as being very low in acid and tannins which make for an effortless drinking style.

The Temranillo variety also has a short growing season in the vineyard which makes it suitable even for cooler areas which expands upon the regions of the country in which it can be grown.

The Temranillo variety is the main wine in the Rioja and Ribera del Duero regions of Spain where it is sometimes blended with Graciano or even sauvignon. In Portugal Temranillo is utilized as a minor part in port, and in some red table wines. In other areas of the world the major vineyards are found in Argentina and California. In California it is called Valdepenas and is generally thought of as unsuitable for making fine wine.

The popularity of the Tempranillo variety has increased in Australia just in the past few years. The renowned Brown Brothers have long been a pioneer of the variety, but now there are over 50 other producers of the variety in about half of Australia’s sixty wine regions and even though McLaren Vale has the highest number of producers the Tempranillo variety is widely planted throughout the mainland Australian wine regions.

The highest rated Tempranillo wine according to James Halliday’s Wine Companion 2005 is that which hails from Manton’s Creek Vineyard in the Mornington Peninsula. Casella Wines, the makers of the hugely successful [yellowtail range are also actively involved in the variety.

The fate of Tempranillo as far as Australia is concerned lies with the winemakers and the growers many of which are just beginning to experiment and learn how to use the variety. Some enthusiastic fans of Tempranillo claim that it will be the premium red wine in Austraila while some of the traditionalists stick by the Italian Sangiovese. One thing is certain, only time will tell but in the meantime I will continue to enjoy the competition.

Gregg Hall is a consultant for online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida. Find out about personalized wine bottles at http://www.winebottlespersonalized.com

The most famous cool climates for Riesling wine are in Germany, Austria, and the Alsace region of France. In these places, Riesling wine can be dazzling, with intense mineral and peach flavors and breathtaking clarity and transparency. Similarly, the cool vineyards of upper New York state, Washington, Ontario, British Columbia, and New Zealand can produce elegant Riesling wine.

Riesling wines can span a broad range of styles, being produced in both dry and sweet variations. Riesling wine aromas lean towards the fruity-side with apple, peach and pear standing at the forefront mixed with delicate floral undertones.

Riesling wine grapes need cooler climates and they produce both refreshing light-bodied wines and full-bodied table wines to pair with the greatest cuisine. Riesling wine has a very high natural acidity, which both balances the sugar in sweeter wines and acts as a preservative for long ageing.

Riesling wines tend to pick up flavoring from the mineral content in the soils they are grown in, making it common for hints of slate or stone to make their way into the aroma and flavor of Riesling wines. True Riesling wines have two dominant aliases, Johannisberg Riesling and White Riesling both of which refer to the authentic Riesling made from the Riesling grape.

Riesling Wine Tip:

Riesling wine is brilliant with fish, shell-fish, poultry, cold meat and dishes such as sauerkraut or smoked ham.

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

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

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.

There is already a stigma attached to wine of being a high class beverage and above the ordinary citizen without the added feeling of ignorance when trying to understand and comprehend what the terminology on the labels means. Wines produced in the Americas and in Australia are generally better with this and usually make it clear what type of wine is in the bottle and also name the vineyard from where the wine came. Conversely, the labels on wine bottles from the Old Country have so many different classifications and types along with town names, names of vineyards, and even little pet names from the actual producer of the wine. It is little wonder that the average wine drinker has no clue what he is looking at.

In order to try to make a little sense out of the whole situation and avoid having to drag an interpreter around with us when we go shopping for wine, let?s take a look at some of the things we should be looking for in the label of a wine bottle. First off if we are looking for a high quality French wine we want to see the term, ?Cru?. This signifies that the wine is from the regions of Bordeaux, Alsace, or Burgundy and state that the wine is of a high quality.

Another indication that a wine is of higher quality believe it or not is one that is labeled to have been grown in poor soil and dry conditions. The reason for this is that the vine, when put under these conditions, puts everything into ripening the grape and hardly anything into the leaves which gives you a better grape.

If you see the term ?Methode Traditionelle? on a bottle, mainly in the Americas and Australia it means that the wine is produced in the same way as traditional champagne, it means Traditional Method and will usually be more reasonable in price as well.

Another indicator of a high quality wine is the term, ?Vieilles Vignes, which means old vines. These vineyards that are designated, ?old vines?, tend to have more concentrated juices and the other attributes of the wine tend to be richer also.

Another reference to a high quality wine is the term, ?Estate Bottled?, which means that the wine was grown, produced, and bottled all at the same place which infers that the wine maker oversees every part of the operation and does not contract it out to any other source. This is usually found in French wines, for example Mis en Bouteille au Chateau.

Gregg Hall is a consultant for online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida. Find out about personalized wine bottles at http://www.winebottlespersonalized.com

Cabernet Sauvignon is the grape responsible for the wines of Bordeaux’s Medoc region, arguably some of the finest reds in the world. Cabernet Sauvignon performs well practically the world over, as long as it’s not too cold, but in certain appellations in France, and more recently in California’s Napa Valley, it produces wines that astonish with their richness and complexity.

Cabernet Sauvignon is a medium to full-bodied, densely-colored wine, rich in berry flavor with a distinct herbaceousness. A true Cabernet Sauvignon is unblended, austerely tannic, and characterized by the flavor of tea or herbs, leaves and stems.

Cabernet’s complexity is endlessly intriguing, partially because it melds brilliantly with other grapes. When blended with the Merlot grape for instance, a softer and more subtle Cabernet emerges without surrendering its quintessential character. Cabernet Sauvignon can be a delicious wine.

The aging process is critical to the taste and flavor of Cabernet Sauvignon. Winemakers often age Cabernet Sauvignons in barrels of different woods, each imparting a unique flavor. Some vintners use barrels of different woods in succession to add complexity. Most winemakers use their smallest barrels to age a full-bodied varietal like Cabernet Sauvignon. The smaller the barrel, the more pronounced is the influence of the wood.

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

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.

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