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

Sauvignon Blanc wine is crisp, high in acidity and light- to medium-bodied, and Sauvignon Blanc wine is recognizable for its grassy, herbaceous flavor and aroma. When grown in warmer climates the flavors are more fruity, melon-like. The grape is important in California, New Zealand and Northeastern Italy, but it really shines in France’s Loire Valley and Bordeaux regions.

There it is used prodigiously as a blending grape and is responsible for the stand-alone varietals Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume. Though not as rich and complex as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc is a versatile grape, one that grows well in a number of places, responds well to oak or a lack thereof, and can be drunk young or aged several years. As well, Sauvignon Blanc can make for some fabulous late-harvest offerings.

The most salient characteristic of Sauvignon Blanc wine is its distinctive, penetrating aroma, which can evoke scents of grapefruit, lime, green melon, gooseberry, passion fruit, freshly mown grass, and bell pepper. Grown in cooler climates and in fertile soils promoting excessive vine growth, herbaceous smells and flavors can dominate the character of Sauvignon Blanc wine, while in warmer regions, the melon, citrus and passion fruit aromas and flavors emerge.

Sauvignon Blanc Wine Tip:

Sauvignon Blanc wine’s acidic taste works in your favor, with oily-based dishes such as salads, and is perfect with lobster, oysters, scallops or in fact any type of fish. Sauvignon Blanc wine is also known as Fume Blanc.

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

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

Merlot wine is a rich, soft wine with the flavor of blackberries, beloved because it is seldom harsh and not as acidic as a Cabernet Sauvignon with which it is often blended. Merlot wine has the added advantage of being rich and supple but only moderately tannic and, therefore, wonderfully drinkable from early on.

The Merlot grape is larger and thinner skinned than the Cabernet grape. It has an opulent texture that goes admirably with h’ordeuves or as a dinner drink. Similar to the soft Algerian wines of the Pied Noirs, Merlot wine is used to round out and add complexity to Cabernets.

in today’s world, Merlot wine is a premium varietal in its own right. Merlot wine is a round sensual wine that does not need the same care in aging. So Merlot wine can be a splendidly pragmatic and commendable choice for many occasions.

Merlot wine is so popular due to the fact that it is softer, fruitier, and earlier-maturing than cabernet sauvignon, yet displays many of the same aromas and flavors ? black cherry, currant, cedar, and green olive ? along with mint, tobacco and tea-leaf tones.

The most critically acclaimed Merlot wines are dark, rich and strong. Aromas include scents of plums, black cherry, toffee, chocolate, violets, orange and tea.

Merlot Wine Tip:

Merlot wine is a good accompaniment to simply prepared beef and lamb dishes.

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

Champagne is not only the name of a sparkling wine, but the name of the place that it comes from. The area that it comes from is cooler and has a shorter growing season than that of the typical area where vineyards are found. About one hundred miles northeast of Paris, near the Belgian border is the largest area.

Chalky soils are the best for growing the vineyards because they provide natural moisture regulation with good drainage. The chalk also reflects the sunshine and heat upward to the grape and within to the roots. There is also a thin layer of topsoil receives the needed addition of fertilizer from those that care for the vineyards, called vintners. Some of the vintners care for the vineyards part time. Although there are other zones the three main zones here are Cote des Blancs, the Vallee de la Marne, and Montagne de Reims. The best and biggest are in the department of the Marne.

The minimum temperature required to ripen grapes is fifty degrees Fahrenheit: ten degree Celsius. They also must be located high enough to be clear of frost which is ninety meters or two hundred ninety five feet but yet low enough to be sheltered from extreme heat which is below two hundred ten meters or six hundred eighty nine feet. Great examples of a location such as this are Montagne de Reims, Grand and Premier Cru. Grand and Premier Cru grows primarily Pinot Noir.

Montagne produces some of the world’s best champagne due to its anomalous microclimate. Vallee de la Marne has vineyards that produce mostly Pinot Meunier. A wonderful Chardonnay is produced in Cote de Blancs. Cote de Sezanne may be a new comer to the production of champagne but the southern location but its southern location allows for the grapes to ripen better than many of the other areas.

The furthest south region brings you to the Aube where the temperature does have greater temperature extremes. It has numerous blends of champagne. You may not have heard of this area though because it is much less well known than the others.

Theoretically the best way to produce the best champagne is to mix together the best features of all the best grapes from all of the different areas. Each area stores millions of gallons of wine from the various vineyards for just such a purpose. The blends are produced from these varieties.

Pinot Meunier is the most commanding Champagne variety. It makes up nearly forty percent of the total acreage and makes up the foundation for all but those that are the most exclusive champagnes. Coming in at a close second is Pinot Noir with about thirty five percent of the total acreage. This makes up much of the longevity of champagne. Chardonnay makes up for the remaining twenty five percents and it also adds exquisiteness.

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

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

Gewurztraminer is an excellent and unique grape variety that is capable of producing some of the world’s greatest and most memorable Gewurztraminer wine. Gewurztraminer wine has inspired flavor comparisons to lychee, rosewater, honeysuckle, mango, papaya, coconut, apricot, peach, and Jamaican allspice. To say that Gewurztraminer wine is deeply flavored and complex would be one of wine’s biggest understatements.

Gewurztraminer wine is distinctive, an intense spicy bouquet. Gewurztraminer wine can be made in a range of styles from totally dry and crisp (most Alsatian bottlings) to slightly sweet and flabby (too many California bottlings) to luscious, honeyed sweet dessert wines (sort of like a late harvest Riesling but with complex spicy components).

Besides spice elements, Gewurztraminer wine can offer suggestions of various fruits, flowers and even nuts! No wine ends up tasting more like its initial grape flavors when freshly picked; thus few winemakers barrel-age Gewurztraminer wine or do anything in the cellar which would interfere with its delightful varietal character. If you have bold and adventurous taste buds, you might just fall in love with Gewurzt!

Gewurztraminer Wine Tip:

The dry versions of Gewurztraminer wine are refreshing complements to a wide variety of foods from pork and white meat dishes to onion quiche and various Asian cuisines.

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

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.

Vienna is the only national capital in the world with an economically significant wine industry within its city limits. Some 400 wine growers work the 1730 acres, producing a range of wines from great to merely drinkable, the latter being enjoyed mixed with sparkling mineral water and called G?Spritzr, which is bought in the jolly wine-gardens known as Heurige. In fact, almost all of the wine produced in the vineyards of Vienna is used to slake the thirst of the Viennese, with only very small amounts being exported. This Heurige culture dates back to the time of Charlemagne, but was officially recognized in 1784 by Emperor Josef II. Today there are about 180 licensed Heurige in Vienna, and there is nothing quite as enjoyable as a summer afternoon spent outside at a long Heurige table, drinking the local wine and tasting the local foods.

The oldest Viennese vineyards are officially documented in 1132, but the winegrowing tradition began in Vienna with the Celts, when the city was a village called Vidunia whose people planted vines on the slopes of what are now known as the Vienna Woods. A more systematic viticulture came with the Roman Empire, when the village was a military port called Vindobona. By the middle ages, vineyards were planted in every part of the city, and the winemaking culture was so important that when the Turks laid siege to the city, the Viennese held them off bravely until the Turks began burning the vineyards. That was too much to bear. They surrendered.

The region is divided roughly into two areas: the Bisamberg to the Northeast, with its loam and gravel loess, and the Kahlenberg in the northwest, with its shell limestone. It is widely accepted that the best vineyards are in the Kahlenberg, and the best of those is the Nussberg, which is planted predominantly with Riesling and Gr?ner Veltliner. The important wine districts of Vienna include Heiligenstadt (of which Nussberg is a part), Sievering, Neustift am Walde, and Grinzing. The wine districts of Bisamberg are called Stammersdorf, Strebersdorf, and Jedlersdorf.

The main grape variety grown in Vienna is Gr?ner Veltliner, but one can find Riesling, Neuburger, Traminer, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Zweigelt, Cabernet Sauvignon and a few other varietals planted as well. The best wines come from the wineries Wieninger, Winzerhof, Zahel, Christ, and Weingut der Stadt Wien Cobenzl. Wieninger?s vineyards include the famous Nussberg, so a good bet would be to seek out his Gr?ner Veltliner Nussberg (2000 is a good vintage) and his Nussberg Alte Reben, which is a cuvee of a few different varietals. While it may be difficult to find these wines in your local shop, a search online will produce a few different places to purchase the great wines of Austria.

Emily Schindler is a wine importer with the Schindler Weissman Company, based in Los Angeles. To read more of her wine writing, or to find great wines from Austria, visit http://www.winemonger.com

Follow a Local Wine Trail to Discover the Secrets of Fine Wine

Suppose you want to kick back after a long day at work. You light a candle and put on some quiet music but realize the evening isn?t complete, so you run out to your local liquor store, looking for the perfect bottle of wine to cap the evening. What will you buy? When you see all the choices, you will probably look for a brand you tried before or a name you recognize?perhaps White Zinfandel by Sutter Home, the California winery.

What you might not realize is the wines that are stocked in local liquor stores tend not to be local, but are from the largest wineries that can afford a wide distribution. Often, small, local wineries have a smaller distribution, and even though their wine is better, you will have a harder time finding it unless you buy from the winery itself.

There are probably many local wineries within a short drive of your house. A quick online search reveals that, around Detroit (for example), wineries exist in Ann Arbor (less than one hour away), Albion (less than two hours away), and even in south-western Ontario (less than one hour away). All fifty states have wineries, and each winery often produces their own distinct-tasting wine. A merlot, for example, will taste different depending on geographic location and the particular winery. Some wineries specialize in creating basic wines (i.e., merlot) while others focus on creating fruit or specialty wines (i.e., blackberry merlot or ice wines).

One way of discovering these wineries is to take a day, perhaps on a weekend or during a vacation, and visit several of these wineries. Because of the conditions needed to grow and harvest good grapes, many wineries are often clustered together along a very scenic ?wine trail.? Following a trail can be very informative and educational, as you learn about wine-making and taste many of the different wines the wineries make.

Once you have followed your local wine trails, you will know how to pick out a good local wine you will enjoy. You?ll probably even buy several bottles from the wine trail you visited! Not only will you be drinking good wine that you didn?t know about before, but you will be supporting your local economy.

Another benefit to visiting a wine trail is that you can turn the visit into the perfect family trip. Many wineries have U-Pick fruit orchards, so you and your family can pick fresh fruit during your winery visit.

One way to begin learning more about wine and local wineries is to make a commitment to following one wine trail each month. You can begin in your home state, visit a few wineries, and then begin branching out to other nearby states. By the end of a year, you will have visited many of your own local wineries, as well as wineries in many other states!

Jim and Laura Hofman are avid travelers who enjoy exploring and learning about various wineries and wine regions in the United States. Known as unofficial travel advisors for their family, friends, and business associates, the Hofmans enjoy the simple pleasure of sharing a bottle of wine and enjoying life. Subscribe to their free, monthly online newsletter at http://www.WineTrailsUSA.com