Category: Facts About Wine

Tasty, well-made wine using an ascendant white grape in Virginia. Petit Manseng wines can match—even surpass—Sauvignon Blanc’s vibrant acidity, but Petit Manseng is richer, fuller-bodied, and more aromatic. This wine checks all those boxes and deserves a spot on your wine bucket list. $25–28 Continue reading →

Fresh, light for a Georgian wine—barrel-aged, not qvevri. Drinks slightly heavier than a light Pinot Noir or a Beaujolais (Gamay). Nicely sophisticated rather than the somewhat rustic efforts you can expect from Georgia. Represents the country’s winemakers expanding their range of styles from the region that started humankind on the wine road 8,000 years ago. $19-34 (wide price ranges are not unusual for somewhat rare wines from emerging—in Georgia’s case, reemerging—wine regions). Continue reading →

This column is intended as an introduction to Japanese “rice wine” anchored by Bōken No. 77 Junmai Ginjō Saké. Continue reading →

Very dark, robust expression of saperavi, a grape famous for its dark flesh—most wine grape flesh is very pale or has no color. Continue reading →

Right now, many in the wine world are freaked about the decline in wine drinking. Advice: relax, take a deep, cleansing breath. A nice, chilled rosé also might help. Continue reading →

Ah, it was a heady wine time while it lasted. Wine enjoyed more than 50 years of vineyard and winery growth, more than 50 years of improving quality, more than 50 years of consistent year-over-year market expansion. Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end. We’d sing and dance forever and a day. Continue reading →

Deep ruby color; cherry, raspberry, plum, pomegranate, black pepper, herbs, spice on the nose and palate. Continue reading →

Tannins are natural and essential to wine. They also are wine’s most misunderstood element. Even wine scientists admit they do not fully understand tannins. One expert called tannins a “chemical train wreck.” Let’s explore. Continue reading →

Pale gold color; apricot, pear, green apple, lemon, quince, brioche, almond, strudel on the nose and palate. Continue reading →

Wine writers freely admit that trying to describe how a wine tastes is the classic “like dancing about architecture” folly. But amid the thousands of wine choices, people still want guidance. Even if the guidance has flaws, it still beats the “even a blind squirrel can find a nut sometimes” method. Continue reading →