French oak maxes out at a meager 20%, with the remaining wood used to kindle the fires that toast the barrels. French wood also requires more skill later on, as the initial process creates staves of more uneven sizes. A cooper will work with a 30-stave jigsaw puzzle for one barrel—though most can select the right pieces by sight.

No wine is a concrete expression that tells the whole story. And, even if this were the ideal, it would impossible for multiple winemakers to reflect terroir in exactly the same way. It’s better to think of wines as individual photographs, each capturing a vineyard at a moment in time from a specific perspective.

Today, fortified wines constitute 5% to 10% of global wine production, with a market value of around US$19 billion. This guide focuses on the world’s most important fortified wines, ranging from the Iberian classics to France’s vins doux naturels to Cape Port. These are the wines, appearing on restaurant lists and in retail settings in the ...

Minimum aging is 18 months in barrel and a year in bottle. Aszú is essentially a skin-contact sweet wine. The number of puttony added to a single Gönci barrel originally defined the 3-to-6 puttonyos scale. More puttonyos meant a sweeter and more complex wine.

Mar 11, 2013 · Sweetness is countered by acidity, such that a sweet wine with low acid seems much sweeter (and often flabbier) than the same wine with high acidity. In Champagne, a typical dosage for a Brut (dry) Champagne is 8–10 grams per litre, which helps offset the acidity but doesn’t make the Champagne taste sweet.

Nov 19, 2012 · Following the cool-down, the wines are usually transferred to neutral casks of varying sizes to rest for the next 2-3 years. Blending: Once the wine has rested, the winemaker will assemble a lote, or blend, on a small scale. Samples will be analyzed, tasted, corrected, and finally performed on a large scale.

Jun 6, 2012 · The above guidelines apply to sommeliers and other wine professionals. If you are employed in a wine and food establishment, some of the above expenses may be deductible as an itemized deduction (employee business expense). Keep in …

He has given hundreds of international, national, and regional presentations on climate and wine-related research. He is the author of numerous book chapters and other reports and articles on wine economics, grapevine phenology, site assessment methods for viticulture, climatological assessments of viticultural potential, and climate change.

Apr 2, 2015 · The spice of wine can come from both varietal fruit character as well as the influence of winemaking and oak aging. Distinguishing between the two can be an important factor in blind tasting. While lactone esters can be present in grapes, their major impact in wine comes from oak aging. Vanilla, hazelnut, and coconut are common descriptors.

Today, Virginia ranks fifth in the nation for wine grape production—not bad for a state the size of Cuba! In the 2016 fiscal year, Virginia sold over 556,500 cases of wine, a record high and an increase of 34% since 2010. Clearly, Virginia is a historic and increasingly high-quality American wine region that demands the sommelier’s attention.