Archive for the ‘Wine Musings’ Category
OK, as I have stated Wine Witch is a very democratic community and there are no rules about what is right or wrong in the wine you choose. If you like it – drink it! However, I am the head witch and pretty opinionated about what I like.
I have to confess that I am not a big fan of White Zin. To me it tastes a lot like wine cooler. It is pretty and very easy to drink, and for many it is their first introduction to the world of wine. A wine palate is developed over time. My husband and I thought we were pretty sophisticated when we used to drink Lancer’s Rose back in the day before White Zin was developed. We bought a bottle several months back for old times. It went down the drain. Our taste buds had moved on.
Posted in Wine Musings | 
Tags: Argentina, Australia, France, New Zealand, Picnic, South Africa | 
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Obviously the Wine Witch likes to have wine with her dinner. However, on “school nights” I would prefer a wine that is a little lower in alcohol. Other than German Riesling (I know – one of the world’s great wines – just not my favorite) or green wine from Portugal, this prize is proving more and more elusive. It is not our imaginations. Alcohol levels in wine are on the rise. In the mid 80′s wine alcohol averaged 12.4%. Now it hovers around 14% with some behemoths over 15%. Trust me. This can make a big difference the morning after.
Every wine label has the warning “Contains Sulfites”. It sounds pretty scary. I mean, why warn you about something unless it is something you need to be warned about. Actually this is very similar to the “may contain peanuts” warning. Unless you have a known allergy to sulfites, there is little cause for concern.
The Wine Witch is all about taking the hocus pocus out of the enjoyment of wine (I know, I know – a REALLY bad pun). Here are three very prevalent myths that just ain’t so.
Great wines have great legs – First of all what are legs? Legs are little streams running down the inside of the glass after it is swirled. We have all witnessed somebody holding up their glass to the light and declaring the wine has “great legs”. The implication here is that is also a great wine. Not necessarily true. Legs are telling you more about the alcohol content of the wine, but next to nothing about how it will taste. Wines with more alcohol are thicker and stickier and therefore cling to the glass better.
As you may know the Wine Witch does troll the internet looking for some interesting snippets to share with you. There were a bunch of them this week. One on a new sales and packaging scheme that has taken off in the U.K.. The rest were announcements of some very unexpected personalities putting their names on wine.
I have not posted any wine trivia lately, so I thought it might be a nice change. You can impress your friends this weekend with some of these “facts”.
- There are 600-800 grapes in a bottle of good quality, dry table wine
- That equates to roughly 8 bunches of grapes
- Each grapevine can produce 5 bottles of wine
- There are 400 grapevines to each acre or the potentially for 2000 bottles of wine
- California produces 17 million gallons of wine annually
- 98% of all commercially produced wine is consumed within 1 week of purchase (pretty much standard in our house)
- Wine is 86% water, 11.2% alcohol, and 2.8% “other”
- Over 250 compounds have been identified in the 2.8% “other”
Well, it is Spring. At least that is what the calendar says. Here in New Jersey, it will be 10-15 degrees below normal and over the weekend, we were in Lake Placid where it snowed. But it is Spring. The Wine Witch associates Spring with Rose wines. I thought a small tutorial on the subject might be interesting.
I recently received the inquiry below. Petrac, I tried to respond to you directly, but the email failed. I also thought this may be of interest to to others.
Hi,
I have in my posession a keramik-lightgreen coloured bottle of Lancers
Vinho Verde J.M. DA FONECA No:529319 and aged 01/10/1977 and portorio nr 629/77 and everything is a best condition. My question is : Can I enjoy this vine after so many years or is better to sell it!? What would be in that case a price.
Best regards from Swedish Barmen
Petrac
I have read in any number of articles that supposedly 10% of all wine is corked. Simply put, corked means that the wine is no longer at its best and may even be out and out undrinkable. As you know, I have had a lot of wine in my day. I probably would have fingers and certainly toes left over for the number of bottles of wine I considered corked. Again, being only anenthusiastic amateur, my palate may not be sophisticated enough. However, I think this number maybe a little overstated, but it is still a problem.
Recently received the note below:
“have recently been trolling snooth and corkd and came upon your site i love it and it’s very informative so thank you my question is regarding vintages and types of wine i notice that this is a big deal in ratings are their any simple pointers you could give me as a newbie about vintages and cabernets/chardonnays with regard to country and region it would be much appreciated thanks! – shamsi”
Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. Chocolate treats are often a significant part of the festivities. Those of us that love wine are facing the annual problem of what wine to pair with our chocolate. If you are looking for one definitive answer here – think again. In the Wine Witch’s opinion this is one of the trickier matches to pull off well.
New Year – Old Recession. What does the Wine Witch see in the year ahead?
1. Prices will continue to drop from first growth Brodeaux to bargain New World varieties. Supposedly the economy is improving, but nobody’s feeling it in their pocket books yet. If you have the means, this might be the time to snatch up some age worthy wines.
