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With the big wine party in September where you dress like your favorite Californian, I have gathered some great info on wines. Good quality wines on our boat is a necessity, and of course, good for our health. Quality is most important, not trumped up prices. If a good Argentina or box wine is 7 bucks, then it is mine. Great wines are produced all over: US, Europe, South Africa, South America, Australia, Middle East, China. Do not waste my time or taste buds on bad wines.
Vitis vinifera, grapes, is largest fruit crop in the world; California is the world's largest producer. The grape's color and most of its flavor are found in the skin.
Variety of Grape (Wines)
- Sagrantino (high tannins, from Italy)
- Pinot Noir (red Burgundy, champagne)
- Chardonnay (white Burgundy, Chablis, champagne)
- Syrah (Cote Rotie, Hermitage)
- Cabernet Franc (Bordeaux, Loire, Cheval Blanc, Beaujolais (my first one))
- Cabernet Sauvignon (Bordeaux, red Graves) (hybrid of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc)
- Sauvignon Blanc (Sauterne, white Graves, fume blanc, Sancerre)
- Gamay (Beaujolais, light red, sweet, often blended)
- Merlot (Saint-Emilion, for blending w/ Cabernet Sauvignon)
- Zinfandel (red/ white zinfandel) only in CA
- Chenin Blanc (Vouvray)
- Tempranillo (Marques de Caceres)
- Sangiovese (Chianti)
- Brachetto (Rosa Regale) (similar to braquet grape from Nice)
- Grenache (Quivira)
- Mourvèdre (Château MAROUÏNE)
Merlot, variety, is the most commonly grown grape because it is so hardy. For me Merlot and Malbec tastes bitter; no matter how many times I hear, “If you don't like Merlot, then you will like this one.” Never do, not for me.
Blended, no sir
Straight up, no ma'am.
I do not like Merlot, by dam
Table grapes are a different variety (most common: Red Flame seedless Grapes, Thompson Seedless Grapes (raisins)). Interesting note golden raisins are treated with sulfur dioxide to prevent browning and mechanically dried unlike the dark sun dried raisins. So I will stick with the perfect snack on the boat.
California wines really began to take off after the Judgement of Paris in 1976 by beating French reds and whites in a blind taste test by the top French experts on wines, and again in 2006 the CA red after aging 30 yr beat the French red again.
Great to Good Wine Movies:
- Sideways
- Bottle Shock
- Blood into Wine
- A Good Year
- Mondovino
- Autumn Tale
- This Earth Is Mine
Wine classification is characterized by sugar, acid, tannin, aroma, flavor compounds, and color (clarity, intensity (depth) of color (hue)). Light, medium, and full bodied describes the weight on the palate due to alcohol content, sugar, phenolic compounds, tannins, flavor, and acid for certain grape varieties. Other factors includes terroir (soil, climate, and topography), grape handling, process methods, yeast stain, selection, fermentation, maturation in oak, malolactic fermentation, and/ or bottle aging.
Other comparisons:
Chardonnay is a full bodied, dry white wine.
The new Dufour sailboats, as seen at the Texas Boat Show in Kemah, has a great storage spot for wine, leave it to the French. While that is out of our range, some store their wines in the bilge (stays cool), and other use box wines.
Other comparisons:
- Old World wines versus New World Wines
- White to Red color
- Dry to Sweetness (sugar content)
- Still to Sparkling (CO2)
- colorless to yellow/golden is a white wine,
- orange to salmon to pink is a rose wine,
- ruby to purple to brick red is a red wine
- brown is a fortified wines or oxidation in white wines
- good: brilliant, bright, clear, transparent
- bad: dull, hazy, cloudy, opaque
- Young red wines are more opaque around the edges compared to older reds.
- Wines with high levels of sugar/ alcohol will form tears on the surface of the glass due to the surface tension like sweet/ fortified wine
Chardonnay is a full bodied, dry white wine.
The new Dufour sailboats, as seen at the Texas Boat Show in Kemah, has a great storage spot for wine, leave it to the French. While that is out of our range, some store their wines in the bilge (stays cool), and other use box wines.
Here on the Boat Galley, they feature excellent wine storage ideas.
Try out Vintage Texas for more insight on wines by Russ Kane, Texas wine blogger.
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