European wines and New World (i.e. Australian) equivalents

In France, Italy and Spain wines are traditionally labelled by region, and not specifically by which grape varieties are in those wine as in Australian wines. This leads to some confusion when looking at rows of bottles with names of places on them, especially if you come from a country where the labels have rowsContinueContinue reading “European wines and New World (i.e. Australian) equivalents”

Some points after living in a wine region for 6 months (Part 1)

There has been some time since my last post due mainly to the fact that a lot of free time has been absorbed by my move into working the wine industry living in the Hunter Valley. Despite my new affiliation to companies in the industry, this blog will remain objective however with some more insideContinueContinue reading “Some points after living in a wine region for 6 months (Part 1)”

Question 1 from Mike: If a wine is made from grapes, why are there hints of _______________?

Chemistry, oak and aging. Grapes taste like, well, grapes when they come out of the vineyard. The ones used for wine are different in structure to those in the supermarket. If you ever get the chance to taste nice ripe vineyard grapes, you’ll note that the seeds are bigger, the grapes smaller and the tasteContinueContinue reading “Question 1 from Mike: If a wine is made from grapes, why are there hints of _______________?”