Monday, December 6, 2010

Wine Selection for Dummies part 2

THE WHITE TABLE WINES
These wines range from dry and tart to sweet and full-bodied. their delicate flavor blends best with white meats,fowl,and sea foods. They should always be served nicely chilled, though never frigid.  White wines differ from red wines in a very significant way.  Most white wines are fermented from the juice alone, which is drawn off from the grapes immediately after they are crushed. Because of this, white wines have little of the astringency that red wines get from the tannin contained in the grapes skins and seeds.
Sauterne
Rhine
Chablis

Sauterne is traditionally a blend of four great grapes

  • Semillon
  • Sauvignon
  • Blanc
  • Muscadelle
For a very sweet Sauterne, the grapes are allowed to get overripe, producing a secondary mold and this results in a highter sugar content. Sauternes are produced in variations of sweet and dry.

Rhine wine is the name given to a variety of dry wines. You will know it is a Rhine wine if you see one of these names on the label.....
In order of the noblest:
#1.White Riesling, made from the Johannisberger Riesling grape.
#2. Slyvaner grape
#3. Traminer grape


Chablis resembles Rhine wine but is more delicate and less tart and has a frutier flavor and body. The greatest of these wines are traditionally made from the grape:
pinot Chardonay
pinot Blanc
Folle Blanche
The distinguishing characteristic of a good Chablis is a much prized flinty flavor known in France  as pierre a fusil; gunmetal

1 comment:

Elisabeth said...

So comforting to know that I can always get great advice about wines, and other spirited cocktails from your blog.