Theloosetannin

February 12th-Moscatel Sherry

Sherry is commonly made with the neutral Palomino grape. Sweet Sherry or Cream Sherry can have some Pedro Ximenez added as a sweetening agent. Less common is making Sherry from the aromatic grape Moscatel (Muscat of Alexandria), the third grape allowed in the region and least planted. The grapes for this wine are raisined byContinue reading “February 12th-Moscatel Sherry”

February 5th-Chardonnay Dessert Wine

Most wine drinkers are familiar with Chardonnay as the buttery white wines of California, the crisp, acidic wines of Chablis, or the Blanc de Blanc Champagnes with long aging potential. A far less common version of Chardonnay is as a dessert wine. Chardonnay is a highly versatile, somewhat neutral grape that takes on the characterContinue reading “February 5th-Chardonnay Dessert Wine”

January 29th-Palomino

Palomino is a neutral white grape mainly used in the production of Sherry, a fortified wine from southern Spain. Palomino is grown around the world, including in Portugal, Cypress, California, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. In all of these regions, it is mostly used for production of either sherry style wines or as aContinue reading “January 29th-Palomino”

January 22nd-Sauvignon Rytos

Sauvignon Rytos is a PiWi grape. PiWi vines are crosses of vitis (European) grape varieties. They create grapes that have greater resistance to fungal disease. This helps reduce the use of fungicides, which is not only more environmentally friendly but also helps reduce costs to growers and improve soil health. Sauvignon Rytos is a crossContinue reading “January 22nd-Sauvignon Rytos”

January 15th-Quarts de Chaume

Quarts de Chaume AOC is a sweet wine made with botrytis infected Chenin Blanc grapes. Botrytis affected grapes of different varieties are also used in the production of legendary wines like Sauternes and Tokaj. The Quarts de Chaume appellation is located in Loire ons steep slopes at the confluence of the River Loire and RiverContinue reading “January 15th-Quarts de Chaume”

January 8th-German Gewürztraminer

This week, I drank a 2023 Weinhaus Schloss Koblenz St. Christopher Gewürztraminer from Rheinhessen. This wine is pale lemon in color. It has pronounced aromas of lychee, ginger, orange blossom, pear, white grapefruit and gardenia. This lighter bodied Gewürztraminer has a refreshing acidity to help balance the off dry sugar level. The alcohol content isContinue reading “January 8th-German Gewürztraminer”

January 1st- Pedro Ximenez Soleras

Sherries that are made by oxidative methods enter a barrel aging system called a solera. Soleras are a method of aging blended fractions of wine for extended time periods. This method creates a consistent product year after year, even though these wines do not have a vintage listed on the bottle. Barrels within the sameContinue reading “January 1st- Pedro Ximenez Soleras”

December 25th-Pedro Ximenez (not oxidative)

I have previously discussed the white grape Pedro Ximenex on two occasions. The most traditional version was part of Sherry week back in December 2020, then a dry iteration earlier this year on Feb 28th. I wanted to discuss it again to show the variation between bottles of wine made by the same grape. ThisContinue reading “December 25th-Pedro Ximenez (not oxidative)”

December 18th-Sicilian rosé blend

This week’s wine is a good wine to discuss winemaking methods for producing rosé wines. The wine I drank this week is about 80% direct press Nero d’Avola. Nero d’Avola is the most widely planted red grape in Sicily (discussed February 3rd, 2021). Direct press is when grapes are brought straight from the vineyard toContinue reading “December 18th-Sicilian rosé blend”

December 11th-White Sicilian Blend

Grillo and Cataratto are both indigenous white grapes to Sicily that I have discussed previously (June 8th and 15th 2022). This week’s wine is a blend of these two grape varieties but also contains about 10% of other local grapes. The winemaker estimates that about 5% are unknown aromatic varieties. The grapes for this wineContinue reading “December 11th-White Sicilian Blend”