Good choices to start with. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel are good choices to start with. For food pairing, if it is a light-bodied red wine, go with grilled vegetables, white meat or chicken. A medium-bodied to full-bodied red wine can get along…
One of the sources of confusion about different wine types is due to the different labelling of wine from different parts of the world. In America and other parts of the “New World” (for example, Californian wines), wine is typically labelled according to the variety…
With more than a thousand varieties of grapes used to make wine, it’s probably no surprise there are so many different types – at least 31 popular varietals – of red wine. Most popular types of single-varietal red wine Cabernet and Merlot are two of…
Wine basics for newbies Most wines are made with grapes, but they’re not like the ones you find in the grocery store. Wine grapes – known as vitis vinifera in Latin – are smaller, sweeter, have thick skins, and contain seeds. There are more than…
Unknown to you, you’re consuming and enjoying one of the oldest things in history. The oldest evidence of any fermented beverage is some 9,000 years old. It was found in Henan Province, China. Just three years ago, a joint Georgian-French-American team discovered evidence of wine…
There are many who perceive sake to be a hard alcohol – akin to gin, vodka, tequila and the like. Fact is sake is fermented like wine or beer; it is not distilled. Why its ‘hard’ image is no thanks to the many folks who…
Before bottling and shipping, pure water is usually added to sake to adjust the alcohol content from the typical 20% or so, down to about 16%. But not in the case of genshu, where water has not been added to the sake. In most instances…
This information is all you need to find the right sake for your palate. Even if all sake is made with the same basic process, there are so many types of sake that – to keep things simple – we will focus only on some…
Continuing from the first article in our series on sake, we look in more detail at the process of making the quintessential Japanese alcohol. he production of sake involves seven steps. The differences in the end products depends on the quality of the rice and…
Navigating the world of sake. What is sake? You will get two different answers to this question, depending on where you ask it. We’ll start with the rest of the world except Japan. In English, “sake” refers to the traditional alcoholic beverage from Japan that…