All About Wine And Its Goodness!

It’s strange how different we all are when we choose our wine.

Some people are such wine snobs and know exactly what they are looking for and certainly won’t settle for anything less.  They don’t flinch at the price of the bottle, even if it tops the hundred pounds mark.

Other people may choose a wine just for the colour and packaging on the bottle.   I will admit that some wines do come neatly packaged, but I certainly wouldn’t choose one over another just because of the look of the bottle.

A lot of people won’t drink red wine because it gives them a throbbing headache the next morning. Perhaps this could be because they have drunk too much!!

I can’t actually stand either rose or white wine, unless it happens to have a bit of a fizz to it.   A favourite Spanish Wine that fits into this category is the classic Cava.   I love Cava, infact I can honestly say I prefer it to Champagne.   If you can get your hands on a decent bottle of Vintage Cava then you really can’t go wrong. In our house it’s always a bit of a favourite when we are having a family celebration.

I also love a nice glass of red wine.   Unusually though I love my red wine served chilled and the colder the better.   I can hear the cries of wine snobs all over the place crying out you can’t chill red wine, but that’s what I like to do and if I enjoy it that way, then that’s how I am going to drink it. A nice example of a nice bottle of red is a Cabernet Sauvignon.  This is a beautiful Chilean Wine that tastes superb.

I will say that I am not particularly fond of French Wine. I think it’s due to the fact that I’m not keen on the French full stop, so I tend not to buy their wine!!

For those who are just starting to delve into the wonderful world of wine, you may find yourself confused by the vast variety of wines – whites, reds, blends, bubblies – and the multitude of choices within each of those broad categories. We’ll choose just one of those for this brief intro – white wines. We’ll give you a short tour of the most popular varietals (types of grapes), tell you what you can expect from each and what distinguishes them from each other.

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is definitely the most enjoyed white wine in the U.S. – in fact, it’s reportedly the only white wine many wine lovers consume. Chardonnay is often the first white wine a new wine fan will discover, largely because it is so “accessible”. Chardonnay is most often on the dry side, meaning not very sweet, and it frequently has flavors of apples, tropical fruit, vanilla, and butter, and varying degrees of oak, depending on the winery where it was produced. “White Burgundy”, from France, is almost always 100% Chardonnay. Many other wine regions around the world produce Chardonnay, including Chile and Australia. There are many good choices of American Chardonnay available for under $20. Popularand consistently reliable producers include BV, Columbia Crest, and Chateau St. Michelle, and others.

Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon Blanc, also known as Fume Blanc, is another fairly well-known white wine. Sauvignon Blanc is often characterized as “freshly mown”, indicating that it reminds the taster of freshly mown grass. It is a medium-bodied white wine with noticeably fruity aromas like peach, grapefruit, and melon, and is dry and refreshing with medium acidity. Sauvignon Blanc is a particularly nice summer wine, especially good with seafood and it’s one of the best all around matches for hors d’oeuvres and picnics. Babich (New Zealand) offers a very nice Sauvignon Blanc for under 15 dollars.

Pinot Grigio

Pinot Grigio, sometimes called Pinot Gris (the actual grape name), is Italy’s most popular white wine, and is popular around the world, although the Italian Pinot Grigios can be a littlebland. Pinot Grigios are easy to drink, because they have a crisp, light taste. Oregon’s Pinot Gris tend to have more character, having medium body, with more pronounced fruit and more acidity. Higher quality bottles have fruity flavors of apple, pear, honeydew and a bit of spice. A couple of very nice Pinot Gris from Oregon, available for between $12-$18, are King Estate and Chateau St. Michelle, among others.

Riesling

Riesling wines are quite possibly the most popular German wine, and they are produced in two considerably different styles – dry and sweet. Rieslings are categorized by the ripeness of the grapes when harvested. Kabinett is made fromnormally ripe grapes, and is a light to medium-bodied, mostly dry wine. You’ll sometimesfind the word “trocken” on a bottle of Riesling, which is German for “dry”. “Spatlese” is produced from riper grapes, and results in a bit richer, somewhatsweeter, wine. “Auslese”, which means late harvest, is made from even riper grapes, and is usually verysweet. Rieslings are typically fruity, with apple, peach, and honeysuckle tastes and floral undertones. Rieslings are relatively inexpensive – you can find excellent offerings for under $10. One reliably very goodchoice is Strub Niertsteiner Riesling Kabinett, as well asChateau Ste. Michelle Riesling.

Gewurztraminer

Gewurztraminer is another very popularwhite wine from Germany, while also being produced in the U.S., France, New Zealand, and Australia. Gewurztraminer is also producedin both dry and sweet styles. Gewurztraminers have a brazen, full-bodied taste, considerably more so than most other whites. Typical aromas found inGewurztraminer are lychee nuts and rosewater, and its flavors include apricot, honeysuckle, and honey. A nice, inexpensive Gewurztraminer is produced byTrimbach (France, under $15).

A final note

The best way to find your favoritesin white wine is to just buy a selectionof bottles, and just try them for yourself. For each varietal, you’ll want to choose a bottle that’s representative of the style you’re wanting to try. Websites like Wine.com can help immenselywith finding solid, yet inexpensive choices. Once you find a varietal and style and producer you find particularly enjoyable, you might want to buy a case to have handy for entertaining, or to just enjoy at home. Most white wines won’t improve with aging, so you probably should not keep them around for years. However, you dowant to be careful to store your wine properly, so they retainthe wonderful flavors and aromas you appreciate. You might want to investin an inexpensive wine fridge, to keep all your wines at their absolute best.

White wines are best served moderately chilled, so you might want to refrigerate them beforehand, then take them outaround 15-20 minutes before serving. Better yet, you might want tobuy an iceless wine chiller, which will chill (or warm) a single wine bottleto the best temperature automatically – just select the pre-programmedwine varietal, pop in the bottle, and the chiller will cool your wine to the right temperature, and keep your wine at that temperaturethroughout your wine tasting.

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 “Pale plonk packs an acidic punch!” says the BBC, Well, it does and it doesn’t. The length of time your teeth come into contact with wine must be taken into account, as well as the acid levels. Wine tasters hold wine in their mouths for long periods of time, this allows the acid to affect the tooths surface, unlike a normal wine drinker that swallows it staight away. Loads of noise on twitter for the story on http://twitter.com/winewarecouk and http://twitter.com/thirstforwine.

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

So what does White wine actually do to teeth?

It should be pointed out that the erosion of teeth by wine is the result of extensive wine use that would also lead to damaged liver and all sorts of other problems. The typical wine drinker who sips a glass of wine at dinner or with their evening meal should not be ‘scared off’ by the tooth decay headlines, remember 100 year old women in Italy swear that wine was the secret of their longevity.

White wine stains teeth:

I think that anyone who has drank a few glasses of Red would agree that, yes, it does. Have you stopped to think at any time about this? “Red wine, unlike white, contains a highly-pigmented substance known as chromogen,” explained Dr. Wolff of the New York University College of Dentistry, they goes on to explain that “The acids in wine create rough spots and grooves that enable chemicals in other beverages that cause staining, such as coffee and tea, to penetrate deeper into the tooth”.

As you can see Dr Wolff mentioned wine and not a specific colour of wine, all wine can damage your teeth.

How can you stop this erosion?

1) Alkaline mouthwashes are highly recommended

2) Proper brushing of your teeth with a soft tooth brush is encouraged.

3) Add food to your wine enjoyment and you’ll find yourself with much better teeth.

4) Don’t brush your teeth for at least 30 mins after food, this helps minerals to heal the tooths structure.

5) Cheese can also help as it contains calcium in a high concentration

I hope this is helped a little towards taking away the fear factor of White wine.

Think I need a drink after all that …