Brut

A DRY to very dry Champagne or SPARKLING WINE containing less than 15 grams of sugar per liter (equal to 1.5% residual sugar). EXTRA BRUT is slightly drier than brut.

What grape variety grown in Chile was, for many years, thought to be merlot?

A. Cabernet Sauvignon

B. Malbec

C. Carmenère

D. Cabernet Franc

Indigenous to Bordeaux, carmenère was brought to Chile in the late 1800s where inexplicably, it began to be made into wine called merlot. It wasn’t until the DNA fingerprinting of grapevines was pioneered in the 1990s that Chile’s “merlot” was discovered to be carmenère. Carmenère is now virtually extinct in Bordeaux, but is thriving in Chile where it can produce fascinating, soft, plush wines redolent of green tobacco, coffee, and leather.

Power Zin

Why are many zinfandel wines good in alcohol? Several factors are at work, but one of the leading ones is this: zinfandel has a genetic proclivity to ripen unevenly. On the same cluster, some grapes will be… Continue reading

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