Cantina Sociale or Cooperativa

A growers’ cooperative cellar. Italy, like France and Spain, has hundreds of wine coops, some of which make good but rarely great wine.

Sauternes is among the few regions in the world devoted to extraordinary sweet wines. Which of the following is not one of the five communes that can produce Sauternes wines?

A. Barsac

B. Bommes

C. Loupiac

D. Fargues

The communes of Sauternes, Barsac, Bommes, Fargues, and Preignac in the southern Graves region of Bordeaux all produce sweet wines and all are permitted to use the overall name Sauternes for their wines. (Barsac, a slight exception, can be sold as either Barsac or Sauternes). Loupiac, an appellation also dedicated to sweet wine, is not a part of the Sauternes “group,” although its wines are made in the same manner from botrytised grapes. Loupiac is located between the Garonne and Dordogne rivers in the Entre-Deux-Mers region of Bordeaux. Loupiac is sometimes thought of as “poor man’s Sauternes.”

The Nose Knows

The smell of a wine is often referred to as its aroma, bouquet, or nose (an old British-ism that combines the two). Technically, however, aroma and bouquet are completely different. Aroma is used to describe… Continue reading

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