Spicy

July 2, 2020

A descriptive term for a wine with an AROMA or flavor suggestive of aromatic spices. Spicy wines are also often peppery and can have a slight, pleasantly scratchy texture.

Fish bladders are sometimes used in winemaking.

Answer: True.

We know, it sounds bad; but it isn’t. Isinglass, a substance obtained by drying the bladders of sturgeons, is sometimes used in winemaking, particularly for clarifying and fining wines. Winemakers can use a number of substances for this purpose—among them, casein (a milk protein), egg whites, and bentonite (an absorptive clay).

Sipping Silicon Valley

Historically, Santa Clara Valley south of San Francisco was known for orchards, farms, and vineyards (today it has just 1,500 acres of grapes, mainly cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay). But by the 1950s, it was already becoming… Continue reading

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