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Buying Wine

Brush Up on Your Basic Wine Knowledge

by Patricia Fioriello on February 18, 2010

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Brush Up on Your Basic Wine Knowledge

Wine is a common name to celebrate all occasions. It is a perfect drink to accompany you in your success and also in the lonely hours to brood on. It’s there always, anywhere and everywhere you go. Now if anyone ends up asking you about all the types of wines and you fumble to answer-well nothing can be more embarrassing!

Before you place the next heavy liquor bottle from the store next to the wine in your cellar, just remember that all the hundreds and thousands of wine bottles you come across in the wine shops can be categorized into five basic wine types. These are:

Red Wine

It is red in color as the name suggests and is extracted from the leafy grape skins at the crucial period when the fermentation process takes place. It is usually heavier than white wine variety. It has large quantities of tannin.

White Wine

Mostly white wines are made out of white grapes, though it is possible to make them from red grapes too. The best way to do this is to separate the juice from the grape skins before the fermentation process starts. The color remains white because the juice is not allowed to absorb the color of the fermented skin. This is the main reason behind the less tannin of white wine than its red variety.

Rose Wine

These are made out of red grapes. The major difference between rose wine and red wine is that the juice in the case of the rose wine is only allowed to stay in contact with the red grape skins for a shorter period of time. Thus rose wine acquires the unique slight reddish tinge. It is quite obvious that the tannin quantity is also low. Please note that blush wine and rose wine are the same thing.

Fortified Wine

It is pointless to say that fortified wine is packed with extra alcohol. Usually it contents about 14% alcohol, much more than what the ordinary varieties of wine. These are mainly called dessert or liqueur wines. This is because they are generally served after the meal is over. Thus you are served with a glass of port, sherry or Madeira after the grand dinner is over.

Last but Not the Least-Sparkling Wine and Champagne

One can quickly distinguish between sparkling wine and the common table wine. Just spot the bubbles. Sparkling wines can be expensive and they remain the master’s choice. It takes years at a stretch to make the perfect sparkling wine. And, the king of all sparkling wine is your most sort after Champagne!

French Food and Wine Pairing

Find out which type of wine should be there along with your Fish and shell-fish food item: salmon with Pinot Noir, lobster an l’american with Beaujolais, Bouillabaisse with Rosé de Provence or Beaujolais, Oysters with Chablis, Almond Trout with Chassagne Montrachet, Shells with Sancerre or Chablis and Caviar with Riesling.

The dishes which are rich in meat variety should be consumed along with the following – Lamb with Red Bordeaux, Grilled chicken with Beaujolais, Boeuf bourguignon with Red Bourgogne, Mutton with Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Venison with Red Bourgogne, Beef with Pomerol or Saint-Emilion, Rabbit stew with Chinon, Roasted pork with Vacqueyras and the most popular Veal Casserole goes well with Riesling.

Popular French food and wine pairing sites will help you to make the delicious French cuisine and help you in picking up the right kind of wine to serve with. Chefs recommend them and you will surely be the best cook on the block when you prepare French meals from recipes provided from sites like Wine Geeks, French Scout, The World Wide Wine, French Rabbit and Easy-French-Food.

Italian Food and Wine Pairing

Italians prefer to drink and dine like nobles. The basic tip would be to serve the red wine with the meat and the white wine along with poultry and seafood. Thus your Pasticcio, lasagna, and cannelloni would jazz well with fine quality tuscan or burgundy. Remember to serve Ratatuoille with Cabernet or Merlot to get high applause. Websites like Butlers Guild, Danzante Wines provide numerous Italian food recipes along with the list of Italian wines that can be paired with them.

German Food and Wine Pairing

Online links like Rudi Wiest tell you how to club steamed halibut with Riesling, Müller-Thurgau or Scheurebe. Truly Fine Wine would inspire you to fix the best German food feast at your home. Visit them and enjoy your dinner.

Online Sites to Buy Premium Quality Red Wine

If you are arranging dinner parties this weekend make sure you have premium quality wine stocked at home beforehand. You can now easily order wine bottles from online sites like Bounty Hunter Rare Wine, Brown Derby International Wine Center, Chambers Street Wine, K&L Wine Merchants, Napa Cabs, Twenty Twenty Wine Merchants, Vinfolio and Wine Commune-to name some.

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Patricia Fioriello

Patricia Fioriello has 66 posts at Really Red Wine

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February 8, 2010 by Patricia Fioriello

In Italy it is very common to find an abundance of distributors selling Prosecco. People drink it often and it can be found in any wine shop or market. It is also becoming quite popular in the U.S. and often an inexpensive substitute for champagne. However, some people are still not familiar with Prosecco and [...]

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The Real Deal About Box Red Wine

January 20, 2010 by Patricia Fioriello

Whenever I am home in San Francisco and need to make a quick stop at the supermarket, I always see box red wine on the shelves. And I always wonder, what is the real deal about wine in a box? Why do people resist box wine? Is it just the familiarity of wine in a [...]

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Discovering the Best Wine Values

January 2, 2010 by Patricia Fioriello

Wine ebooks list a number of red wines, but some of them are really expensive for most customers. Cheap wines often top the FAQ sections of the popular wine websites and sommeliers are also asked this question the largest number of times.
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Savor Rioja Wine and the Spanish Life

December 17, 2009 by Patricia Fioriello

Photo from trip to Madrid, Spain 2008
Rioja is the long  with glorious viniculture history region in Spain. Rioja wine, is named after this region is well known since centuries. Rioja wine are specially red wine. The rioja vineyards were planted before the Romans moved to this area; who are actually traditional bringers of wine. Vineyards [...]

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