What's Going On in the World of French Wines

There’s quite a lot going on in the world of wine these days and so I thought it would be good to pass along some information that might be of interest to you all.

Tyler Colman, aka Dr. Vino, has a post up on his web site about his article in this month’s Wine and Spirits magazine. The article examines the question, “How often is the alcohol level stated on the label consistent with what is actually in the bottle?” Alcohol is a topic of great interest these days – not only for winemakers and the wine trade, but for wine consumers as well. Without alcohol, wine would not be wine, …

I’ll be honest – I’ve always considered Burgundy to be my Achilles heel of the wine world: I love the wines from this region of France and find them completely fascinating, but the sheer number of different appellations and vineyards, as well as producers, has always confused me a little bit. Add to that the fact that I don’t really speak any French, so the names on the bottle frequently don’t sound the same way as they are spelled, and you have a bit of a challenge.

What’s a wine lover to do? Well, for one thing, you can’t let it stop you. You have to bravely plunge right into Burgundy because if you decide to …

Very few grapes have dominated the wine industry like the white grape known as Chardonnay. Almost no other grape seems to have the same name recognition or awareness. Many consider Chardonnay to be the “King” of the grape world, although in recent years there has been a movement afoot to challenge its global domination – you will find some wine lovers who live by the “ABC” code: anything but Chardonnay. Despite issues of over-planting and the fact that there is a lot of inferior Chardonnay out there on the market, Chardonnay remains a grape that we shouldn’t hesitate to put on a pedestal.