Wine Lovers
Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients.Wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast which consume the sugars found in the grapes and convert them into alcohol. Various varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are used depending on the types of wine produced.
A lot of people fret about matching just the right food with the exact wine to complement it, but this tasty decision isn’t really as tough as all that. It may help to keep in mind the simple reality that humans have been making wine to go with food for more than 5,000 years, and most wines go very nicely with most dishes. It’s easy to go right, and hard to go wrong, as only a few combinations don’t work well.
The Wine Lovers’ lexicon incorporates our old “Talking Grapes and Wines” pronouncing glossary of wine grapes and wine regions as well as our “Wine Tasting Dictionary” of wine-tasting terms and wine descriptors. It’s all aimed at helping you speak with confidence, whether you’re ordering wine in a restaurant or shop or talking with friends and business associates about wine.
Enjoy world-class wines from our California wine club-of-the-month series. Come along as we visit small, family-owned wineries in the lush valleys of California, where winemakers are handcrafting a wide range of magical wines from classical Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Chardonnay to newer enthusiasms like Pinot Noir, Syrah, Sangiovese, Pinot Grigio, and Viognier.
Wine travel is fascinating way to meet local people and absorb the culture. In my recent trip to France, my husband and I discovered the exceptionally gracious manners of the people of the Loire Valley. On each day of our visit, we were delighted by the extremely polite, albeit completely down-to-earth, people we encountered. Every time we entered a shop or a restaurant, it never failed that we were greeted with a cheerful Bonjour. Whenever we purchased something, it was a grateful smile accompanied by an “Au revoir, Merci”.
A fantastic yet elegant wine that is exceptional for any occasion. A true white romantic will explore this classic wine taste. But keep in mind that some wine lovers tend to shun the obvious in favor of the quirky, the lovingly crafted or the esoteric. (That’s why we roll our eyes when we hug them.) For those wine lovers, there are a number of other worthy new volumes on store shelves with the potential to surprise:
VinVillage is an exciting new social networking organization for wine lovers that has launched throughout the country. VinVillage has created locally based social wine groups and is connecting them with “like-minded” wine lovers in their home cities and around the U.S. by bringing the membership together with an exciting local and online “wine life-style” experience offering unique and exclusive wines, events, products and services.
FastLife has blended the subtle notes of fine wine with the excitement of fast dates, creating Canada’s first ever Wine Lover’s Speed Dating! This tannin-tinged event will kick off with an introductory wine appreciation lesson by a professional sommelier. Then it’s on to the dating where participants will embark upon a series of eight-minute mini-dates, with each date accompanied by a different wine and delicious gourmet hors d’oeuvres.
