Tag Archives: Wine terms

The Best of Italy

Posted on September 8, 2011 by James

As a follow-up to my post outlining how to get to grips with Italian wine labelling, I thought I’d illustrate the approach with a few examples of the finer and more common Italian wines seen on the export market. North … Continue reading →

Posted in Italy, Jargon Buster, Winemaking | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Labelling Italians

Posted on August 27, 2011 by James

What you may see on the label of a bottle of Italian wine is fairly similar to that on French wines. Like France, Italian wine laws specify two levels of ‘table wine‘ and two levels of ‘quality wine‘. Table Wine … Continue reading →

Posted in Italy, Jargon Buster, Winemaking | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

It’s all in the vine

Posted on June 19, 2011 by James

I recently attended a tasting at the Oxford Wine Circle presented by Christophe Bristiel from Château La Nerthe. La Nerthe is one of the foremost producers in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the famous appellation in the southern Rhône. Other than producing fantastic wine, … Continue reading →

Posted in Jargon Buster, Oxford Wine Events, Rhone, Suggested Wines | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Acidity, Alcohol & Sugar

Posted on November 2, 2010 by James

We’re moving on to structure in the Oxford Course on Blind Tasting. The structure of a wine is generally a more reliable indicator for identification of a wine. Structural elements of a wine are present on the palate and don’t … Continue reading →

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The Approach: Red wine in the glass (Part I)

Posted on September 1, 2010 by James

To follow up on my posts on the initial requirements for examining a wine blind, and the general appearance of white wine in the glass, this third ‘Approach’ post will deal with observing red wines in the glass and what … Continue reading →

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Complexity and age

Posted on July 27, 2010 by James

As with people, wines generally become more complex and interesting with age. Red wines will typically age better and for longer than whites, although there are some wonderful examples of whites that age well, in particular white Bordeaux and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Burgundy, Suggested Wines | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Jargon Buster 1

Posted on July 13, 2010 by James

I can already tell that some of the jargon inherent in wine writing might take its toll on some readers relatively new to the subject. It took me a while to get to grips with what people were talking about … Continue reading →

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