France
CELEBRATE SUMMER WITH MADAME LILY BOLLINGER
Rose is chic and easy when it comes to sunny summer entertaining, but to take it up a notch, add Champagne. After all, the ultra chic Madame Lily Bollinger famously said, “I drink it when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with […]
MALBEC – MAKE MINE FRENCH
Cahors has a soft, supple style all its own. Planet Grape The SOMM Journal April/May 2016 Malbec is a rock star in our industry. That is if it is from Argentina. There, the transformation from shy, sensitive, earthy and awkward to rich, ripe, super clean and beautifully balanced was so spectacular the wine drinking world took […]
ROSE CHAMPAGNE FOR VALENTINE’S DAY
“With Valentine’s Day just a few days away, more and more U.S. consumers are turning their attention to the pink bubbles of Rosé Champagne,” as reported by the Champagne Bureau, USA. “Over the past decade, the shipments of rosé from the Champagne region of France have enjoyed significant growth in the U.S.—just last year 2.8 […]
LES CRAYERES SOMM INVENTS GAME CHANGING CHAMPAGNE GLASS
March/April 2016 Glass of Bubbly Issue 11 by Master Sommelier Catherine Fallis What better place on earth than Relais et Chateau Les Crayeres in Reims, Champagne, to birth the Champagne glass of the 21st century? Chef Sommelier Philippe Jamesse, disappointed with how the traditional Champagne flutes masked much of the distinctive aromas and […]
SALON CHAMPAGNE – EXPENSIVE & ELUSIVE
Last weekend after serving white, red, and sparkling wines along with classic martinis at my friend’s Mad Men-themed cocktail party and the house was mostly back in order, we sat down with leftover catered platters and a bottle of Champagne I had gifted her earlier this year. After I poured it into her Waterford Champagne flute, […]
BETWEEN THE COVERS – MUST HAVE BOOKS ON CHAMPAGNE
A Scent of Champagne, by Richard Juhlin, is by far the greatest reference book on the topic. Juhlin is the world’s foremost Champagne expert and has compiled close to 10,000 tasting notes, 8,000 of which are included in this seventh of his works. (Skyhorse Publishing, Hardcover, 396 pages, 2013, US $75). He is gifted with […]
NATIONAL HUGEL DAY – ALSACE FAMILY WINES FOR THANKSGIVING
This Saturday, November 14th, is National Hugel Day, self-proclaimed by this traditional Alsatian wine family to shed light on their new releases, a dry white blend, a dry Riesling, dry Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer, all of which are ideal for the Thanksgiving table. Planet Grape Wine Review Recommends: APPETIZERS 2014 Hugel Gentil Alsace $15 PG […]
SUNNY SUD DE FRANCE
Planet Grape The SOMM Journal AUGUST SEPTEMBER 2015 It is time to take a look beyond the quaffable Vin de Pays wines of sunny Sud de France. Languedoc Roussillon is a treasure trove of clean, fruit-forward, food-friendly, value-priced wines to pour and to offer by the bottle well below $100. A common thread of […]
BORDEAUX UNDER ONE ROOF
Bordeaux and Port are the most significant benchmark wine regions of the world, both created by a thirsty U.K. market and waterways providing access to that market. While Port consumption remains steady, Bordeaux is enjoying another Golden Era, the first since Robert Parker “discovered” the stunning 1982 vintage. Over 685 million bottles of Bordeaux wines are sold annually, […]
ST. TROPEZ SUMMER SIPPER – CHATEAU SAINT-MAUR
The French Riviera is equally as popular with jetsetters and the ultra wealthy as it is with pale-skinned Northern Europeans seeking the warmth and pleasures of sun and sea. One thing they have in common, though, is a thirst for the local Rose wine. Chateau Saint-Maur, nestled in the mountains about six miles away from […]
FRENCH PREFER PINK OVER WHITE
Did you know? The French are now drinking more Rose than white wine. The dry Rose trend is increasing in other parts of the world as well, though in the good ole USA sweeter styles prevail. France’s most pale, delicate, ethereal Rose wines come from Provence, the country’s oldest wine region. While coral was the […]
Grenache
Grenache is the fourth most planted variety in the world, and the first most planted in Spain, where it is known as Garnacha. Early-budding and late-ripening, Grenache is notorious for producing round, high alcohol wines if not planted in the right areas or cropped back. It loves the Mediterranean climate. In sandy, devigorated soil or where […]
Pinot Noir
This noble red variety from France’s Burgundy region makes an intensely flavored, complex, high acid wine with incredible longevity. As the climate gets warmer, the fruit becomes riper and more obvious, and the acid softens a bit. The net result in any case is a wine that will not overpower your meal. It is called […]
Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon blanc is a green-skinned grape variety which probably originates from the Bordeaux region of France. It is now planted in much of the world’s vineyards. Sauvignon Blanc, is, without a doubt, one of the most versatile of grapes. Sauvignon derives from “sauvage”, or “wild”, and is also the “mother” of Cabernet Sauvignon. In fact, […]
Chardonnay
Believed to be of Middle Eastern origin, Chardonnay is the world’s most popular white varietal, and one that loses itself completely to wine making techniques. More a type of wine than a vine variety (with some definite exceptions), Chardonnay is made in every imaginable style. In the last 50 years or so, plantings in Australia […]
Semillon
Semillon seems to have originated in the Bordeaux region of South West France, where it was well recognized in the eighteenth century. In Australia the variety was probably brought out in the Busby collection of 1832 (as Groendruif). It is known that wine was being made from Semillon grapes in the Hunter Valley area of […]
Viognier
The precise historical origin of this varietal is unknown, but many believe it dates back to the Roman Empire. According to one story, Emperor Probus imported Viognier into Condrieu from Dalmatia (in present-day Croatia) in 281 AD as a means of replacing the vineyards destroyed by Emperor Vespasian. Legend has it that Vespasian tore up […]
White Rhone Blend – Marsanne/Roussanne
Marsanne originates in France’s Rhone Valley, where it is the mainstay of the whites of this area. It is one of eight white grape varieties allowed in the Côtes du Rhône appellation and forms the foundation of white Hermitage. Unlike Roussanne, it is an aggressive producer with no significant growing problems, and has gradually taken […]
Gewurztraminer
Gewürztraminer is one of the most pungent wine varietals, easy for even the beginning taster to recognize by its heady, aromatic scent. While the French have achieved the greatest success with this grape, the history of Gewürztraminer began in Italy’s Tyrollean Alps, near the village of Termeno (Tramin) in Alto Adige. Since the Middle Ages, […]
Chenin Blanc
Chenin Blanc was cultivated from the ninth century in the Anjou region of France’s Loire Valley, and since the mid 1600’s in South Africa. Rabelais wrote about this varietal. While at its pinnacle in the Loire, much of what is produced in South Africa, where it goes by the name of Steen, and in North […]
