Ever tasted a boysenberry? What about cat pee? Can you easily discern Irish breakfast tea from English breakfast tea? And do you ever drink kirsch, the brandy made from sour cherries? If you're anything like me, your answer to all these questions is "no." Yet descriptors like these fill the
[box] (and why electronic tongues are cool, but insufficient)[/box] Proteins in saliva bind tannins. Tannins are molecules responsible for astringency (and some bitterness) in red wine. When tannins bind with salivary proteins, which ordinarily keep your mouth feeling nice and slippery, your saliva becomes less viscous – dry-feeling – while
To many, Australia is the producer of bold shiraz, fruity chardonnay and soft-drinking blends. Which is totally understandable when internationally, not much else features on the shelves. However, even some Australians are still oblivious to the fact that Australia is producing some exceedingly good wines from varietals that have only
On a wind-swept April afternoon, Jonathan Sack paused for a moment to stare at the waves lapping against the limestone cliff below. The mistral was blowing, as it often does in the seaside town of Cassis, tucked tight against the Mediterranean. At 36 years old, Sack had come home to
“When people visit Soave Classico for the first time they always say things like ‘I didn’t realize how beautiful it is here’,” said winery owner Meri Tessari, as we took the ten minute drive up the hill from the Medieval walled town of Soave to the tiny hamlet of Fittá,
Imagine if BMW’s design chief admitted that Ford produces some of his favorite cars. Or if the CEO of Coca-Cola confessed that every now and then, he craves a Pepsi. Pure fantasy, of course. But with wine, such admissions happen daily. And now, a website has launched -- WinemakersRecommend.com --
For many years, German wines made my head hurt. No, not the headaches that some complain about when they imbibe wine. I mean the unique and sometimes confusing classification system. Of course, every country, state, and county has a different system. But the German one is unique, based on ripeness
Sicily is a cornucopia of beauty, art, history, landscape, delightful food and wine. It's almost impossible to list all of them in a few lines. However, there are at least three things you absolutely cannot miss, if you are going to travel in Western Sicily, between Marsala and Menfi. I discovered