Most Common Wine Grapes
White Wines
Chardonnay “Rich” is the word that both describes Chardonnay best and explains its popularity. Its aroma is distinct, yet delicate, difficult to characterize and easier to recognize. It often smells like apples, lemons, peaches or tropical fruits. Its delicacy is such that even a small percentage of another varietal blended into a Chardonnay will often completely dominate its aroma and flavor. Oak commonly takes over Chardonnay if the wine is fermented or aged in new barrels or for too long in seasoned ones.
Riesling has a powerful, distinctive floral and apple-like aroma that frequently mixes in mineral elements from its vineyard source and is often described as “racy.” Its naturally high level of Tartaric acid enables it to balance even high levels of residual sugar.
Sauvignon Blanc is usually quite distinctive and one of the easier varietal wines to recognize by its often sharp, aggressive smell. With naturally high acidity, Sauvignon Blanc is always tangy, tart, nervy, racy, or zesty and this character pervades even sweet and dessert versions keeping them from being cloying and sticky-tasting.
Viognier The main attraction of Viognier is its potentially powerful, rich and complex aroma that often seems like over-ripe apricots mixed with orange blossoms or acacia. With an aroma-flavor profile as distinctive and sweet as that of Gewürztraminer, Viognier perfume holds up even when blended with a large portion of other grapes. The fruit usually has a very deep color but is somewhat low in acidity.
Red Wines
Cabernet Sauvignon makes the most dependable candidate for aging more often improving into a truly great wine than any other single varietal. With age, its distinctive black currant aroma can develop bouquet nuances of cedar, violets, leather, or cigar box, and its typically tannic edge may soften and smooth considerably.
Merlot While its flavor profile is similar to that of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot tends to be less distinctive and slightly more herbaceous overall in both aroma & taste. Ripeness seems critical both under-ripe and over-ripe grapes lean away from fruit and towards herbaceousness. Merlot has slightly lower natural acidity than Cabernet Sauvignon and generally less astringency, therefore a usually lusher mouth-feel.
Pinot Noir Great Pinot Noir creates a lasting impression both on the palate and in the memory. Its aroma is often one of the most complex of all varieties and can be intense with a ripe-grape or black cherry aroma, frequently accented by a pronounced spiciness that suggests cinnamon, sassafras, or mint. Ripe tomato, mushroom, and barnyard are also common descriptions of Pinot Noir. It is full-bodied and rich, but not heavy, high in alcohol, neither acidic nor tannic and has substantial flavor despite its delicacy. The most appealing quality of Pinot Noir may be its soft, velvety texture. When right, it is like liquid silk, gently caressing the palate. Pinot Noir does not have the longevity in the bottle of the darker red wines and tends to reach its peak at five to eight years past the vintage.
Syrah forms intense wines with deep, nearly black, violet color, chewy texture and richness, an often alcoholic strength, and aromas that tend to be more spicy than fruity.
Zinfandel has a very fruity, raspberry-like aroma and flavor that is often described as “jammy.” Zinfandel is one red varietal that is probably best enjoyed in its youth, within three to five years of the vintage. With more bottle age than this, the luscious fruit that distinguished Zinfandel drops markedly and the wine can show a pronounced “hot” taste of higher alcohol levels & become more neutrally vinous.
Pass the Wine List Article Review
James Laube is a senior editor for Wine Spectator and has been with them since 1983. In a recent article he wrote about Pass the Wine List. Some of the most interesting points he made were as follows:
- Most restaurants charge too much for the wines they serve. Take as his example a wine which retails for $50 often sells for close to $150. The profit is not to the winery but the restaurant. He states it is not always the restaurants fault but often the state or the distributors. He suggests that you compare restaurant wine list prices before going to dinner and being captive.
- He is also amazed at how many great restaurants with genius chefs and creative menus have mediocre stemware – thick, top-heavy glasses that make it impossible to swirl or aerate your wine. He states the he has long believed that the easiest way to make any wine taste better is to use the finest glasses.
- There is nothing better he claims than a wine sommelier, who knows the wine list and can tell people where the values are on the wine.
- He avoids those who have a heavy pour. Those who fill the glass instead of pouring a few ounces and do not rush to refill every few minutes. Wine is to be savored.
- Too many restaurants served their worst wine by the glass.
We at Siips Wine and Champagne Bar do not fall into any of these modes.
- Our prices are extremely moderate and we are pleased to have you compare
- We serve only in Riedel Glassware
- We always point out the valued wines on our menu
- We never pour more than 6 ounces and less for Reds
- Our wines by the glass include Jordan, Prisoner, ZD, Cakebread, Flora Springs, and so many fine wines.
We still have many areas to improve upon but we would be happy to have James Laube and you to visit Siips Wine and Champagne Bar. We always welcome your suggestions.
Wine Travels
By: George Benford
Travel to Greece and Turkey for their wines, no way! Well maybe but not exactly the usual vineyard tours but great wines were the order of the day. My wife and I just recently returned from a fabulous cruise on the Seabourn Spirit. Having been to Greece three times in the last two years, I have to admit I wasn’t excited about going (although I do love Athens) but this was the choice of our wine travel friends so I went along.
The first night we stayed at the lovely King George in the middle of Athens that was convenient to many of the sites. We had dinner up on the Lykabetus hill above the city on the terrace of the Horizons Restaurant. In order to get to the restaurant you have to take the funicular up to the restaurant. Our table had a beautiful view of the city and as the sun set; the lights on the ancient sites were all lit up. It was so different to view the Parthenon from above. Since we were in Greece, we elected to try some of the Greek wines. For the red wine drinkers we tried a red wine recommended by the restaurant and found it to be pretty good. Some of the group will only drink white wines so they got a white wine that was a cross between Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Since both white drinkers were partial to one or the other, this wine was a great compromise. The evening was delightful and great way to start a wonderful trip.
The next day we boarded the Seabourn Spirit for a seven night cruise of the Greek Isles and along the coast of Turkey to finally end up in the exotic city of Istanbul. As we boarded the Spirit we were whisked into the lounge to be checked in and greeted with champagne. Since the Spirit only holds 208 passengers, the check in was virtually painless and rather fun.
Seabourn is all-inclusive so you can have some pretty nice wines and as many drinks as you wish. For wine snobs, Seabourn offers upgraded wine packages called Gold or Silver Connoisseur Wine Collections. With these packages you were given a selection of wines to choose from and the price was determined by the package chosen. It was a much better deal to buy the package than to buy the upgraded wines on an individual basis.
As always when I cruise, I immediately seek out the Head Wine Sommelier and become friendly. This paid off handsomely as the cruise progressed, Craig, who is a Master Sommelier, opened up some of the unlisted wine selections on our behalf. Not only did I make a new wine friend I also learned a lot more about wines. On the last day while we were at sea, I attended a wine tasting given by Craig for $100 and it was worth every penny. Since our group was pretty knowledgeable about wine, the tasting lasted for two hours and we started with Cakebread Chardonnay, Far Niente Chardonnay, followed by Beringer Private Reserve Merlot, Silver Oak Napa Valley and Opus One. Needless to say, I was in wine heaven. So that being said although the wines of Greece and Turkey are not my favorite, the wine selection on Seabourn was outstanding. Having not sailed on Seabourn before I was very glad our group decided on this cruise!
Istanbul was again a wonderful and complex city to visit. The Blue Mosque, the Sisterine and the Sophia were all as I remembered them from a past visit, unique and packed with history. The people were very friendly and certainly made us all feel welcomed. The final evening we enjoyed a relaxing evening at 360 Restaurant and as the name infers it has a 360 degree view of the city. We did enjoy a bottel of Sarafin, a Turkish Cabernet Sauvignon 2001, full bodied with a complex bouquet and smooth texture. The wine was a pleasant find but definitely not up to California Cabs.
Siips Wine & Champagne Bar will be offering various group wine trips throughout the year. We will focus on wineries, Food and Wine Events, and just plain outstanding destinations. Siips also can assist with our individual plans for visiting wineries throughout the world as both my wife and I have been in the travel industry for well more years than we like to admit. Check out our website for details.