• Zinfandel Guide

    While Zinfandel is grown many places, its most popular and successful region is California. Appellations producing delicious Zinfandel wines include Sonoma, specifically Dry Creek Valley, Napa, the North Coast, the Central Coast, and the Sierra Foothills. Zinfandel stands out with its very berry intensity and exotic spice notes. In some, jammy fruit will dominate; in…

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  • Tempranillo Guide

    Tempranillo features flavors of red fruits like sweet strawberries and tart cherries, backed by a rustic edge. Tempranillo takes well to oak, and many Spanish wines from this grape will spend a few years in barrel and bottle before reaching the consumer. Spanish wine laws are very specific about ageing wine, both in barrel and…

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  • Syrah / Shiraz Guide

    Like many world-popular grapes, Syrah (also known as Shiraz) can differ in style depending on the climate, region and winemaking techniques. Typical aromas and flavors from most Syrah-based wines include pepper, blackberry and leather or smoke. Australian Shiraz and central or southern California Syrah tend to be more dense in fruit flavor, some even jammy…

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  • Sauvignon Blanc Guide

    Sauvignon Blanc’s home is the Loire Valley of France, where it produces the crisp, grassy mineral-tinged wines of Sancerre and Pouilly Fume (not to be mistaken with Pouilly-Fuisse in Burgundy – that would be Chardonnay). Wine of this region is crisp and grassy, with delicious minerality and an occasional gun flint/smoky character. In the 1970s,…

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  • Sangiovese Guide

    Sangiovese is a dry, light to medium-bodied red wine that tips towards higher levels of mouth-watering acidity and tighter tannins. The rich flavors range from rustic to fruity, depending on where and how the vines are managed. Sangiovese is a thin-skinned, finicky grape that tends to linger longer on the vine, taking its sweet time to ripen and…

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  • Riesling Guide

    Riesling has an extremely high level of acidity. That acidity is matched by the intensity of the grape’s floral and fruit aromas. A number of descriptors are associated with Riesling due to its tendency to adopt the characteristics of where it is grown. Riesling of the Mosel is distinctive because its flavors reflect the region’s…

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  • Rhône White Blend Guide

    The whites blends of the Rhône are usually rich in fruit flavors and aromatics. Three of the primary grapes, Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne, are intense on aromatics & texture. The fourth primary grape used in the blend is Grenache Blanc, a fairly neutral grape with crisp acid & high sugars. Blending Grenache Blanc with the…

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  • Rhône Red Blend Guide

    Rhône blends are a wonderful combination of rustic and ripe – showing their flavors and delicious character upon release. Some Rhône wines, particularly those with a good amount of Syrah, are able to age for a few years. Australia’s Rhône blends are often called “GSM” or “SGM” – using the initials of the grapes used,…

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  • Pinot Noir Guide

    Other than Burgundy, Pinot Noir has been successful in areas like Oregon, California and lately, New Zealand – the Central Otago region to be exact. Burgundian Pinot Noir typically offers flavors and aromas of red fruit, summer pudding and baking spices. As the wine matures – and great Burgundies are able to do so for…

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  • Pinot Grigio / Pinot Gris Guide

    Pinot Gris from Alsace creates rich, stone fruit-laden wines. They are perfumed and aromatic, and typically dry. It has round body and medium acidity. Take the grape a bit south to Italy, and it creates a very crisp, high-acid, citrus noted wine. Both are flavorful, but wine named Pinot Gris typically provides more body and…

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