Most people look on Sauv Blanc as a relatively inexpensive alternative to Chardonnay. It has a different flavor profile, for sure, being bright/acidic, grassy, grapefruit. New Zealand is famous for their $10 Sauvignon Blanc, California for their $20+/- SB.
Did you know there are luxury Sauvignon Blancs out there that cost over $100?
If you pay much attention to Sonoma County wine you might know about the Russian River Valley, Sonoma Valley, Alexander Valley, Sonoma Coast, and possibly one or two other growing areas (appellations or AVAs). There are some lesser known ones that might deserve your attention. The issue with smaller growing areas is these wines are not as likely to show up on your local wine shelves.
Where architecture and egos meet in Napa and Sonoma.
You could argue the fancy destination winery buildings were started in the '70s by Mondavi though there are several older fancy wineries like Beringer and Inglenook. Mondavi's style actually looks pretty tame today. Also, Jordan, Chateau Montelena, or Domaine Carneros have somewhat fancy chateaus, but are nothing compared to those below.
Poor, poor, pitiful Merlot. It had more than a decade long love affair with the American wine consumer from the time of The French Paradox until Sideways.
The following data is from the California 2022 Grape Crush Report published by the USDA. The trends show where we've been in the last few years during a boom economy, forest fires, and a pandemic. This data is for the entire state. Note that the majority of the grapes come from the vast San Joaquin Valley and go primarily into inexpensive wines. Also note that, in some instances, the report also shows table grapes.
First off, I'm not a winemaker other than a bit of homemade stuff. Actually, if I was a winemaker, I wouldn't be telling you many of the things done to your wine. Second, nothing mentioned here will hurt you. Everything done in the cellar is to make the wine better, or sometimes to save time or money, in the opinion of the people making the wine. Sometimes it's for taste, sometimes for looks. The U.S. gov't, the TTB, controls what can legally be added.
There are two groupings of wine manipulations, things added and processes done to the juice or wine.
Depending on your point-of-view, there is a secret ingredient to help many wines look better or there is fakery and dishonest business practices by many wineries.
Mega Purple is concentrated grape juice added to wine. It's made from a hybrid grape called Rubired (sometimes called Tenturier).
Whether you are going for a day or a week, here are a few wine tasting tips to make things go well. As you'll see, there's a bit of prep work.
What's hot in alcohol sales in the country? This is looking at growth over the past few years, not total sales. Info from Market Watch Mag.
The past few posts have covered individual elements that you taste in a wine: acidity, tannins, sweetness, alcohol, and body. If you remember, tannin isn't really sensed by taste, but actually by touch. This post will get a little nerdy with a bit of science (sorry).
The term body is the weight, texture and richness of a wine. Weight is viscosity, or how thick and heavy it feels. Texture would be terms like silky, smooth, sharp, firm. Richness is full, round, sweet tasting, or not.
What? There's alcohol? Yep, because otherwise you have grape juice. In the olden days, let's say three decades ago or longer, the only thought given to alcohol was whether a European wine had enough because some years the fruit just didn't fully ripen.
