Fickle Palate Archives: Wine Variety
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20 December 2007
Ice Wine – Nectar of the North
Depending upon how close to the equator you are when you’re enjoying a glass of wine, the term “ice wine” can mean different things.
If you are close to the equator, your idea of ice wine may be a large tumbler full of ice cubes topped with chilled Merlot. This concoction may be a matter of [...]
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13 December 2007
Champagne – Taste the Stars
“Ah! I have tasted the stars.”
These sublimely poetic words are attributed to a French monk of the late 17th century who is often cited as being the inventor of Champagne itself. Alas, the good friar himself was blind and could not see the stars.
Dom Pérignon, however, did not actually invent Champagne. He did spend an [...]
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7 November 2007
Nebbiolo
Some people like to have fun with their wine. Other people have fun with words. The Nebbiolo grape, from the Italian Piedmont region, offers fun for both types of people.
Pronounced “nebby-OH-loh,” the grape’s name is a derivative of the Italian word for foggy. During October harvest time, the mountainous slopes of Piedmont are often heavily [...]
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25 October 2007
Festive Nouveau Beaujolais
When the world of wine seems too heavy, stuffy, and complicated to be fun anymore, consider enjoying a light, lively bottle of festive Nouveau Beaujolais.Unlike so many other serious wines that require a great deal of aging and coddling, this sprightly wine is meant to be enjoyed soon after bottling. And it’s one of the [...]
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16 September 2007
The Noble Shiraz
When we try to describe the characteristics attributed to the noble Shiraz, it’s almost impossible to do so without using words that are equally appropriate for human nobility. Rich, bold and assertive come quickly to mind.
A wine is considered noble if it is made from a grape that has a thick, aromatic skin that is [...]