"Vine Dining" - Learning the wine types

Knowledge in the type of wines is essential for the brooding bachelor.  It shows that he is well-educated and cultured.  You'll want to be familiar with the wine varieties or risk embarrassing yourself on the corporate dinner table.  What are the type of wines you say?  Here is a list of white and red wines types you may want to remember.  Aside from that company dinner table, you don't want to be ignorant when you're dining with your special date.

Whites

Chardonnay (shar-don-ay) produces styles from steely citrus to woody (when it's geen aged in oak barrels), vanilla and toast or eve melon.

Sauvignon Blanc (soh-veen-yon blonk) is generally of high acidity with a light body.  Can have a gooseberry, green pepper and elderflower flavour, too.

Riesling (reezl-ling) has a wide variety of styles from sweet to dry with aromas of lime, when aged, burnt rubber.

Pinot Grigio (pee-no gree-jo), from Italy, is a light-bodied wine with subtle citrus flavours.  Pinot gris, from Alsace in France, is more alcoholic and less acidic.

Gewurztraminer (ga-voorts-tram-ee-nah) is a sspicy wine with exoctic flavours of lychees, rose Turkish delight and elderflower.

Reds

Merlot (mer-low) is generally a plummy low-tannin wine.

Cabernet Sauvignon (cab-er-nay soh-veen-yon) often has a blackcurrant flavour and high tannin and acidity.  Eearthy flavours develop with age

Shiraz (she-raz) tastes of plum, spice and smoke. Full-bodied, with high tannin

Grenach (gren-ash) has red fruit flavours, with pepper, and low tannin.

Temperanillo (temp-ran-ee-yo) is the principal grape of Rioja - a medium-bodied wine with a berry character.  If aged in aok, it has vanilla aromas.

Pinot Noir (pee-no-nwar) is light in tannin, with berry flavours when young and more vegetal when aged.


There you have it.  On then next article, we will find out how to decipher a wine label. Watch out for it.

Reference: Men's Health Magazine
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