The holidays are fast approaching. Next week is Thanksgiving. Crazy, eh? Therefore, I’ve decided to highlight yet another alcoholic beverage quite popular this time of year. Come to think of it, it’s popular year round. I’m talkin’ about wine – that ‘other grape juice’.
I’ve kind of avoided posting about this particular libation because it’s, like, huge. But, I was able to present the vastness of beer in a relatively simple one post format. With wine, I’ve decided to break it up into three groups based on color – white, red, and rose’. I’m a basic dude, so this works for me.
White wine is my vise and virtue. Red is too much. And, quite frankly, the ‘blush’ variety was never really contemplated. Until this past summer when a friend introduced me to a rose’ made by a local winemaker. It was quite refreshing. Better yet, I was inspired to forego my trepidation and forge ahead with my postal presentation. Besides, rose’ is the least intimidating of the three and may be the oldest type of wine around.
A rosé is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method. The pink color can range from a pale “onion-skin” orange to a vivid near-purple, depending on the varietals used and winemaking techniques. There are three major ways to produce rosé wine: skin contact, saignée, and blending.
wine etiquette
The simple mixing of red wine into white wine to impart color is uncommon, and is discouraged in most wine growing regions, especially in France, where it is forbidden by law. Translation – no white trash winemaking.
brief blush blurb
Charles Kreck had been one of the first to plant Cabernet Sauvignon vines in California, and offered a friend/visitor a wine made from Cabernet that was a pale pink and as yet unnamed. Kreck would not call it “White Cabernet” as it was much darker in color than red grape “white” wines of the time, yet it was not as dark as the rosés he had known. His friend jokingly suggested the name “Cabernet Blush”. Then that evening phoned Kreck to say that he no longer thought the name a joke. In 1978, Kreck trademarked the word “Blush”. The term remained primarily in the United States until the late 1990’s. After that, prominent French influence persuaded the return to the original reference of rose’.
beyond basics
Beer has its hop. With wine, it’s all about the grape, baby. The grape variety dictates the type of wine produced. Well, that and how it’s processed. Countless books are devoted to each of these subjects. For my postal purposes, those simple sentences will just have to suffice.
Billy and a bottle
Red wine seems to be the go to muse for songwriters. However, leave it to Billy Joel to highlight all three varieties – in the opening verse, none the less.
Cin cin!
