The World of Wine
The following series of short articles provide a light-hearted look at the world of wine that I have picked up over the past few years. I hope they can provide some useful insights for you.
Rob Malcolm
Summer Whites
July 2007
Midsummer evenings call for refreshing whites that provide a pick-me-up after a hot day. Want to know more about the best ones we have here?
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The Taste Temptation
June 2007
How many times should you try a new wine to decide whether you like it or not? read more
Wine Journeys
May 2007
If you haven’t planned all your holidays this year, then what about visiting a wine region? Wine regions are found on some of the most picturesque slices of earth. read more
Wine Riots
April 2007
By the time you’re reading this Gordon Brown will have increased the Excise on wine by a few pence. So what? read more
Wine in Restaurants
March 2007
Hands up if every time you are handed the wine list in a restaurant you feel resentment swell up at the price the restaurant expects you to pay for a bottle? You’re not alone. read more
Wine Ageing
February 2007
There is a myth that wine improves with age. Sadly this is untrue for about 99% of all wines produced. Very few styles of wine are meant to improve with age, and fewer still that actually do so. read more
Food & Wine
January 2007
Discovering a combination of food and wine is one of the highest hedonistic pleasures available to us. I will never forget getting home after a long, cold day with both fridge and cellar bare. A tin of vegetable soup was all I could muster, and there was half a bottle of sherry left in the fridge. Granted, my expectations were low, but that combination of warm, hearty soup and tangy sherry was so good it almost brought tears to my eyes. read more
'Tis the Season to be Merry
December 2006
The sharp bite of winter has arrived and it is a time of office parties, Christmas and New Year's Eve. I like the word 'merry': for me it captures the rosy-cheeked fun of this time of year in England. read more
The Kiss of Oak
November 2006
To make a wine with a pure, clean fruit character the winemaker can nowadays use temperature-controlled, hygienic stainless steel vats. But if all you drank were pure, clean fruit- driven wines you’d soon get pretty bored. That’s why almost all red wines and about half of all white wines are still made with the influence of oak, because oak interacts with and adds a layer of complexity to the fruit. read more
Sulphur & Oxygen: the salt and pepper of winemaking
October 2006
On every bottle of wine you’ll find the safety message, “Contains sulphur dioxide”. Sulphur has been added to wine for about as long as we’ve added salt to our food. It is added at various stages of the wine making process for two reasons: to protect the wine from the effects of oxidation; and to prevent the growth of spoilage bacteria. Without it, wine would be vinegar; nice for salads, but not for drinking. read more
Yeasts: the microscopic martyrs
September 2006
You don’t have to be a genius to taste the difference between the flavour and alcoholic kick of grape juice and wine, so it’s worth taking a few minutes to get to know those responsible. It’s hard to get excited about microscopic unicellular fungi, and these little guys don’t get much press coverage, but according to scientists yeasts are responsible for around 400 out of the total 1,000 (40%) flavour compounds found in wine. read more
Winemakers: the chefs of wine
August 2006
Many in the wine trade would like you to believe that wine virtually makes itself; that their wine is an expression of nature with variety, vineyard, vintage and vineyard practices producing grapes which man hardly touches before it reaches your glass: a nice, wholesome picture, but not an accurate one. read more
Sex in the Vineyard
July 2006
The grape is the means by which a vine propagates sexually, by producing a sweet berry that is designed to appeal to birds. Growing the perfect grape is a delicate balance of vinous foreplay: if you treat a vines too rough (too cold, hot or dry) it is not physically capable of producing a grape; if you treat a vine too well (good soil, too much water) it becomes selfish and indulges itself in extra leaves and green shoots and forgets about grapes. So how does the grape farmer treat ‘em mean to keep them keen? read more
Vintage Notes
June 2006
Of the five major factors affecting the different aromas and tastes in wine (variety, vineyard, vintage, vineyard practice and wine-making), vintage refers to the weather conditions through the vine’s growing period that will affect both the quality and quantity of wine produced in any given year. read more
Vineyards and Controversy
May 2006
Of the five major factors affecting the different aromas and tastes in wine (variety, vineyard, vintage, vineyard practice and wine-making), the vineyard the grape is grown in generates the greatest passion and controversy. Whilst it is certainly true that in some parts of any vineyard grapes grow and ripen better than in other parts, the soil’s role in actually affecting the flavour of wine is scientifically unproven, despite extensive efforts to do so. read more
Grape Varieties and the shame of Chablis
April 2006
Of the five major factors affecting the different aromas and tastes in wine (variety, vineyard, vintage, vineyard practice and wine making), the variety of the grape is generally the strongest influence on the overall flavour and the best place to start exploring. read more
Wine – can you taste complexity?
March 2006
In the universe of beverages wine has the ability to be the most complex and enchanting. The best way to understand how a wine tastes is to look at the five factors that give each wine its unique taste: read more
Learning About Wine
February 2006
If you’re a content member of the pure hedonist school of wine -“I’m not interested in learning, but I know what I like” - then life is simple: ignore the guff and drink up merrily! However, if you are remotely curious, here’s a tip to help you keep it real on your journey in wine... read more
Wine Isn’t Sport
January 2006
Being an Aussie running a wine shop and bar in Summertown I am often asked, “So do you only sell Australian wine?” The short answer is, “No, we sell wines from everywhere”, but the real answer, one that requires a bit of explanation, is, “To me there is no such thing as Australian wine.” read more
Wine Economics
Why spending a few extra pounds can really make a difference. The sad truth is that taxes now take up a vast share of the price of a bottle of wine. read more
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