Are You Ready for the 2017 Beaujolais Nouveau Wine?

Get ready because it's almost ready for you! Every year on the third Thursday in November France celebrates Beaujolais Nouveau Day. And this year that will be November 16, 2017.

The celebration starts at 12:01 a.m. in France. The 2017 vintage of Beaujolais will be released, just a matter of weeks after the grapes were harvested from the fields. And the French celebrate this occasion with all-night parties throughout the country.

Clearly, this youngest of all the wines is not meant for anything other than celebrating the recent harvest. Beaujolais is cherry-red in color and has fresh fruity flavors of candied-cherry and strawberry. What is most unique is the wine's banana and bubble gum flavors. Yes, a bit odd but very much worth the experience. 

While the celebrations are going on in France, millions of cases of the Beaujolais Nouveau are being shipped around the world.  You too can join in on the celebration as you'll likely be able to find bottles in your local wine and grocery stores.

Serve it chilled a bit and enjoy it immediately. These wines are not intended for aging. And with the timing relative to Thanksgiving, have a couple of bottles on-hand for the day. They make for a great conversation starter and they may even go with something on the table.

But for more on Thanksgiving wine pairings, tune in next week. It's not just white wine that works with turkey. Until then, cheers!

Behind the Cork ™ - Wines of the Week

2015 Hess Collection Allomi Napa Cabernet Sauvignon ($32)

At this point, one would assume that a 2015 Napa Cab is a bit too young to be at its peak. And, while that may be so, this Cab is already terrific. With aromas of plum, fig and raisin, and it's oak aging provides wonderful vanilla and chocolate undertones.

This Cab has unusually bright fruit flavors, is super smooth and easy. This one should only get better with age, which means it will go from terrific now to spectacular with time. 

This is one that is worth getting a case and enjoying a bottle each year to experience its exceptional development. Cheers!

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Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission:  I received this wine at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Donna White Communications

Is Your Wine Sweet or Does it Just Taste Sweet?

During a recent wine tasting, one opinion given of the wine was that it was sweet. My reaction was that it wasn't sweet at all. So, how can a wine seem sweet and not sweet at the same time?

Well, as you'd expect, everyone's perception of taste is different. But, are tastes so different that one person can find a wine to be sweet while someone else can find it not?  The answer, of course, is yes. It's possible.

To understand this, you first have to understand that taste has a lot to do with smell. As soon as you smell a wine's aroma, you are detecting distinct fruit flavors. And, many of these fruit flavors are associated with sweet fruit. Think about black cherries, plums and blackberries. These are all sweet fruits. But, they are also flavors you can get from many red wines.  The wine we were tasting was a Cabernet Sauvignon and it indeed had aromas and flavors of these fruits.

When your brain senses these aromas, you automatically and subconsciously associate them with sweetness. And, with a first sip, your brain will continue you down that path as you taste the various fruit flavors. Sweet fruit flavors. But the wine, as was the case with this Napa Cabernet, had little to no residual sugar (RS).

As we started talking about the wine, it became apparent that indeed the bright fruit flavors were there, but the wine wasn't actually sweet. So, this wine had great flavors of sweet fruits, but having little to no residual sugar, it really wasn't sweet.

The wine world is a fascinating adventure. Get out and try some wines, different varietals or wines from different regions of the world.  You'll find a world of flavors!  Cheers!

Is Your Favorite Wine Made from Berries? Check Again!

Think berries…strawberries, raspberries, and blue berries. Then think wine.  Yes, some of these delicate berry flavors can be present in fine wines. But, your favorite varietal wines aren’t made from berries. Boone’s Farm, maybe, but not your wine. Right?

Well, hold on a minute. When you actually get technical about it, it turns out that grapes are, from a botanical perspective, berries, not a fruit! 

Though you’ll commonly hear grapes referred to as “fruit,” it turns out that botanists technically classify grapes as berries since each fruit forms from a single flower.

This gets even more interesting when you find out that a strawberry isn’t actually a berry. Neither is a blackberry.  Then, you learn that a banana is a berry! Huh?

Well, regardless, the wines that you commonly drink are berry wines, not fruit wines.  Another wine fun-fact. Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ - Wine of the Week

2015 The Hess Collection Napa Valley Estate Chardonnay ($22)

This week's feature is The Hess Collection's 2015 Napa Valley Chardonnay. This wonderful 100% Chardonnay features flavors of apple, white pear and a slight touch of tropical fruits and a very slight hint of oak.

The hint of oak is due to 70% of the blend seeing fermentation in Stainless Steel to retain the fresh yellow stone fruit, citrus and pear flavors. The remaining 30% of the blend gets just a light touch of oak, and only 30% of the overall blend is allowed to undergo secondary fermentation. The wine is then aged for 9 months in barrels with lees stirred weekly for 4 months.

The resulting wine is a nice balance that features the crisp fruit flavors with a bit of baked apple, vanilla and caramel.

The Hess Collection wines are family owned, sustainably farmed and dedicated to reflecting a true sense of place.

This Chardonnay is well worth the price and one that you should definitely try. It was a great pairing with pork loin, but would work well with poultry or fish.  But, for that matter, it was great all by itself.

Look for 2015 The Hess Collection Estate Chardonnay. You won't be disappointed!

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Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission:  I received this wine at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Donna White Communications