Ever Wonder? Should You Decant a White Wine?

When one thinks about decanting a wine, usually it’s a red wine. Decanting a red wine is generally done for several reasons including allowing any trapped off-smelling odors to quickly dissipate, allowing the wine to “open up” to reveal greater character and to help soften its tannin. But, decanting a white wine? Should it be done? The answer is a resounding “Yes!”

Just like red wines, white wines too can have off-odors and the simple act of pouring the wine into a decanter will quickly deal with those issues.

White wines are generally released to market earlier than red wines. But, this can result in a white wine being “closed” in its aromas and flavors. Again, simply pouring it into a decanter can quickly help to “open up” the wine so as to allow for greater aromas and flavors.

Another benefit of decanting a white wine is for temperature control. If the white wine has been stored in a standard refrigerator, it’s a bit too cold to be able to release its aromas and exhibit all of its flavors. So, pouring a white wine into a decanter will allow it to quickly come to the ideal drinking temperature of 45 to 55 degrees F. Also, if the wine is room temperature and you’d like to quickly put a slight chill on it, you’ll find that the thinner walls of a decanter will allow the wine to more quickly chill in a large bucket of ice or in the fridge.

While decanting a red wine can take 1 to 2 hours, decanting a white wine is quick — 15 minutes or less will generally do the job.

There is one caution regarding decanting white wine. If you pull the cork and discover that your white wine has oxidized (e.g., has changed to a dark golden color with some orange or brown color notes) decanting won’t help. It’s already seen too much oxygen in the bottle and giving it further oxygen will only make it worse.

Next time we’ll look at decanting sparkling wines. Yes, even sparkling wines can benefit from decanting! Until then, Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ - Ritual Pinot Noir

2017 Ritual Pinot Noir ($19.99)

The Ritual estate is situated in the extreme eastern end of Chile’s Casablanca Valley that is heavily influenced by the cooling effects of the Pacific Ocean — ideal growing conditions for Pinot Noir. Following organic practices, the winemaking team uses compost to feed the soils to promote a balanced and self-regulated ecosystem, cover cropping and seeding for revitalizing the soils and sheep to help mow the grass and act as a natural fertilizers.

The vineyards are surrounded by 6000 acres of native forest, creating a balanced, bio-diverse landscape for healthy vines to thrive alongside natural wildlife corridors and native vegetation.

The Ritual Pinot Noir is produced from 100% Pinot Noir grapes that are hand-picked in small batches and carefully double-sorted. A portion of the fruit is whole-cluster fermented to promote structure and complexity. It is fermented with wild yeasts and aged 11 months in 20% new French oak barrels.

This Ritual Pinot Noir is pale ruby in color with the distinctive red fruit aromas and some earthiness. On the palate, it is delicate with the classic cherry and cranberry flavors, balanced acidity and a light finish.

This Ritual Pinot Noir, from the Casablanca Valley in Chile, stands up to those being produced in California and Oregon and, at the price, makes this wine a nice fit as the Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week. Cheers!

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

Sample Provided by Donna White Communications

Best Wines to Pair with Your Thanksgiving Meal

The traditional turkey dinner for Thanksgiving is often served with a white wine. While most white wines do go well with turkey, there are plenty of other excellent options. 

Traditional white wine choices include:

• Gewürztraminer - A Thanksgiving favorite. It is a highly aromatic wine with floral touches and spice notes such as cloves and nutmeg.

• Riesling - A dry Riesling has spicy, fruity flavors with touches of peaches or apricots and a floral fragrance that compliments the meal well.

• Sauvignon Blanc - Light and crisp, with grassy or herbaceous flavors and good acidity to cut through all the richness of the meal.

• Pinot Grigio (Pinot Gris) - Light and zesty with flavors of lemon, melon and peach.

• Chardonnay - A very common choice. But, it's best to go with the lighter and fruiter un-oaked versions that work best with all the flavors on the Thanksgiving table.

Sparkling wines also go well with almost any meal and are a natural pairing with turkey. And, any dry rosé will also work quite nicely with your turkey meal.

Turkey, by itself, is a pretty neutral meat.  So, you should actually focus on pairing your wines with all the side dishes that go along with the turkey. It may be a bit surprising, but a red wine will often work exceptionally well with your meal.  Just as cranberry sauce goes well with the turkey, a fruity red wine is also a great choice.

Some red wine options include:

• Beaujolais - Light, dry and fresh with fruity flavors. And you can serve it chilled.

• Pinot Noir - A light bodied red with flavors of cherry, raspberry and strawberry. In the French wine section at your store, this is called a red Burgundy. And this too can be served slightly chilled.

• Carignan - This red wine is a bit higher in tannins and acid, and has flavors of dark and black fruits, pepper, licorice, and spicy, savory aromas.

• Rhône Blends - Rhône wines focus on Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre grapes, producing medium-bodied blends.

• Zinfandel - This medium bodied red wine can really work with a Thanksgiving meal. It has characteristics that include jammy flavors with spicy or peppery notes.

Finally, you might want to avoid full-bodied, highly tannic, red wines (e.g., Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah) that can get lost in the presence of all the fruit, sugar, and salt on the Thanksgiving table.

But, as always, ensure that you drink what you like. That's what is most important.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving. Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ - Sparkling Wines for the Holidays

Ca di Prata Prosecco DOC Brut ($15.99) and Acquesi Asti Spumante ($16.99)

Sparkling wines are perfect at most any time and with most any foods. All too often, though, they get reserved for just one major holiday each year. And who doesn’t enjoy popping some bubbly to ring in the new year. But, you should also think bubbles at Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and other celebratory holidays.

These two sparklers are from Italy which is famous for its Prosecco and Asti Spumante wines.

Since the middle of the thirteenth century the toponym 'Prosech' or 'Prosecum', but also the more modern 'Proseco' refers to a small town, bordering to the south-east of Trieste. Even today, Prosecco remains a small town in the province of Trieste, in the far north-east of Italy.

The Ca di Prata Prosecco is produced from 85% Glera grapes and 15% other varieties including Pinot Bianco and Chardonnay. After harvest and the press, the must is fermented in stainless steel tanks at 14-16 C for about 10-12 days. After fermentation it is racked and stored in stainless steel tanks at 10-12 C. Then, to create the bubbles, it is placed in a stainless steel autoclave where it ferments at a temperature of 15-16 C for about 12 days. At the end of fermentation, it is cooled to 0° C and left to rest for a month and finally filtered and bottled. Being a Brut, it has low residual sugar, pleasant acidity and the taste of green apple, typical of the Prosecco. The presence of Pinot Bianco and Chardonnay gives a complex savory and mineral note which makes it more full-bodied.

The Acquesi Asti Spumante is produced from 100% Moscato. It is a sweet sparkling wine at just 7% alcohol by volume and 95 g/L residual sugar.

It's pale gold color and greenish hue leads to complex floral aromas of fresh tree fruits, honeycomb and exotic spices. The palate is fresh, sweet and persistent with a lingering, sweet fruity finish.

This Acquesi Asti Spumante has won several recent awards. At the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championship in 2019 & 2020 it was Best in Region (Asti 2020), Best in Class (2019,2020), Gold (2019,2020) and World Champion (Aromatic Sparkling Wine 2019, 2020).

Both of these fine sparkling wines are imported by Mack & Schuhle which s a Miami-based national importer dedicated to bringing exceptional wines from around the world to the US market. Look for them and enjoy. Cheers!

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

Samples Provided by Donna White Communications

Once Again it's Beaujolais Nouveau Time!

Beaujolais Nouveau. Its name literally means 'new Beaujolais.' This wine is named for the village of Beaujeu in France, which is a small region just south of Burgundy.

On the third Thursday of each November, which is November 18th this year, France releases Beaujolais Nouveau wine to the world.

The 'new' part of this wine is due to the fact that the grapes used to make this wine are picked from the vineyards just a couple of months prior to its release! That's compared to most wines that spend at least a year or more going through the fermentation and aging process before being bottled and shipped to market.  But Beaujolais Nouveau gets from the vineyard to you in about two months!

Word has it that this wine was originally produced for the harvest workers in France to immediately thank them for all their hard work just after harvest was complete. But now its production is somewhere between 30-60 million bottles so that the entire world can enjoy.

Although there are more than 100 Beaujolais Nouveau festivals held each year in the Beaujolais region, the 'Les Sarmentelles' multi-day festival is said to be the biggest and most famous for celebrating the release of Beaujolais Nouveau. The festival includes music, dancing, fireworks and, yes, plenty of wine.

This wine is produced entirely from handpicked Gamay grapes and because it is so new, it is very fresh and fruity. Many describe Beaujolais Nouveau as having flavors of candied cherries, strawberries, red plum, bananas and bubble gum.

Beaujolais Nouveau is meant to be enjoyed young, not critiqued. So, pick up a bottle soon and give it a slight chill. Then raise a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau to the French harvest workers. It's Beaujolais Nouveau time! Cheers!