Coonawarra: Australia’s Cabernet Capital on a Strip of Red Dirt
Coonawarra is a narrow strip of red soil in the far south-east of South Australia, about 380 kilometres from Adelaide, ...
Read moreMango Wine: What It Is, How It Is Made and Where to Buy It
Mango wine is fermented mango pulp, usually 6 to 12 per cent alcohol. Here is how it is made, why it does not taste much like mango, and where to buy it.
Read moreWhat Wine Goes With Truffle: The Rule Nobody Explains
Older Pinot Noir for black truffle, Nebbiolo or aged Chardonnay for white. Here is why truffle is an aroma problem, not a flavour one, plus one stocked Tasmanian pick.
Read moreWhat Is Port Wine? Sweetness, Styles and Why It Is So Strong
Port is a sweet fortified red from the Douro Valley in Portugal. Here is why it is sweet, what the styles mean, whether French port exists, and why Australian port is now tawny.
Read moreOff-Dry Wine: What It Means and How Sweet It Is
Off-dry means 4 to 12 grams of sugar a litre. Here is the full sweetness scale in numbers, why off-dry often tastes dry, and why Extra Dry sparkling is sweeter than Brut.
Read moreWhat Is a Fifth Growth Wine? The 1855 Bordeaux Ranking Explained
A fifth growth is a Bordeaux château in the bottom band of the 1855 classification. There are 18, twelve of them in Pauillac, and the label says more about 1855 prices than today’s wine.
Read moreChicken Shawarma Wine Pairing: Garlic, Pickles and Spice
The chicken is the easy part. Garlic sauce, pickled turnip and the spice rub decide the bottle. Dry rose first, chilled Grenache second, plus one stocked pick.
Read moreMiso and Wine: What to Pour (and What to Avoid)
Miso is salty, sweet and full of umami, which is hard on red wine. What to pour with miso soup, miso black cod and miso ramen, and the reds to keep off the table.
Read morePinot Gris vs Pinot Grigio: What Is the Difference?
Same grape, two names, two styles. Grigio is crisp and citrusy, Gris is fuller and rounder. How to tell which is in the bottle before you buy it.
Read moreStroganoff and Wine: What to Pour (and What to Avoid)
Sour cream and mushrooms run this dish, not the beef, and both punish tannin. Why Pinot Noir wins, what to avoid, and one bottle for both versions.
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