Pinot Noir | Giggly Grapes

Wine Pairing With Roasted Vegetables: What to Pour (and What to Avoid)

06/04/2024

Glass of red wine beside a tray of roasted pumpkin, carrots, onion and sprouts

Roasting makes vegetables sweet and smoky, which changes what wine works. Grenache, Gamay, Tempranillo and Riesling lead; big reds and thin whites do not.

Riedel Winewings Pinot Noir Review: A Big Glass With a Big Price

04/04/2024

Large flat-bottomed crystal glass with a small pour of Pinot Noir

The flat-bottomed Winewings Pinot Noir glass genuinely lifts the perfume, and it covers Nebbiolo and Gamay too. The Australian price is the sticking point.

What Wine Goes with Mushrooms? The Honest Answer

02/04/2024

Pan fried mushrooms beside a glass of red wine

Mushroom umami turns big reds bitter. Here is what to pour instead, dish by dish, plus one stock-checked Australian pinot noir worth opening tonight.

Meatloaf Wine Pairing: What to Pour for Beef or Turkey

27/03/2024

A glass of red wine beside a sliced glazed meatloaf on a wooden board

Grenache, Merlot or Barbera are the best wines for meatloaf. The mince is not the hard part, the sweet and salty glaze on top is.

Wine Pairing With Lentils: The Tannin Problem Nobody Mentions

12/03/2024

A bowl of braised green lentils beside a glass of light red wine

Lentils are not the blank canvas everyone claims. They bring their own drying astringency, mostly in the skins, and almost no fat to soften it. That changes the wine.

Best Wine for French Onion Soup: Why Sweetness Is the Problem

05/03/2024

A glass of light red wine beside a bowl of French onion soup with melted cheese

A light, high acid red like Gamay is the best wine for French onion soup. The problem is not the beef stock, it is the sugar in all those onions.

Best Wine With Roast Chicken: Match the Skin, Not the Bird

02/03/2024

Golden roast chicken on a board beside a glass of white wine

Roast chicken is the most flexible main in the house. The wine is really matching the browned skin and the gravy, and that changes what you should pour.

Waipara Valley Wine Region: New Zealand’s Riesling Heartland

20/12/2023

Vineyard rows on limestone hillsides with distant snow-capped mountains

An hour north of Christchurch, sheltered by low hills and built on limestone clay. What Waipara tastes like, which cellar doors are actually open, and when to go.

Best Wine With Pizza: What to Pour for Every Topping

30/11/2023

Neapolitan margherita pizza on a board beside a glass of red wine

Salt, acid, fat and char all fight your wine at once. Here is what to pour for margherita, pepperoni, mushroom and white pizza, and what to leave shut.

What Are Tannins in Wine? The Dry, Grippy Bit Explained

22/11/2023

A glass of deep red wine beside dried grape skins and seeds on a dark bench

Tannin is the dry, grippy feeling a red wine leaves behind, and it is a texture rather than a taste. Here is where it comes from and how to soften it.