Wine Basics | Giggly Grapes

Mango Wine: What It Is, How It Is Made and Where to Buy It

23/08/2025

A glass of golden mango wine beside two ripe mangoes on a dark bench

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.

What Wine Goes With Truffle: The Rule Nobody Explains

18/04/2025

Fresh black truffle on slate beside a glass of light red wine

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.

Residual Sugar in Wine: The Chart and What It Really Means

15/12/2024

Five glasses of wine arranged from pale dry white to deep golden sweet wine

Residual sugar is the sugar left after fermentation stops, measured in grams a litre. Here is the full chart for still and sparkling wine, and why the number on the sheet is not the sweetness you taste.

What Is Port Wine? Sweetness, Styles and Why It Is So Strong

13/10/2024

A glass of tawny port beside blue cheese and walnuts on a slate board

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.

The 5 S’s of Wine Tasting: See, Swirl, Sniff, Sip, Savour

12/10/2024

Hand tilting a glass of red wine over a white napkin to check its colour

See, Swirl, Sniff, Sip and Savour, with the physical reason behind each step, plus the two myths the ritual carries and one cheap bottle to practise on.

Off-Dry Wine: What It Means and How Sweet It Is

04/10/2024

Three glasses of white wine in a row from pale to deep gold

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.

What Is a Fifth Growth Wine? The 1855 Bordeaux Ranking Explained

04/10/2024

Three unlabelled Bordeaux bottles beside a glass of red wine on a timber table

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.

Pinot Gris vs Pinot Grigio: What Is the Difference?

22/08/2024

Two glasses of white wine of different depths of colour beside greyish pink grapes

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.

Does Vermouth Have Sugar? The Numbers, by Style

17/07/2024

A pale vermouth and a deep red vermouth in two glasses on a marble bar

Every vermouth has sugar, but the amount is set by law. The five label terms, what they mean in grams, and how much lands in a Negroni or a Martini.

What Is Verjus? The Kitchen Acid That Does Not Fight Your Wine

06/07/2024

A bottle of verjus beside unripe green grapes on a dark stone bench

Verjus is the juice of unripe grapes, pressed before it can ferment. It is sour without the sting of vinegar, and it is the one acid that leaves your wine alone.