The Wine Blokes

You are browsing the archives of 2008 January.

Production Date: 18 January 2008
The Adelaide Hills is renouned for producing some of Australias best Sauvignon Blanc. In this Episode we take a bit of a drive through the Adelaide Hills and have a walk and talk in a small grower vineyard where some of the Wine Blokes are purchasing Sauvignon Blanc fruit to make [...]

Malbec

Malbec grapes

Species:
Vitis vinifera

Also called:
Auxerrois in Cahors, Côt, Pressac

Origin:
France

Notable regions:
Argentina, Chile, Cahors

Malbec is a black grape variety originally brought to France by a Hungarian peasant, where it was grown in the Loire Valle and Cahors. Long known as one of the six grapes used in the blending of red Bordeaux wine, it is increasingly celebrated as [...]

As a winemaker and viticulturist I have worked in wine grape growing regions that have many different practices and strategies to manage the production of grapes and wine. Throughout many regions, more predominantly smaller, boutique producers are exploring the possibility of making wine under organic practices, however on closer investigation, the cost, time, and [...]

Albariño grapes on a slope near a river in Spain
Albariño or Alvarinho is a variety of white wine grape grown in Galicia (northwest Spain) and northern Portugal, where it is used to make varietal white wines.
Albariño is actually the Galician name for the grape, with Albarín Blanco an occasional synonym. In Portugal it is known [...]

Ripening Tempranillo grapes

Species:
Vitis vinifera

Also called:
Cencibel, Tinta Roriz

Origin:
Spain

Notable regions:
Rioja, Spain
Ribera del Duero, Spain

Notable wines:
Vega Sicilia

Hazards:
Rot

Tempranillo is a variety of black grape widely grown to make full-bodied red wines in its native Spain. It is the main grape used in Rioja, and is often referred to as Spain’s “noble grape”. Its name is the diminutive of the [...]

Location of the Champagne province in France
The Champagne wine region (archaic English: Champany) is a historic province within the Champagne administrative province in the northeast of France. The area is best known for the production of the sparkling white wine that bears the region’s name. The region is about 100 miles (160 km) east of [...]

Chile
Chilean wine is wine made in the South American country of Chile. The region has a long viticultural history for a New World wine region dating to the 16th century when the Spanish conquistadores brought Vitis vinifera vines along with as they colonized the region. In the mid-18th century, French wine varietals such as Cabernet [...]

Appellation
type:
Wine region

Country:
Spain

Total area:
75 miles (121 km)

Size of
planted vineyards:
123,000 acres (500 km²)

No. of vineyards:
14,000

Grapes produced:
Tempranillo, Granacha, Graciano, Mazuelo

No. of wineries:
150

Rioja is a wine, with Denominacin de Origen Calificada (Protected designation of origin), from a region named after the Rio Oja in Spain, a tributary of the Ebro. Rioja is made from grapes grown in the autonomous communities of La [...]

Terroir was originally a French term in wine, coffee and tea used to denote the special characteristics that geography bestowed upon them. It can be very loosely translated as “a sense of place” which is embodied in certain qualities, and the sum of the effects that the local environment has had on the manufacture of [...]

By Jon F
If you have watched WineBlokeTV Episode 1 you’ll know that I’m heading to Western Australia to work at Smithbrook Wines in a few week to work vintage. I will be attempt to create a video diary of the time I spend there. It should be quite interested as I managed the vineyard and [...]