Between the Vines: One woman's wine-soaked musings

Wednesday's wine word: Saignée

Since I've been talking about rosé wines so much recently, I thought I'd explain one of the terms directly related to this juicy pink pleasure: saignée.

Rosé wines are made three ways, typically: 

1. Blending white and red wines together
2. Skin contact with the grape juice is allowed for a short time only, after which the skins are discarded
3. Saignée

Saignée

Saignée is a French word derived from the verb saigner, which means to bleed.

A winemaker will run off (bleed) a portion of juice after limited contact between the skins and juice of just-crushed dark-skinned (black/red/purple) grapes. Because of this limited contact, the juice that is bled off becomes a wine lighter in colour and structure than its remaining sister red wine made from the rest of the juice. 

The many colours of rosé range from light orange and salmon
to pale pink, rose, and magenta

It's interesting to note that many people in the wine world believe that the best rosé wines are made using the saignée method. I won't make any such proclamation, however, because I still have so many rosés to try.

Cheers to you!

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.

Rosé-a-rama: my search for the perfect pink pleasure is about to begin

I picked up six bottles of rosé wine yesterday from the Abbotsford Signature Liquor Store. I'm on a quest, you see, to find the perfect pink pleasure. I didn't have time to stop in at any wineries or private liquor stores, but the summer certainly isn't due to end for yet another couple of months....j'espère.

Here's the list, so far, of the wines I'll be tasting over the course of the next couple of weeks. I will add to the list as I get more time to shop at private wine stores and local wineries. And yes, I will share my findings with you.

• Gazela Rosé (Portugal/NV)
• Road 13 Honest John's Rosé (Okanagan Valley, BC/2009)
• Domaine Houchart Rosé (Côtes de Provence, France/2010)
• Quails' Gate Rosé (Okanagan Valley, BC/2009)
• Gray Monk Rotberger Rosé (Okanagan Valley, BC/2009)
• Domaine Lafond Roc-Epine (Tavel, France/2008)

Cheers to you!

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.

Wednesday's wine word: Champagne

At the last round of writing and social media workshops I delivered to Community Futures South Fraser in Abbotsford, I was inspired to do two things by the clients who attended.

Here is one of them: A new wine word every Wednesday.

I'm not sure if we'll continue with the title, "Wednesday's wine word," or if we'll use some other configuration of the three Ws—Wednesday, wine, word. Time, as they say, will tell. Or, maybe, you will tell because you have a better idea for the regular wine-word-explanation feature on Wednesdays. Please share if you do.

Champagne

While Champagne is a sparkling wine, not all wine that sparkles is actually Champagne. Make sense? I didn't think so.

In order for a sparkling wine to be called Champagne, it must come from the area in France also called Champagne. And, it must be made in the traditional method from any combination of these three grapes: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay. If the wine is made from Chardonnay exclusively, then it is called a Blanc de Blancs; if it is made from Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, or a combination of the two, it is called a Blanc de Noirs. And, yes, you can have a rosé Champagne.

There are different levels of sweetness, from bone-dry to very sweet:

• Brut (very dry)
• Extra dry (just off-dry)
• Sec (medium dry)
• Doux (sweet, dessert-style sparkler)

Champagne is a delicious, albeit costly, wine that is perfect for celebrations. However, since we like to celebrate often at our house, we usually count on a much more wallet-friendly sparkling wine made in the traditional method: Cava from Spain. 

I drink it when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone.  When I have company I consider it obligatory.  I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and I drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it, unless I'm thirsty.

~Madame Lily Bollinger on Champagne

Cheers to you!

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.