Pinot noir red wine how to#

The Prazo de Roriz is a remarkably complex red wine for the price, showing gorgeous medium to deep ruby hues in the glass. They're beloved because they're capable of producing reds of great depth and character. Half of the property is planted with Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca vines-Portugal’s widely planted and most popular red table wine grapes. Owned by the Symington family, Quinta de Roriz first produced port two centuries ago, and today, the estate encompasses 222 acres. Region: Abruzzo, Italy | ABV: 13% | Tasting Notes: Black currant, raw meat, black olivesįor far too long, Portugal was thought of as little more than the place where port wine came from, but consumers are finally discovering that the nation produces some excellent red wines that are often available at bargain prices. 'It's a pure, traditional, and age-worthy expression of place resulting in a stunningly complex and structured red that will only get better with time.'

'It's farmed biodynamically, destemmed by hand, pressed by foot, and aged in cement tanks for a minimum of two years with no additives or manipulation,' says Shane Lopez, wine director at Melanie Wine Bar in Los Angeles. Since founding his winery in 1964, Pepe-who still oversees the production of the wines, along with his daughters and granddaughters-has earned a well-deserved reputation for producing rich, hearty, powerful Montepulciano using only the most traditional winemaking practices.

It's hard to think of a red grape that's more quintessentially Italian than Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, and it's hard to think of a producer who elevates the grape to its highest potential more consistently than Emidio Pepe. Region: Barbaresco, Italy | ABV: 14.5% | Tasting Notes: Violet, tar, cherry, baking spice This is a legendary wine from a legendary producer and a legendary drinking experience. This means the wines display signature nebbiolo notes of violet and tar, along with wild berry, cherry, coriander, cedar, candied orange peel, baking spice, and dark chocolate-all complimented by great depth and gorgeous tannins that suggest they'd age well for several decades. Although he was considered to be controversial in his early career, the more recent releases of Gaja's flagship Barbaresco may be considered among the region's most faithful and traditional in their expression. Beginning with the release of his first vintage of Barbaresco in 1961, Gaja began pioneering modern winemaking practices (green harvesting, aging in small barrels, etc.) that were previously unheard of in Piedmont. If there's one person who can take credit for putting Piedmont nebbiolo on the international map, it has to be Angelo Gaja. And within Piedmont, two villages have long produced the finest nebbiolos in the world: Barolo and Barbaresco. Traditionally, the most celebrated nebbiolo hails from the Italian region of Piedmont, where the thick-skinned grape isn't harvested until late in the growing season, around when the autumn fog begins to roll in (nebbiolo takes its name from 'nebbia,' the Italian word for fog). Wine lovers turn to cabernet sauvignon for intensity and to pinot noir for elegance-but if there's any grape that can match them both on each count, it's nebbiolo. Red wines are produced made in every major wine-producing nation in the world, so it's impossible to condense them to a short list, but these are especially deserving of your corkscrew. When you're trying to decide which red wine to buy, there are so many considerations, from price and taste to its age and vintage.

Pinot noir red wine how to#

Traditions and mandates governing the production of red wine vary geographically: different regions of the world all have different rules dictating which grape varieties are permitted, how long the wines must age, what the final alcohol content can be, and how to label the wine. These are all comparatively recent additions to the red wine experience. The finest red wines of today follow this general pattern, with the addition of lots of innovations over the years, such as oak barrel aging, filtration, cultivated yeasts, and modern vineyard practices. You just need some grapes, a container, and Mother Nature. Unlike beer, there's no heating involved unlike liquor, you don't need a still. Then, you wait for some ambient yeasts to convert the sugar into alcohol. At its essence, red wine may be the simplest alcoholic beverage in the world: you simply harvest some red grapes, crush them (with a press, or-if you prefer-your feet), and let them sit with their skins for a while to add color. Ah, red wine: friend to hearty dishes, enemy to white shirts.