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Gromowladny & Wineta - Zanim wstanie dzien & Barbarzynski mlot wojny

Thunderer & Vineta - The Day Before Getting Out & Barbaric War Hammer

It never crossed your mind? Always selecting wine made in oak barrel without knowing the truth behind it? Read on!

That’s a good question: why do almost all winemakers put their precious production in barrels - and especially in oak among the “old fashion” elite? Well there’s a reason behind it, so let’s dive into the story, going back 2000 years ago.

The story

Amphoras and other clay containers were used to transport wine at that time. What this material simply doesn’t allow is for the wine to “breathe” and exchange with its environment - a crucial requirement in modern wine maturing. In antiquity wine wasn’t aged as we know it thus it didn’t taste as it does nowadays. Grape juice was fermented and packaged for transport while modern winemaking usually involves barrel maturation to give way for more complex and advanced aromas to be created.

It’s a lab in there!

Type : Champagne 

Winery : Bollinger 

Varietal : Pinot noir & Chardonnay

Rated : 18/20

Average price : 76 €

  «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 when I'm not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it - unless I'm thirsty of course.»

-Mme Lily Bollinger-

The expert's notes

"The 1999 La Grande Annee is a refined, elegant wine with pretty, exotic notes of apricots, peaches, honey, flowers, smoke and toasted oak. There is notable clarity and precision, in a style that is generous and approachable. The 1999 La Grande Annee is 63% Pinot Noir and 37% Chardonnay, of which 82% came from grand cru vineyards while 18% came from premier cru sites spanning a total of 16 villages. The wine was aged in oak and dosage was 7-9 grams. This bottle was disgorged in July, 2007. I also tasted the February, 2008 disgorgement which showed a more opulent, quality that I found utterly sensual and irresistible. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2014."

92 Points - Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate

  A familly behind Bollinger's story

Don’t listen to the typical “connoisseur” who pairs only complex food with wine. Wine goes well with snacks as long as you keep some simple concepts in mind: spicy food goes with spicy wine so choose your wine like you choose your snack! Today we compiled for you a cheat sheet to succeed pairing wine with snacks. I can already hear some of you thinking: why wine when there’s beer? Let’s be honest: beer is “cliché” and not always the best companion with pizzas and appetizers.

 Appetizer table 

To start the evening with friends, nothing is better than an appetizer table as a starter. Riesling wine will be your prefered choice in this case as it soften the palate and bring enough acidity to appreciate most appetizers at their full potential!

 Pizza

 Ha the snack icon! Pizzas come in variety of ingredients and flavors so it will be difficult to give a quick rule here. Our choice usually lands on wines made of Pinot grigio & Zinfandel which will both open new flavor outlooks.

Burger or hotdog

In 2008, the most glamorous couple of Hollywood Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie leased the 1,000 acres of Chateau Miraval. Now purchased, 2013 will be their first organic wine cuvée. 

Jolie and Pitt in France, this is serious.

  To produce this organic wine, a partnership was formed with French winemaker Marc Perrin - his family owns Chateau Beaucastel and is involved in wine industry since the 50s - and altogether has serious motivation to produce wines only by using organic grapes :

"It took 4 years to become certified organic. No chemicals can be used on the grapes as these can enter the plant and end up in the wine" said Marc Perrin.

  Read more on wineta.com ...