Wine Regions & Labels

Bordeaux, Cote-de-Rhone and Loire Valley are regions that evoke romantic visions of France and sipping wine, but then comes the reality of shopping for those wines, a process that can be overwhelming for some. If that’s you, I would like to offer some approaches to broaden your wine horizons and help you find the wine you like best.

First, let’s start with labels. French and Italian wines have, in the past, been labeled by the region of origin, rather than the predominate grape in the wine. However, New World wines, including in the U.S., Australian and South American, are defined by grape varietal and the regulations that required a specific minimum of that variety.

A customer came with me with a photo of a wine she had enjoyed in another state (always a great idea). Knowing that the particular wine is not distributed in Oklahoma, I set out to find something similar. Sommeliers often do this for restaurants. They seek out wine from adjacent vineyards, (i.e. similar terroire), and then look for a wine that is reminiscent.

This can be a challenging task since many factors impact a final product. Large production wines attempt to maintain consistency from year to year by blending and other techniques. Smaller vineyards rely on the winemaker to choose when to harvest, which grapes to use from a particular block and when to use a blend. So when hunting for the elusive comparative wine, it is important to have as much information from the original bottle as possible as you research the vineyards and winemakers working in that area. Your local liquor store operators can be a very helpful resource.

On a lighter note for summer, low calorie and low sugar wines have become very popular, but another easy way to lighten the calorie load is to add a little club soda to your wine. In this warmer weather, a little ice is not too bad either.

Happy Summer, Kathy