Posts Tagged ‘Decanter World Wine Awards’

Pour bubbly like beer say the French

And who should know better? Reported in Decanter latest news is this article.

Champagne

Champagne

French scientists have discovered the secret to keeping the fizz in a glass of Champagne: pour it like a beer.

A new study reports the best way to pour Champagne is in a ‘beer-like way’ with the glass held at an angle.

It reveals the sparkling wine remains bubbly longer when poured in this way rather than pouring straight into the glass and waiting for the mousse to settle before topping up.

However, Tom Stevenson, chairman of the Decanter World Wine Awards’ Champagne panel, said: ‘Pouring Champagne like a lager is a seen as a really naff way to serve it. You would not see a sommelier doing it in a million years.’

‘Pouring it like the sommeliers do, does you a favour by letting the free CO2 escape from the glass so the bubbles don’t get up your nose,’ he added.

The research also discovered that Champagne served at lower temperatures retains its fizz. At higher temperatures, carbon dioxide is lost more quickly.

‘The beer-like way of serving champagne has much less of impact on its dissolved CO2 concentration than the champagne-like way of serving, especially at low champagne temperatures (4 and 12 °C). The beer-like way of serving champagne is much softer than the champagne-like one,’ the study said.

The report published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry was led by Gerard Liger-Belair, a professor at the University of Reims and author of Uncorked: the Science of Champagne.

[Muti] [Laaik It] [Digg] [del.icio.us]

Tags: , , , , ,

ALLUVIA WINS AT THE DECANTER WORLD WINE AWARDS

Alluvia Specialist Winery in the Banghoek area of Stellenbosch, South Africa, has every reason to celebrate after winning an award as well as receiving commendations from the judges at the Decanter World Wine Awards.

Ilka Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Ilka Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

The Decanter World Wine Awards is the world’s biggest wine competition and it is thrilling to see Cape Town wines holding their own against fierce competition from traditional old world wine producers and emerging  countries alike.

Alluvia’s ilka Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 brought home a prestigious medal for the second year in a row. Named after co-owner Delarey Brugman’s twin daughters, Ilse and Karla, this wine scored 18.4/20 – very good to excellent. Andrew Harris, Alluvia’s Wine Business Manager, comments:

All of us at Alluvia are very proud of this achievement. The ilka Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 is an award winning wine with its richness of flavours and velvety elegance. Smart wine buyers and top restaurants will be pleased to know there are still a few cases available before we move on to the next vintage!

Hard to obtain, you may have to take a First or Business Class flight on China Eastern Airlines to sample this winning cab.

Sandy Straw Wine 2009, paying homage to Delarey’s wife,  and Ilke Sauvignon Blanc 2009 were commended by the judges.

In total, 9 South African wineries were awarded Regional Trophies and 13 achieved Gold Medals.

For all of the results visit Decanter , select See results here, then Search by location – South Africa.

[Muti] [Laaik It] [Digg] [del.icio.us]

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Charles Back’s Fairview team lauded in international competitions

Fairview’s vine roots go right back to 1926 when Charles Back 1, an immigrant from Luithuana, taught himself to make wine and developed a wine export business based in Paarl. Upon his death he bequeathed a wine farm to each of his sons: Klein Babylonstoren, which is now Backsberg, to Sydney Back, and Fairview to Cyril.

Fairview Shiraz 2008

Fairview Shiraz 2008

Charles Back has developed exciting, new viticultural sites across the Western Cape and his wines are renowned for including lesser-known varieties such as Barbera, Tannat, Petit Syrah, Carignan and Grenache.

Fairview lifted a host of prizes at this year’s key international wine awards including gold medals for the Fairview Shiraz 2008 and Spice Route Malabar 2006 at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, as well as gold for the Cyril Back 2007 at the 2010 Decanter World Wine Awards. Fairview also gathered eleven silver medals from the two competitions, together with the recent International Wine Challenge, marking a remarkable success for the family-run business based in Paarl.

Anthony de Jager, winemaker of the Fairview label and Spice Route’s Charl du Plessis together with their teams can be well satisfied with the results of their hard work and maverick approach to brand building.

Charles Back had this to say about the recent accolades:

“We are selective about the small number of competitions we enter, as the opinions we most value are those of our consumers. However being judged as producing great wine by international experts makes me very proud of our wine making teams and their outstanding contribution to the company’s success.”

Happily for readers, of this blog Fairview wines are sold in 40 countries around the world.

Look out for a review soon of La Capra the latest range, on this blog.

[Muti] [Laaik It] [Digg] [del.icio.us]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Easy AdSense by Unreal
Better Tag Cloud