David Cowley asked:


If you’ve never heard of Greek wines, you must not be a real wine lover or historian.  While there are many countries today that produce wines that are more popular and perhaps more appreciated, it’s thought that winemaking actually originated with the Greeks thousands and thousands of years ago.  At that time, wines from Greece were produced in individual homes right along with everything else that was considered everyday foods, including bread, butter, cheese, meat dishes, and so on.  Wine was considered a standard staple of the dining table and not something that was reserved for special occasions.  It’s thought that during the Roman Empire, these wines were traded extensively as Rome opened up merchant routes all along the Mediterranean regions.

Wines of the Past

There have been many political upheavals and other problems that have kept Greece from competing in the global wine market; however, today they are just as competitive as wines from any other region of the world.  This is a necessity as there has actually been a decline in recent years of domestic consumption of locally produced wine.  Greek vineyard owners have, out of necessity, found themselves competing on the world market just to stay economically feasible.  Those that produce wines have found that they have needed to introduce foreign grape varieties to their vineyards in order to stay competitive.  In 1963, their first Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard was planted, and the 1960’s and 1970’s saw an ever evolving revolution in the area of wine making.

Reasons for Success in Making Greek Wines

One of the reasons for the success of wines from Greece is of course the climate of the country.  With its warm and dry summers and mild winters, it makes for near perfect grape growing conditions.  Also, there are literally hundreds of indigenous Greek grapes from which vineyard owners may produce their own unique brand, and foreign varieties do quite well when planted or grafted into existing vineyards.

It’s also interesting that many true wine connoisseurs are always on the lookout for exotic brands and varieties to try, something different than the standard French or Italian fare.  In this regard, many upscale wine lovers are turning to Greek wines as they are truly unique in the world of winemaking.

Today you can easily find wines from Greece available in any local wine store or liquor shop.  They are also available online from specialty importers.  As Greek vineyard owners continue to appreciate the beautiful and perfect climate they are blessed with, it is certain that more and more world class Greek wines will continue to be available and will be competitive on the world market.

David Emmins asked:


Asparagus=Sauvignon Blanc

Christmas Pudding=Muscat de Beaumes de Venise

Consommé=Fino Sherry

Foie Gras=Alsace Pinot Gris

Shell Fish=Muscadet

Goat’s Cheese=Sancerre

Oysters=Champagne

Parma Ham & Melon=Pinot Grigio

Roast Beef=St Emilion

Roast Lamb=Red Bordeaux

Roast Pork=Beaujolais

Stilton Cheese=Port

Strawberries and cream=Sweet Vouvray

There are also some foods to avoid with wine, peanuts for instance will destroy wine flavours and olives are too piquant for most wines, they need Fino Sherry or Vermouth. Another great miss match is raw apple and red wine, the acidity in the apple makes the wine very bitter. 

You can only taste four things on your tongue:



Sweetness



Bitterness

Acidity

Saltiness



 

 

The basic principle in matching is to look for sweetness, acidity or bitterness in the food and serve nes that have the same characteristics. You’re unlikely to find saltiness in wine.

The following are examples of wines with those characteristics.

Red Wines

Pinot Noir=High Acidity

Sangiovese=High Acidity

Gamay Noir=High Acidity

Cabernet Sauvignon=Bitterness

Cabernet Franc=Bitterness

Merlot=Bitterness

Zinfandel=Bitterness

Lambrusco=Sweetness

Port=Sweetness

White Wines

Sauvignon Blanc=High Acidity

Riesling=High Acidity

Muscadet=High Acidity

Champagne=High Acidity

German Wines (most)=Sweetness

Rieslings=Sweetness

Chenin Blanc=Sweetness

Matching can be further confused by the sauce that accompanies a dish, for instance:

Chicken breast can match with virtually any wine including the very best bottles of dry/medium white and the finest old reds especially pinot noir. If you add a Curry or Cajun sauce to the chicken you then need a wine with a strong flavour, such as Gewurtztraminer or a Shiraz/Cabernet, to counteract the sauce. A light bodied wine will be merely overwhelmed.

For more information and to search for which wine complements which meal, visit www.ashfieldwines.co.uk

Muna wa Wanjiru asked:


Although some people would like to go organic and lead a healthier lifestyle, they find themselves stopped by a few things. Among these little stumbling blocks in their paths to going organic, are things like the cost of organic foods, the ready unavailability of organic foods, as well as the little fact that they will also need to find organic food recipes to go with their new lifestyle.

This is in fact a major stumbling block for many people who balk at the thought of not only changing their eating and dietary lifestyles, but of also having to change a lifetime’s worth of cooking experience to accommodate their new healthy lifestyle.

The fact of the matter is that people will go to the trouble of finding organic food suppliers, and of buying their costlier organic meats, dairy and produce, but when they have to actually sit down and find organic food recipes to go along with everything they’ve done thus far, their enthusiasm starts to wane.

This is where people actually tend to go wrong and miss the point. There is no such thing as special organic food recipes just as there is no special method of preparing the foods you buy which are organic.

The whole point is not to have to slog away looking for organic food recipes, replacing the ones you already have and know how to cook well, but to make your entire lifestyle healthier, of which the use of the use of organic foods in your cooking endeavors being a large part.

The trick then to going organic and finding yourself cooking organic food recipes, is to use the same old recipes which you’ve been using thus far and transform them into something other than artery clogging, waistline expanding, sugar level increasing foods.

In other words, now that you’ve gone organic and are using organic foods in your life, you also need to make your cooking style a healthier one as well. This means that if you’re using what amounts to a gallon of fat or oil per day, you might want to cut down on it to almost nothing!

Of course any dietary changes that you make, if they are going to be extensive should be discussed with your physician as you will then be able to get a better picture of what proper changes you need to make. The same advice applies if you have an underlying medical condition which requires you to have a special diet.

Replacing your normal foods with organic foods is fine, but you will need to make sure that when you turn your normal everyday recipes into organic food recipes, that you don’t change your dietary habits in such a radical manner as to be harmful to you. If you’re careful and follow a sensible dietary plan, you won’t really have to make too many food-sacrifices if at all to offset your newly acquired organic food habits.

David Cowley asked:


Making wine is probably as old as humankind itself, and one of the oldest winemaking regions in the world is Italy.  Italian wines traces their roots as far back as the Roman Empire, and probably even before that.  Rome is the city that began bottling wines for ease of transportation, storage and use.  Today, wines from Italy account for about one-fifth of all the wines produced in the world.

There are thousands of vineyards in Italy, and while many wines are produced in modern distilleries, some rustic villages still produce wine in the old fashion way by stomping the grapes under their bare feet, claiming this makes the wine taste the best.  Commercially available wines are of course prepared under much more hygienic conditions, so don’t worry about the bottles you’re considering purchasing from your local wine shop.

The favorable weather of the Mediterranean area makes for very favorable growing conditions for Italian wines, and true wine connoisseurs know that weather has a great affect on the quality of the wines.  There are also many different elevations along the coast of Italy, allowing the country to produce many different types of grapes and therefore types of wines. 

Italian wines are typically much less sweet and a bit more dry and acidic than most other wines produced around the world.  This makes them a typically better accompaniment for food than other wines, whose strong or fruity flavors may interfere with the taste of your meal.  Most restaurants therefore are known to carry a wide variety of Italian wines, most especially those that specialize in Italian food!  Real wine lovers know that it’s almost perverse to have a French wine with Italian food.

Italy has certified some 350 grapes for use in their wines, and there are some 500 other varieties and hybrid varieties that are used for Italian wines.  Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are two of the most commonly used for red wine, and chardonnay and reisling for white wines. 

The country of course prides itself on its wine varieties, and so laws are somewhat stringent when it comes to how they can be labeled and referred.  However, some winemakers took it upon themselves to step away from common blends and grapes used in order to produce richer and more flavorful wines.  The term “Super Tuscan” refers to Italian wines that do not have the traditional blending of grapes that one would typically find in the different regions.  Some of these blending varieties were initially labeled as “table wines” by the Italian appellation system, but that term is seen as somewhat derogatory, and so makers of these Italian wines began to use the term Super Tuscan.

If you’re looking to expand your list of favorites, then you must consider Italian wines.  There is such a wide variety, and the winemakers take such pride in their product, that you are sure to find many that are just to your liking.  So the next time you are at an Italian restaurant be sure to try one of the fine wines available, you will be pleasantly surprised.