Category Archives: White Wine

Straw wine, or raisin wine, is a wine made from grapes that have been dried to concentrate their juice. The result is similar to that of the ice wine process, but is a much older process and suitable for warm climates.

Best White Wine for Cooking

Best White Wine for Cooking

As a pantry staple for many cooks, white wine is versatile. You can use it in risotto for a good touch of acidity or add it to a pot of shellfish just before you put the lid on for steaming.

When it comes to cooking, what you need is a white wine with high acidity. This is known in the wine parlance as ‘Crisp’. Pinot Grigio, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and other dry sparkling wines are good with food. These are dry white wines that aren’t sweet.

Chardonnays, that are fuller white wines with strong oaky flavors do not work well for cooking. They do not lend as much punch as crisper wines since they are lower in acidity.

Splashing White Wine

White wine is usually added at the start of cooking since it contains alcohol. This gives alcohol a chance to burn off. Splashing a dash of wine at the end of cooking will result in an unpleasant raw taste of wine.

Storing Wine for Cooking

The unopened bottles of white wine should be stored in a cool and dark place. The wine will begin to oxidize once it is opened and this will adversely affect flavor. Therefore, recork the wine bottle that is opened and refrigerate them for slowing down the oxidation process. Also ensure that you use the opened bottles within a few days.

Getting Past the Grocery Stores

Cooking with white wine brings balance. It adds fruit and acidity to several favorite recipes. Get past the grocery store and introduce moderately priced white wine into the equation. Exponentially expand your cooking style. Here are some great wines that are wonderful for cooking.

The Five Best White Wines that are Great for Cooking

The rich and oaky white wines become bitter during the cooking process and the sweeter wines are found to caramelize during deglazing or add an unwanted sweetness to certain types of dishes. With cooking, wines become an integrated part of the whole dish. The most versatile white wine to cook is dry and crisp.

  • Crisp White Wine – This is your go-to category. Choose a crispy white wine having moderate alcohol content, like Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio or Unoaked Chardonnay. Pinot Grigio is the most neutral of the three and the most versatile. With racy acidity, Sauvignon Blanc is particularly delicious in seafood dishes. However, Chardonnay of the three contributes the most richness.

Highly alcoholic wines without the necessary acidity take longer to reduce and lose on the bright, tenderizing effects we are after.

  • Dry Sherry – You should always keep a bottle of Dry Sherry in kitchen at all times. How about finishing a pot of chicken or cauliflower soup with a dash of Dry Sherry! This can brighten the soup and add a layer of dimension. It is great for deglazing. Sherry will bring depth to a cream sauce that is brilliant alongside appetizers like oysters.

The Taylor Wine Company Dry Sherry, New York is a great pick for Sherry to cook with.

  • Dry Marsala – Branch out and try incorporating this complex, dry wine in braised preparations. It is delicious in a classic chicken or veal Marsala. Marsala wine in the decadent Italian dessert Zabaglione is a favorite to use.

The Cantine Florio Fine Marsala Dry, Sicily, Italy is a great pick for Marsala to cook with.

  • Sparkling Wine – Sparkling wine perfectly suits for a sorbet or Champagne vinaigrette. It is also a great substitute for dry, white wine in Beurre Blanc. You can see the bubbles dissipate when cooked. It provides a great opportunity to use up leftover bubbly after a party.

The Poema Cava, Brut, Penedes, Spain is a great pick for Sparkling Wine to cook with.

  • Dry Madeira – The Madeira is a Portuguese fortified wine from the islands of Madeira and is produced in four distinct styles. “Sercial”, is a dry style that is most suitable and doubles up as a refreshing aperitif. Madeira can be used in sauce and a savory addition to gravy. It can also be used as a substitute for Sherry in almost any recipe.

Cossart Gordon & Co. 5 Year OldSercial Madeira, Protugal is an ideal pick for Madeira to cook with.

Avoid Wines Labeled Cooking Wines

Even though it seems counterintuitive, avoid purchasing white wines labelled as ‘Cooking Wines’. Cooking Wines often contain salt and other additives. Instead, choose unoaked, dry, and medium-bodied white wines that work best for cooking.

Alcohol-Free Options for Cooking

If you do not want to use alcohol, there are alcohol-free options available for cooking. Verjus is a good option that almost mimics white wine. It is the pressed juice of unripe grapes. Another great choice that you already have on hand is the good old chicken or vegetable stock, enhanced with a dash of lemon or vinegar.

Sherry Special White Wine

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Sherry Special White Wine

Regarded by many wine specialists as a neglected wine treasure, Sherry is traditionally drunk from a Copita which is a special tulip-shaped glass. Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes specially grown in Andalusia in Spain, is produced in a variety of styles. Enjoying protected origin status, all wine labeled as “Sherry” must essentially come from the Sherry Triangle located in the Cadiz province of Spain.

This region follows a predictable climate with about 70 days of rainfall alongside 300 days of sunshine every year. Together with dry & hot summers winds from ocean bring moisture to vineyards so as to enable clays in soil retain water below surface.

Unique Albariza Soil

There are three varieties of soil found in the grape growing Sherry Triangle region. Albariza, almost white is a light soil which is one of the best for growing Palomino grapes. A blend of chalk, limestone, clay & sand, Albariza is able to preserve moisture even during hot summers.

Barros consisting of chalk & high clay compost is the other dark brown soil utilized in grape cultivation. Arenas, is a yellow soil comprising of chalk along with a comparatively high sand content.

Of these Albariza is most suitable for Palomino grape cultivation which by law must constitute 40 percent of grapes used in Sherry production.

 

Variety of Grapes

Sherry production in Spain is accredited to be having over 100 varieties of grapes in the past. However, only three varieties of white grapes are now used in the making of Sherry.

  • Palomino is the dominant variety of white grape used in the production of dry Sherries. The wine coming of Palomino is very bland with neutral characteristics, which makes it an ideal choice for Sherry winemaking style. Almost 90 percent of Sherry wines come from Palomino grapes.
  • Pedro Ximénez is the other variety of grapes which is normally used to produce sweet wines. After harvesting these grapes are normally sun-dried for two days so as to concentrate the sugars.
  • Moscatel is another variety of grapes which is less common but used for production of sweet wines.
  • Other countries in other parts of the world often use several other varieties of grapes in the production of Sherry-style of wines.

Process of Fermentation

Harvested early in September, Palomino grapes are lightly pressed to extract Must. Primera Yema or extract of the first pressing produce Fino & Manzanilla. The Must from second pressing known as Segunda Yema is utilized in the production of Oloroso.

Subsequent pressings are generally used for distillation & production of lesser wines & vinegar. Fermented in stainless steel vats, this Must generates a dry white wine with 11-12 percent content of alcohol.

Fortification

Soon after fermentation the wine is sampled & stored in casks with distinct markers according potential of wine. Sherry is then distilled & fortified using La Mancha. It is mixed in a two-stage procedure with mature Sherry first in a 50/50 blend & then further with younger Sherry in selective proportions to ensure that strong alcohol does not shock & spoil the younger Sherry.

Aged in the Solera for 3 years at least, it is ensured that each bottle of Sherry also contains some much older wine.

Sherry the Product

Once bottled, Sherry does not age with time. Though fit for immediate consumption Sherry can also be stored for years without any loss in taste or flavor. Stored upright in a cool, dark place some Sherries will continue to develop in bottle for some years. Other fragile types should be consumed just as other unfortified wines.

Some Sherries are sold in half bottles where the remaining wine is thrown away if not drunk on the same day. While, some blended cream Sherries can last weeks or months after opening as the sugar content serves as preservative.