Education Archives - Marczyk Fine Wines

Residual Sugar in Wine: Can We All Just Chill Out???
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Residual Sugar in Wine: Can We All Just Chill Out???

Education, Wine, XYZ 101

Residual Sugar in Wine: Can We All Just Chill Out???

Residual Sugar in Wine: Can We All Just Chill Out??? By: Fleur Alvarez Sugar...visions of bleach-white menacing little granules of PURE, PURE EVIL!? Sound about right? We certainly have learned to love hating the 12 atoms of carbon, 22 of hydrogen, and 11 of oxygen that compose our little molecular buddies we call sucrose...but, is our vilification just, or are we simply stickin’ these dudes with a bum rap? Venture on my plucky readers, in hopes that these soothing words will assuage your fears, demystify your concerns, and perhaps even comfort you to the point of embracing these absolutely [...]

By Fleur Alvarez| 2021-11-30T21:13:55+00:00 November 30th, 2021|

De Vinis Naturalibus: On Natural Wine
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De Vinis Naturalibus: On Natural Wine

Education, Wine, XYZ 101

De Vinis Naturalibus: On Natural Wine

De Vinis Naturalibus On Natural Wine By Marshall Davidson Having worked in wine shops since college, it has been a pleasure to see the popularity of natural wine grow over the years. I remember being at Total Wine when I was twenty-two and asking my manager what it meant when a label proclaimed that a wine was natural. “After all,” I asked, “isn’t all wine natural? It’s just fermented grape juice, right?” My manager thought for a moment, shrugged, and said, “It’s just a marketing gimmick I think.” Oh, how wrong he was. Still, while I’ve learned the term [...]

By Marshall Davidson| 2022-04-25T02:35:28+00:00 November 30th, 2021|

What is Bio-Dynamic Wine?
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What is Bio-Dynamic Wine?

Education, Rose, Wine

What is Bio-Dynamic Wine?

The term ‘bio-dynamic’ is used to describe an approach to farming that is ethical, holistic and ecological, and it applies not only to planting and harvesting wine, but it is also a practice put forth by farmers of all types of agriculture. It is a relationship that is shared with the land, the product, and the myriad of organisms living in the farm. In many ways, it is considered the first take on modern organic agriculture. Furthermore, ‘bio-dynamic’ is a trademarked term that can encompass a vast assortment of different practices and methods. These methods can range from consulting [...]

By Zack Garhart| 2020-09-28T21:29:50+00:00 November 19th, 2019|

Natural Wine
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Natural Wine

Education, Wine

Natural Wine

Nature is a thing of beauty, as is wine. When the natural approach to making wine is enlisted, a rather unique and expressive version of fermented grape juice is the result. While it is currently on an upward trend among buyers and consumers alike, this style of wine making is not new, and it can even be traced back to the eighth century BC. Natural wines are, in short, a result of minimal intervention from the winemaker, and they are quite unlike other wines on the market. Moreover, in drinking these wines one may even feel as if the juice [...]

By Zack Garhart| 2020-09-28T21:35:02+00:00 September 12th, 2019|

Lambrusco
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Lambrusco

Bubbly, Education, Wine

Lambrusco

Tis’ the season for pink bubbles. With so many options regarding style, format and price point, there is plenty of reason to branch out and dive into Lambrusco. The word Lambrusco may conjure thoughts of sweet, cloying, syrupy wine that is dense and one-dimensional. On the contrary, Lambrusco can be made into rather elegant wine that both treads lightly and delivers depth. While these wines do possess a fizz, their bubbles are not quite as alive and animated as those found in Champagne, Cava or even most Proseccos. Specifically, Lambrusco is the type of grape, which encompasses over [...]

By Zack Garhart| 2020-09-28T21:41:14+00:00 July 31st, 2019|

Beaujolais
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Beaujolais

Education, Wine

Beaujolais

The word Beaujolais can evoke a whole range of thoughts and associations: Thanksgiving, Nouveau, Gamay. The latter is the only grape used in this esteemed wine-making region of France, while the former is widely regarded as the season to consume said wine. Caught in between is a word that might make devout wine drinkers cringe, especially those who prefer the finesse of old-world, terroir driven wines, but there is an occasion for everything. Beaujolais is a small (we’re talking less than 40 miles long and less than 10 wide) area that is due south of the famous Burgundy region, and [...]

By Zack Garhart| 2020-09-28T21:45:30+00:00 May 14th, 2019|

Italian Wine Labels by the Alphabet
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Italian Wine Labels by the Alphabet

Education, Wine

Italian Wine Labels by the Alphabet

DOC and DOCG Italy’s law of Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) regulates the production and labeling of a significant share of Italian wine. The law intends to give purchasers of a DOC wine a reasonable expectation that a wine labeled as, say, Barbera d’Alba will be both a Barbera d’Alba in fact and in style. That is, it will look, smell, taste, feel and age like a Barbera d’Alba—because it is. The words Denominazione di Origine Controllata roughly translate as “the name [of a wine] is governed [or set] by its place of origin.” The underlying idea of DOC is [...]

By Bill St. John| 2020-09-28T21:47:09+00:00 May 14th, 2019|

Margaux
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Margaux

Education, Red, Wine

Margaux

Margaux has the distinction, among the Médoc’s six winemaking communes, of being both the largest in area and diverse in style. It alone sports estates at all five levels of the 1855 classification of Bordeaux wines. Too, the soil is the poorest of the Médoc; the amount of gravel, the highest; the climate, the warmest; and the yield per acre, the lowest. The 4th century Latin poet, Ausonius, while in residence across the Gironde from this area, wrote of the Gallo-Roman thermal baths here, the termes mauojaliques, also known as “Marojallia.” Hence, over time, the name “Margaux.” While unquestionably a [...]

By Bill St. John| 2020-09-28T21:48:51+00:00 May 14th, 2019|

Pinot Noir
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Pinot Noir

Education, Red, Wine

Pinot Noir

La bête noire As a wine grape, Pinot Noir is the bête noire of its family, Les Pinots—Blanc, Meunier, Gris and Noir. Pinot Blanc makes respectable wines from Alsace and Northern Italy; Pinot Gris, from the same places. Pinot Meunier is a mainstay in Champagne. But while Pinot Noir grows more widely, it does so much more unsteadily. In a sense, it is the Mae West of the famille Pinot. When it's good, it's very, very good. But when it's bad, it's as bad as bad gets. Pinot Noir mutates capriciously (over 230 strains exist, some polar opposites). It benefits [...]

By Bill St. John| 2020-09-28T21:48:36+00:00 February 4th, 2019|

Wine & Cheese Pairings (Mad About Ewe – and Cow and Nanny, too)
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Wine & Cheese Pairings (Mad About Ewe – and Cow and Nanny, too)

Education, Wine, Wine & Food Pairing

Wine & Cheese Pairings (Mad About Ewe – and Cow and Nanny, too)

Perhaps the ultimate match of food with beverage is wine and cheese. They’re nearly twins. Both date to ancient times. Both are fermented. Both are governed, all over the world, by appellation and quality standards. And, most important, each reflects the place where it is born, its terroir. One translates its terroir via a vine. The udder, by an udder. Matching cheese with wine is the same as matching any food with wine. Matches work – or don’t – because of what’s in the wine and in the cheese, things such as acidity or fat. Region Many people follow the [...]

By Bill St. John| 2020-09-28T21:49:39+00:00 February 4th, 2019|

Riesling
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Riesling

Education, White, Wine, Wine & Food Pairing

Riesling

Every wine professional, always and everywhere, adores Riesling. (It is possible to make such a claim because it is true.) So why doesn’t everyone else? In fact, so why do so few others? The World’s Greatest White Wine Winemakers, wine writers, cooks high and low, serious amateurs—people in the know about what makes a grape great—cannot slurp enough of Riesling’s purity of delivery, its juicy flavors or super-taut acidity, the latter quality its best feature at table. Dry, sweet, German, Australian, Austrian, it does not matter—many call Riesling the world’s greatest white wine. But certainly not the world’s most popular—that [...]

By Bill St. John| 2020-09-28T21:53:11+00:00 January 27th, 2019|

Merlot
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Merlot

Education, Red, Wine, Wine & Food Pairing

Merlot

In this country, the role that Chardonnay plays for white wine, Merlot plays for red. That is, it’s what’s asked for first. And it isn’t merely because Merlot is easier to pronounce than Cabernet Sauvignon—the wine not so long ago unseated by Merlot as America’s most commonly requested red. It’s because Merlot is just so appealing—plush, round, low in tannin, loaded with juicy tastes of black cherry, chocolate, ripe plums and licorice (or, if from Bordeaux, even an acceptable turn on the flavors of fruitcake). Merlot is the “wine without tears,” while, contrariwise, it often may seem that Cabernet Sauvignon [...]

By Bill St. John| 2020-09-28T21:52:26+00:00 January 27th, 2019|