Wine Blog

Welcome to the Joie de Vin wine blog. Here we take you on a journey of wine discovery – wine tasting – visits to wine areas and wineries – trade tastings – pairing the perfect wine and food – dining and party wine reviews. Happy to have you along for the ride!

Wine Closure: Cork v. Screwcaps

General Wine

Should you judge a wine by its closure? Cultural preconceptions aside, the stopper can tell a great deal about the wine it encloses. It can hint at longevity, quality, culture and history.

Wine Harvest 2020 – What to Expect

General Wine

The 2020 wine harvest looks pretty different in many places around the world mostly due to climate change which caused scorching heat and deadly wildfires in California’s Napa and Sonoma, drought and heat waves in France, and thunderstorms and tornadoes in Italy. In...

Great Grapes – Chardonnay

Grapes

Chardonnay is the world’s most popular and important grape for producing white wine, as well as Champagne, sparkling wine and dessert wine. Chardonnay is also the 5th most widely planted grape variety in the world.

New Year’s Wine Cellar Resolution

General Wine

Is one of your New Year’s resolutions to get your house in order? Does this involve cleaning, organizing and generally taking stock of your ‘stuff’? Well, then it’s a great time to do an ‘inventory’ on your wine ‘cellar’ (even if it is fairly small in number).Take an...

This Holiday – Give a Wine Gift

General Wine

Wine can make a brilliant gift for the right people during the holidays, but which ones (the people and the wines)? How do you know what they like? And what would make it a personal gift? When you’re staring at rows and rows of wine at the store, you can start to feel...

Does My Wine Have Smoke Taint?

What To Drink Now

A ‘tainted’ wine is one in which an outside impurity makes its way into your glass. When wildfires strike, the residue of the smoke can settle on grape vines, leaving a film of volatile phenolic compounds. They infiltrate the grape skin, forming bonds with the sugars...