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!

What is Biodynamic Wine?

What To Drink Now

Biodynamic wine is made with a set of farming practices that views the farm or vineyard as one solid organism. The ecosystem functions, with each portion of the farm or vineyard contributing to the next. The idea is to create a self-sustaining system. The wine grower...

Are Pinot Grapes Related?

Grapes

Many popular varieties of wine grapes have the word “Pinot” in their name, including Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Meunier. Are these grapes connected somehow? Understanding the relationship between these grapes will enhance your knowledge,...

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...