The Wine Voyage

Table of Contents - What Is Gros Manseng? - Gros Manseng vs. Petit Manseng - Where Gros Manseng Comes From - Food Pairings - Building a Group Tasting Around Gros Manseng - What to Look For When Buying Gros Manseng - Common Questions - Further Food and Occasion Pairings - Further Reading Every time I pour Petit Manseng for a group and someone asks "is there a dry version of this," the honest answer is that they're really asking about a different grape entirely: Gros Manseng. It's Petit Manseng's higher-yielding, thinner-skinned sibling, and while Petit Manseng gets nearly all the attention for its passerillage dessert wines, Gros Manseng quietly does the real workhorse job of Southwest France's dry white wine production. It deserves its own guide, not just a footnote in someone else's. This piece covers what Gros Manseng actually is, how it differs from its more famous relative, what it tastes like, how to pair it, and how to build a group tasting that fina...

Table of Contents - What Is Aglianico? - Where Aglianico Comes From - Aglianico vs. Nebbiolo - What Does Aglianico Wine Taste Like? - How to Taste Aglianico with Intent - Running an Aglianico Tasting for a Group - Bringing an Aglianico Tasting to Your Team - Further Reading Aglianico wine is one of those bottles that quietly rewrites what people think they know about Southern Italy. Most people who haven't spent real time with Italian wine assume the south means light, easy, sun-drenched reds built for a beach lunch. Then I pour them a glass of Taurasi and watch that assumption fall apart in real time — this is a grape that produces some of the most structured, age-worthy, genuinely serious red wine in the entire country, grown on volcanic soil in a region most people can't place on a map. This guide covers what Aglianico wine actually is, where it comes from, what it tastes like, how it compares to Italy's other great structured red, and how to build it into a group tastin...

Table of Contents - What Is Aglianico? - Where Aglianico Comes From - Aglianico vs. Nebbiolo - What Does Aglianico Wine Taste Like? - How to Taste Aglianico with Intent - Running an Aglianico Tasting for a Group - Bringing an Aglianico Tasting to Your Team - Further Reading Aglianico wine is one of those bottles that quietly rewrites what people think they know about Southern Italy. Most people who haven't spent real time with Italian wine assume the south means light, easy, sun-drenched reds built for a beach lunch. Then I pour them a glass of Taurasi and watch that assumption fall apart in real time — this is a grape that produces some of the most structured, age-worthy, genuinely serious red wine in the entire country, grown on volcanic soil in a region most people can't place on a map. This guide covers what Aglianico wine actually is, where it comes from, what it tastes like, how it compares to Italy's other great structured red, and how to build it into a group tastin...

Table of Contents - What Is Corvina? - Corvina and the Appassimento Process - Corvina vs. Amarone: Same Grape, Different Wine - Where Corvina Wine Comes From - How to Taste Corvina - Bringing Corvina Into a Group Tasting - Food Pairings for Corvina Wine - Buying Corvina Wine: What to Look For - Further Reading Corvina is one of those grapes almost nobody asks for by name, even though half the people who love Italian wine have a bottle made from it in their collection right now. Ask someone what's in their glass of Amarone and you'll get a shrug — "it's the raisin-y one from Veneto" — but rarely the actual grape. That's a shame, because Corvina is the backbone of one of Italy's most distinctive wine traditions, and understanding it changes how you taste everything from a Tuesday-night Valpolicella to a serious, cellar-worthy Amarone. This guide covers what Corvina wine actually is, how the appassimento process transforms it into something completely differe...

Table of Contents - What Is Corvina? - Corvina and the Appassimento Process - Corvina vs. Amarone: Same Grape, Different Wine - Where Corvina Wine Comes From - How to Taste Corvina - Bringing Corvina Into a Group Tasting - Food Pairings for Corvina Wine - Buying Corvina Wine: What to Look For - Further Reading Corvina is one of those grapes almost nobody asks for by name, even though half the people who love Italian wine have a bottle made from it in their collection right now. Ask someone what's in their glass of Amarone and you'll get a shrug — "it's the raisin-y one from Veneto" — but rarely the actual grape. That's a shame, because Corvina is the backbone of one of Italy's most distinctive wine traditions, and understanding it changes how you taste everything from a Tuesday-night Valpolicella to a serious, cellar-worthy Amarone. This guide covers what Corvina wine actually is, how the appassimento process transforms it into something completely differe...

Table of Contents - What Is Picpoul, Exactly? - What Does Picpoul Taste Like? - Where Picpoul Comes From - Picpoul vs. Muscadet vs. Sauvignon Blanc - Food Pairings - Building Picpoul Into a Group Tasting - Common Questions - Planning a Picpoul-Focused Tasting for Your Team - Further Reading I keep a bottle of picpoul in my fridge more consistently than almost any other white, and every time I pour it for someone who's never had it, I get some version of the same reaction: "wait, why haven't I heard of this?" Picpoul de Pinet — the wine most people mean when they just say picpoul — is one of the best values in French white wine, a bone-dry, lemon-and-sea-spray coastal white from the Languedoc that's been quietly building a following among sommeliers for years while staying mostly under the radar with everyday drinkers. If you like Muscadet or a crisp Sauvignon Blanc, picpoul deserves a spot on your radar. This guide covers where picpoul comes from, what makes the g...

Table of Contents - What Is Picpoul, Exactly? - What Does Picpoul Taste Like? - Where Picpoul Comes From - Picpoul vs. Muscadet vs. Sauvignon Blanc - Food Pairings - Building Picpoul Into a Group Tasting - Common Questions - Planning a Picpoul-Focused Tasting for Your Team - Further Reading I keep a bottle of picpoul in my fridge more consistently than almost any other white, and every time I pour it for someone who's never had it, I get some version of the same reaction: "wait, why haven't I heard of this?" Picpoul de Pinet — the wine most people mean when they just say picpoul — is one of the best values in French white wine, a bone-dry, lemon-and-sea-spray coastal white from the Languedoc that's been quietly building a following among sommeliers for years while staying mostly under the radar with everyday drinkers. If you like Muscadet or a crisp Sauvignon Blanc, picpoul deserves a spot on your radar. This guide covers where picpoul comes from, what makes the g...