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California Wine For Dummies
Author:
Published:
April 3, 2009
Overview
Discover the nuances of California wines and increase your drinking pleasure! Want to be a California wine connoisseur? This friendly guide gives you the knowledge you need to appreciate these fine wines, showing you how to taste them, select a good bottle, pair wine with food, and much more. You'll see why certain wine regions are renowned and how to further enrich your wine-drinking experience.
- California wine 101 ― understand the range of California wines, what makes them unique, and what a varietal wine is
- Review the regions ― explore the major wine regions of California and what makes each one special, from the soil to the climate
- Open the bottle ― become fluent in the Big Six: Chardonnay,
Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel
Open the book and find:
- An overview of California wine today
- Wine recommendations for all budgets
- Explanations of wine label language
- A map of wine regions
- Tips for aging and collecting California wines
- Winery tasting etiquette
- The ins and outs of recent vintages
- Top wine country travel destinations
What is it that makes California wine so special? Wines from California constituted almost 60 percent of all wine sales in the United States and 90 percent of all U.S. exports, according to 2012 statistics from the Wine Institute. Get to know the varietals and the regions that produce them, and know the flavors to expect when you're tasting California wines.
About The Author
Ed McCarthy is a wine writer, Certified Wine Educator, and wine consultant. McCarthy is considered a leading Champagne authority in the U.S. He is the Contributing Editor of Beverage Media. Mary Ewing-Mulligan is the first woman in America to become a Master of Wine, and is currently one of 50 MWs in the U.S. and 380 in the world.
Ed McCarthy is a wine writer, Certified Wine Educator, and wine consultant. McCarthy is considered a leading Champagne authority in the U.S. He is the Contributing Editor of Beverage Media. Mary Ewing-Mulligan is the first woman in America to become a Master of Wine, and is currently one of 50 MWs in the U.S. and 380 in the world.
Articles From The Book
3 results
Wine
Articles
What is it that makes California wine so special? Wines from California constituted almost 60 percent of all wine sales in the United States and 90 percent of all U.S. exports, according to 2012 statistics from the Wine Institute. Get to know the varietals and the regions that produce them, and know the flavors to expect when you're tasting California wines.
Wine
Articles
California's Napa Valley is the best-known, most prestigious wine region in America. And yet only about four percent of California’s wine comes from the vineyard lands of Napa Valley! Most of Napa Valley’s wineries are small operations, although a few large wineries, such as Robert Mondavi Winery, Beringer, and Sutter Home, are based in Napa County.
Wine
Articles
The most popular red varietal wines in California include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Zinfandel (a red wine and also a pink wine). Pinot Noir and Syrah/Shiraz are also fairly popular red varietal wines.
Varietal wines are named after their sole or dominant grape variety. U.S. federal regulations dictate that a wine must derive at least 75 percent from the grape variety that’s named on the label.
Wine
Articles
Because of the popularity of White Zinfandel and other California blush (pink and sweet) wines, California’s rosé wines have had a reputation for being sweet and innocuous. That reputation is changing, as more and more California dry rosés become available, and they're in demand.
Of course, California still makes plenty of White Zinfandel and other sweet rosés.
Wine
Articles
The Sonoma County wine region is on California’s North Coast, directly north of San Francisco. It borders the Napa Valley wine region to the east but extends farther north. Sonoma is more than twice as large as Napa, and the wineries are more spread out. You have to allow more driving time when visiting Sonoma’s wineries, which now number over 250.
Wine
Articles
California's best-known and most popular white varietal wines are Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Other widely available California white varietal wines include: Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Grigio/Gris, and Gewürztraminer.
Varietal wines are named after their sole or dominant grape variety. U.S. federal regulations dictate that a wine must derive at least 75 percent from the grape variety that’s named on the label.
Wine
Articles
Wine grapes flourish throughout much of California — in wine regions as far north as Mendocino County in the upper third of California, as far west as the edge of the Pacific Ocean, and as far east as the city of Fresno.
Napa Valley and Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, are of course world-famous wine destinations.
Wine
Articles
Sweet wines, also called dessert wines, date back to the earliest days of California wine production. Until the 1960s, dessert wines were more popular nationwide than dry table wines. Today, they represent just a small portion of California’s wine production, but perhaps as a result, their quality is better than ever.
Wine
Articles
The Napa Valley wine region in California benefits from its range of growing conditions. Winemakers of the Napa Valley region produce popular types of wine, along with some of the lesser-known whites and reds.
Napa Valley red wines
Napa Valley's most popular red wines include the following:
Cabernet Sauvignon: Napa Valley’s best wines are its Cabernet Sauvignons and Cabernet blends.
Wine
Articles
California's Sonoma County succeeds with many diverse wines, but Sonoma's two most renowned wines are Pinot Noir and Zinfandel. Many wine critics believe that the nation’s best Pinot Noirs come from Sonoma’s Russian River Valley.
Other wine regions also have a Pinot following: Carneros and the Sonoma Coast, in Sonoma County; Santa Barbara; Santa Lucia Highlands; Mendocino’s Anderson Valley; and Oregon’s Willamette Valley, for example.
Wine
Articles
After you tour a winery, you usually end up at the wine tasting room. Alternatively, the wine tasting room may be the place you spend all your time during your visit if you prefer not to tour the winery or if a tour isn’t available.
The wine tasting room, which can be very simple or very elaborate, is the winery’s reception area for visitors.
Wine
Articles
When you visit any winery in California, you can be sure of one thing: The scenery will be beautiful. Beyond that, the experience of touring a California winery can differ depending on which region (and even which winery) you select.
Some regions, such as Napa Valley, have wineries with very sophisticated facilities and programs for visitors.
Wine
Articles
The Golden State of California makes more wine than all other U.S. states combined. Its wine production is huge even on a world scale. The U.S. as a whole ranks fourth for the quantity of wine it produces. But California owns that number-four spot even all by itself, producing 7 percent of the world's wine — more than every country besides Italy, France, and Spain.