![]() Neverov also goes for reds with pronounced aromatics. “For me, there has to be this unspoken equilibrium in a great red wine, from tannins to alcohol to acid and fruit balance,” she says. When it comes to red wine, balance is a non-negotiable for Alexandra Neverov, sommelier at Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton, New York. One of the top names in all of Burgundy is Louis Latour, and one of the most unique wines it produces is this Château Corton Grancey-a blend of four Grand Cru vineyards (Bressandes, Perrières, Grèves and Clos du Roi).ĭelivering profound notes of black and red currants, blackberry fruit, blood orange citrus, and dried raspberries underscored by baking spices and dried red florals, this pinot noir is also a textural masterpiece with mouthwatering acidity and grippy cedar-like tannins. Region: Côte de Beaune, Burgundy, France | ABV: 14% | Tasting Notes: Red currants, Blood orange, Dried raspberries, Baking spice A legendary wine from a legendary producer, which would make for a legendary drinking experience. And while he was considered quite controversial in his early career, the more recent releases of Gaja's flagship Barbaresco may be considered among the region's most faithful and traditional in their expression, displaying the signature nebbiolo notes of violet and tar, along with wild berry, cherry, coriander, cedar, candied orange peel, baking spice, and dark chocolate-all complimented by great depth and gorgeous tannins that suggest several decades worth of aging potential. Beginning with the release of his first vintage of Barbaresco in 1961, Gaja began pioneering modern winemaking practices (green harvesting, aging in small barrels, etc.) that were previously unheard of in Piedmont. If there's one person who can take credit for putting Piedmont nebbiolo on the international map, it has to be Angelo Gaja. And within Piedmont, two villages have long been understood to produce the finest nebbiolos in the world: Barolo and Barbaresco. Traditionally, the most celebrated nebbiolo hails from the Italian region of Piedmont, where the thick-skinned grape isn't harvested until late in the growing season, around when the autumn fog begins to roll in (nebbiolo takes its name from "nebbia," the Italian word for fog). Wine lovers turn to cabernet sauvignon for intensity and to pinot noir for elegance-but if there's any grape that can match them both on each count, it has to be nebbiolo. Region: Barbaresco, Italy | ABV: 14.5% | Tasting Notes: Violet, Tar, Cherry, Baking spice Here are 15 excellent and diverse red wines that are especially deserving of your corkscrew. With red wines now being made in every major wine-producing nation in the world, it's impossible to condense the totality of red wines into a short list-but that's not going to stop us from trying. Gaja Barbaresco takes the top spot because it has a traditional but rich composition that makes for a legendary drinking experience. And that's to say nothing of the unique styles and practices cultivated by each individual winemaker. The same grape grown in the various Burgundy villages of France returns a much different style: wavering in degrees of ripeness, with some more fruit-forward than others, but remarkably earthy and imbued with ample acidity and firm, taut tannins. The style of pinot from California is typically ripe, powerful and fruit-forward. Take pinot noir, for instance: a hard grape to cultivate because of its delicate skin and difficulty ripening in areas that lack sufficient sunshine. Traditions and mandates governing the production of red wine vary geographically: different regions of the world all have different rules dictating which grape varieties are permitted, how long the wines must age, what the final alcohol content be, and how the wine must be labeled.Īnd it's not just the rules that vary per geography, it's also the way the grapes express themselves. ![]() Oak barrel aging, filtration, cultivated yeasts, and modern vineyard practices are all comparatively recent additions to the red wine experience. The finest red wines of today follow this general pattern, with the addition of a couple millennia worth of innovation. You just need some grapes, a container, and mother nature. Unlike beer, there's no heating involved unlike liquor, you don't need a still. At its essence, red wine may be the simplest and most straightforward alcoholic beverage in the world: you simply harvest some red grapes, crush them (with a press, or-if you prefer-your feet), let them sit with their skins for a while to add color (as distinct from whites, in which the juice is typically separated from the skins to produce wines of lightness and clarity), and wait for some ambient yeasts to start converting the sugar into alcohol. Ah, red wine: friend to hearty dishes, enemy to white shirts. ![]()
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