Crusted Wine - Why?
April 14, 2008
Why is crusted wine called as such? - Meg in Portsmouth, VA
Crusted port wine is a type of ruby port. It is also an inexpensive version of vintage port, and in turn receives it’s curious name from being unfiltered. This leads to a very interesting natural sediment that builds up over time from grape skins, twigs and seeds, hence the “crusted” in crusted wine. Appetizing no?
Definitely and absolutely, crusted port wine should be decanted. If not, you might take a sip and end up snacking on something that isn’t quite edible. However, what’s good about crusted wines is that you can enjoy them at a much younger age vs. a good vintage port, some of which can take decades to mature, where they can be fully appreciated.
Keep in mind that when you see the date on the bottle, this is alluding to the bottling date and not the actual year in which the grapes were grown. Cheers!!
Wine Vintage Date
March 25, 2008
Two questions for you Wine Virgin. Why don’t some bottles have a wine vintage date and what is a wine vintage chart used for? Thank you, thank you. - Nikolas in Bangor, ME
You’re welcome, welcome. Have you already had a few while getting ready for an interesting Tuesday night up there in Bangor? Hmmm… well Nikolas, some bottles won’t have a wine vintage date on them because they are actually made with wines that are from different years. As a result these are known as non vintage.
Now to satisfy… your curiosity about what exactly a wine vintage chart is, here’s the answer. A wine vintage chart will show the particular ratings for every year in a certain wine region. But do you think that ratings on a chart could sum up the qualities of certain wines? No way, but they are used to assess a vintage’s reputation.
These charts are however, used in such a way as to get a broad context for determining the characteristics of wines produced in region. They can also be referred to when there is a question as to when one should either let the wine age or to enjoy it while there is still time to do so.
Keep in mind that many who are involved in the production of wine in a certain region will try in subtle ways to slant the charts in their favor, that a wine vintage is unusually great and should be added to a persons collection immediately. It’s never fun getting one pulled over on you so be a wee bit cautious and remember that a wine vintage charts are a guideline to consider and not the rule of thumb. Cheers!!