The World in a Glass
WORDS: Ange Seddon
Welcome to our new wine column here at The Cheshire Magazine. Each month I’ll be talking all things wine, with recommendations, hints and tips and interesting facts about this incredibly diverse and fascinating bottled poetry.
The wonderful thing about wine is that it is able to express so much more than aromas and flavours; it’s geography, history and science in a glass.
What To Drink This Month
As the nights close in and we reach for our cosy sweaters, it’s a good time to transition from the sunshine-in-a-glass rosés to something a little warmer. Even if you aren’t that into red wine, a great introduction is a Pinot Noir. A lighter, fresher red. Its home is Burgundy in France, but it’s now grown in many other countries. It needs a cooler climate as it’s a thinner-skinned grape, which makes it a bit more difficult to grow. But in the right vintner's hands, it can be beautiful. It’s an important and versatile grape in regions like Champagne, Alsace, Germany, New Zealand and Oregon, but also in the cooler parts of Australia and California. With its red fruit aromas of strawberries, raspberries and cherries with a hint of spice, tasting of riper fruits in the warmer countries. It dances on the palate rather than overpowering it, making it nice to be drunk on its own. But when paired with food, it goes amazing with duck, chicken, pork or mushrooms.
Wine Pro Tip
Have you heard of the 20/20 rule?
When drinking wine, take your white/rosé out of the fridge for 20 minutes before you drink it. Domestic fridges are too cold, and that can mute the aromas and flavours. Giving your wine a chance to warm up a little really opens it up and it tastes so much better. With red wine, pop it in the fridge for 20 minutes before you sip. It will help the wine shine (especially with Pinot Noir) room temperature in homes these days is a bit warmer than the recommended serving temp, so the 20 minutes is all it needs.
Recommendations
I have had the joy of these two delicious wines recently, worth every penny in my book. Both are a perfect expression of what a good Pinot Noir should be, one from Burgundy, rich, mature and complex and one from the US, a lighter, but still a beautiful wine.
Salute a tutti (health to all),
Ange
Hungry for more?
Read up on the latest news, delicious eats, travel treats and seasonal style trends in FEATURES, or browse a curated selection of our FEATURED PRODUCTS, meander through our guide to the finest things to do in Cheshire and beyond in WHATS ON or partake in our COMPETITIONS.
About The CHESHIRE Magazine
We are the definitive guide to luxury lifestyle in the North West. Latest news, delicious eats, travel treats and seasonal style trends. The Cheshire Magazine is the largest luxury lifestyle title for the North West of England, dropping directly through the letterboxes of VIP subscribers from the Wirral to Greater Manchester plus all the villages and towns in between and digitally available as a subscription in print and digital on issuu.com worldwide. We specialise in connecting luxury brands to likeminded consumers.
If you are interested on how you can partner with The CHESHIRE Magazine, read more about us. Or get in touch to find out more about marketing, featuring or partnering with the Cheshire Magazine in print or online.