A good negociant or shipper will not only be the man or the firm which has cornered the wines from the best vineyards, or the best parts of them ; ;

he may also be the one who makes and bottles the best blends -- sound wines from vineyards generally in his own district.

No one should wish to deny these purists the obvious pleasure they derive from all this, and to give fair warning where warning is due, no one who becomes fond of wines ever avoids acquiring some degree of purism!!

Very old red wines often require several hours of aeration, and any red wine, brought from the cellar within half an hour of mealtime, should be uncorked and allowed some air.

The wine waiter will see to it that the bottles are taken from the bin and opened at least in time to warm and aerate, preferably allowed to stand on end for as long as possible and, perhaps in the case of very old wines, be decanted.

Included among the latter are the area's five premier cru ( first growth ) red wines ( four from Médoc and one, Château Haut-Brion, from Graves ), established by the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855:

Red wines are generally made from a blend of grapes, and may be made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit verdot, Malbec, and, less commonly in recent years, Carménère.

As with Bordeaux, the different regions of Chianti Classico have unique characteristics that can be exemplified and perceived in some wines from those areas.

According to Master of Wine Mary Ewing-Mulligan, Chianti Classico wines from the Castellina region tend to have a very delicate aroma and flavor, Castelnuovo Berardegna region wines tend to be the most ripe and richest tasting, wines from Gaiole tend to have been characterized by their structure and firm tannins while wines from the Greve area tend to have very concentrated flavours.

Outside of Chianto Classico, the wines of the Chianti sub-zone of Rufina are among the most widely recognized and exported from the Chianti region.

Some foods, such as many cheeses, wines, and beers will keep for a long time because their production uses specific micro-organisms that combat spoilage from other less benign organisms.

Although grape brandy is most commonly added to produce fortified wines, the additional alcohol may also be neutral spirit that has been distilled from grapes, grain, sugar beets, or sugarcane.

While Asti province became famous around the world thanks to Martini and Rossi, Gancia and Riccadonna which made commercial wines like Asti Spumante, it is now also becoming famous internationally for its classic red wines such as Barbera d ' Asti, Freisa d ' Asti, Grignolino d ' Asti, Bonarda and Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato.

Merchants records shows that one of items regularly traded through Venice was local wines produced in Verona province in the hills west of Venice.

This is the second province in volume of wine production at the national level and in South America, and possesses outstanding varietal wines.

Other towns in the province include Gorna Oryahovitsa, which is within 10 kilometres of Veliko Tarnovo, Svishtov, set on Danube River and famous for its Tsenov Academy of Economics, and Suhindol, the hometown of Lovico — an internationally recognised label for fine wines and spirits.

The coastal strip of the province is given over to sandy beaches popular among Italians rather than foreigners ; moving inland, the central portion is an area of rolling farmland, producing red and white wines mainly of the Sangiovese, Montepulciano and Verdicchio grape varieties ; the mountain zone is densely forested, and its most famous agricultural product is the black truffle, the main market for which, however, is in Acqualagna just across the border in the province of Pesaro e Urbino.

The districts around Noto ( above all Buonivini, Bufalefi and Maccari ) and Pachino in the south of the province of Siracusa are reputed for the quality of their Nero d ' Avola wines.

The herbs were originally used to mask raw flavors of cheaper wines, imparting a slightly medicinal " tonic " flavor.

" Among the products sought to be banned were over two dozen beers, and six fortified wines: Cisco, Gino's Premium Blend, MD 20 / 20, Night Train, Thunderbird, and Wild Irish Rose.

Following the discovery that many Chilean vineyards thought to be planted with Sauvignon blanc was actually Sauvignonasse, the owners of the Chilean winery Domaine Paul Bruno ( who previously worked with Château Margaux and Château Cos d ' Estournel ) invited ampelographers to comb through their vineyards to make sure that their wines were properly identified.

These wines were unique in that they were some of the first examples of Chardonnay to be varietally labeled as " Chardonnay ".

New oak barrels were used to produce wines that were big in body and mouthfeel.

The Chardonay from Le Clos Jordanne placed first out of the 14 white wines, some of which were notable international wines, including: Chateau Montelena, Mer Soleil, Kumeu River, an aged reserve wine from Rosemount Estates, and a number of Burgundian entrants from producers such as Drouhin, Lamy, Boisset, Jadot and others.

The wines that made Syrah famous were those from Hermitage, the hill above the town Tain-l ' Hermitage in northern Rhône, where an hermitage ( chapel ) was built on the top, and where de Stérimberg is supposed to have settled as a hermit after his crusades.

In an era when " clarets " were less powerful than today, and before appellation rules, red wines from warmer regions would be used for improvement ( or adulteration, depending on the point of view ) of Bordeaux wines.

After the wines of northern Rhône were " rediscovered " by wine writers in the 1970s, plantings expanded considerably.

After the phylloxera epidemic, many wines were " mislabeled " as containing one of these noble grape varieties, which were reinterpreted as " wine styles " rather than true varietal names.

Wines listed with Solera were made in a style similar to sherry, with fractional blending of wines from different vintages in a solera system.

Rather than dump the wines, the merchants tried to pass it off as a " new style " of Madeira and were surprised at its popularity among the Americans.

The storehouses of the Romanov Court in St. Petersburg were regarded as the largest collections of cognacs and wines in the world — much of it from the Transcaucasus region of Georgia.

The wines of Provence were probably introduced into Provence around 600 BC by the Greek Phoceans who founded Marseille and Nice.

After the Roman occupation, in 120 BC the Roman Senate forbade the growing of vines and olives in Provence, in order to protect the profitable trade in exporting Italian wines, but in the late Roman empire retired soldiers from Roman Legions settled in Provence and were allowed to grow grapes.

This AOC classification dates to 1997, though these wines were recognized in the 17th and 18th century, notably by Madame de Sévigné, who reported the habits and preferred wines of the Court of Louis XIV.

The wines of Aix were originally planted by veterans of the Roman legions in the 1st century BC, and were promoted in the 15th century by René I of Naples, the last ruler of Provence.

The Champenois were envious of the reputation of the wines made by their Burgundian neighbours to the south and sought to produce wines of equal acclaim.

He avoids dairy products, certain spices, and " highly acidic foods like vinegars and white wines.

It was in Pomerol that the garagistes movement began with small-scale production of highly sought after Merlot-based wines.

The still wines of the area were highly prized in Paris under the designation of vins de la rivière and vins de la montagne-wines of the river and wines of the mountain in reference to the wooded terrain and the river Marne which carried the wines down to the Seine and into Paris.

Unlike the typically pale colour Rioja wine, Baja wines are very deeply coloured and can be highly alcoholic with some wines at 18 % alcohol by volume.

It is most often used for blending with the related Malvasia Puntinata and Malvasia di Lazio being more highly prized due to their higher acidity and tendency to produce less flabby wines.

Riesling is a variety which is highly " terroir-expressive ", meaning that the character of Riesling wines is clearly influenced by the wine's place of origin.

Taxes provided by the bridge and market led to further growth of the town, as did the export of the highly regarded wines from the region.

In the winery it is sensitive to fermentation methods, yeast strains and is highly reflective of its terroir with different regions producing sometimes very different wines.

In general, these upright growing ' Pinot droit ' clones are highly productive ( in suitable, hot-to-warm, flowering conditions ) and in California and New Zealand they give robust, burly, wines favoured by those who like muscle rather than charm and velvety finesse in their Pinot noir wines.

The grape is highly yield sensitive, with over-cropping producing wines with more green, vegetal notes.

Argentina ’ s most highly rated Malbec wines originate from Mendoza ’ s high altitude wine regions of Lujan de Cuyo and the Uco Valley.

In Savoie, the grape is known as Bergeron where it produces highly aromatic wines in Chignin.

In 2004 Costco offered an original artwork by artist Pablo Picasso on their online store ; more recently a highly regarded 1982 Mouton Rothschild wine was offered as well as other rare wines in rotation.

Nebbiolo produces lightly colored red wines which can be highly tannic in youth with scents of tar and roses.

Its smaller bunches and lower yields cause it to produce highly concentrated wines.

Chilean wines have ranked very highly in international competitions.

The 1990s brought a string successful vintages to the Middle Loire that produced many highly rated Chenin wines affected by noble rot.

Some producers of white Rioja make superior wines ( Reserva and Gran Reserva ) subjected to extended ageing that can span decades, resulting in a highly distinctive and aromatic wine.

For example, Anne-Claude Leflaive of Domaine Leflaive estate in Burgundy claims that the use of biodynamic methods saved a badly diseased vineyard, to the point that it now produces some of her most highly prized wines.

The wines are mostly dry, often produced in a powerful style, and the best examples ( such as those produced by Nicolas Joly's Château de la Roche aux Moines ) are highly regarded by international wine critics.