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Your wine questions answered
Do you enjoy a drop of wine but find the whole wine-talk thing confusing? Here are a few questions you might want answered.
What is the difference between pinot gris and pinot grigio?
Not much.
In fact it’s the same grape.
In France they call it gris and in Italy they call it Grigio.
The French tend to make their pinot gris in a richer, fuller style than the Italians, who prefer a leaner, more acidic style.
This then is what influences Australian producers when naming their wine.
Why are roses planted at the end of rows of grape vines?
Roses and grapes suffer from a number of the same fungal diseases.
As luck would have it – for grape growers, anyway – roses start to show the effects first.
This means that by keeping an eye on the health of these roses, grape growers will know whether their vines are under any disease stress.
I’ve seen cabernet shiraz and also shiraz cabernet. Are they the same?
The variety that forms the bulk of the wine comes first.
So cabernet shiraz has more cabernet than shiraz in the blend and vice versa.
Can you mix red and white grapes in a wine?
Yes, and the chances are you’ve probably tasted one without knowing it.
Shiaz and viognier work well together.
Usually it is a couple of per cent of viognier added to the shiraz.
Is there a difference between a vintage and non-vintage sparkling?
Vintage comes from one specific year where as non-vintage comes from a number of years, blended together.
The more valued wine is a single vintage. In good years the majority of the fruit will go towards making a single vintage wine (more expensive and more profitable).
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Wine tasting courses
St Aidans Wines will be running four basic wine tasting courses starting in July where Phil Smith will also be answering many of the commonly asked questions regarding all those baffling questions above, and much more.
The first will be Wine Making and Tasting on Wednesday, July 5, the second will be Whites Wines on July 12, then Reds Wines on July 19 and finally special wines on July 26.
Each session will go for 1.5 hours at the function centre with light snack to accompany.
The cost will be $25 per session or $80 for all four sessions.
Wines made 100 per cent on site: from vine to bottle
Barrecas Wines is one of Western Australia's most decorated family-owned and in-house operated wineries.
Founded in 1994, the winery is built upon a foundation of strong Italian heritage, family based principles and wine making skills that integrate traditional wine making with an innovative approach.
Their wines are made 100 per cent vine to bottle on site.
The winery became a commercial venture in 1994.
This was made possible by the tradition of making vintages for personal and family use in the early days.
It is from here that Barrecas Wines was truly cultivated.
Inspired from humble beginnings with the outcome being a simple one: ; ‘wine is to share with those you love’ (Vino è quello di condividere con chi si ama).
Today, as much passion and love goes in to every single bottle as ever before.
Our ethos and our spirit are unchanging.
Barrecas Wines is located just 39km from Bunbury, in the Donnybrook area which is an epicenter for people travelling through the south west.