Macedonian Finest

Hand-crafted with passion and patience, Tikveš wines are emblematic of Macedonia’s ancient tradition of winemaking. Located in the heart of Macedonia’s wine country, our wines reflect over 120 years of a culture which celebrates the entire wine experience, from growth, to harvest to fermentation to the most significant part: enjoyment with family and friends.

What To Expect When Visiting A Winery Tasting Room

Most tasting rooms are similar in the way they operate. When entering the tasting room, a tasting room staff member will greet you. Walk up to the tasting bar and say you would like to taste some of the wines. Some wineries charge for tastings and others do not. Occasionally a souvenir glass is included when you pay a tasting fee. You may have a choice to taste all the wines you would like on their list, or to choose a certain number of wines to taste, such as five wines.

Let the winery consultant guide your tasting. We have experienced consultants who pour the wine and tell us what we are about to smell and taste. Others will ask us what we observe about the wines. However, the latter is less frequent. There is a certain risk that winery staff takes if they ask your opinion. I recall a look of disappointment when one tasting consultant asked me what I thought a wine tasted like and I replied, “Leather.” The consultant thought it tasted like coffee. I do not drink coffee and now I have a sneaky feeling that it must taste like leather.

If you go to a tasting room on a less busy day (usually in the middle of the week), you will enjoy the opportunity to talk about the wine, winery and vineyards. Most tasting room staff members are knowledgeable about the wines they are pouring. A mere one percent of the wineries we have visited had a staff member who admitted that he just helps on the weekend and pours the wine. He told us he did not know anything about the wines he was pouring.

Most of the time, you will stand at the tasting bar. Some tasting rooms have bar stools next to the tasting bar. This is a very welcome addition if you are tasting at your third winery of the day. Some wineries use tables for wine tastings. At McGregor Vineyard and Winery along Keuka Lake in New York, you will sit at a table. The wine consultant will bring a plate of bite-sized food and will discuss the wine list with you. We also had a “sit down and be served” experience at Gloria Ferrer in California.

The “sit down at a table” theme continued at Schramsberg in California. After a tour of the caves at Schramsberg, the tour group gathered in a small dining room that had three tables set for a group of people. Our tour filled two of the tables. The wine consultant talked about the sparkling wines and then served us at the table. This afforded a great opportunity to talk about the wine with the other people at your table. This intimate approach occurred after group tours at Pine Ridge Winery and Quintessa in California.

Occasionally the winemaker will be on hand and may give a tour and conduct your tasting. Our most memorable tour was at The Lenz Winery on Long Island in New York. The winemaker had us taste his wines from the stainless steel tanks. He asked us what we thought and more often than not agreed with us. His tour proceeded to the barrel room and with thief in hand had us taste the wine from some of the barrels. Tasting wine from the barrels or tanks can give you an idea if the wine is ready or what more aging will do to it. The winemaker at Prince Michel Vineyards and Winery in Virginia has special barrel tastings. He discusses his wines and the stage they are at when you taste them.

One of our favorite tastings was during the tour at Del Dotto Winery in California. The tour led our group through the over one hundred year old candle-lit tunnels. Our guide stopped along the way and had us taste wines from the barrels. If we liked the wine, we took a ticket attached to the barrel. After the tour, we could order any of the wines we tasted. The wine would be bottled and shipped to many destinations.

Visiting winery tasting rooms is a great activity. Try to limit the number of tasting rooms you visit in one day. We try to visit two or three in a day. Tasting rooms are less crowded on the weekdays. Call ahead or check their times on the Internet before you start your adventure.

Producing Wine the Organic Way

Producing Wine the Organic Way
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Chris_Bowman]Chris Bowman

The word organic is very much sought after in today's society. People are more inclined towards healthy living which partakes of organic food and drink. This means that food is generally cleaner and non-chemically grown. Can such a product exist when it comes to wine productions and can any company specializing in organic wine production even manage to stay afloat?

Because of the increasing global trend, environmentalists and other nature lovers feel compelled to live green and healthy. More and more of these consumers want to be informed of what goes into their food and drink and how it affects their bodies. Some of these customers would not even dare purchase a product until they are fully apprised of its content and value. Organic wines were previously labeled as dull, a strange label since most of finest and rarest vintage wine happen to have been produced organically.

It can be safely said that a food product is organic if it was produced without the use of herbicides, pesticides, and synthetic fertilizers. It was not subjected to artificial preservatives, coloring, and is generally considered free of genetically modified organisms.

However, what is it exactly about being organic that is so good to begin with? Many believe that a lot of foodstuffs today are filled with unhealthy and unnatural chemical build-up because of the use of artificial pesticides and fertilizers on the crops or plants that we eventually consume. Many health professionals and environmentalists alike believe that these chemical build-ups often cause long-term health problems or contribute to allergies.

Chemicals seeping into groundwater and other traces of drinking water also pose a problem for many communities all over the world.

Many crops today, especially when grown by companies heavy on the commercial side, are grown with the use of artificial pesticides and fertilizers. Continued usage of these chemicals can also weaken the soil and create imbalance in our ecosystem. It can become worse when pests develop a tolerance to these chemical and stronger agents need to be used a result. The consequence of such use would be a stronger and more hazardous chemical build-up.

A healthy alternative is to farm and grow crops using organic methods. However, this also means that crops would grow at a slow pace and the earth itself would need more time to replenish its nutrients. For example, an organic farm means weeding by hand, which can be a very long process.

The pest problem can also increase exponentially without strategies and effective methods of control. You can introduce natural predators of these pests by creating a balanced and diverse set-up within your very own backyard. Encourage this by planting manure, flowers and other herbs to attract other species.

Vineyards can also be ravaged if left unchecked and under the mercy of mildew and black rot. These diseases when not stopped at the start may infect and eventually poison a whole vineyard. This is especially problematic in very humid places. There organic production is most effective in hot and dry regions where infection is less likely.

Do not forget that in order to market trade as an organic vineyard, your organization would have to be recognized by an official certification body across the world.

Chris Bowman is a grape growing expert. For more great tips on Producing Wine [http://www.overthegrapevine.com/organic-winemaking]The Organic Way and other grape growing information, visit http://www.overthegrapevine.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Bowman http://EzineArticles.com/?Producing-Wine-the-Organic-Way&id=3087131

Dijana Ristovska

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