Which is for You - Blended or Varietal Wines?

Written by Darby Higgs


Blended and varietal wines.

Novice wine lovers soon come acrossrepparttar concept of blended and varietal wines. The two questions that spring to mind are, “what does it mean?” and “does it matter?”

Atrepparttar 113155 basic level,repparttar 113156 difference is quite simple. Varietal wines are made from a single grape variety, while blended wines are made using two or more. The most obvious example isrepparttar 113157 difference betweenrepparttar 113158 two great red wine styles of France. Burgundy red wine is composed ofrepparttar 113159 single variety Pinot noir. Bordeaux red wines are most often blends of up to five varieties, Cabernet sauvignon, Cabernet franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit verdot. There are a few Bordeaux wines made from a single variety, but they arerepparttar 113160 exceptions that proverepparttar 113161 rule.

So much for theory. The distinction between varietal and blended wines is less clear in practice. Many varietal wines are made from blends of wine grown in several regions. Australia’s iconic Grange is such an example. Each year hundreds of samples from many vineyards are tasted and evaluated beforerepparttar 113162 final blend is decided upon. The result is a blend of regions, rather than varieties.

Many more modest Australian wines with to fame are also regional blends. The process of selectingrepparttar 113163 blend is similar but much more simplified. The clue onrepparttar 113164 label is oftenrepparttar 113165 words “wine of South Eastern Australia.” This is almost as general a statement that you can get aboutrepparttar 113166 origins of an Australian wine.

Making Chinese Tea

Written by Wong Yee Lee


Chinese Tea

Chinese tea - water quality The quality of tea is controlled byrepparttar quality ofrepparttar 113154 water. It was said in ancient China that water isrepparttar 113155 mother of tea. There are three categories of water: best is water from a hill, average is water fromrepparttar 113156 river, bottom is water from a well. The best water from a hill is on a hilltop;repparttar 113157 best water from a river is inrepparttar 113158 middle of a river;repparttar 113159 best water from a well is from a well which is frequently used. It is not easy to get water from a hill. So water from a tap isrepparttar 113160 most common. There are two ways to makerepparttar 113161 best use of tap water when making tea. 1. Leaverepparttar 113162 tap water in a bucket for 24 hours in order to let outrepparttar 113163 chlorine inside. 2. Boilrepparttar 113164 water then openrepparttar 113165 lid for 5 minutes in order to let outrepparttar 113166 chlorine inside. Distilled water is a kind of artificial soft water. It isrepparttar 113167 most hygiene but it would not berepparttar 113168 ideal water for making tea.

Best water temperature for making tea: 1. Low temperature (70 - 80c) Good for making young shoot green tea such as Long Jing (Dragon Well) or yellow tea (Silver Needle). 2. Medium temperature (80 - 90c) Good for making white tea (Silver Needle White Fur), red tea or Oolong. 3. High temperature (90 - 100c) Good for making tea such as Tie Guan Yin (Iron Guan Yin), Pu'er, Shui Xian (Water Fairy). Low temperature water tends to be more suitable for young tea leaves while high temperature water tends to be more suitable for ripe tea leaves.

Chinese tea - tea leaves Chinese tea used to be categorized by its place of origin or place where it went to. Only till recently that Chinese tea is categorized based on its way of manufacture.

6 types of tea: Green, yellow, black, white, light green and red.

Green tea Green tea hasrepparttar 113169 longest history and it can be dated over 3000 years ago. People pickedrepparttar 113170 young shoots of leaves and dried it inrepparttar 113171 sun without fermentation.

Examples of green tea: Long Jing Fur Tip Green Spring Snail

Yellow tea Yellow tea is to fermentrepparttar 113172 tea leaves before they are totally dry. A degree of 10% to 20% fermentation would be expected.

Examples of yellow tea: Silver Needle Yellow Soup Big Leaf Green

Black tea Black tea is to ferment tea leaves to a degree of 100%. It is a kind of commonly consumed tea in Mongolia.

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