wine

Blessed with a Mediterranean climate similar to France or California, Chile has the added advantage of being south of the equator. That puts their summers from November to March, allowing them to harvest wine during the off-season of many other countries. Time shifting allows them to satisfy the market when others can't.

Canada makes wine. Climate is a challenge and most of the territory is not suitable, nevertheless, Canada is producing some world class wines.

Long considered a producer of inferior wines, British Columbia is now being recognized as a winemaking powerhouse.

Chablis is located south east of Paris and is classified as part of Burgundy, even though it is closer to Champagne than other parts of Burgundy, and some distance from the rest of Burgundy.

The Beaujolais region covers a 34 mile stretch from the south of Burgundy to as far as Lyon. It produces more than twice as much wine as Burgundy. Gamay is the only black grape grown in Beaujolais. There is a little white Beaujolais produced but almost all is red.

The Burgundy area, often called Bourgogne, stretches north-south from Chablis in the north, through Cote de Nuits, Cotes de Beaune, Cote de Chalonnais, Cotes de Macon. Furthest south is Beaujolais which is sometimes included as part of Burgundy.

The early wine history of Argentina is similar to that for Chile both in time and the Spanish colonization.

If you only buy wine for your own pleasure or for a particular event, and take care to consume your bottles within a reasonable time frame, don’t worry, almost all bottles will survive in a cupboard for around 12 months -the wine is likely to deteriorate if left longer.

If you live in a house that has either a cellar or a separate area for your wine, count yourself between the lucky ones. What happens if you have no independent space to keep your bottles? If you live in an apartment, flat, condominium or so, you would not have it.

Even with modern winemaking, storage and shipping technology about five percent of all wines arrive at the table bad to some degree. Here are some tips about how to spot them.