WASHINGTON WINE VERSUS THE WORLD
In our upcoming Masterglass series, “Washington Wine versus World” we’ll explore the uniqueness of Washington wine one grape variety at a time, highlighting the differences and similarities Washington wine shares with the rest of the wine world. We'll then touch on the uniqueness of each grape variety, where it originates, its varietal characteristics, growing environment, and the overall importance it plays to Washington state and the world.
When speaking about Washington wine it’s important to note that it’s considered a New World wine growing region. New World wine growing regions are growing regions that fall outside of Europe. Typical characteristics of New World wines are an abundance of sunshine, which translates to riper fruit flavors, higher alcohol levels, and less earthy notes. Old World wines tend to be grown in slightly cooler climates and often show a restrained fruit profile, have lesser alcohol levels, and display more earthiness and/or terroir.
Our first blog post will be Washington Wine versus the World with Merlot as our variety of focus. We’ll take a deep dive into this amazing variety, its flavor profile and style of wine it produces for us here in Washington and around the world.
Cheers!
- Shelly Fitzgerald, Wine Education Specialist, CS, CSW, AWE, WSET Level 3