THE WORLD OF WINE

The world of wine

The world of wine

I have been marvelling about the distinction between red wines and white wines. To me, both the wines flavour rather different. Red wines are heavier and more convoluted than white wine, heavier significance they are more saturated and often are inclined to be less sweet. Why is this? Actually red and white wines are made rather differently. The dissimilarities between red and white wines encompass the types of grapes utilised, the fermentation and aging method, and the feature and taste of the wine. White wines are nearly habitually made from white grapes, whereas they can be made from very dark grapes, since the juice extract in most very dark grapes is clear.

Picture the scene. Half a dozen of Britain's foremost wine detractors swirling and sipping and gurgling and spitting and usually getting into a right vintage lather over goodness understands how numerous distinct frustrating containers at a wine tasting.

All of them? What could be wrong? A awful year... too much rain…not sufficient sun…too young…too old?

None of the above. It turns out the inferior flavour was not anything to manage with the wine itself, but all down to certain thing rather more, er, cosmic... the moon.

Or, more unquestionably, certain thing called the Biodynamic Lunar Calendar.

No, I hadn't learned of it either. But evidently this journal - bearing jaunty little images of lurid green cabbages, knobbly carrots, plump tomatoes and assortments of yellow blossoms - can assist dictate how wine will flavour, although costly or outstanding its vintage might be.

It might all sound a bit New Age for solace, but amazingly, the calendar - first released in 1962 by a German gardening doyenne called Maria Thun - helpfully categorises each day distinctly as 'fruit', 'flower', 'leaf' or 'root' as asserted by the waxing and waning of the moon and is being taken very gravely by the UK's foremost wine retailers.

Both Tesco and Marks & Spencer, which between them deal about a third of all wine intoxicated in Britain, now inquire detractors to experiment their wines only on 'fruit' or 'flower' days when the biodynamic calendar shows they will be at their best.

“I was a entire cynic, but a twosome of years before, we endeavoured 140 wines one day and they savoured large, and then the identical 140 wines, in the identical alignment, the next,' states Jo Ahearne, expert of wine and winemaker for M&S.

“The distinction was staggering - they were like chalk and cheese. The second day, they were all incorrect - deadened, hard and acrid, nearly corked.

“And then we appreciated we'd gone from a “flower” day to a “root” day.'

So assured is M&S and its wine tasters by the association, that it has lately taken things farther by drawing vigilance to the calendar in its wine publication and suggesting clients to bypass the feared 'root' days when unfastening exceptional bottles.

“It makes me sound like a maniac going on about moonbeams and waterfalls,' adds Ahearne. But there actually is certain thing ...