Alto Vineyard Wines to Expand Your Palate
For the Curious Wine Drinker: Alto Vineyard Wines to Expand Your Palate
Whether you’re new to the wonderful world of wine or you’ve stuck to a safe old favorite for years, you know that every mouthful can be an adventure. You might even be curious about expanding your palate and enjoying a greater appreciation of the many fantastic wines that await your discovery. Not sure where to start? We’re here to help!
The Evolving Wine Palate
While there definitely are exceptions, the evolution of most oenophiles’ palates follows a similar journey. Explore the evolution of the palate below.
Stage One: Sweet Wine
For many of us, our introduction to alcohol came through gin and/or vodka-based cocktails, sugary alco-pops, and lighter, sweeter beer. It’s not surprising that, when we progress to drinking wine, our wine palates prefer sweet white, rosé, and blush wines, especially those sweeter wines known as dessert wines.
Most of those wines are approachable, easy to understand, and straightforward. The flavors are generally sweet and tart and the fruity aromas are unmistakable. They’re like that big, loud, colorful friend who’s the life and soul of the party. What you see is what you get, and they’re always up for a good time.
If you’ve just embarked on your journey into wine and expanding your palate, start with sweet wines such as Alto Vineyards’ German-style Shawnee Gold or our sweet rosé Heartland Blush. You might also want to try our Vignoles, which work beautifully as a dessert wine or fruitier wines such as German Riesling, Hungarian Tokaji, and Italian Vin Santo.
Stage Two: Fruity Wine
Whether most of us started with sweet white or rosé wines, the next stage of the journey sees us become more curious about red wine. This isn’t surprising, considering red wine is the most discussed and collected wine in the world. Unfortunately for some people, their first encounter with red wine is with something that makes them screw up their faces and wonder how on earth people can actually enjoy the stuff. This is where fruity wine comes in.
For some folks, the transition from sweet white and rosé to red wine is through a fruity red. For others, it’s through a rosé that’s fruit-forward but not as sweet as those they had been drinking. When it comes to fruity reds, you’ll find some that are light and soft, and others that are bold and spicy. What they have in common are dominant fruity flavors and a fruity nose that could be characterized by berry, stone fruit, tropical, or citrus notes.
Take your palate to the next step of expansion and evolution with a few fantastic and fruity premium wines from Alto Vineyards. We recommend the sweet ‘n fruity Heartland Red and semi-sweet Rocko Red. If you can’t quite manage to move away from rosé just yet, try our fruit-forward Rosato. A few other fruity wines to keep in mind are Malbec, Merlot, Petite Syrah, and Zinfandel.
Stage Three: Bold Wine
When you’re ready to continue expanding your palate, the next step is to sample crowd-pleasing bold red wines. We’re talking about wines that are bolder, riper, fruity, and lush, with layers of flavor and a fabulous mouth-coating finish. The reds in these categories also tend to have a higher concentration of resveratrol, so they offer additional benefits.
It’s usually around this time that you’ll improve your tasting skills by identifying the distinct flavors associated with various winemaking processes. For example, vanillas and creamy chocolate flavors in bold red wines are almost always due to oak-aging.
Ready to take things to the next level? Try Alto Vineyards’ rich and full-bodied Chambourcin (great with grilled beef, portobello mushrooms, or your favorite red pasta sauce), our Norton, or our Dawg House Red, if you’re looking for bold reds. If you want bold white wines, try our Wiener Dog White. Other bold wines to check out include reds such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and a white oaked Chardonnay.
Stage Four: Elegant Wine
As your wine palate expands, it becomes more refined. Once you’ve familiarized yourself with bold wines that are almost impossible not to love, it’s time to explore the realm of elegant wine.
Wine lovers who appreciate elegant wines have trained their tastebuds more than the average oenophile who hasn’t passed beyond the bold wine stage. You’re able to detect delicate floral notes such as violets and tell the difference between flavors such as anise, fennel, and licorice.
The flavors in elegant wine tend to be subtle yet distinct. It’s not hard to find a favorite elegant wine when you know what you love and what you’re looking for (and are able to find it). Wines in this category are usually associated with luxury and exclusivity.
Excited to immerse yourself in the world of elegant wine? We recommend starting with Alto Vineyards’ 2020 Cabernet Franc (a young red wine with great aging potential) or an elegant white wine such as our Chardonel, a dry French/American hybrid of Chardonnay and Seval, or our lush, balanced semi-dry Vidal Blanc. Among the other elegant reds you might like to try are Pinot Noir, cool-climate Syrah, and Gamay. Other elegant whites worthy of your attention include Chablis and Grüner Veltliner.
Stage Five: Sparkling Wine
You reach a new level of wine appreciation and palate expansion when you really fall in love with sparkling wines. They’re usually seen as the party wines of the rich and famous or for celebrating a romantic occasion, but there really is much more to them than bubbles that tickle the tongue.
First of all, sparkling wines are among the most technically challenging to make, given their two fermentations and incredible pressures in the bottles. Secondly, they have secondary aromas as a result of the fermentation process—aromas that not all new wine drinkers enjoy. Think biscuity, bready, yeasty, and beer-like aromas.
Explore the world of sparkling wines by trying Cava, Cap Classique, Crémant, Lambrusco, Prosecco, Sekt, and, of course, Champagne.
Stage Six: Natural and Other Wine
When you’ve expanded your palate by trying traditional wines from the categories mentioned above, you can branch out into wines that don’t quite fit the traditional profile. Among the natural and other wines available are wines made from fruit other than grapes, un-sulfured natural wines, biodynamic wines, amphora-aged wines, Madeira, and dry Sherry and other fortified wines.
If you’re ready to branch out, we recommend trying Alto Vineyards’ Black-N-Blush made from blackberries and Concord grapes, our Cherry Berry made from a 50/50 blend of cherries and raspberries, or our spiced Nona Mia Sangria or sweet Porto Di Guido.
Let’s raise a glass to the exciting journey of expanding your wine palate!