Chardonnay Mencia Rum Zinfandel

Of all the white wine grape varietals, surely the one which has spread the furthest and is most widely appreciated is the Chardonnay. This green skinned grape is now grown all over the Old and New Worlds, from New Zealand to the Americas, from England to Chile, and is one of the first varietals people think of when considering white wine grapes. Perhaps this is because of its huge popularity which reached a peak in the 1990s, thanks to new technologies combining with traditional methods to bring the very best features out of the Chardonnay grape, and allow its unique qualities to shine through. Most fine Chardonnay wines use a process known as malolactic fermentation, wherein the malic acids in the grape juice are converted to lactic acids, allowing a creamier, buttery nature to come forward in the wine. No grape varietal is better suited to this process than Chardonnay, which manages to balance these silky, creamy notes with fresh white fruit flavors beautifully.

It is difficult to categorize rum as a single spirit, because of all the spirits found around the globe, rum is perhaps the one which varies most dramatically from place to place. Clear, white rum - a favorite for cocktail drinkers - is perhaps the most prevalent example found today, but there is a whole world of darker, spiced and molasses-rich rums to explore, thanks to the fascinating history and wide reach this drink has.

Rum came about during the colonial times, when sugar was a huge and world-changing business. The molasses left over from the sugar production industry could easily be distilled into a delicious alcoholic drink, and provided extra income for the sugar traders. Before long, it became a favorite of sailors and transatlantic merchants, and it quickly spread across the Caribbean and Latin America, where it remains highly popular today.

The production of rum is a basic and simple one - you take your molasses, add yeast and water, and then ferment and distil the mixture. However, as is often the case, the devil is in the detail. The variation in yeasts found from place to place, the maturation period, the length of the fermentation and the type of stills and barrels used provide the rainbow-colored variation that gives rum its spectrum of styles and characteristics.

The precise origins of what became known as the Zinfandel grape variety are uncertain, although it has clear genetic equivalents in both Puglia and Croatia. However, when it was brought to the New World in the mid 19th century, it became known as the Zinfandel, and has been consistently popular and widely grown ever since. These very dark and very round grapes have a remarkably high sugar content, resulting in relatively high levels of alcohol in the wines they are made into, with bottles often displaying as much as fifteen percent. What makes the Zinfandel such an interesting grape, though, is the fact that the flavors produced by this varietal vary considerably depending on the climate they are grown in. In cooler valley regions, the Zinfandel grapes result in wines which hold strong flavors of tart and sweet fruits; raspberry, redcurrant and sweet cherry, held in a very smooth and silky liquid. Conversely, warmer regions result in more complex and spicy notes, including anise, pepper and hedgerow berries.