Hei,
so why do I start to write this blog? Well I am half-French and moved nearly a year ago to Helsinki, Suomi. Of course to fit the prejudices I also like wine, especially red wine. I have some basic knowledge and experience in consuming and tasting wine. For me having a glass of red wine or to share it with friends and some good food (e.g. cheese) is the best way to relax after a long work-full week and/or to enjoy company.
So when I came the first time to Finland I started to invite my Finnish friends, which I met thanks to my voluntary service club, to some good food and wine over. What else should I have offered them for a drink than a glass of red wine? One thing came to another and despite the first skeptical look and taste some of them now love red wine. And visit me now frequently... Whenever they visit me it happens that I talk about wine or food (another typical prejudice that I full fill as a French guy: I love cooking). Since it seems that most Finns (at least when it comes to my friends) don't know much about wine they started to listen quite focused and on my pikkojoulu (a Finnish Pre-Xmas party) they came up with the idea that I should start writing a blog about it. Voilà!But what is so interesting or fascinating about wine? Honestly a good question, well there are many things that make wine so special and somehow I have now difficulties to start... I think the easiest way to explain my fascination about wine is if I just write about some simple things first and the go step by step into more detail:
First of all: Every wine is different - the taste, the color and the smell.
Second of all: Everything is possible when it comes to taste, color and smell. From the best to the worst smell and taste...believe me I have experienced some extremes and I still think that I barely scratched the surface.
The taste and smell depends on many factors: Vintage, weather condition, the grapes, soil condition, the yeast which transform the sugar into alcohol, the time of resting and developing within the barrel and... You see when it comes to wine there are so many things that influence it that someone might end up confused. Putting that aside and making it as simple as possible the wine depends on the grape(s). Some wines are made out of one grape type (e.g. Cabernet Sauvignon) or by a specific combination of 2-3 different grapes (e.g. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Grenache...). The content or better the "capability" of every grape type to produce different kinds of amount of organic substance like sugar(s) and phenolic compounds (e.g. tannins) depend on the environmental conditions. The conditions can be the weather (sun, rain, dryness, wind, insects, microorganisms...) or soil condition (a lot of nutritions or rare nutritions). Due to the combinations of different grape types a wine maker can produce a specific but also unique wine. I start to realize while writing this, that my explanation looks more like a study book. Mon Dieu! Thats not the way I wanted to do it!... Oh là là ... Okay I will come up with an idea how to make it better and easier to read. Therefore more will follow soon.
À bientôt mes amis!
