Hola again! Let’s quickly dig in to find out the most sophisticated and equally exciting wines around the world. Heads up: We will act sophisticated, at least try to.
Tokay is a Hungarian wine, and this baby gets its name from the Tokaj region in northeastern Hungary. With an arresting blonde tinge and a rare flavor resulting from the “noble rot”—a fungus that shrinks the grapes on the vine (yes!), it packs a little bit of a punch; so keep the helpings small. It’s not beer, okay?
Georgia may seem like an unlikely wine region, but the Kakheti region is in fact the original wine province, with a history of viticulture that dates back at least 8,000 fucking years. Between the rare grapes used and the uncommon production techniques, you’re sure to experience flavors you’ve never experienced before. And hey, they aren’t that pricey either.
Orange wine is quite the surprise package. Often made with pinot gris – a type of white wine, it has a salmon-esque color and leaves a distinctive aftertaste. The wine-making regions of Georgia and Armenia have an age-old tradition of orange wine production. The Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in Italy has seen a recent flourish. Follow the leader, eh?
Sweden is not a particularly important wine region; nonetheless, the country stands out as the world’s northernmost wine region. Norway claims they have the farthest vineyard at 59° latitude. (How the fuck does that even matter? Oops!) Because the industry is still a small player on the world stage, it’s nearly impossible to get their wine out of Sweden. Drat!
To get the intense sweetness that characterizes passito wines, the grapes are raisinated (partially dried) to create a nice savory flavor. The saccharinity of these wines make them exceptional dessert wines. Hell yeah! Precise procedures and grapes vary by region, but passito wines can be found throughout Italy. Dessert wine, anyone?
Eiswein (or ice wine) is like a northern variant of passito or other raisinated wines, but instead of intensifying the grapes by letting them to partially dry, they are left on the vine to shrink in the freezing weather. Seriously, where do these gem of ideas come from? Germany is home to the best-known and best-regarded eisweins. It can be found all throughout the mountains of Central Europe, as well as in newer wine regions in Scandinavia, Canada, and the northern U.S. Oh but hey, these snooty babies expensive as fuck!