Every week I post new guides and articles all about the wonderful world of wine. When I was starting out as a wine lover I found it so hard to learn about wine. Everything felt inaccessible and hard. So a big part of starting the Cheeky Vino was to help wine lovers learn about wine by making it easy to understand. Because wine shouldn’t be hard! Learn more about why I started the blog here. To get your new year off to a great start, here are five of the top articles from 2021. There were so many that I loved researching and writing, but these are the five ones that you wine lovers loved! I hope these offer some light (and fun) reading while you sip on a glass of wine
How to match food and wine – an easy guide
One of the hardest things to tackle about wine, in my opinion, is pairing wine with food. But you know, I don’t think this is actually to do with it being hard, but more about there being so many rules! Even when researching this article, I found my head spinning. There was so much advice it was hard to know where to start. And so many rules to follow that made it seriously complicated. So I decided to write an easy guide on how to match food and wine. It doesn’t contain every rule under the sun, but this guide has got the basics. Because the truth is: You can pretty much eat whatever you want while drinking whatever wine you want.
This guide is easy to follow and has some easy tips for matching food and wine. This post was popular for a reason and I hope this helps inspire some killer food and wine combos for you in 2022.
Read the article here.
Guide to French Wine names
French wine is seriously complicated. There are so many rules, regulations and terms. That, and their labels are very different to the ones we have in Australia. So it’s no surprise that one of the top articles from 2021 was one about French Wine names.
I didn’t find I began to understand French wine names until I did my WSET2, and once I got it I felt like a whole new world of wine had been opened up to me! There are so many parts to French wine and we will only scratch the surface in this article. But what we cover should help cover the basics for you so you can buy with confidence!
French wine is the epitome of the old world – and as a result, it can be hard to understand the wine labels. But don’t worry! Once you know the basics of how it all works and some terms, you’ll be a pro in no time!
Read the article here.
What is a jammy wine?
I did a lot of fun posts in 2021 about weird wine terms that often get used in wine descriptions. There are so many out there that often complicate things if you don’t know what they mean. One of the top articles from 2021 was one of these posts about the term jammy.
Have you ever heard a wine be described as ‘jammy’? When I first heard it I wasn’t really sure what context to use it in. I mean some people use it as a bit of an insult to the wine. But others use it as a characteristic that they like. So how are you meant to know if a jammy wine is a good wine?
Read the article here.
Are sulphites in wine bad for you?
Sulphites get a bad rep but are seriously misunderstood. So I did an article on them to help demystify them, and it must be a question on everyone’s minds because it is one of the top articles from 2021!
You may have seen ‘Contains sulphites’ on a wine label but have you ever wondered what this means? Or maybe you have heard that sulphites in wine are bad for you and the reason for a pesky headache the next morning. There are so many rumours going around about sulphites, it is hard to know what to believe. But are sulphites in wine bad for you?
Although there is so much about wine and winemaking that is misunderstood, sulphites are one of the most confused. They get a serious bad rap like the evil villain in a bad movie. But for most of the population sulphites are harmless, and actually very important to your bottle of wine. So let’s unpack what you need to know about sulphites in wine.
Read the article here.
What’s the difference between warm and cool climate wines?
Have you ever wondered why some grapes grow in some regions and not others? Or why you don’t find vineyards in very hot climates? Climate is one of those terms you might see on tasting notes or hear when you’re tasting wine, but what does it actually mean? And what is the difference between warm and cool climate wines?
Climate is so essential when it comes to winemaking, and understanding what it means will help you choose a wine that you’re more likely to love. The good news is that understanding climate doesn’t involve taking a wine course! This guide will break down everything you need to know about how climate impacts wine, what to look for and what the difference is in what you’ll taste.
Read the article here.
In summary: top articles from 2021
I hope this list gives you some fun reading to enjoy over your summer holiday. I really enjoyed writing these guides for you all, and I hope you find them useful. I look forward to bringing you even more content in 2022!