Kensington Wine Warehouse

How to choose wine when there are so many wines on the market, even from countries that are not celebrated for their wine.

Limit your selection to make choice easier. You can separate wines on the following basis. This will allow you to select wine with your own criteria giving importance where you wish. You can of course also select from our case offers which are designed to give you an experience according to the structure of your likes and preferences. These case offers are designed to help you progress.

Red or White or Rose? Most people started by thinking that Rose is a blend of Red and White. It is quite different.

Rose is a wine made from different coloured grapes and it gets its colour from being left with the skins during the fermentation process for a limited time so that the full colour of the grape is not given to the grape juice. The style of Rose wine can take on some of the characteristics of Red or White wines but often moderates the extreme flavours; making lighter wines heavier, sweeter wines: dryer and vice versa. Rose used to be a summer only drink now it is all the year round. This combined with poor harvests has resulted in a rise in the price of popular roses such as rose d'anjou. A sweeter style rose, from California the White Zinfandel Pink Fox is packed with ripe strawberry and raspberry flavours.The rioja rose made by Federico Paternina Banda Rosa Rioja. , medium Style garnet in colour, with lively berry fruit aromas and a note of vanilla spice.Silky smooth with fruit flavours, subtle tannins and a lingering spicy taste from the tempranillo grape.

There is a natural development of tastes and if you study national preferences you can see how taste develops a natural balance. In the UK (1950s +1960s) the most popular white wine was from Sauternes and South West France being sweet and fruity. Today you can try Portuguese wines without paying a premium price. Quinta de Vista Valegre Moscatel.Or, if you wish to taste a better quality, you can try Deen de Bortoli Botrytis Semillon which is offered in half bottles and it a deep rich fruit flavour.

In 1970s money influenced this preference, as taste became more sophisticated it turned towards dryer wine such as Muscadet. De La Roche wines with more depth of flavour and fruit.

Red wines offer a variation, full of flavours and taste. Red wines can also be found in South America(Chile) Altaria Merlot and Altaria Cabernet Sauvignon , with more fruit and body at a cost effective level . Natural progression led to the popularity of Beaujolais and Rhone, The more traditional wines had a little more tannin which held back the fruit within its body.La Cave Coteaux du Rhone Cote du Rhone. Made from grapes grown in the general area of Cote du Rhone appellation. Compare to the wine made from grapes grown in a specific vineyard at Massif les Arbouzes 'This wine shows more classic depth of flavour the Massif{hillside} has received more sunshine and allowed the grapes to develop more fruit.COTES Du Rhone Massif les ArbouzesA wine made in the better areas of Beaujolais has more fruit from the gamay grapeCave de Fleurie Beaujolais Villages it is very popular in Japan which has kept up the price.Italy makes fruity wines with great body with the Nero D'Avola from Sicily a good example with its sunny clime.

As the New world has developed, with money invested and new technolodgy excellent tasting wines are now produced.Australia has made wines which are lighter and fruitier -of particular note is the Black Raven which shows good fruit and a rich and vibrant flavour.