The time of fruits, seafood and grills has arrived; sunny days and blue skies are in store for the delight of many summertime addicts who are already looking desperate for thirst quenching wines to pair with their favorite grilled food and snacks.

Across virtually all of France’s Rhône Valley, red grapes dominate the landscape.

South Australia is the undisputed capital of the Australian wine industry - regions such as the Barossa, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra are familiar to aficionados around the globe.

The last decade has seen tremendous progress in research into and understanding of wine closures. Ten years ago, if you’d gone into a supermarket and scanned the wine aisles, they would have looked very different.

The last decade has seen tremendous progress in research into and understanding of wine closures. Ten years ago, if you’d gone into a supermarket and scanned the wine aisles, they would have looked very different.

Market research by Axiter-Confocommercio/Unicab for Vinitaly indicates the Italian wine cellars withstood the test of the “great crisis” in 2009 and even organized themselves to continue growth in 2010.

At their best, wines from the southern Rhone combine the three basic categories of animal, vegetable and mineral.

Until recently, this was a tall order for wine. “Before 1980, the only kosher wines were sweet, sacramental wines,” says Aron Ritter, president of the Kosher Wine Society.

Does your taste in desserts tend more toward the subtle and complex (panna cotta, say, or creme brulee, bread pudding or maybe shortbread) or towards the decadent and over-the-top (death-by-chocolate challenges or a banana split)?

Madeira is an island in the Atlantic that belongs to Portugal. The island itself is a horrendously difficult place to grow grapes with poor soil and very steep topography. Trellised vines are planted on terraces, called poios, which are carved into the rock ranging from sea level up to over 3000 feet. The best vineyard sites have a Southern exposure.