There’s a lot of talk about wine bottle refrigerators online these days and many people are wondering what the big deal is. Do you really need a special fridge just for your wine? What if you only drink red wine? Isn’t your regular fridge good enough? If you’ve been wondering just what is the point of all this wine fridge talk, then let’s answer some of those questions and get it out there.
Do you really need a wine bottle refrigerator? The answer is no. Not if you aren’t particular about your wine. You see, wine fridges are designed specifically for those who appreciate a good bouquet. Those who can taste the difference in the subtle nuances of a bottle of wine that has been treated well and one that has been agitated too much and exposed to light and vibrations.
Wine refrigerators are for those who cherish wine and care about the presentation. For everyone else, the regular fridge is just fine for shoving your wine into. There’s no reason to worry if you don’t care about slight flavor changes and just want to serve a bottle of wine.
Wine bottle refrigerators are carefully designed and built to avoid vibrations. The cooler has a damper on it to keep things nice and smooth running so the wine won’t be jarred or vibrated, something that can actually change the flavor of the wine and break it down on a minute level. Light also affects the wine and so in a regular fridge, you are going to have an issue with this since it is constantly being opened and exposed to bright light. With a proper cooler, you won’t need to worry about this.
Other reasons a specifically designed fridge is a good idea is that you are essentially mimicking a wine cellar. Since most people don’t have a real wine cellar these days, it’s a good idea to have something that is similar in a smaller size. You might not be able to dig out a cellar in your basement, but a wine fridge can do the trick and keep your wine, red or white at the correct serving temperature and ensure that it is at its best flavor.
Your wine, if it matters to you, should be cared for correctly. For the average person who is only drinking the wine to be posh or get drunk, a wine bottle refrigerator isn’t important and the fridge will do just fine. However, if you want to be sure that your wine is chilled to the correct serving temperature (even red wine should be slightly cooled), then a wine cooler is a good idea.
Are you serious about your wine? Then a could be an excellent idea. Find out more on my wine cooler page and learn which cooler would be best for your situation.
If you are a wine fanatic, you have many options to satisfy your thirst. But before you choose an option, you should know how to taste wine.
In order to do a proper wine tasting, you need to swish the wine around your mouth. This helps get the most out of your taste buds. Here are more tips in order to taste wine.
Look at the wine color. The more color a white wine has, the more flavor it has and the older it is. You can approximate the age of a red wine by titling the glass and looking at the edge of the wine. The browner it is, the older it is.
Smell the wine by taking one deep whiff. After you do this you want to think about the aroma.
When you taste the wine, you want to consider the first impression, the actual taste once you swish it in your mouth, and the after taste.
Now for the wine tasting options:
You could join a wine club. Wine clubs allow members to pay a monthly fee in order to have a selection or two of wine delivered to their home monthly.
The International Wine of the Month Club offers members selections from two separate boutique vineyards along with a newsletter. You have a choice in the type of membership you select. You can receive two red wine selections, two white wine selections, or one of each. Membership to the wine club starts at 27.95 per month plus shipping and handling. The most expensive membership option costs 63.95 per month plus shipping and handling. The International Wine of the Month Club also offers gift memberships.
The Cellars Wine Club is similar to the International Wine of the Month Club in that you can receive two red wine selections, two white wine selections, or one of each. However, The Cellars Wine Club offers five different membership options. The premium wine club, the west coast wine club, the all about reds wine club, the platinum wine club and 90 plus points wine club. The wine club memberships start at 36.95 with the most expensive being 79.95
Perhaps a wine club isnt up your alley. Maybe a wine cellar is. The idea wine cellar has a temperature of 50 55 degrees Fahrenheit. The cellar should be moderately damp because this helps keep the corks from drying out. Ultraviolet light destroys wine so your wine cellar should be dark. Avoid putting your wine cellar sheds or garages because you run the risk of freezing the wine. Similarly, avoid the attic because the heat could get too extreme. The best place for a wine cellar would be an under stairs cupboard.
Maybe you just have a few bottles of wine you want to store and display. A wine rack would be your best option. Wine racks come in large sizes to place in your cellar but there are also smaller wine racks that can sit on your kitchen or dining room table. If you really want to get creative, there are wine racks that are also bookends
Next you might decide that you need a technique for comparing wines. The Exploratorium describes a technique of comparing wine aromas that is similar to the following
First you will need these ingredients:
A tiny piece of bell pepper, one drop of butter, half teaspoon of fresh citrus, linalool, a teaspoon of peach juice, a teaspoon of pineapple juice and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. You take these 7 ingredients and put each in its own wine glass with the base wine. You cover the glass and label it with the standard. Smell the first three wine separately. Then smell the standards to see which terms describe which wines.
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It was 2:30 in the morning at the Wine Library Lounge and the last guests have bid their farewells. Sam sat down on a small corner table to fill out the sales report. With him was a half-empty bottle of 1979 Chateau Fonplegade, a lovely Grand Cru Classe from St. Emilion. This one was from a collector’s series featuring Van Gogh’s “Route aux Cypress” on the label. Earlier in one of the private rooms of the Wine Library Lounge a party of three had polished off three delicious Burgundy 1er Crus from vintages in the 70s. Prudently, they decided to quit after finishing half of the fourth and last for the night. The host was a compellingly elegant woman in a slender red business suit. In a stylish gesture of generosity, she said to Sam. “Please remove the bottle at once before I force my guests to help me finish it.”
Life as a sommelier is full of perks when the guests you serve have the style and the finesse. Sam gets a kick out of serving guests who know how enjoy the game. They get to enjoy the evening so much more than the others.
The Ch. Fonplegade was exactly the kind of company Sam needed after a hard-working evening. Wine guys – sommeliers to students of the old school – are frequently regarded as necessary evils. It is unfortunate but often true that a sommelier is perceived by customers as an obstacle to overcome because they can get what they want.
C’mon, tell me one, please?” She asked with the desperate charm of a whinchat.
Sam’s good side completely dominated the man tonight. “There was this gentleman the other evening. He came in very late with a lovely lady as his date. He opened doors for her, removed her coat and pulled her chair – the works. It’s the game – one of those things that make it fun to be a woman. He did it so well and she was soaking it up. You can see it in her eyes trying to hide her adoration of the man. Then I presented him with the wine menu.” Sam paused for a sip.
“What?” She exploded grabbing his hands with a fierce squeeze. Sam went on to explain.
There aren’t any logical explanations to why some customers feel intimidated about wine. Dining out is a game. Wine makes it more fun to play the game. As a paying customer, you want to get the most out of your money. That should include the full treatment which we don’t get if we don’t learn how to play the game.
Selecting the playground
Ordering the wine
Inspecting a bottle
Giving serving instructions
Tasting and approving the wine
Drinking and conversing
Corkage, tipping and BYO etiquettes
Let’s look into these components one at a time.
The Ch. Fonplegade was exactly the kind of company Sam needed after a hard-working evening. Wine guys – sommeliers to students of the old school – are frequently regarded as necessary evils. It is unfortunate but often true that a sommelier is perceived by customers as an obstacle to overcome because they can get what they want.
An eager young waitress sat down timidly in front of Sam. Ordinarily she and her little dimple on her left cheek would have been woofed away. Tonight, she even got a small glass of the wine. She took that as a cue for permission to speak.
“Sam, you’ve been a wine guy for a number of years. I’m sure you have some stories cellared in that wisdom chest inside your head. C’mon, tell me one, please?” She asked with the desperate charm of a whinchat.
Sam’s good side completely dominated the man tonight. “There was this gentleman the other evening. He came in very late with a lovely lady as his date. He opened doors for her, removed her coat and pulled her chair – the works. It’s the game – one of those things that make it fun to be a woman. He did it so well and she was soaking it up. You can see it in her eyes trying to hide her adoration of the man. Then I presented him with the wine menu.” Sam paused for a sip.
“Our suave Cary Grant froze into a bronze statue. He just sat there forever staring at the menu without so much as a word or a hint that he was still breathing. Now what could cause someone like that to stop dead on his tracks?” Sam paused and looked into those big young shinny eyes.
“What?” She exploded grabbing his hands with a fierce squeeze. Sam went on to explain.
There aren’t any logical explanations to why some customers feel intimidated about wine. Dining out is a game. Wine makes it more fun to play the game. As a paying customer, you want to get the most out of your money. That should include the full treatment which we don’t get if we don’t learn how to play the game.
Learning the game is a lot simpler than most beginners might think. But let’s get one hang-up out of the way right now. You don’t need to learn French. Whew! And this game is definitely easier than singing or dancing. Every component of a little game is an opportunity for the player to have fun. Once you know the game, they won’t be obstacles anymore.
Selecting the playground
Ordering the wine
Inspecting a bottle
Giving serving instructions
Tasting and approving the wine
Drinking and conversing
Corkage, tipping and BYO etiquettes
Let’s look into these components one at a time.
Selecting the playground
Divers and skiers are just as zealous when it comes to choosing a venue to satisfy their thirst for thrills and discoveries.
Wine enthusiasts shouldn’t settle for anything less either. The fun and thrill of dining out is to experience something that we don’t get at home. If the wines served in a restaurant are stuff that you find in the neighborhood wine store, you have probably picked the wrong restaurant. Good food can take you half way there at best.
A good restaurant always offers wines that are not readily available on retail. They do so by investing in and maintaining a cellar to collect and age many bottles of the wine.
Reading the restaurant’s wine menu may not be as engaging as reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but it shouldn’t feel like re-reading The Goblet of Fire (book 4 for those who is one generation behind) for the 18th time. A great restaurant is obliged to offer a wine selection so wide and deep that it will keep you intrigued for endless return visits.
Word of Advice
Make an extra effort when choosing a dining venue. Not all are tuned in to the wine culture. Call up ahead to ask. If you stumble into a wrong one, don’t be shy to walk out. There are better places for you to spend your money.
Ordering your wine
Reading, for many of us is a pleasure best savored in privacy. Reading a wine menu is a pleasure to wine lovers. Poorly trained wine staff tends to crowd the scene with unwanted attention and worse, importunate suggestions.
Feel free to firmly fend off the “Would you like red or white?” and the “We have wine by the glass also.” A simple “Please check back in 10 minutes” would do nicely. Occasionally, that doesn’t work. Then it calls for a “Please bring me some water chilled to 15 degrees. Then add a twist of lime without the peel.” This will buy you 10 minutes of private reading pleasure, I hope.
Many restaurants are pressured by wine merchants to sell their wine. That’s why we often get these lines from even the bus boys: “We highly recommend this great Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile” or “This Napa Valley Zinfandel is the most popular wine in town today.”
It is perfectly acceptable to ask questions about any wine on the menu, as long as your line of questioning leads to the deliverance of a verdict in the foreseeable future.
Advice to the prudent
Spend 5 minutes to browse the wine menu and get a general feel for what kinds of wines the venue has to offer. Then turn to the food menu and decide what you will eat. After that, let the sommelier return to discuss wine and food pairing before ordering your wine.
Inspecting a Bottle
The process of inspecting a bottle of wine serves an indispensable purpose – to allow the customer one last chance to change his mind before the restaurant puts the wine on the bill.
The procedure is simple and quite standard.
Wine waiter: presents you with a bottle of the wine that you ordered, showing you the label with a few words, not of praises, but of the pertinent details of the wine. The words are to assert that the wine is indeed the one that you ordered.
Guest: examines the details of the wine mainly for purpose of authentication. Things to look for are (1) name of the wine, (2) name of the producer/shipper in the case of wines from Burgundy and Rhone for example, and (3) vintage year. You only have to nod your head to signify your approval, not of the wine but of the bottle only.
Wine waiter: thanks you for your acceptance and asks you for permission to uncork the wine.
There. No pain at all. More to follow so please read on.
Advice to the novice
Giving Serving Instructions
This paragraph is optional. Those readers taking the beginners’ course are welcome to jump to the next section.
Are you still here? Welcome.
Selecting a wine is just half of the ordering process. Most people give up their basic rights of ordering the way they prefer their wine to be prepared and served. Leaving it up to the sommelier is acceptable if you know them well. Otherwise, go the extra yard and give specific instructions.
Here are the fundamental parameters to wine preparation and services on which you can base your instructions.
Temperature at which you want the wine to be served
Do you wish the wine to be kept in an ice bucket or a wine cooler?
Decant, double decant or serve straight from the bottle
Types of wine glasses you prefer
Sequence of services when you order more than one bottle
Help yourself or let the waiter do the pouring
How much wine (e.g. less than half full) to pour into your glass
Any decent restaurant will be wiling and able to accommodate requests within those parameters. If you are unlucky meet with stiff resistance on this front, it will only be poetic justice for you to walk out or at least, reject the wine. Why should you pay for inadequate facilities and a complacent service attitude?
Advice to the discerning wine lover
Do not assume that your instructions are followed. More often than not they are not. Don’t be shy to complain or even threaten to reject the wine if your instructions are not followed.
Selecting the playground
Golfers travel around the world just to play courses that catch their fancy. Divers and skiers are just as zealous when it comes to choosing a venue to satisfy their thirst for thrills and discoveries.
Wine enthusiasts shouldn’t settle for anything less either. The fun and thrill of dining out is to experience something that we don’t get at home. If the wines served in a restaurant are stuff that you find in the neighborhood wine store, you have probably picked the wrong restaurant. Good food can take you half way there at best.
A good restaurant always offers wines that are not readily available on retail. They do so by investing in and maintaining a cellar to collect and age many bottles of the wine.
Reading the restaurant’s wine menu may not be as engaging as reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but it shouldn’t feel like re-reading The Goblet of Fire (book 4 for those who is one generation behind) for the 18th time. A great restaurant is obliged to offer a wine selection so wide and deep that it will keep you intrigued for endless return visits.
Word of Advice
Make an extra effort when choosing a dining venue. Not all are tuned in to the wine culture. Call up ahead to ask. If you stumble into a wrong one, don’t be shy to walk out. There are better places for you to spend your money.
Ordering your wine
Reading, for many of us is a pleasure best savored in privacy. Reading a wine menu is a pleasure to wine lovers. Poorly trained wine staff tends to crowd the scene with unwanted attention and worse, importunate suggestions.
Feel free to firmly fend off the “Would you like red or white?” and the “We have wine by the glass also.” A simple “Please check back in 10 minutes” would do nicely. Occasionally, that doesn’t work. Then it calls for a “Please bring me some water chilled to 15 degrees. Then add a twist of lime without the peel.” This will buy you 10 minutes of private reading pleasure, I hope.
Many restaurants are pressured by wine merchants to sell their wine. That’s why we often get these lines from even the bus boys: “We highly recommend this great Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile” or “This Napa Valley Zinfandel is the most popular wine in town today.”
It is perfectly acceptable to ask questions about any wine on the menu, as long as your line of questioning leads to the deliverance of a verdict in the foreseeable future.
Advice to the prudent
Spend 5 minutes to browse the wine menu and get a general feel for what kinds of wines the venue has to offer. Then turn to the food menu and decide what you will eat. After that, let the sommelier return to discuss wine and food pairing before ordering your wine.
Inspecting a Bottle
The process of inspecting a bottle of wine serves an indispensable purpose – to allow the customer one last chance to change his mind before the restaurant puts the wine on the bill.
The procedure is simple and quite standard.
Wine waiter: presents you with a bottle of the wine that you ordered, showing you the label with a few words, not of praises, but of the pertinent details of the wine. The words are to assert that the wine is indeed the one that you ordered.
Guest: examines the details of the wine mainly for purpose of authentication. Things to look for are (1) name of the wine, (2) name of the producer/shipper in the case of wines from Burgundy and Rhone for example, and (3) vintage year. You only have to nod your head to signify your approval, not of the wine but of the bottle only.
Wine waiter: thanks you for your acceptance and asks you for permission to uncork the wine.
There. No pain at all. More to follow so please read on.
Advice to the novice
More frequently than we might think, waiters fail to bring you exactly the wine you ordered. Ask for the wine list when the bottle is presented. Compare what you see on the label to the data on the wine list to make sure what you see is indeed what you have ordered.
Giving Serving Instructions
This paragraph is optional. Those readers taking the beginners’ course are welcome to jump to the next section.
Are you still here? Welcome.
Selecting a wine is just half of the ordering process. Most people give up their basic rights of ordering the way they prefer their wine to be prepared and served. Leaving it up to the sommelier is acceptable if you know them well. Otherwise, go the extra yard and give specific instructions.
Here are the fundamental parameters to wine preparation and services on which you can base your instructions.
Temperature at which you want the wine to be served
Do you wish the wine to be kept in an ice bucket or a wine cooler?
Decant, double decant or serve straight from the bottle
Types of wine glasses you prefer
Sequence of services when you order more than one bottle
Help yourself or let the waiter do the pouring
How much wine (e.g. less than half full) to pour into your glass
Any decent restaurant will be wiling and able to accommodate requests within those parameters. If you are unlucky meet with stiff resistance on this front, it will only be poetic justice for you to walk out or at least, reject the wine. Why should you pay for inadequate facilities and a complacent service attitude?
Advice to the discerning wine lover
Do not assume that your instructions are followed. More often than not they are not. Don’t be shy to complain or even threaten to reject the wine if your instructions are not followed.
Tasting and approving the wine
Armed with your permission, the sommelier will proceed to uncork your bottle of wine. This should be performed in your presence as a rule. It shows that the bottle you approved is the same one that is being opened.
You are then given the right to taste and then decide to approve or reject the wine. Here is the protocol.
Wine waiter: asks for permission to uncork the wine. He opens the bottle (see Giving Serving Instructions) and sets the cork down in front of you.
Guest: Examine the cork or simply wave the waiter to pour the wine. Some corks have a stamp of the wine’s name on it. This will make it easier to authenticate the wine. Most of us just skip this step but there are those who like to pick up the cork and smell it. Don’t.
Wine waiter: pours a little bit – about 1/10 of your glass – for your tasting.
Guest: examine the color, twirls the glass a bit and drinks the wine. Now come crunch time. You make the all important decision – to accept or to reject. Let’s say you accept. A nod would do.
Wine waiter: thanks you and asks you if he may be allowed to serve now or let the wine breathe for a while first.
Guest: if you want it to be served, indicate to whom the wine should be served first, usually the guest of honor – your date, not the hunk seated at the adjacent table!
Wine will then be served as per your serving instructions. In the absence of specific instructions, house rules prevail. That’s pot luck. It’s not too late to double back to the previous section on Giving Service Instructions now.
Under what circumstances can a guest reject a bottle of wine?
Bottom-line is you can say “take it away” if the wine is bad. This means one of the following conditions applies:
. Wine is in poor health – disgusting odor, color completely faded
. Wine tastes like vinegar – wine is oxidized
. Wine is a fake – not the kind you ordered.
You cannot reject a wine just because you don’t like it.
Drinking and Conversing
Drinking is a rather personal thing. Some like to drink in large gulps between long intervals. Others like to take tiny sips incessantly. I know many who get the best of both worlds – large gulps in hardly detectable intervals.
Myths surrounding drinking are plenty and free. Bash them. Smoking is one of those. Unless you are paid in high six figures for tasting wines as a profession, you puff away while consuming a simple New World merlot. Food and wine pairing, on the other hand is serious business and should not be brushed off quite so quickly. A wrong decision here can mean the difference between lust and disgust.
An integral part of wine appreciation is talking about the wine. Sharing opinions and impressions about the stuff you drink is more than acceptable. It is expected and notoriously fun.
Feel free to step into the shoes of a Robert Parker and plagiarize about body, concentration, extract, length and depth if you are in that mood. Be more illusive if you like and whip up a soufflé of obscurities with words like character, distinction and finesse. You can even stretch the imagination with phrases like “a gallantly pathetic effort”. But would you go so far as one woman did? “This wine attacks the palate like a gust of cold ocean breeze against a freshly shaven leg”.
It is perfectly acceptable and indeed a chic gesture to beckon the sommelier for an earful of your comments. I have served wine in more than one occasion and I tell you that nothing gave me more pleasure than to listen to the comments of the guests. The efforts made to articulate their ecstasies were most flattering. Of course, I am a much better listener when offered a glass of the wine that caused all that excitement in the first place.
I remember one time when I was confronted by an attractive lady with a direct question. “Denny, what are the qualities of a good wine?” I could have answered that in two dozen ways involving a balanced mixture of bad poetry and overused jargons. Instead, what came out of my mouth was a mere “Big and long”. So much for poetry but that answer was exactly what was pictured in my mind.
Advice to the timid
Don’t hold back. This is the time for the poet in you to surface. Nothing you say can possibly be wrong, as long as you don’t break the golden rule – don’t short change yourself with anything not original. You are the only connoisseur that matters.
Corkage, Tipping and BYO etiquettes
We’ve all been held hostage by a custom called “corkage” which of course means that restaurant has the right to charge you a fee for bringing in your own drinks (can also apply to food). Is it fair? Certainly, but only as long as it is a consistent policy and the restaurant has a wine collection robust enough to satisfy our appetites for discoveries. Otherwise, they should quietly put up with bottles marching through their doors.
But let’s look at it from another angle. If we dine out, why burden ourselves with unnecessary chores like bringing a bottle of wine? Isn’t it more rewarding to hold the hand of your date rather than the neck of a cold hard bottle of Vega Sicilia?
BYO (Bring Your Own) etiquettes start and end with one basic rule. If you have to bring wine into a restaurant, the bottle should be in one or two classes above those that the restaurant has to offer. Don’t even think about bringing something that is readily available in retail shops. Putting it in another way, your BYO wine should be something that would cause the sommelier to misbehave all evening long hoping to get a sip of your wine.
Tipping is a matter of style and character. It transcends the basic obligation of rewarding the serving staff. It touches on the realm of a self-expression of satisfaction, a sigh of relief that the best has just transpired.
When in doubt tip profusely. When you do that, don’t forget to let the establishment hear all your constructive complaints. Nothing beats two-way communications even in a one-night relationship like this.
Advice to the frequent diners
Dining out is a just another form of shopping. First rule of shopping – when in doubt, ask, ask and ask again. One thing you shouldn’t do is to take a chance on anything that might ruin your evening. The average person has less than 50 memorable evenings in a year. Sadly more than half of them will turn out to be false alarms. A few great evenings will make it into your hall of fame. This might be one of them.
So there you have it.
Wine appreciation is much, much more than satisfying our cravings for good fermented grape juice. The interactions with the wait staff, the painful struggle to decide what to order for the night, the stories of mistakes and the occasional rare finds to share with wine friends are all part of the wine lifestyle.
We make an effort to learn the game not because we play to win. There are no scores in this game and there are no winners or losers. But beware. Don’t get to be too good at it. You might just wake up one day and find yourself with a new hobby for life.
Sam finishes his 79 Ch. Fonplegade. Big eyed waitress with a tiny dimple gets the empty bottle with a Van Gogh label to decorate her apartment. Another day in the life of a sommelier fades away. In the background, the song echoes “There before the grace of you, go I.”
Comments and questions can be sent directly to the author at this email address Wine@Yats-International.com.
There is a vast array of wine bottle refrigerators available and you’ll find everything from tiny tabletop fridges to giant ones that practically create their own wine cellar. How do you choose which one works for you? Do you go for big, small or medium? This article will help you make a decision as to which wine fridge is best for you.
Space is a huge consideration when choosing your wine bottle refrigerator. Obviously, if you have nowhere to put a large fridge, there’s no point in buying one. While countertop and table top wine coolers are quite popular, these may not be right for you either, particularly if you have a minimal amount of table or counter space.
Once you have determined the size of the fridge you can move in, you’ll need to assess how much wine you actually drink. If your consumption is pretty low, say 1 bottle a month, you certainly don’t need a large fridge that holds 50 bottles . . . it would take you years to get through them all. However, a small six bottle fridge could be just right and will tide you over for half a year.
For anyone who enjoys throwing dinner parties or wine tastings, it’s vital to have plenty of room. You’ll want to make sure that you have more than enough bottles at the right temperature for serving at all times. This is also handy if you have unexpected guests, your wine will already be perfectly chilled.
A wine bottle refrigerator should also be selected for how it fits into your home. If you have a country style house, then a chrome and glass fridge isn’t going to fit in very well. However, you can get built in wine refrigerators with many different stylings, including wood. These will fit right into your existing décor and can be a good way to store your wine without making it too obvious. There are large versions, as well as under the counter types which tuck away quite nicely.
No matter which size of wine bottle refrigerator you choose, make sure that it is large enough to fit your collection and don’t forget to look at your options. There are so many different types of refrigerators that you are bound to find one that you like and which fits into your home nicely. Having your wine stored at the right temperature is really the only way to enjoy it, whether white or red.
Want to really get the most out of your wine? Then you’ll need to start looking at . They offer a number of options and can be the perfect addition to your home.
Vintage wines are made from grapes grown in a certain year and they are labeled as such. Many countries allow a little part of the grape quantity for vintage wine to not be from the labeled year, but not more than five percent, for example, in the United States. There is a special wine which is made only from grapes of a declared vintage year, also known as Port wine. This unique wine is a Portuguese wine and is fortified with distilled grapes spirits (similar to Brandy) to halt the fermentation and keep the rest of sugar in wine. This is the reason why vintage ports are much sweeter than other wines and the content of alcohol is higher, either 19.5% or 20%.
Vintage port is usually served after meals, like dessert wine and it is often consumed with cheese and even chocolate. Typically, it is a sweet red wine, but there can be also dry, semi-dry and white varieties. Vintage ports account usually for about two percent of the total port production in one year and they are not declared in every year as vintage wines, but more like a few in a decade. In the European Union, only the wine which is produced in Portugal is labeled as Port wine. This is why Port houses are aware of the importance to keep their reputation and they are very strict in declaring a wine as vintage port. In United States, vintage wines are labeled under Port, if the grapes from which the wine is made have their origins in Portugal.
After the vintage port is produced and fortified with aguardente (distilled grape spirits), it is stored and aged in barrels, which are kept in cellars. The period of ageing is approximately of two and a half years. Only after this time vintage ports are bottled, but for having the right age for drinking, the wine must stay another ten to thirty years to age in bottles. Really fine vintage port can keep gaining complexity for many years after it was bottled. This is the reason why these types of wines can only be found in expensive cellars.
Vintage wines bearing the port label are extremely valuable and with pretty high prices for the bottles that are older. Being much sweeter, richer and much heavier than most wines, port wine is considered by the experts a little treasure in their cellars and it may be a great gift for them, coming from a friend. People love to taste a glass of good wine, but if they would let all their senses to feel the whole experience, the result will be even more blissful.
Vintage ports are so special for wine experts. However, if the year is not so good, there will be no declarations of vintage port wines in that year. Being not that many in one decade, collectors of wines are passionate about this kind of fine wine. There are just very few types of wines that can be served only like a dessert and port wine is one of that.
are our number one specialty and we hope that you will take your time discovering everything we have got to offer. Use our website as the expert resource that it truly is and go through all the available vintage ports until you find the ones that satisfy your personal preferences the most. A is a great thing to have and we are well aware of this fact, offering an incredible selection for authentic wine experts and not only!
A wine cellar is a fabulous investment. It enhances your lifestyle in many wonderful ways. Here are five ways:
Civilization: Andre Simon, author of the book, Commonsense Of Wine, wrote, “Wine makes every meal an occasion, every table more elegant, every day more civilized.”
That is a profoundly true statement. Any meal is always enhanced by adding a delightful glass of wine. A good wine cellar gives you a variety of both red and white wines to pair with any dish. Not only that, a good wine cellar also provides a great supply of wines with which to cook. Have you ever noticed that most of the best meals use wine as an ingredient? That’s because wine has a particular talent for bringing out the finest tastes and aromas in foods.
Historically, the vast majority of treaties and negotiations, tribal agreements and business deals, engagements and marriages have always been consummated over a good meal. Wine has always been a major part of all such transactions. Good food and good wine are perfectly synonymous with civilization.
Convenience: What could be more convenient than having your own wine cellar? Never again find yourself zipping to the store to buy another bottle because you’ve run short. Keep in mind that you are probably under the influence and could be risking a nasty “Driving Under Influence” charge.
Social life: Having a wine cellar always lends itself to a better social life. What could be better than socializing with like-minded people who also make their own wine and have a wine cellar? Wine always enhances a social evening.
Security: We live in uncertain times. Not long ago, the world seemed at the edge of total economic collapse. What happens if there is a total economic collapse? What if there is runaway inflation? These are all very real possibilities. Will you survive?
If something like that ever does happen, the barter system will become critically important. A wine cellar will always prove to be a phenomenal asset. Money may have little to no value, but you can always trade a bottle of wine for a chicken or a little gasoline
Health: Just about all health professionals agree on the health benefits of drinking a moderate amount of wine each day (1 to 2 glasses). Here are a few citations by credible medical institutions:
• Anti-aging effects (Harvard Medical, 2004)
• Improved lung function (American Thoracic Society, 2002)
• Coronary heart disease reduced (University of California, Davis, 1995)
• Healthier blood vessels in elderly (University of Ferrara in Italy, 2004)
• Ulcer-causing bacteria reduced (American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2003)
• Cancer cells killed by protein in red grape skins (University of Virginia, 2004)
• Arteries kept clean by polyphenols in red grape skins (William Harvey Research Institute, 2002)
• Decreased ovarian cancer risk (Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Australia, 2004)
• Stronger bones (Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology Unit, St. Thomas’ Hospital in London, 2004)
• Lower risk of stroke (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001)
• Lower risk of heart attack for men with high blood pressure (Worcester Medical Center in Massachusetts, 2004)
So, if we can all agree that a wine cellar has tremendous value, the next step is to stock that wine cellar.
There are three main ways to stock your wine cellar:
The first is to purchase the wines from outlets such as retail stores, direct from vineyards, or from Internet suppliers. The main advantage to doing it this way is an infinite variety of high-quality wines from all over the world. The main disadvantage is the cost. Most countries attach significant taxes to wine products and if ordered via the Internet there are sure to be added shipping costs. A wine cellar of 1,000 bottles stocked in this way will cost somewhere between ,000 to ,000 or more, depending upon tastes and quality of wine.
The second is to make your own wine from the crush. By that, I mean buying your own grapes direct from the grape grower or another supplier, crushing the grapes and making your own wines right from scratch. For the wine making aficionado there is no better way. It allows you to express your own creativity and ingenuity, test your wine making expertise, and custom make wine to suit your exact tastes.
The disadvantages to this method are the cost of equipment and the time and knowledge required. Also, it’s difficult for the individual to get good quality grapes as you will be competing with big buyers who purchase hundreds of tons of grapes each year. In order to make great wine, you need to buy great grapes and great grapes usually go to great vineyards who make great wine. The grapes you would buy from the supermarket are not great grapes for making wine.
Fresh grapes for making wine are available only once a year, during harvest time. Unless you purchase and ship grapes from the opposite hemisphere from where you live, you will only be able to purchase once a year.
A Ton of grapes will make approximately 600 to 700, 750 mL bottles of wine, depending upon their juice content, and—also depending upon quality—a ton of grapes will cost somewhere between 0.00 and ,000.00. Guess which is the best quality. However, the average, normal price for excellent quality grapes will run around 00.00 to 00.00 per ton.
Another disadvantage to making wine from the crush is that if you buy a ton of Merlot grapes, you can only make Merlot; you cannot make a Chardonnay or an Amarone from a Merlot grape. If variety is your goal, you will need a variety of grapes. Buying by the ton can be prohibitive if variety is your goal, and, as another negative, buying in smaller quantities increases the cost of the grapes.
The third is to build your wine cellar from wine kits. This is probably the most practical and most inexpensive way of making your own wine and stocking a truly International wine cellar. Think about it for a moment. Virtually all of the hard work is already done for you—the kit maker has already crushed the grapes, tested and balanced the juice for sugar content, acidity, and best results. Then every ingredient needed to successfully ferment your wine is packaged. All you need to do is ferment and bottle your wine. That’s the beauty of making wine from wine kits!
In addition, the selection of wine kits is almost infinite. You can easily build a wine cellar filled with International wines. How about an Australian Chardonnay, a German Gewürztraminer, a South African Pinotage, a Chilean Malbec, a California Cabernet Sauvignon, a New Zealand Unoaked Chardonnay, an Italian Amarone or a Barolo, a Stag’s Leap Merlot, a Spanish Tempranillo Cabernet, a French Viognier or a Canadian Pinot Noir. Just buy and process a wine kit for whatever kind of wine you would like to try.
Also, why not make some of the Award Winning wines? All of the wine kit manufactures have them. The grapes come from exceptional harvest conditions and the results are phenomenal. Many manufacturers also have special Limited or Restricted quantity kits that can be purchased only once a year.
All in all, to stock your wine cellar with 1,000, 750 mL bottles from wine kits will cost somewhere between ,000.00 for the most inexpensive kits to about ,500.00 for the highest end kits. And, you will not be disappointed. Be brave, try something new! As they say, “Variety is the spice of life.“
Written by Wineluvr Hayden Alexander is an author and publisher.
With changing wellness advantages of the wine being detected, wine collecting is turning in quite an interest or a lot of the individuals are constructing wine cellars to garner or shop their favourite wines.Accumulating varieties of the wine bottles might act up a lot of the area.Or idealistic path to shop wines in idealistic situations is to shop them in broad wine cellars.There’re a diversity of the cellar choices you might choose from, while it comes to constructing cellars for wines! Some trendy or elegant cellars might be made of the glass doorways where visitors might act a peek within.Apart from this cellars are yet made of the decent woods like mahogany or premium redwood.Some are yet made-in like rock caves in basement of the homes located upon hill slopes.All cellars ought to prolong a reproducible temperature between fifty or sixty levels.
Installing a wine cellar in your domestic might let you shop classic wines for years or let you manage these belongings correctly.You might purchase wines of your selection or even reduction wines in big amounts or shop them safely.Some factors to be thought while making a wine cellar are:
* Temperature or humidity control * Well ventilated or transparent area * No sort of the noise pollutants or vibration * Exposure to ultra violet delicate ought to usually be prevented since it might prematurely age your wine.Sparkling wines require more additional care since they’re a lot more sensitive * A hygro thermometer is a nice selection to set up in your cellar that might examine constantly whether temperature is exceeding needed quantity * Wine bottles ought to usually be kept horizontally so that wine is usually in touch with cork or keeps wet * Duration of garage of your wine * Measures taken for security * choices to make it detachable at any point in close to future wine bottles might be displayed in fancy cabinets made solely for storing in wine cellars.You might currently purchase Dom Perignon, Pinot Noir, Moet or Chandon, varied kinds of the flavors like Chablis, Bordeaux, or Burgundy or so upon or take them at any moment while you feels like.
Wines are quite valuable for wellness with proved constructive outcomes in variable coronary heart illnesses, as an anti-aging drugs, to cease free radicals from harming physique or to flush forestall fat.Apart from this both red colour colour colour or white drink help in digestion, scale back probabilities of the abdomen ulcers, probabilities of the minor cough or chilly or so upon.You might currently purchase wines to increase nice wellness or shop them for years as each your standards.
Wine garage has turn in an industry in itself.Varying upon-line wine outlets have ideal wine cellars that shop varied varieties of the wines from all around world.You might purchase wines of your selection from these upon-line show outlets or get discounted wines at fairly-priced rates.With such pro wine cellars who shop beautiful wines in ideal probable path, you might currently purchase Dom Perignon or any other sort of the wine, at any moment while you feels like it.Grand Wine Cellar or lots other such famend wine outlets have a nice series of the tasty wine collected from virtually all areas of world that they shop in ideal cellars with suitable temperature or situations to save wine from deteriorating or pre-mature aging.
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Ask any wine addicted person and he will state you how crucial proper storage is for a wine collection. Wine requires to age but it requires to age well also. If it isn’t senesced at the apropos humidity levels, light levels and temperatures, it could be destructed. People choose to fudge with acetic acid but they do not like to devour it. Any average outworker can opened a wine store in a basement or room but it is substantive to get an accomplished wine covert room planner to do it correctly. An superior underground wine store is more than a wood frame with drywall. A lot of them make many errors while traveling towards building an underground wine store correctly, so here is what can be executed to insure your wine store plan grows to be well
Keep the wine and drinks away from the light because the harmful rays present in sunlight and even in ordinary tube lights can spoil wine within the container. It is very easygoing just do not unwrap the wine in the light. There are bulbs and tube lights especially made for covert wine stores and they must be utilized at any cost. To appear after a wine asset, extinguish the electrical devices much as bulbs and tube lights from the wine refrigerator and take away wine racks which are anywhere placed close to a light source
The interior part of an underground wine store must be breezy and cool and from outside it must be kept warm. When air-conditioned and cordial get together, it makes it mold and moisture. Take care that wine store is reconstructed akin to a fridge, with insulation, and with a r-value of 19 on out walls and 11 on the inside walls. Ensure that the ceiling is also altered with a r-value of 19 and the unit requires a mist obstacle to discontinue the humidity from bankrupting your wine and your covert wine store
The humidity and the temperature should be stable. High temperature can destruct the tangible taste of wine and extremely humble temperature can discontinue it from getting stronger. It is necessitated that moisture should be in the range of 60 percent to 75 percent. Temperature should be conserved at less than 60 degrees. Though the store is kept within these ranges, one should check up on out that there is no fast fluctuation down or up. Dark, air-conditioned and wet is how wine ages the truthful way
When the store is being established, one must take care that the constructor has not used drywall. Drywall is enthusiastic for the bedroom walls but not for a wine store. A wine store is combating wet, gloomy and stale environment to conserve the wine at proper levels
An experienced constructor will make use of what is well known as “greenboard.” This board is utilized at the back of the bathroom showers or just close to all wet zones in a house to debar humidity and mold.Greenboard is greatly big and denser than average drywall and it stands firm to moisture
When there is an air conditioning system fitted in a wine store, it requires an excellent doorway. Excellent, here, means the gate should agree an out gate of your house. It needs to be a rock arduous main gate that is approximately three inches beamy. It should be completely altered and sealed off. Energy expenses can go up and temperature fluctuations can happen if the proper entrance is not utilized. Lots of constructors propose gates with windowpanes but the glass can let the light to get inside and you cognize that light can destruct the wine’s flavor. If glass is used in the doors, it should be twofold-paned and insulated glass with an A-one unseeable rays’ protection
Constructing a wine underground store in the correct way is not a simple or economical task. A lot of landowners would endow lots of capital on their wine collection and reduce corners on the building of their covert store. But to indite the wine store much that it functions well, it requires to be reconstructed the accurate way. Lots of builders make the error of reconstructing around their attendant collection and not their future collection, just to procure their money. Strategies must be set up keeping in view what a wine collection will appear to be in five or ten years out and it must be constructed according to those stipulations
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Aging a fine wine is an art, a passion that yields either rich results or sour grapes. You may already have an electric wine-cooling unit, but if you’re looking to build a larger collection or plan to have bottles aging over a period of time, you may consider building a wine cellar. The five main elements in properly storing your wine are light, vibration, temperature, humidity and the angle of storage.By attending to these needs you can nurture a full harvest.
Wine should be kept dark and still. Exposure to light, especially sunlight, can alter the wine’s organic compounds, changing the flavor and can even cause a bad odor. Red wine is meant to age longer and, like good olive oil, is often bottled in tinted glass to protect it from light damage. In transparent bottles with little protection from illumination, whites can be more susceptible to damage.
Excessive vibration affects the flavor of wine by returning separated sediment to the liquid and interfering with the aging process. Try to disturb your bottles as little as possible.
The ideal temperature range for your cellar should be between 50 and 57degrees Fahrenheit. Because whites are generally kept cooler than reds, storing the two together will require a dual climate system. The most important thing is to protect your wine from sudden changes in temperature – keeping the temperature fairly even, and making adjustments slowly is essential. Because cooking causes sudden changes in temperature, the kitchen is usually a poor location for storing your wine.
The humidity level is another essential element. The cork is the barrier between the air and your wine. Moisture keeps the cork from drying out and letting air in, which would cause oxidization and ruin the flavor of your wine. Too much humidity can damage your labels and cause mold growth on the bottle’s exterior, but it shouldn’t harm the flavor of your vintage. Humidity levels should be somewhere in the range of 50 to 75 per cent, with 70 per cent being optimum.
The other issue affecting corks is the angle of storage: too low and your cork will dry out. Storing bottles horizontally is ideal, but you may want to see your labels, so anything between 0 and 20 degrees will work. Never store your bottles at an angle greater than 45 degrees.
In fact, how you’re going to store your bottles is an important part of the design process. You may want to choose a method in which bottles are clearly displayed rather than storing them in piles, which makes spotting individual bottles more difficult. Shelves that pull out are ideal for storage and easy locating, and may also be useful for differently shaped or sized bottles. Tracking your inventory will also make it easier to monitor what you’ve got and is useful for insurance purposes.
If you live in an earthquake zone, you may also need to consider further design implications. If you are storing your bottles in bins, the depth of the bin may be important in keeping your wine in one piece. There are also products to anchor your vintage to its shelf in case of a quake. These are a worthwhile investment if you are living near a fault line.
Remember, your wine cellar is a breathing entity – your vintage can absorb odors, which must be considered when you are designing the site. Be aware of the surroundings: keep paint and other chemical fumes as well as strong smelling food like onions and garlic away from the wine.
After your cellar has been up and running for a time you can monitor your success by cracking open a bottle and making a toast: to many years of fine wine.
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