Alright so I just finished reading over the Home Beer Brewing Secrets eBook. This guide is actually the best one I have purchased on this topic. It was filled with explanations and a full step by step guide that I needed.
There were many sections to this eBook. It starts off with the explanation of what is in beer and how beer tastes like it does. The book also goes over how many home beer brewing kits fail to even make beer. The eBook does talk about one tool in particular that will help stop your beer from spoiling, and it’s so simple you’ll laugh when you read it. I honestly didn’t even realize it. I’m not going to tell you here obviously but you will find out when you read Home Beer Brewing Secrets.
The eBook also goes into how to pair beer with certain foods. Normally you think you can only pair wine up with a meal, but this guide will turn you into a beer connoisseur, you will know exactly what types of beer to drink with what meal.
Another important aspect this home beer brewing guide covers is how to properly store your home brew. After you brew your beer at home, or make beer at home, you will need to know how to store it properly.
Aside from the regular beer making steps, this guide goes over and beyond the normal. Home Beer Brewing Secrets talks about the history of beer, some tips on how to drink and enjoy beer responsibly, proper beer tasting techniques, and even how beer may be healthy for you.
Honestly if you’re sick and tired of paying an arm and a leg for “premium beer” then you should check out this make beer at home guide. Before you know it you will have your own home brewery and you’ll be making all the premium brands for pennies on the dollar.
If you’re looking for some more information about then check it out .
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.
A “connoisseur” – according to Oxford – is an “expert judge in matter of taste”. For sure you know what you like and dislike, so already that makes you a judge. As for being an expert, you have “to have special knowledge of or skill in a subject”. OK, this might require a bit of work but I can assure you it is much easier than most connoisseurs would have you believe.
Realize first that the key to being an expert in wine is to know precisely what aspects to look for in any bottle you uncork. The average novice has a vague idea at best. Consequently, despite the fact that both persons have the same discerning abilities, no matter how much wine the novice drinks, it won’t improve his ability to judge properly.
So what we will do here is to spell out in plain English the basic but quintessential virtues that make for a good bottle of wine. I think this will help you evaluate every glass of wine and form an expert opinion with ease. I am going to take you through just three fundamental areas of appreciation, namely Typicity, Quality and Age-worthiness. Mastering them is all that stands between you – a wine novice – and you – a wine connoisseur.
Style and Typicity
The style of wine from Bordeaux will and should be different from Napa Valley or Chile, otherwise wine would be a terribly boring hobby. No one style rules supreme in the wine domain. Typicity which describes how accurate the rendition of the style that the wine is supposed to manifest, is very important quality.
An average wine connoisseur is familiar with about 30 styles of wine. It doesn’t take long for a novice to achieve that. All you need to do is to taste a lot. Your palates have excellent memory even if your mind struggles to find more Giga bytes to store a lot of facts and figures. Very soon, when you open a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino, all your senses will automatically receive a download of tasting expectations. And even if the wine tastes very good it would be a disappointment if it doesn’t reflect the quality of its roots. So questions like “Are Australian wines better than French?” are really missing the point.
Quality
With the topic of style down pat, we can take a look at quality of taste. It is actually quite easy. I just need your mind to zoom in on five key areas. Your senses will then render an expert opinion on whether the stuff is good, bad or ugly. The five areas are:
Consistency
Intensity
Vigor
Balance
Finish
Consistency is about tactile qualities that leave a rewarding palate impression, not about flavors. Wine writers like to use the term Body to describe the weight of a wine. Full-, medium- and light-body describe how heavy and light a wine feels on the tongue. But size isn’t everything so in addition to body, we’re also looking for texture of smoothness and silkiness. The great Burgundy wine of Chambertin is well known for its remarkable combination of a full body and a velvety texture.
The flavors of a wine might come in low, medium or high intensity, much like the volume of music played on a stereo. Great wine comes with an appropriate level of intensity just high enough to capture your undivided attention yet not excessively so as to drown out everything else. It is such deft touch that separates the great Australian wine – Grange (Hermitage) – from many expensive baubles out of the same region.
Vigor comes from acidity without which the wine would taste dull and flat if not downright boring. Great chefs often squeeze a splash of lemon juice to finish off a dish. The presence of the same kind of fresh acidity adds crispiness to a wine making it taste racy with a bit of welcomed levity. The great Italian Barolo from Piedmont are endowed with this quality and so are some of the lovely Sauvignon Blanc white wines from New Zealand.
Balance is the quintessential quality of a great wine. A wine is out of balance if one component sticks out like a sore thumb. Most frequently encountered flaws that throw a wine out of balance are excessively high alcohol which makes the wine taste overly dry and astringent (“hot” in wine jargon) and in white wines especially Chardonnays, excessively woody (“oaky” in wine jargon) and buttery which effaces the fruit flavors in the wine. The great Château Lafite-Rothschild is benchmark for balance par excellence.
The word “finish” refers to the length and quality of the aftertaste. In a long finish, flavors linger on for nearly a minute. But length isn’t everything if the aftertaste fails to maintain its balance. Some long finishes fall apart giving way to a distinctly sour or bitter impression. Length doesn’t always bring satisfaction.
Age-worthiness
To achieve greatness a wine must first undergo the arduous challenge of time. Most wines are not made with greatness in mind. For them, time is an insidious revelation of their mediocrity. For the best of breeds, age imbues in them depth and complexity of flavors. That distinguishes the wine from the merely good. Knowing this, fastidious connoisseurs relentlessly scour the town for old vintages pricey as some old bottles could (and should) be. Novices on the other hand go for brand names and sometimes settle for wines that are far too young to drink, rarely getting their money’s worth. After all, it is the ability of wine to improve with age that positions it above all the other beverages.
By now, you have endued yourself with more than enough knowledge to be your own expert judge on every bottle you drink. If you feel lacking a bit in exposure and experience, then just drink and drink and drink some more. But drinking the same stuff over and over again won’t help. Best advice is for you to refrain from ordering the same wine night in and night out. Your time is best spent with a new fancy every evening. Promiscuity is inextricably married to connoisseurship. Even if you can’t divorce yourself from the “usual” at least be adventurous with different vintages of the same wine. Every year produces a different version of the same wine. This too is part of the myriad of fascinations that the world of wine has to offer.
Whether you are an assiduous restaurateur, a gregarious hobbyist or just a raver with a penchant for the finer things, wine is certainly an affair worth pursuing. This is one relationship which allows you to define all the rules. It can be a languid sidekick or you can take it seriously with a lot of respect and understanding. Ultimately it probably won’t love you back and it certainly won’t stop demanding more of your time, attention and alas, money. If this sounds like a raw deal, then perhaps this is one affair you should sidestep.
But imagine if that’s not a problem for you, what else in life can offer an reward so prodigious as something different and exciting to look forward to every single night?
Tim Drake is resident wine journalist in Asia, contributing to magazines and broadsheet in wine and the lifestyle that this beverage has created for the modern world.
When it comes to wine, there is never a dumb question. When you are learning about wine, it is best to ask as many questions as possible. Recently, while on a , I overheard the woman next to me ask if Burgundy was a grape or a region. Her wine tasting companion chimed in ‘well of course it is a grape’ just as the vintner was answering her question ‘it is a region-and all great Burgundian reds are pinot noir-all whites are chardonnay.’ Needless to say, the wine tasting ‘companion’ turned a true shade of red!
I have been on many a wine tour, and each time I venture into wine tasting, I learn something new. I make it a point to write questions in advance, which in turn prepares me for the wine tour.
My original image of the wine connoisseur is of the person having their nose buried in a glass, inhaling deeply. Part of the essence of wine tasting, is indeed ‘sniffing’ the wine you are tasting, to appreciate the full effect. The human tongue can only detect the five basic tastes. The human nose can pick up on over a million scents. By smelling, you can determine if the wine is ‘corked’, meaning it has a fault. There are numerous common faults in wine. Ask your vintner what would be a common fault. There are many, and he will make suggestions on what to look for.
Swirling is good and perhaps you have seen many servers swirling wine in a glass, round and round. By swirling wine, you release the fragrance in the wine. A good way to start, is by practicing with water in your glass. This will avoid any mishaps with red wine splashing over. While swirling your wine, this is a good time to take notice of the color and clarity.
Take a small sip; swish it around the mouth and focus on the flavor or combination of flavors. Are there any familiar tastes-such as vanilla, raspberry or blackberry?
Have you ever wondered what the purpose of decanted wine was? When I was a child, I always thought that my mother was serving wine in a decanter to be fancy. I did not realize that decanting wine does help improve the wine. You can serve the identical wine, side by side and have the outcome be noticeably different. Decanted wine helps, especially with the less expensive bottles of wine. It will make the wine smoother, better balanced and appear ‘older’.
is one of the best ways to learn all about wine. By visiting the many wineries, especially those in Temecula Valley, you will meet the vintners firsthand, and learn all about their particular wines. There are so many wineries that are knowledgeable. It is the best way to talk about wine with those who really love the subject. They will discuss how their wine is made, what types of grapes are used to produce their particular wine and the history of the grape. Finally, part of the fun of wine tasting is to share it with friends and family. Sharing wine is the most sociable thing. Whether you have an enjoyable time going on a wine tour together, or enjoy a bottle at dinner-a good wine is a great thing to share!
Michele McNeal has written many articles about wine. She lives in Southern California with her family.
One way of classifying wine is by color: red, white, or rose. Choosing one of these wines is a matter of individual taste. Determination of choice may be based on the food one is eating or serving, the occasion, or even time of the year. Most wines are categorized by color before any other distinction.
Wine may be classified as regular without bubbles or bubbly. Regular wines are ones we drink at any time; whereas, bubbly wines are ones we save for special occasions. These wines are further broken down into table wines or light wines, dessert or liqueur, and then the sparkling wines, the ones with bubbles.
Vino is made from fermented grape juice. The United States and Europe have set standards regulating the alcohol content in wines. It is by these standards that wine is broken down into table, dessert and sparkling.
According to the set regulations, table or light wines may not have an alcohol content exceeding 14 percent in the U.S. and, in Europe the alcohol content will range from 8.5 percent to 14 percent by volume. The 14 percent limit came about due to the natural fermentation process. Once the alcohol level reaches 14 percent or less there is not enough sugar in the juice to elevate the alcohol content beyond that amount. Another reason for this occurring is that the natural yeasts that settle on grapes die and the fermentation process stops when the alcohol level reaches 14 percent. In more recent years, many grapes are grown in warmer climates, so the natural alcohol content has gone to 14.5 or 15.5 percent. The grapes become overripe with warmer temperatures and the natural sugar content is much higher resulting in higher alcohol content before the juice stops fermenting. Also, gonzo yeast is added. This yeast does not die but continues its process beyond the 14 percent alcohol content. These, however, are still classified as table wines as the alcohol content occurs naturally. California wines, such as red Zinfandels, Cabernets, and Chardonnays, may fall into this category.
Dessert wines or liqueur wines (as named by the Europeans) have additional alcohol added to them raising their alcohol content above that 14 percent level. Sometimes this category of wine is sweeter than table wine but not always and they are not always served after dinner. Bottom line here is that additional alcohol has been added.
Sparkling wine is the bubbly wine. This type of wine contains bubbles formed naturally by carbon dioxide during the fermentation process. Some winemakers choose to keep these bubbles in the wine. Both the United States and Europe call these wines sparkling. Champagne which is made from a specific variety of grapes made under specific circumstances is from a region in France by the same name, Champagne. Champagne is a very popular and well known bubbly wine. All sparkling wines are not Champagne. However, until an updated agreement was made between the United States and the European Union, winemakers were able to label any natural sparkling wine as champagne. The word champagne could even be capitalized. Now the word American or Californian must be added as a prefix to Champagne so that wine buyers know that it is not the sparkling wine made in Champagne, France.
Matt is a consumer product specialist that enjoys matching consumers with products that best meet their needs. Matt is also a wine enthusiast. Come visit his latest website, , that discusses every type of lever wine opener such as the Rabbit wine opener and you’ll see why everyone who enjoys a nice glass of wine should consider having a in their kitchen.
There are critics of the wine tasting process. Some feel that tasting is a normal part of their everyday actions. What is the big deal about wine tasting? When it comes to vino, drinking and tasting are not one in the same. Many wines have a variety of flavors going on at the same time. When tasting wine there are delicate nuances going on in the mouth.
In order to get the most out of a tasting, it must be done in a specific way. Never drink it in a hurry. Slowly sip it. Put thought into each sip and taste. Feel the taste!
When tasting vino, it is just as essential to really see the liquid, the color, the sparkle, the exact shade, how light reflects off of it. Then one smells it. Swirling and sniffing the wine go hand in hand. Swirl the wine of a half full glass. Do NOT swirl your wine if the glass is more than half full. Let it swirl several times so that it mixes with the air. Then the sniffing begins. One must actually put his nose into the glass in the space above the wine. Do not be afraid! Immediately think of any and all aromas you smell. The vapor coming from the wine should be pleasant to you. Whatever you think you smell you probably do. Lastly, one tastes the wine.
Only after swirling and sniffing is one permitted to taste. Hold a medium-sized sip of wine in your mouth, take in some air and allow it to go over the wine. Finally, swish the wine around in your mouth.
Swallow or spit the wine. With the help of your taste buds, you have felt the taste of the wine. You then taste the smell of the vaporized aromas by making use of your internal nasal passage.
To be good at wine smelling, one needs to develop his sense of smell. Take time to smell everything and create a repertoire of scents that are familiar to you; food smells, everyday smells and odors.
Embed all smells and odors into your mind. Breathe in through your mouth when smelling. Doing this will enhance your perception of aromas and smelling wines.
Matt is a consumer product specialist that enjoys matching consumers with products that best meet their needs. Matt is also a wine enthusiast. Come visit his latest website that discusses wine openers such as the and the that everyone who enjoys a nice glass of wine should consider having in their kitchen.
Depending on whether you are a wine drinker or wine collector will determine how much space you will need to store your wine and how. There are several rules that may be applied to storing wine.
Rule #1: Do not store good wine or Champagne in the refrigerator for more than a week. The flavor of the wine will go flat. Vibrations from the cycling of motors whether they are from the refrigerator, dishwasher or washer/dryer will diminish the flavor of wine. Also, the refrigerators temperature of 35 degrees F is too low for wine storage. The best temperature to store wine is between 53 and 59 degrees F. Storing outside of that range will take away from its flavor.
Rule #2: Storing temperature needs to be somewhat constant. Wine does not fair well with wide temperature fluctuations.
Rule #3: Wine needs to be stored in a damp area between 70% and 95% humidity. Under 70% humidity may dry out the cork, leaving the seal less than airtight. Above 95% humidity may result in mold which could result in the damaging of the label.
Rule #4: Wine should be stored in an area free from natural sunlight. Ultraviolet rays will cause the wine to deteriorate.
Rule #5: Wine needs to be stored away from odor producing chemicals. The strong odors from paint, paint remover, gasoline, etc. may penetrate into the wine changing the flavor.
A few wine collectors may be fortunate enough to live in a home that has an underground basement which satisfies the above criteria. However, the majority do not. A well insulated room may be built for storage which includes a climate control unit that humidifies and cools the air. There are also hygrometers available which measures the humidity. Some also give a digital temperature reading. The hygrometer readings should be checked daily to insure correct humidity and temperature.
This type of room would have racking systems as simple or elaborate as the collector would like. Racking systems can be made of wood, plastic, or metal. Some collectors store their wine in the wooden crates they came in. The case provides the dark environment needed to store it and there is little change in temperature due to the number of bottles stored in one small area.
Do not use cardboard boxes to store wine. Chemicals from the cardboard may enter into the bottle. Over time the high humidity in the room will deteriorate the box.
For apartment dwellers, a wine cave, which looks like a credenza, may be needed. They come in a variety of sizes, holding from 24 bottles to 2,800 bottles. One place to find caves is in wine accessory catalogs.
Matt is a consumer product specialist that enjoys matching consumers with products that best meet their needs. Matt is also a wine enthusiast. Come visit his latest website that discusses lever wine openers such as and the that everyone who enjoys a nice glass of wine should consider having in their kitchen.
The purpose of a Wine Tasting Event is to taste the wine and to enjoy a great social atmosphere with like-minded individuals. With that in mind, one must determine if he will drink each wine he has tasted or if he will spit it out. A few people do drink the wine they taste; however, it is recommended not to swallow the wine but to spit it out into a special spittoon that you will find at the event.
There are several reasons that one should not swallow the tasted wine. One, as the evening progresses and the tasting continue, if the taster has been swallowing the earlier tastings, his judgment in assessing the later wines will be hazed. The individual may be unable to thoroughly evaluate and appreciate the latter tastings. Two, holding the wine in ones mouth for 8 to 10 seconds gives the individual the ability to taste the wine completely without actually swallowing it. One is receiving the full taste without having the effects of the alcohol. Especially if the taster drove himself or others to the tasting, the alcohol effects could be dangerous.
Spitting receptacles are provided at the tasting events. The receptacle is generally one large plastic cup per individual or an ice bucket may be provided for several tasters to share. To some, spitting may seem to be an unacceptable behavior but the more experienced one becomes in tasting events he will see that spitting the wine is a typical occurrence.
Another point of etiquette that comes into play during a wine tasting event is the introduction of other smells. Certain smells will take away the tasters’ capacity to smell the wine. Smelling is a very important part of wine tasting. Foreign scents must not be introduced at a wine tasting; such as, smoking, perfumes, hair spray, after-shave lotion, or any scent that will hinder ones smell of the wine.
Wine tasters do not voice their opinion of the wines that they have tasted while others are still tasting their wine. Tasters want to make up their own minds on a wine without someone else’s interjection.
A behavior that may seem to be against good manners is the practice of loud gurgling or slurping when tasting wine. Pulling air into ones mouth, while tasting, does add to ones capacity to fully taste the wine. However, one may do this without being loud and annoying to others.
Matt is a consumer product specialist that enjoys matching consumers with products that best meet their needs. Matt is also a wine enthusiast. Come visit his latest website that discusses intimate details of and that everyone who enjoys a nice glass of wine should consider having a in their kitchen.
Wine tasting events are the perfect way for a wine lover, beginner or advanced, to taste a great variety without buying the whole bottle. It is also a way to make a new friend that shares a passion for a common interest and enjoy a great social experience!
Tasting events can be presented in a more formal style where the tasters are seated. It is considered to be more of a seminar approach to tasting. They can also be presented in an informal way where the tasters move around in a party-like atmosphere.
One of the joys of tasting events is that the individual is not sipping vino alone or with a friend or two, at home. Most individuals are limited in the number of bottles that they are able to afford to buy just to sample. As tastings are open to beginners, intermediates and advanced connoisseurs, one is able to learn about the wines from the more experienced individuals. No doubt each tasting event will afford some new piece of knowledge regarding the tasting of wine, otherwise going unknown to even the most experienced.
So that you know what you are in for when arriving at the tasting, the tastings can be either vertical or horizontal. A vertical tasting is presenting one wine over several vintages. For example, only Red Burgundy would be sampled in each vintage from 1995 to 2003. Horizontal tasting samples wines from several wineries but of one vintage and the wines are generally similar in type; for example, 2000 Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc.
Matt is a consumer product specialist that enjoys matching consumers with products that best meet their needs. Matt is also a wine enthusiast. Come visit his latest website that discusses wine openers such as and the that everyone who enjoys a nice glass of wine should consider having in their kitchen.