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.
One would think that combining natural ingredients into a boiling pot in your kitchen is a recipe for catastrophic explosions galore, but it’s actually a recipe for having a good time brewing beer at home.
So how does one go about brewing beer at home? Simple. You can purchase a home brew kit from a hobby store and get to work creating your own tasty homemade brew from the comfort of your own kitchen. Where’s the fun in that?
Why not invite the friends over and create individual brews based on which each person likes? This should be a time of fun, creativity, daring and brew making. When you decide to make beer at home you are investing in an evening or even a couple of evenings of good old fashioned fun.
Here are a few tips on how to truly find the joy of home brewing.
Visit a Hobby Shop
There is a hobby shop in almost every town. Take a trip to the one closest to you and find a home brewing kit. These kits will come with the beginner needs to enjoy brewing beer at home. If you have no clue how to get started, you’ll be glad to know that most home brewing kits come with guides on how to start the home brewing process. You don’t have to go this alone- chances are the hobby shop owner knows a few things about brewing beer at home. He’ll answer any question you have as long as it guarantees a sale.
Gathering the Supplies
Once you get your home brewing kit home, you’ll need to look through the included guide for a list of all the ingredients and tools you need to get started. Chances are you’ll need hops, water, seasonings and sugar- but you’ll also want to get creative with your ingredients. Remember that this is home brewing, which means you make beer how you want to make it.
Have Fun with Home Beer Brewing
The joy of home beer brewing is within reach. Buy your kit, gather your ingredients and get to beer making. Have fun experimenting with different flavors and levels of body- with home brewing you can be as creative as you want, or you can just stay with the tried and true and make something everyone will like.
Make beer at home, everyone should!
If you’re looking for some more information about then check it out .
Everybody everywhere craves the taste of a well home brew beer every once in a while. If you drink responsibly, there is nothing wrong with celebrating life while drinking a great beer. The sensation, the way it quenches your thirst on a hot day, the feeling you get when drinking and watching your favorite sports team. Beer appreciation?’s what we love.
In the case of beer, everyone likes something different. There are certain brands we search for in the grocery store, liquor store, or bar. Why? We look for “that” brand because there is just something we like about it. Perhaps it’s the flavor, the texture, or maybe it’s the strength. No matter what it might be, there is something about the wide range of choices when brewing beer at home.
Making beer at home allows you to take control of the creation process. When you buy home brewing supplies in the store, street, or internet, you can create beer with the taste and texture you want. Through much time and work, you can create a beer brew with a certain quality that will have you reaching for a glass time and again.
There are tons of items to choose from when selecting home brew supplies. The fermenting storage utensils and the ingredient mixing tools; this all goes into making the perfect beer that suits your tastes exactly. We are all aware that the right beer plays a large part in making the evening after the work day more relaxing. And, when you drink home brew beer you created, it can make your evening that much better.
Drinking a great home brew beer is comparable to eating a delicious meal you cooked yourself. The feeling of drinking beer you made is indescribable. Now, when you start looking for home brew supplies online, you can spend quite a lot of time searching. But, if you find the right supplies needed for your home brew beer, you will be able to do three things. First, save tons of cash. Second, take your beer brew to a brand new level. And third, have beer the way you want it, when you want it.
No matter what it takes, you should spend the time to search for the right home brew supplies. You will get an awful lot from brewing beer at home in order for you and other people to partake in. The more you practice, the more adept you will become. And, when your friends get a load of your home brew beer, they will want to learn how to make it themselves too. With one sample, they could become willing and eager helpers.
If you’re looking for some more information about then check it out .
When you have a wine tasting party or you taste wine with your friends it is very important to serve the wine in the proper order. The appropriate order of wine tasting goes like this. Elderly tasters are always served first, no matter what the gender is. Women will be served next. The men should be served after the women. The host is always served after everyone in the room has a glass.
When you taste different wines you also have to think about the order of the wines being tasted. If you taste heavy or sweet wines before light wines they may leave a taste in your mouth. This is because they tend to dominate the flavor.
A wine taster must taste the lighter wines first or their taste buds will be skewed for tasting other wines. The order wines should be tasted is as follows: sparkling, light white, heavy white, roses, light red, heavy red, and sweet wine.
If you have never tasted the wine it can be hard to know if it is heavy and if it should not be tasted first. You should assess the wines by other characteristics such as the nose, color, and appearance.
Assessing Characteristics
When you assess wine there are a few things to consider. The sweeter and heavier a wine it is you will be able to tell. This is by the swirling method. Red wines that are sweet and heavy will leave swirls on the glass, also known as ‘legs’. This is why you want to drink your red wines out of a bigger bowl shaped glass. You need to be able to swirl the glass to assess the sweetness and heaviness of the wine.
The varietal wines present an aroma of the grapes. A good wine taster will be able to tell the varietal blends by the grape smell. Integration is also considered by a wine taster. Integration includes many different components such as acid, tannin, alcohol and others. These components must all be in balance. The proper term when a wine is in balance with these components is ‘harmonious fusion’.
When a wine’s quality is assessed the term expressiveness is used. This is when the aromas and flavors are well defined in the wine and clearly projected through the taste.
Scoring a Wine
There is a set system when you score wines. It is important to compare the merits of different wines. Different aspects are often weighed when you score wines. It is important to know how to score wines when you taste them with your friends. The aspects you will look at in the wine include the appearance, the smell, also known as the nose, the palate or taste, and the overall taste of the wine.
Not all wine scoring systems are the same. Some are weighted differently. For example, the appearance may be 15% of the score and the nose may be 35%. The nose of the wine being better on one glass of wine may make the wine score higher. Most critics have their own preferred system. It is important to come up with a system before you begin wine tasting so you and your tasters are not confused.
Scott Wells writes for – where you can learn to just in time for the holiday season.
When choosing wine glasses it is important to think about a few things. You usually want a large bowl on your wine glass when tasting red wines. This gives you adequate room on the glass to swirl the wine and more of a surface area. These glasses should allow you to pour in from 10 to 20 ounces of wine in them. The best red wine glasses are oval shaped and they narrow slightly at the top of the glass.
The white wine glasses should be a slender flute shaped glass. This is necessary if you want to enjoy a white wine to the best of its flavor. A glass of white wine should be significantly smaller than a glass of red wine.
Holding a Wine Glass
When you are wine tasting it is still important to know how to properly hold your wine glass. This will show you are well versed and you have proper etiquette. You should always hold your glass by the stem.
Never hold your glass of wine by the bowl of the glass. Your hands are warm and if you hold the glass by the bowl you will warm the wine. You also want to be sure you don’t put any fingerprints on the bowl of the glass either.
Washing Wine Glasses
There are many different approaches you can take to washing wine glasses properly. You want to be sure you get the glass completely clean. Some people like to do a rinse method with hot water. If you choose to use only water with your wine glasses be sure to get all of the residual wine out of the glass before you set it out to dry. You can wash your wine glasses with a mild soap and a sponge too.
Some people like to use soda to wash their glasses. This is common for washing expensive glasses like crystal. Some glasses you can wash in the dishwasher. It is best to only wash the wine glasses that have short stems in the dishwasher. When you wash a long stemmed glass in the dishwasher, the stems are often prone to break off.
After you wash wine glasses you should set them out to air dry. Lay the glasses on a towel and let them dry. You won’t have hard water stains on the glasses. If you do wash your dishes in the dishwasher it is best to cancel the dry session and pull the glasses out to air dry.
Scott Wells writes for where you can learn to just in time for the holiday season.
Wine tasting is considered to be a sophisticated past time for many people. Before you begin wine tasting there are many things you should know about wine. To some people wine tasting is considered to be a skill.
Learning about wine is easy. There are many types of wine and it is produced all over the world in many different regions. Wine tasting requires knowledge of the types of wine. It is important to know which types of glasses to choose for different wines and how to wash them. It is also important to know how to properly pour and serve wine. Wine tasting consists of many things. The purpose of this e-book is to introduce you to everything you need to know about wine so you can begin wine tasting with your friends.
About Wine
Wine is a beverage fermented from grape juice containing alcohol. Grapes have a natural chemical balance which allows them to ferment without the need to add any sugars, acid, enzymes, or any other types of nutrients to the ingredients.
When wine is produced, grapes are crushed using different types of yeast. The yeast consumes the natural sugars found in grapes. This consumption converts the grapes into alcohol. Depending on the types of wine produced, many different grape varieties are used to produce wine.
Evidence shows that the earliest productions of wine took place as early as 6000 BC in places like Georgia, Iran, and Israel. Some archaeologists say that as early as 7000 BC grapes were mixed with rice to produce other types of fermented beverages in China. This is considered to be the precursors of what we call today, rice wine.
In Europe, wine dates back to as early as 4500 BC in some of the archaeological sites located in Greece. These same sites contain the earliest evidence in the world of grapes being crushed. Ancient Egypt has a recorded history of wine being used ceremonially. Places like the Roman Catholic Church found wine necessary to celebrate Mass. In France, the monks made wine for years and stored it in caves underground for aging.
During the Islamic Golden Age, wine was forbidden until the pioneering of the distilling methods, which led it to be approved and legalized for medical and cosmetic uses only. There were many recipes made with wine during this time.
Scott Wells writes for where you can learn to just in time for the holiday season.
Wine is made from many different grape varieties. The Vitis vinifera is the predominant grape. This type of wine is known to people as the Chardonnay, Merlot, or the Pinot Noir. The areas of the world where these grapes are grown include regions like the Rhone Valley and Bordeaux.
Wines are not always made from the same species of grapes. They may be from the same vintage but of different species. When two species of grapes are crossed it is called a hybrid. The Concord grape is a hybrid grape coming from different species of grapes like the Vitis labrusca, Vitis rupestris, Vitis aestivalis, Vitis, riparia, and the Vitis rotundiafolia. These grapes are primarily grown in North America for general consumption. There are many foods made from these grapes which include things like jelly, jam, grape juice, and even sometimes wine.
Wine is generally classified depending on the different parts of the world. There are regulations that govern the way wine is classified. For example, in Europe wine is classified by the region it comes from. If it comes from Bordeaux or Chianti the wine is classified as this.
Countries that are not European do not classify their wines by the different regions the wine is produced. They classify the wine according to the type of grapes used to make the wine. Wines classified by the different grape types include the Merlot and the Pinot Noir.
Some regions of the world and wine valleys have recognized the classification regulations put to standard in Europe. Wine is being recognized more often by the locale rather than by the grape. Some wines recognized by the location of the vineyard and not by the grape variety include wines like Napa Valley, Australia, Willamette Valley, Barrosa Valley, and Marlborough.
There have been attempts by wine valley regions around the world that are non-European to classify wines by the quality of the wine. However, these attempts have failed and were short lived.
Scott Wells writes for where you can learn to just in time for the holiday season.
There are many wines considered to be ‘fruit wines’. These wines are received the name as they have ingredients of different types of fruits contained in them, rather than by the use of grapes. They usually will have a name referring to the type of fruit used to make the wine. Apple wine and plum wine are good examples.
However, fruit wines will not be called ‘wine’ as the term wine is designated specifically as a drink made with grapes. The name of the fruit must be in front of the word wine. This is to eliminate confusion. This also includes country wine which is the Great Britain version of fruit wine and a good indication that the wine is not made from grapes.
Many people make their own fruit wine. It can be made from any type of food that is sufficiently sweet. You might have to add a little table sugar or honey for the proper amount of sucrose.
Fruit wine is not always made from fruits. It can be produced from different plant sources that are not considered to be fruits. These types of fruit wines are often made from things like rice, dandelion, flowers, and more.
Apple wine is a German fruit wine which is made from apples. This wine is called Apfelwein in Germany. This is a form of cider that has an alcoholic content of 5.5% to 7%. Some say the taste of this wine is tart and sour. Some North Americans consume a drink in the winter months called apple cider. This most often is the very same thing but does not contain the alcoholic content. Apfelwein is often sold by the jug rather than in bottles like other wines around the world.
Wine can be produced with most fruits and berries around the world in cooler climates. It depends on the types and the amount of fermentable sugars contained inside of the fruits. Some fruits that have excessive levels of citric and malic acid can be fermented also.
Fruit wines usually need to be consumed at least a year after they are produced. These are not wines that get better as they age because of the fermentation issues. Because fruits most often need added sugars to make fruit wines these are not the natural sugars grapes have. They do not ferment the same and often need things like phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium added, which only allow the flavor to last for approximately one year.
There are many different fruits used to make fruit wines. The fruits that make the best fruit wines are elderberries, plums, peaches, blackberries, huckleberries, blackcurrants, and pomegranates. These fruit wines resemble grape wines and taste very similar.
Fruit wines are made from other fruits such as apricot, bananas, cherries, pineapple guava, and blueberries. Wines can also be made from flowers such as hibiscus, elderberry, and dandelions. Vegetables such as potatoes, rhubarb, and parsnip are also used to make fruit wines.
Scott Wells writes for where you can learn to just in time for the holiday season.
The internet has always been a haven for shopping for almost everything. And placing an order to buy wine online has been the simplest task for anyone. It doesn’t matter what type of wine you need, it will be delivered to your doorstep after a few days of ordering it. There are several things you need to remember when you buy wine online, though.
First off, you have to figure out what type of wine do you need and for what occasion do you need it for. It also helps if you can picture the date you will exactly be needing it to give time for deliveries when you .
You can also try googling it. There are companies that may not allow you to buy wine online, so to just be on the safer side, it helps to have different options of companies that will present you a variety of choices that are available online. Then it is up for you to decide on what would be the best deals for your purchase. Then you may readily pay for it via major credit cards.
All you have to do now is to wait for your order. Some websites have the time frame of three to five days for delivery. This is very convenient for those people who do not get to have much time in doing the buying themselves or if the type of wine isn’t available in nearby stores. Buying wine online has definitely made better options for customers.
Buying wine online has been a chosen alternative for many and so far, the results have been satisfactory. You just have to make sure of the company you are buying it from and the type of handling they are doing as you know of course that this would affect the wine’s flavor and possibly its packaging.
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.