"True Facts" Random Tips from the Wine Shop

Random Wine Tips

I’ve culled together for your enjoyment some of the topics and questions that regularly come up at the wine shop. Comment and add some of your own!

• Twisting and pulling the foil entirely from the wine bottle before uncorking is essentially undressing the bottle and akin to tearing off the label. Big money went into the packaging of the bottle, including the color and design of that capsule. Cut the foil just below the lip and leave the rest intact for presentation purposes.

• Wine aerators really do work to open up the aromas and flavors of young or tight wines. A decanter is also a suave and traditional way to serve wine with a flourish while allowing it to breath and reveal hidden character.

• Your first taste of a wine can be influenced by whatever you had previously tasted, whether that be toothpaste, gum/mints or that humus and pita appetizer. The wine deserves a fair chance so give it a first taste, and then try it again before deciding if you like it.

• When a sommelier or restaurant server asks you to approve of a wine, check the label to make sure it is the type and vintage you ordered. Then you need only to smell it - to make sure that it is neither corked nor vinegar.  You may proceed to taste the wine, but if it isn’t spoiled (which you could smell), you now own the opened bottle and it is assumed that you’ll drink it. If you want to sample different wines to find one you like ask for tastes of the wines available by the glass.

• The best wine opener is the one easiest for you to use. A lot of people like The Rabbit or the new cordless power openers, but just try to get one into your pocket or glove box. A wine key or “waiter’s friend” with a two stage lever is really all you need. These are inexpensive, uncomplicated and simple to use.

• Warmer climates make for riper fruit and therefore richer wines, cool climates make for lighter wines with more acidity. Where a wine comes from can be a good indicator of its style.

• Most wines, say 95%, do not age well and are ready to drink on release from the winery. For reds, 1 to 5 years is a reasonable window to drink them, and for most whites, within 1 to 2 years of age is the time drink.

• Regarding age, red wines get lighter with time as color compounds settle as sediment, while white wines gain color as oxygen takes its effect – just as it does on a sliced apple.

• Nearly all of what we think we taste and perceive of a wine’s character is actually through our sense of smell. The tongue is able to sense only the 5 aspects of sweet, salty, bitter, sour and the mysterious umami (think savory).  It is the olfactory bulb that allows us to enjoy all of wine’s complexities.

• We tend to like our varietal wines here in the USA. A wine labeled as Cabernet or Merlot is easy to identify and understand. However it is the winemaker's art of blending that gives the world its greatest wines. In fact, your favorite Cab may have small amounts of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec or Syrah, for example, blended in for extra roundness, depth and color. Some reds like Syrah may even be blended or co-fermented with tiny amounts of white wine.

• For all the verbose and flattering descriptions of wine you may hear and read, none of the fruits, berries, mocha or chocolate, flowers, grass or rock are actually ADDED to quality wine. These adjectives refer to characteristics of the wine that are provided by the grapes themselves, the yeasts used in fermentation and the terroir (terr-whar), or sense of place, where the vines are grown.

• In general, most red wines are served too warm, and most white and sparkling wines served too cold. Red wines can seem too alcoholic when warm since the alcohol evaporates quicker and hits your nose more intensely. The fruitiness and aromas of whites are dulled and muted when the wine is too cold. An easy guideline is to serve your red wines at a cool room or “cellar” temperature (65 deg), your still whites at around 50 degrees (leave a bottle out of the fridge for 15-20 minutes).  Sparkling wines and dessert wines should be served slightly warmer than fridge temperature (~45 deg).   

• Use your cell phone camera to take a picture of the label of any new wine discovery. You won’t have to tax your memory trying to recall the name of a wine when you go searching for another bottle.  Or just show the pic to your wine guy or gal and let them do all the work for you.

• All wine sold in the US is supposed to be labeled with the percentage of alcohol by volume. Among other things this figure can be a good gauge of how sweet a wine is. The more grape sugar converted to alcohol by the action of yeast, the less sweet (and more potent) the wine. A wine with 8-10% alcohol would be considered off-dry. Dessert wines (not including fortified wines like Port) are in the 5-7% alcohol by volume (abv) range.

• When serving multiple wines over the course of a meal, attempt to pour lighter before fuller-bodied, drier before sweeter and lower alcohol before higher. The dessert wine should be sweeter than the dessert it compliments,  with perhaps one exception - chocolate.

• Proper glassware really does matter. Tucked in a hotel room with only the disposable plastic cups? Go for it. But when the wine and the company are worthy, only good stemware will do. In general, a deep wide bowl that tapers a little towards the rim will direct all those aromas right to your nose. The glass itself should not be dense or thick, and a glass without a rolled lip will not make you purse yours. The sensation of wine hitting the middle of your tongue will be fuller and more pleasing. There is glassware specifically designed for almost all beverages, but if you have neither $$ or cabinet space you can get away with a set of good quality all-purpose stems. Flutes for sparkling wine service are very elegant, however many pros prefer to enjoy fine Champagne from a standard white wine glass in order to better appreciate the aromas.