During wine classes, cooking classes with wine, and just about anywhere when people find out that I am in the wine business, they have questions. Some also want to give me pointers about a wine that they like and that has had good results overall. But mostly it is questions and the “Why do …?”
Here are a few of the most often asked:
Why do you swirl the wine?
Your tongue can get salt, sweet, bitter, and sour. OK, some say it also gets picks up umami. No, that is not something you get from kissing the Blarney Stone; it is a flavor/impression some foods have. But when you have a cold, you say that your food tastes bland because your nose cannot help you. If you think of green apples when you try a Riesling — thank your nose; the beautiful cherry-watermelon flavor in a good rosé — thank your nose; the dried black cherry, cedar, dried leather, and blueberries in a quality Cabernet Sauvignon — thank your nose!
I did not forget the question! You swirl the wine to aerate and evaporate some of the wine so that when you sniff, you pick up on all of the olfactory stories the wine wants to tell.
What does “reserve” mean?
In most countries the only thing it means for sure is “higher price.” In Italy, a Chianti Reserva means that it has been aged longer before release. To my knowledge, that is the only case where reserve has a definition in law. Most of the time, reserve will be the best that a winery has, or the wine so designated will have had the grapes more carefully picked, or better/longer oak aging, or different yeast and temperature for fermentation, or only stomped by virgins, or …
But mostly it is an unregulated, vastly overused term. Particularly when the winery ONLY makes “reserve” wines.
Shouldn’t red wines be served at room temperature?
I have tried to answer this one many ways over the years, but now I have a new way! The answer is … NO! Red wines should be served at 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. They should always seem cool to the tongue. If you pour a 60-degree wine into an 80-degree glass it will be at 70 degrees in a heartbeat. If the wine is too warm it tastes different from what the winemaker intended. He PLANS on you drinking it at 60 to 70 degrees. If you do not do that, then you may miss some of the beauty of the wine. The old saw about room temperature was for the temp of a chateau in Bordeaux in the fall where those old drafty buildings are always at 65 degrees.
Does that mean I need one of those wine cave-do-hickeys?
No, put your red wine in the refrigerator for 25-30 minutes before pouring and you will be fine. Or put it in the fridge a day ahead — it will warm up in the glass, but it is real hard to chill it in the wineglass.
Can’t I just put ice…
STOP RIGHT THERE! Do not even go down that road. OK, at some outdoor parties I have put an ice cube in a glass of wine that was warm. But it was icky wine anyway. The problem is that the ice melts and dilutes the wine.
What about white wine?
Whites should be at 45-55 degrees. Same for rosé and blush wines. Pinot Noir (red Burgundies), Beaujolais, Bulgarian Gamza grape wines, and most dessert wines: 55-65 degrees.
As I have written here before, some Malbecs are quite nice at a cooler temperature as well. But do not get tense — if they are cool to the tongue, that will probably be fine. (No, your tongue is not at 98.6 degrees.)
What do you think of screwtops?
I think very highly of screwtops, or the classy name of the manufacturer of most, Stelvin Closure. I know that Boone’s Farm, Night Train, and Ripple had screwcaps, but it was not the cap’s fault that the wine is yucky. Many high-end Scotch whiskeys use screwcaps. What if you went to your pharmacist and she gave you a bottle of medicine with a cork in it? You would probably start singing “Love Potion N0, 9!” Get over it; the cork is starting to phase out.
The problem with corks is a contaminant that makes the wine taste bad. Maybe as often as one in twenty bottles are affected. It is not dangerous to your health, but it does ruin the wine. Corks, bad; screwtops, good; plastic corks, very limited use.
Now, the most asked question:
What is your favorite wine?
Right now? This second? The one in my glass. When it is warmer, I drink more whites. Like Albariño, Riesling, white Burgundy, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris, white blends, older, Australian Chardonnay. When it is cooler, more reds grace my glass. Like Spanish Garnacha or Tempranillo, California Meritage or Cabernet, Washington Syrah or Merlot, Australia GSM’s, CSM’s, Shiraz, and old vine Grenache, Brunello, Amarone, Barbaresco, Barolo.
Am I avoiding the question? My tastes, and I hope yours, are ever changing to suit the food and temperature and mood that you find yourself enjoying. I just enjoy wine, which is what it’s for!
More importantly, what questions do you have about wine? Please post them here.
Andeluna Tupungato Malbec 2007
So we are all ready for a long weekend to reflect on the many good things that our nation’s independence brings us every day. A chance to talk with the young’ns and explain the history of the United States of America. These are excellent things to do on the Independence Day weekend and maybe more often than once a year.
