============================================================ INTERNET GUIDE TO WINE (Frequently Asked Questions and More) by Bradford S. Brown with Dri Brown ============================================================ All portions of this guide, whether contained in one document or in part are: Copyright 1995 Bradford S. Brown (c) 1995 Bradford S. Brown PLEASE READ THE COPYRIGHT INFORMATION AND DISCLAIMERS AT THE END OF THIS GUIDE. This is the FIRST real version of this GUIDE. It was prepared on April 24, 1995. To all who have sent me suggestions, please note many are not yet contained in this version. There's a lot more to come. Thanks for your help. If I have included your work and forgotten to give you credit, please send me a note. The authors may currently be reached at bradb@netcom.com A complete copy of this FAQ can be obtained by dropping us a note or through the WWW at: http://augustus.csscr.washington.edu/personal/bigstar- mosaic/wine.html (Thanks to Jarrett Paschel.) --------- PREFACE --------- Drinking wine is an experience. To drink for the purposes of becoming drunk is not what drinking wine as an experience is all about. Wine is food. Just like the delight which comes from eating your most favorite food, wine, as food can provide similar enchantment. But drinking wine has somehow also entered into the realm of snobbery. This is a shame for it can (and does) prevent many from getting in on the enjoyment of this marvelous product of nature. For that reason, I have undertaken to prepare this guide, not as a wine expert (which I am most assuredly NOT), but as an average drinker of relatively good wine. My aim here is to try and explain about wine in a way that is understandable but, I hope, not forbidding. With this intent, I may offend some sensibilities or make some outright mistakes. Remember, I am relying on a little bit of knowledge, and everyone knows what happens with a little bit of knowledge. If I'm wrong about the facts, please let me know. If I get carried away and the tone gets too pompous, pretentious, or downright haughty, also let me know. Because of the sheer volume of information, I am not following the question and answer FAQ format. A Table of Contents and a comprehensive Index are provided instead. The choice of what to include was made up from the questions I had about wine (and still do), suggestions from others, and from watching the Usenet groups on the subject. Suggestions, comments, criticism and whatever are welcome. While this already seems like a book to me, I've actually tried to cut down on the verbiage. It will probably get longer through time. Living in Southern California means that I get to enjoy the huge diversity of the West Coast of the United States at, perhaps, a somewhat reduced cost. It also means that I can visit the wineries and winemakers that produce these wines from time to time. That is good. Unfortunately it also means that I have virtually no knowledge of the wonderful (and to me, much more expensive) wines of Europe and most of the rest of the world. This guide is a compilation of information, and can grow, through time, through all of your assistance. Please send me comments, information, or anything else you think belongs here. I don't expect early versions to be earthshaking, merely distributed worldwide. What all this means is that if I have the chutzpah to prepare a wine guide as a relative novice, newcomers to wine can realize that they need not be put off by the sometimes arcane world of wine and can join it without fear! Since the making, drinking and enjoyment of wine is a huge subject (and I certainly don't know all the answers), I've been necessarily superficial in my answers (though perhaps longer, than in many FAQS!). This can lead to argument about the validity of what I have had to say. Since this isn't meant to be an encyclopedia, some sort of brevity is important. Actually, I have received comments that say some of the portions are too long, considering the relevance of particular topic in global terms. The discussion about the University of Davis is a case in point. However, this being in nature a FAQ, topics which generate repeated questions or a great amount of replies deserve, in my humble opinion, more attention. Electronic "paper" is relatively cheap. Many feel that specific great wines of the world have been overlooked. This is true, not just because this--so far--isn't a book, but because I have made a conscious decision to not go too far out on a limb in incorporating information about things about which I truly know NOTHING can't adequately satisfy for myself that the information sent to me is correct. They say that more information is published on the Internet in one week than is set to paper in a year. They don't say how much of it (including, of course, this FAQ) is correct. With this as with everything, caveat emptor--"Let the buyer beware." In any event, everyone is urged to buy a book or two on the subject and read away. More importantly, drink away and have a good time. ****PLEASE NOTE: This is a WORK-IN-PROGRESS. Some, but not all, of the mistakes pointed out to me have been incorporated in this version. I'm still working on fixing the errors and will then move on to incorporating new sections that have clearly been areas of discussion in the Usenet groups I have monitored. In order to get the current, more corrected version out, I haven't done the BEST job of proofreading. I decided to leave that for the next version. The prior version of this FAQ was a "rough draft." This is a little less rough, so I guess I'm calling it version 1. But there is a lot more material to add and I'll clean the entire document up as I go on with the additions. If you have read this FAQ before, you will not find THAT many additions. This represents more of a corrected version from the past. One final note on the drinking of wine vis-a-vis the information in this Guide. What YOU like is the best rule of thumb. The experiences of others are a handy guide but these experiences often get shrouded in the myths, mysteries and ritual. This is off-putting and shouldn't be. In some parts of the world, wine is drunk daily as a part of the meal. There's no big conundrum about what glass to serve it in or how long to age the wine (since most is drunk young). In other parts of the world, the United States, for example, wine often is a restaurant's marked- up profit center and the "rituals" of wine are haggled over incessantly. Since this Guide is somewhat of a rulebook by virtue of its existence, I would like to lay to rest the idea that this is what I have in mind in creating it. Use this Guide to get into wine, if that is your goal. After that, just have fun. I would like to acknowledge those who have provided special assistance, and please forgive me (and e-mail me) for anyone I have forgotten! A lot of mail has been received and not all of it has been sifted through, yet. So far, thanks to John Bailin, Stephen Bainbridge, Mike Christensen, Peter Curran, Mark Levesque, Sandra Kidd, Gloria Mercado-Martin, Matthew Mitchell, David Murphy, Bill Rohwer, John Thorngate, Roy Wilkinson. Some merely sent me small notes with little additions, others provided large amounts of material. All of it was necessary and appreciated! A very special thanks to Paul S. Winalski who clearly spent a great deal of time pointing out and providing changes for a number of specific areas of the FAQ. His knowledge of wine and willingness to consistently help out the Internet community is appreciated and I thank him for myself and on behalf of all those who have learned from him. Also special thanks to Jarrett Paschel who has made the FAQ available on the World Wide Web (see URL above) and converted the ASCII version to HTML format (links will come at some point in the future). Cheers! Bradford Brown April 24, 1995 * * * * * * FORMATTING NOTE: This document was written in Microsoft Word 5.0 and saved in ASCII format. I used 1 inch left and right margins (except for the formatted WWW links information which has 0 margins). While aesthetically I like to hyphenate, it has been pointed out that in an electronic medium this can cause problems. So for the moment, ragged edges remain. To do the subject of wine justice, I just wasn't able to come up with a decent way to do the "question and answer" format of most FAQs. I THINK the way I have gone about it is more readable. Instead I have provided a table of contents keyed to the chapter headings. Set your search function (make sure it is set to "whole word" or the equivalent) to the paragraph level, preceded by an asterisk (for example *2.1.2) and you can move directly to that subject. Because it IS such a large subject, I have also provided an index of terms. Generally speaking, items in CAPS should also be contained in the Table of Contents. The Index is keyed in the same manner as the table of contents (see above). This is the first version that has a Table of Contents, so I'm still working on it. I can already see changes in the chapter structure that I will implement in the future. And by the way, if anyone knows if you can use Word in such a way as to automatically key the index terms to table levels instead of pages, I would be very grateful for the knowledge! The current index was created through a routine written in Visual Basic for Dos which analyzes the Word document and creates the index list. FOR WORLD WIDE WEB BROWSERS: You may be reading this with proper fonts thanks to Jarrett Paschel. I'm playing with HTML now for the first time and hope to have links to the chapter headings in the more or less near future. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. What is Wine? 2. How is wine made? 2.1 Growing grapes 2.1.1 Phylloxera vastratrix 2.1.2 University of California at Davis 2.1.3 A Graduate's Opinion of Davis 2.2 harvest 2.3 Initial Processing of the Grape Juice 2.4 Turning Grape Juice Into Alcohol 2.5 Malolactic Fermentation 2.6 FILTERING AND FINING 2.7 BARREL AGING 2.8 BLENDING WINE 2.9 BOTTLING WINE 3. AGING WINE 4. Storing wine 4.1 REFRIGERATORS AND AIR CONDITIONERS 4.2 BUILDING YOUR OWN CELLAR 4.3 CELLAR SOFTWARE 5. DRINKING WINE 5.1 TEMPERATURE TO DRINK AT 5.2 OPENING THE BOTTLE 5.2.1 CORKS 5.2.2 Cork Screws 5.2.3 Now That the Bottle is Open 5.3 DECANTING 5.4 WINE FLAWS 5.5 DESCRIBING THE WINE 5.6 THE RITUALISTIC ART OF WINE IN A RESTAURANT 5.7 GLASSES 5.8 STORING WINE AFTER IT'S OPENED 6. BUYING WINE 6.1 WHAT WINE DO I BUY? 6.2 WHERE TO BUY WINE 7. SPECIFIC WINES 7.1 GRAPES 7.1.1 Red Wine Grapes 7.1.2 White Wine Grapes 7.2 WHAT'S IN A NAME? 7.3 MERITAGE 7.4 CHAMPAGNE 7.5 PORT 7.5.1 Vintage Port 7.5.2 Wood Port 7.5.2.1 Ruby Port 7.5.2.2 Tawny Port 7.5.2.3 White Port 7.5.3 Decanting Port 7.6 DESSERT WINES 7.6.1 Botrytis 7.6.2 Eiswein a.k.a. Icewine 8. SPECIFIC PRODUCERS 8.1 OPUS ONE 9. FOOD AND WINE 9.1 FOOD COMBINATIONS PEOPLE HAVE LIKED 9.1.1 WINE AND CHOCOLATE 10. LEARNING ABOUT WINE 10.1 HOW TO START OUT: A Personal Experience Personal Experience 10.2 HOW TO START OUT: General ideas 10.3 INTERNET SOURCES 10.3.1 Usenet Groups 10.3.1.1 A Suggestion about Posting to Usenet 10.3.2 Listservs 10.3.3 Sites, including WWW and Gopher 10.3.3.1 Annotated Internet Sites 10.3.3.2 Formatted Internet Sites 10.4 BOOKS 10.5 MAGAZINES AND NEWSLETTERS 10.6 ELECTRONIC RESOURCES 10.7 COURSES ON WINE 10.8 WINERIES 10.9 WINE TASTINGS 10.10 WINE CRITICS 11. MEDICAL NOTES ABOUT WINE 11.1 ALLERGIC REACTIONS TO WINE 11.2 CALORIES IN WINE 11.3 PREGNANCY AND WINE; 11.4 WINE AS A SLEEPING AID 11.5 LEAD IN WINE 12. TOURING 12.1 CALIFORNIA 12.1.1 NAPA 12.1.2 SONOMA 12.2 CANADA 12.2.1 NIAGARA PENINSULA 12.3 FRANCE 13. MISCELLANY 13.1 KOSHER WINE 13.2 IMPORTING 13.3 PAN-GALACTIC GARGLE BLASTER 13.4 SHIPPING 13.5 REMOVING LABELS FROM BOTTLES 13.6 MY SIGNIFICANT OTHER DOESN'T LIKE RED WINE 13.7 RECIPES 13.7.1 Wine Coolers APPENDIX A. FORMATTED WEB SITES --------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT'S NEW --------------------------------------------------------------------- APRIL, 1995: The current version (April, 1995) is, for better or for worse, going to be the first REAL version. Future versions will undoubtedly contain corrections, which I don't intend to point out (unless they are horrendous AND I can remember what I've done) and NEW SECTIONS which I hope to point out in this area. Since is the first version to contain a TABLE OF CONTENTS, to anyone who has already read the FAQ and wants to know if there is anything new, I would suggest skimming it over to see if anything doesn't look familiar. There are a lot of new topics to come.... SEPTEMBER, 1994: The first rough draft of this FAQ was released in September, 1994, with a slightly altered version released in October, 1994. INDEX 75% LABEL RULE ................................................... 7.2 A GRADUATE'S OPINION OF DAVIS .................................. 2.1.1 A.O.C. ........................................................... 7.2 ACCESSIBLE ....................................................... 5.3 ACETIC BACTERIA .................................................. 2.2 AGEABLE REDS ....................................................... 3 AGEABLE WHITES ..................................................... 3 AGING WINE ......................................................... 3 AH-SO .......................................................... 5.2.2 ALCOHOL CONTENT .................................................... 1 ALLERGIC REACTIONS TO WINE ........................................ 11 ALT.FOOD.WINE ................................................. 10.3.1 AMERICAN ROOTSTOCK ............................................. 2.1.1 AMERICAN WINE SOCIETY ............................................ 5.4 AMERICAN WINE SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS .............................. 10.4 ANJOU MOULLEUX ................................................. 7.6.1 ANNOTATED INTERNET SITES .................................... 10.3.3.1 ANTHOCYANIN PIGMENTS .............................................. 11 APPELLATION D'ORIGINE CONTROLEE .................................. 7.2 APPROVED VITICULTURAL AREAS ...................................... 7.2 ASPIRIN AND WINE .................................................. 11 AUSTERE .......................................................... 5.4 AVA .............................................................. 7.2 AXR #1 ......................................................... 2.1.1 BALANCE .......................................................... 5.4 BALTHAZAR ........................................................ 2.9 BARON PHILIPPE DE ROTHSCHILD ..................................... 8.1 BARREL AGED ...................................................... 2.7 BARREL AGING ..................................................... 2.7 BARREL AGING ....................................................... 3 BARREL FERMENTATION .............................................. 2.2 BEAUJOLAIS ..................................................... 7.1.1 BENTONITE ........................................................ 2.6 BEST BOTTLES WINELETTER ......................................... 10.4 BIG .............................................................. 5.4 BLADDER PRESS .................................................... 2.2 BLENDING ......................................................... 2.8 BLENDING WINE .................................................... 2.8 BLENDS ........................................................... 7.3 BLUSH .............................................................. 1 BONNEZEAUX ..................................................... 7.6.1 BOOKS ........................................................... 10.4 BORDEAUX ....................................................... 7.1.1 BORDEAUX ....................................................... 7.1.1 BORDEAUX ....................................................... 7.1.1 BORDEAUX ......................................................... 7.2 BOTRYTIS ....................................................... 7.6.1 BOTRYTIS CINEREA ............................................... 7.6.1 BOTTLE SIZES ..................................................... 2.9 BOTTLING WINE .................................................... 2.9 BREATHE .......................................................... 5.3 BRETT ............................................................ 5.4 BRETTANOMEYCES ................................................... 5.4 BRIX ............................................................. 2.2 BROADBENT, MICHAEL .............................................. 10.4 BUILDING YOUR OWN CELLAR ......................................... 4.2 BURGUNDY ....................................................... 7.1.1 BURGUNDY ......................................................... 7.2 BUTTERY .......................................................... 2.5 BUTTERY .......................................................... 5.4 BUYING WINE ........................................................ 6 CABERNET FRANC ................................................. 7.1.1 CABERNET SAUVIGNON ............................................. 7.1.1 CALIFORNIA ...................................................... 12.1 CALIFORNIA GRAPEVINE ............................................ 10.4 CALIFORNIA WINE LINE ............................................ 12.1 CALORIES IN WINE ................................................ 11.2 CANADA .......................................................... 12.2 CANDLE ........................................................... 5.3 CAP .............................................................. 2.2 CAPSULE .......................................................... 2.9 CAPSULE ........................................................ 5.2.1 CAPSULE ........................................................ 5.2.2 CAPSULE .......................................................... 5.4 CARBON DIOXIDE ................................................... 2.2 CARBON DIOXIDE ................................................... 7.4 CELLAR SOFTWARE .................................................. 4.3 CENTRIFUGE ....................................................... 2.2 CHABLIS .......................................................... 7.2 CHAMPAGNE ........................................................ 7.4 CHAMPAGNE BOTTLES ................................................ 2.9 CHARDONNAY ..................................................... 7.1.2 CHARDONNAY ....................................................... 7.4 CHATEAU D'YQUEM ................................................ 7.6.1 CHATEAU THAMES EMBANKMENT ....................................... 10.9 CHATEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE ............................................ 7.1.1 CHENIN BLANC ................................................... 7.1.2 CLARIFICATION .................................................... 2.6 CLARK, OZ ....................................................... 10.4 CLOSED ........................................................... 5.3 COLOR OF WINE AND COLOR OF GRAPE ................................... 1 COMPLEX .......................................................... 5.3 CONNOISSEUR'S GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA WINE .......................... 10.4 CORK SCREWS .................................................... 5.2.2 CORKED ......................................................... 5.2.2 CORKED ........................................................... 5.4 CORKED ........................................................... 5.4 CORKS .......................................................... 5.2.1 COTES DU RHONE ................................................. 7.1.1 COURSES ON WINE ................................................. 10.7 CRADLE ......................................................... 5.2.2 CROSS, GILBERT .................................................. 10.4 CRUD IN THE BOTTLE ............................................. 5.2.2 CRUSH ............................................................ 2.2 CUSTOMS ......................................................... 13.2 DECANTER ........................................................ 10.4 DECANTING ........................................................ 5.3 DECANTING PORT ................................................. 7.5.3 DECLARED YEAR .................................................. 7.5.1 DEKKERA .......................................................... 5.4 DESCRIBING THE WINE .............................................. 5.4 DESSERT WINE ................................................... 7.1.2 DESSERT WINE ................................................... 7.1.2 DESSERT WINES .................................................... 7.6 DEUXIEMES CRUS ................................................. 7.6.1 DISGORGEMENT ..................................................... 7.4 DISTILLATION ....................................................... 1 DRINKING WINE ...................................................... 5 DRY .............................................................. 5.4 DUOURO REGION .................................................... 7.5 EGG WHITES ....................................................... 2.6 EISWEIN A.K.A. ICEWINE ......................................... 7.6.1 ELECTRONIC RESOURCES ............................................ 10.6 ELEMENTS OF WINE TASTING ......................................... 5.4 EXPECTORATION AREA .............................................. 10.9 FERMENTATION ....................................................... 1 FERMENTATION ..................................................... 2.2 FERMENTATION ..................................................... 7.5 FILL LEVEL ..................................................... 5.2.1 FILTERING ........................................................ 2.6 FINE WINE REVIEW ................................................ 10.4 FINING ........................................................... 2.6 FIRST LABEL ..................................................... 10.9 FLABBY ........................................................... 5.4 FOIL ........................................................... 5.2.1 FOOD AND WINE ...................................................... 9 FOOD COMBINATIONS PEOPLE HAVE LIKED ................................ 9 FORMATTED INTERNET SITES .................................... 10.3.3.2 FORMATTED WEB SITES ........................................... 13.7.1 FORTIFIED WINE ................................................... 7.5 FORTIFIED WINES .................................................... 1 FRANCE .......................................................... 12.3 FRENCH COLOMBARD ............................................... 7.1.2 FUME BLANC ..................................................... 7.1.2 GAMAY .......................................................... 7.1.1 GARNACHA ....................................................... 7.1.1 GEERLINGS & WADE ................................................. 6.2 GELATIN .......................................................... 2.6 GERMAN BEERENAUSLESE ........................................... 7.6.1 GERMANY ........................................................ 7.1.2 GEWURZTRAMINER ................................................. 7.1.2 GEWURZTRAMINER ................................................. 7.6.1 GEWURZTRAMINER, PRONOUNCING ...................................... 5.4 GLASSES .......................................................... 5.7 GOLD, RICHARD ................................................... 10.4 GRAFTING GRAPES ................................................ 2.1.1 GRAND PREMIER CRU .............................................. 7.6.1 GRAPES ........................................................... 7.1 GRAPEVINE ................................................... 10.3.3.1 GRASSY ........................................................... 5.4 GRASSY ......................................................... 7.1.2 GRENACHE ....................................................... 7.1.1 GROWING GRAPES ................................................... 2.1 HARD ............................................................. 5.4 HARVEST .......................................................... 2.2 HEADACHES FROM DRINKING WINE ...................................... 11 HEART DISEASE ..................................................... 11 HERBACEOUS ....................................................... 5.4 HERBACEOUS ..................................................... 7.1.1 HIGHWAY 29 ........................................................ 10 HOW AND WHY TO BUILD A WINE CELLAR .............................. 10.4 HOW IS WINE MADE? .................................................. 2 HOW LONG DO I KEEP THE WINE BEFORE DRINKING ........................ 3 HOW LONG TO AGE WINE ............................................... 3 HOW TO START OUT: A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE .......................... 10 HOW TO START OUT: GENERAL IDEAS ................................... 10 HOW TO TEST AND IMPROVE YOUR JUDGING ABILITY .................... 10.4 HUMIDITY AND STORING WINE .......................................... 4 HYBRID ......................................................... 2.1.1 ICE BUCKETS ...................................................... 5.4 ICEWINE ........................................................ 7.6.1 IMPERIAL ......................................................... 2.9 IMPORTING ....................................................... 13.2 INERT GAS ........................................................ 5.7 INITIAL PROCESSING OF THE GRAPE JUICE ............................ 2.2 INTERNET SOURCES ................................................ 10.3 JANCIS ROBINSON, JANCIS ......................................... 10.4 JEROBOAM ......................................................... 2.9 JEROBOAM ......................................................... 2.9 JOHNSON, HUGH ................................................... 10.4 JUG WINE ....................................................... 7.1.1 JUG WINE ....................................................... 7.1.2 KELLGREN'S WINE BOOK CATALOG .................................... 10.4 KEVIN ZARALY, KEVIN ............................................. 10.4 KOSHER WINE ..................................................... 13.1 LA REVUE DU VIN DE FRANCE ....................................... 10.4 LABEL REMOVING .................................................. 13.4 LEAD IN WINE .................................................... 11.5 LEARNING ABOUT WINE ............................................... 10 LEES ............................................................. 2.2 LETTING THE WINE BREATHE ......................................... 5.3 LEVERPULL (TM) ................................................. 5.2.2 LIGHT ............................................................ 2.9 LIGHT AND STORING WINE ............................................. 4 LIQUEUR DE TIRAGE ................................................ 7.4 LISTSERVS ..................................................... 10.3.2 LOIRE VALLEY ................................................... 7.1.2 MACERATION ....................................................... 2.2 MADEIRIZED ..................................................... 5.2.2 MADEIRIZED ....................................................... 5.4 MAGAZINES AND NEWSLETTERS ....................................... 10.4 MAGNUM ........................................................... 2.9 MAGNUM ........................................................... 2.9 MALOLACTIC FERMENTATION .......................................... 2.5 MARBLES .......................................................... 5.7 MARIE-JEANNE ..................................................... 2.9 MASTERGLASS ..................................................... 10.4 MCKERN, LEO ..................................................... 10.9 MEDICAL NOTES ABOUT WINE .......................................... 11 MERCAPTAN ........................................................ 5.4 MERITAGE ......................................................... 7.3 MERLOT ......................................................... 7.1.1 METHODE CHAMPENOISE .............................................. 7.4 METHODE CHAMPENOISE .............................................. 7.4 METHUSELAH ....................................................... 2.9 MICROCLIMATE ....................................................... 3 MISCELLANY ........................................................ 13 MOLDY CORK ..................................................... 5.2.1 MORTIMER, JOHN .................................................. 10.9 MUSTY CARDBOARD ................................................ 5.2.2 MY SIGNIFICANT OTHER DOESN'T LIKE RED WINE ...................... 13.4 NAPA .......................................................... 12.1.1 NEBBIOLO ....................................................... 7.1.1 NEBUCHADNEZZAR ................................................... 2.9 NEW YORK WINE CELLAR ............................................ 10.4 NEWSLETTERS ..................................................... 10.4 NIAGARA PENINSULA ............................................. 12.2.1 NOBLE GRAPES ..................................................... 7.1 NOBLE ROT ...................................................... 7.6.1 NOSE ............................................................. 5.4 NOSE ............................................................. 5.4 NOW THAT THE BOTTLE IS OPEN .................................... 5.2.2 OAK .............................................................. 2.2 OAK .............................................................. 2.7 OAK BARRELS ...................................................... 2.2 OAK BARRELS ...................................................... 2.7 ODORS AND STORING WINE ............................................. 4 OLD VINES ........................................................ 2.1 OPEN WINE, STORING ............................................... 5.7 OPENING THE BOTTLE ............................................... 5.2 OPORTO ........................................................... 7.5 OPUS ONE ......................................................... 8.1 ORGANIC WINE WORKS ................................................ 11 OXYGEN ........................................................... 5.3 OXYGEN ........................................................... 5.7 PAN-GALACTIC GARGLE BLASTER ..................................... 13.2 PARKER'S WINE BUYER'S GUIDE ..................................... 10.4 PARKER, ROBERT ................................................. 10.10 PETITE SIRAH ................................................... 7.1.1 PHYLLOXERA VASTRATRIX .......................................... 2.1.1 PINOT MEUNIER .................................................... 7.4 PINOT NOIR ..................................................... 7.1.1 PINOT NOIR ....................................................... 7.4 PORT ............................................................. 7.5 PORTO ............................................................ 7.5 PORTUGAL ......................................................... 7.5 POSTING TO USENET ............................................. 10.3.1 PREGNANCY AND WINE .............................................. 11.3 PREMIER CRUS ................................................... 7.6.1 PUMP DEVICE ...................................................... 5.7 QUARTERLY REVIEW OF WINES ....................................... 10.4 QUARTS DU CHAUME ............................................... 7.6.1 QUINTA ......................................................... 7.5.1 REC.FOOD.DRINK ................................................ 10.3.1 RECIPES ......................................................... 13.7 RED WINE GRAPES ................................................ 7.1.1 REFRIGERATORS AND AIR CONDITIONERS ................................. 4 REFRIGERATORS AND STORING WINE ..................................... 4 REHOBOAM ......................................................... 2.9 REMOVING LABELS FROM BOTTLES .................................... 13.4 REMUAGE .......................................................... 7.4 RIDDLING ......................................................... 7.4 RIEDEL ........................................................... 5.7 RIESLING ....................................................... 7.1.2 RIESLING ....................................................... 7.6.1 ROBERT MONDAVI ................................................... 8.1 ROBINSON, JAMES ................................................. 10.4 ROCHEFORT ...................................................... 7.6.1 ROOM TEMPERATURE ................................................. 5.1 ROSE ............................................................... 1 ROSE ........................................................... 7.1.1 ROT ............................................................ 7.6.1 RUBY PORT .................................................... 7.5.2.1 RUMPOLE, HORACE ................................................. 10.9 SACCHAROMYCES .................................................... 2.2 SALMANAZAR ....................................................... 2.9 SAUTERNES ...................................................... 7.1.2 SAUTERNES ...................................................... 7.6.1 SAUVIGNON BLANC .................................................. 5.4 SAUVIGNON BLANC ................................................ 7.1.2 SAUVIGNON BLANC ................................................ 7.6.1 SECOND LABEL .................................................... 10.9 SEDIMENT ........................................................... 3 SEDIMENT ....................................................... 5.2.2 SEDIMENT AND PORT .............................................. 7.5.3 SEDIMENT IN CHAMPAGNE ............................................ 7.4 SEMILLON ....................................................... 7.1.2 SEMILLON ....................................................... 7.6.1 SHAKING THE WINE ................................................. 5.3 SHIPING WINE ..................................................... 6.2 SHIPPING ........................................................ 13.4 SHIRAZ ......................................................... 7.1.1 SILVERADO TRAIL ................................................... 10 SINGLE-QUINTA VINTAGE PORT ..................................... 7.5.1 SITES, INCLUDING WWW AND GOPHER ............................... 10.3.2 SOMMELIER ........................................................ 5.4 SONOMA ........................................................ 12.1.2 SOTHEBY'S WORLD WINE ENCYCLOPEDIA ............................... 10.4 SPARKLING WINE ................................................... 7.4 SPECIFIC PRODUCERS ................................................. 8 SPECIFIC WINES ..................................................... 7 SPITTOONS ....................................................... 10.9 SPLIT ............................................................ 2.9 SPURRIER, STEVEN ................................................ 10.4 STEVENSON, TOM .................................................. 10.4 STILL WINE ......................................................... 1 STORING GLASSES .................................................. 5.7 STORING WINE ....................................................... 4 STORING WINE AFTER IT'S OPENED ................................... 5.7 SULFITE FREE WINE ................................................. 11 SULFITES .......................................................... 11 SULFUR ........................................................... 5.4 SULFUR DIOXIDE ................................................... 2.2 SULTANA ........................................................ 7.1.2 SWIRLING WINE .................................................... 5.4 SYRAH .......................................................... 7.1.1 TABLE WINE ......................................................... 1 TABLE WINE ....................................................... 7.3 TANNIN ............................................................. 3 TANNIN ........................................................... 5.3 TANNINS .......................................................... 2.2 TASTING BEFORE DRINKING .......................................... 5.4 TAWNY PORT ................................................... 7.5.2.2 TEMPERATURE AND STORING WINE ....................................... 4 TEMPERATURE OF WINE IN RESTAURANTS ............................... 5.4 TEMPERATURE TO DRINK AT .......................................... 5.1 TERMS TO DESCRIBE ................................................ 5.4 THE GAME OF WINE ................................................ 10.4 THE RITUALISTIC ART OF WINE IN A RESTAURANT ...................... 5.4 THE WINE BOOK ................................................... 10.4 THE WINES OF FRANCE ............................................. 10.4 THIN ............................................................. 5.4 THIN WINES ....................................................... 2.2 TOURING ........................................................... 12 TRICHLORANISOL ................................................... 5.4 TROCKENBEERENAUSLESE ........................................... 7.6.1 TURNING GRAPE JUICE INTO ALCOHOL ................................. 2.2 UCD ............................................................ 2.1.1 UNDERGROUND WINE JOURNAL ........................................ 10.4 UNIVERSAL DISINFECTANT ........................................... 2.2 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS .............................. 2.1.1 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS .............................. 2.1.1 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS BOOK CATALOG .................. 10.4 USENET GROUPS ................................................. 10.3.1 VACU-VIN (TM) .................................................... 5.7 VARIETALS ........................................................ 7.1 VARIETIES ........................................................ 7.1 VARIETIES AND VARIETALS .......................................... 2.1 VARIETY AND VARIETAL ............................................. 7.2 VEGETAL ........................................................ 7.1.1 VERTICAL TASTINGS .................................................. 3 VIBRATION AND STORING WINE ......................................... 4 VINE ............................................................ 10.4 VINEGAR .......................................................... 2.2 VINEGAR .......................................................... 5.4 VINEGAR .......................................................... 5.7 VINES, GRAPES, AND WINES ........................................ 10.4 VINTAGE .......................................................... 2.2 VINTAGE ............................................................ 3 VINTAGE PORT ................................................... 7.5.1 VINTAGE TIME CHARTS ............................................. 10.4 VITIS VINIFERA ................................................... 2.1 VOLATILE ACIDITY ................................................. 5.4 VOUVRAY ........................................................ 7.6.1 WALLACE, FOREST ................................................. 10.4 WASHING GLASSES .................................................. 5.7 WEATHER .......................................................... 2.2 WEATHER .......................................................... 2.2 WEATHER AND BOTRYTIS ........................................... 7.6.1 WHAT IS WINE? ...................................................... 1 WHAT WINE DO I BUY? .............................................. 6.1 WHAT'S IN A NAME? ................................................ 7.2 WHERE TO BUY WINE ................................................ 6.2 WHITE BURGUNDY ................................................. 7.1.2 WHITE PORT ................................................... 7.5.2.3 WHITE WINE GRAPES .............................................. 7.1.2 WHITE ZINFANDEL .................................................... 1 WILD YEAST FERMENTATION .......................................... 2.2 WILD YEAST FERMENTATION. ......................................... 2.2 WINDOWS ON THE WORLD COMPLETE WINE COURSE ....................... 10.4 WINE ADVOCATE ................................................... 10.4 WINE AND CHOCOLATE ............................................. 9.1.1 WINE APPRECIATION GUILD CATALOG ................................. 10.4 WINE AS A SLEEPING AID .......................................... 11.4 WINE COOLERS .................................................. 13.7.1 WINE CRITICS ................................................... 10.10 WINE ENTHUSIAST MAGAZINE ........................................ 10.4 WINE FLAWS ....................................................... 5.4 WINE LIST ........................................................ 5.4 WINE NEWS ....................................................... 10.4 WINE SPECTATOR .................................................. 10.4 WINE SPECTATOR'S ULTIMATE GUIDE TO BUYING WINE .................. 10.4 WINE STEWARD ..................................................... 5.4 WINE TASTING .................................................... 10.4 WINE TASTINGS ................................................... 10.9 WINE TIDINGS .................................................... 10.4 WINERIES ........................................................ 10.7 WINERIES ......................................................... 6.2 WINES OF THE WORLD .............................................. 10.6 WOOD PORT ...................................................... 7.5.2 WWW GLOSSARY OF TERMS ....................................... 10.3.3.1 ZINFANDEL ...................................................... 7.1.1 ----------------- *1. WHAT IS WINE? ----------------- Wine is fermented grape juice. That's the standard answer. Actually, wine can be made from all sorts of common and not so common foods. Things like fruits, herbs and flowers. Most wine, though, is made from grapes. And no matter what the wine is made from, there must be fermentation, that is, that sugar be transformed into alcohol. If the amount of alcohol is relatively low, the result is wine. If it is high, the result is a "distilled liquor," something like gin or vodka. Or perhaps the ever popular 151 rum ("flammable, use with caution"). By the way, as fermentation cannot increase alcohol content past about 16%, for at that level the yeast dies and ends fermentation. Higher alcohol levels are archived through "distillation" (that is a lower alcohol beverage is heated. Alcohol, evaporating first, is collected and the vapor re- condensed). There are red wines, pink wines (also known as "rose" or sometimes "blush") and white wines. By the way, since the inside of a grape is more or less "white," red grapes can make white wine. The color comes from letting the juice mix with the skins during the early wine-making process. A good example of this is White Zinfandel. The Zinfandel grape is very red on the outside. So, red grapes can make white wine, but white grapes can't make red wine. Wines might be "fortified," "sparkling," or "table." In fortified wines, brandy is added to make the alcohol content higher (around 16 to 23 percent). Sparkling wines are the ones with bubbles, like Champagne. Table wine (which can also be called "still") are the most "natural." Both table and sparkling wines tend to have alcohol contents between 7 and 15 percent. ----------------------- *2. HOW IS WINE MADE? ----------------------- *2.1 GROWING GRAPES Grapes grow on vines. There are many different types of grapes, but the best wine grape is the European Vitis vinifera. It is considered optimal because it has the right balance of sugar and acid to create a good fermented wine without the addition of sugar or water. It has been said that the wine is only as good as the grape; a poor winemaker can ruin good grapes, but a good winemaker isn't going to make great wine from inferior grapes. Now before I say anything else about grapes, let me point out an error I have made in drafts of this document (and for all I know it may persist--proofreading is an art). That is the difference between "varieties" of grapes and "varietals." The word "varietal" means "of or pertaining to a variety." Types of grapes are "varieties." Wines made from a single variety are varietal wines. So, for example, a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wine is a varietal. The cabernet sauvignon grape, zinfandel grape and merlot grape are varieties of grapes. (Of course, don't be confused that, for example, United States law allows a wine to be labeled Cabernet Sauvignon so long as it has at least 75% of that variety of grape. Now, is that clear?) Vines start producing grapes about three years after planting; a useable crop after five years. They reach their prime in terms of crop yield between ages ten and thirty. Vines can grow for a hundred years, though production is reduced as they get older. However, reduced production (which is also caused in other ways-- growing in poor soil, lack of irrigation, pruning the vines, climate, etc., the so-called "stressing the vines") can lead to "better" wine. So some very good wines come from "old vines." Wine has been around for thousands of years, but in 1863, catastrophe struck. French vineyards were infested by Phylloxera. *2.1.1 Phylloxera vastratrix Phylloxera is a louse that attacks the roots of the grape, causing the leaves to fall off and eventual death of the plant. The bug had come from America where the grapes were resistant to the creature. Phylloxera spread quickly through much of Europe and would have been completely devastating, except that a "cure" was found. It was possible to take Vitis vinifera and "graft" it to American rootstock. The American rootstock was not affected by phylloxera and the grafted grapes were the European variety. French grapes grow well in soil rich in lime. Native American grapes don't (and the wine they make is derogatorily described as "earthy" or "foxy"). American grapes were resistant to Phylloxera, the French grapes were not. Why not create a "hybrid" that has the best qualities of both? (You could grow the grapes from the hybrid, and this is done is some parts of the world, however most graft the desired variety of European grape onto the hybrid rootstock.) There are many hybrids, but for California wineries, one particular hybrid rootstock seemed to stand out among all the rest: AxR #1. During the 1960's, wine grape planting in California took off. (Some farmers in the Napa valley saw their relatively inexpensive land soar to US $50,000 or so an acre. It's interesting to see the old farmhouses with the shiny new Mercedes parked in front of the homes of the luckier farmers--and no, I don't think all the Mercedes belong to transplanted doctors and lawyers.) AxR #1 was planted all over the place. Unfortunately, it turned out that there were at least two types of Phylloxera, known as Biotype A and Biotype B. AxR #1 was resistant to the first, but not the second. Type B is now spreading like crazy throughout the state. While there are other rootstocks to chose from, many producers may not be able to withstand the cost of replanting and will close. (It takes five to seven years for new vines to produce grapes--too long to wait for many.) The grower makes the decision on what stock to plant, but there are those who have heaped a fair amount of blame on the people at the University of California at Davis (UCD) for supposedly "pushing" AxR #1. It had been known by the French for at least 50 years that AxR #1 was not perfectly resistant. It would fail after 10 or 20 years in the ground. While AxR #1 has many good qualities, whether UCD did not make enough of AxR #1's shortcomings remains a controversial topic. *2.1.2 University of California at Davis To some, the devil incarnate, to others, scientific saviours. To all, it should be clear that UCD runs a highly-regarded enological program which has brought modern science and technology into the process of making wine. The school, as was explained to me by a graduate of the program, provides higher education in enology (wine chemistry) and viticulture (grape horticulture) and not, specifically, in the art of winemaking. Most students opt to pursue careers in the wine industry and take "Planned Educational Leave" to obtain first hand experience with a winery. Nevertheless, some criticize that the wines created by UCD graduates are all the same, "text-book chemistry" wines. They claim the UCD learning experience produces predictable, "inoffensive" wine (and, for example, shies away from wild yeast fermentation, a way to make wines with "more character"). All I can say is that I have had truly magnificent wines from UCD graduates AND from people who started making wine in a garage without any formal training at all. Wine making is an art, not an exact science. In the end, it will be the SKILLS, TASTE and ARTISTIC EXPRESSION of the winemaker that is crucial. As told to me by the Davis graduate, it is ironic that a great number of the Davis "bashers" are quite willing to contact the school whenever they have a problem their "art instinct" can't solve. All the arguing hardly matters, if you don't like a particular wine, vote with your pocketbook! Being a graduate of the University of California, and because it is interesting to me, I have asked why the debate about Davis came about and why it is so volatile. What follows is a rough, LONG summary of ONE person's opinion (not my own, as I have no true knowledge at all, at this point). Other people in the know, feel free to contact me with their views! *2.1.3 A Graduate's Opinion of Davis From the Repeal of Prohibition through the 1960's, Davis excelled at bringing modern science and technology into the process of making wine. For example, Davis promoted the use of stainless steel tanks, proper sanitation. controlled temperature fermentations, and provided a better understanding of malolactic fermentation. In short, along with the University of Bordeaux, UCD led the world in improving wine making and answering all the straightforward questions. At the same time the wine boom came to Napa, bringing a number of new persons (into a formerly family oriented industry) who wanted answers to the harder questions. Davis-trained enologists were trained in a more food-processing approach to winemaking. No doubt some of them also went out into their profession with a "superiority" complex for having "gone to university" when the apprentice approach had previously been the standard. It is probably no surprise that Davis began to get a reputation for sending out young bucks who didn't know the first thing about the practical aspects of winemaking. The result was a backlash against the University. Whereas once a Davis degree was a ticket to success (and certainly Davis graduates occasionally got positions solely due to their degree, not their abilities) as the industry slowed and jobs got more difficult to find the Davis degree didn't work the same magic. Some winemakers then discovered that they could make a name by Davis bashing (THEIR wines weren't just COOKBOOK science, so to speak). About the same time the continuing crisis involving AxR #1 (see above) began. Davis bashers would point to the European traditions and enjoy reveling in the grand reputation of that tradition and tossing off names of certain selected great wines from certain selected great years (and ignoring the fact that the bulk of European wine tends to be plonk--like U.S. jug wines--and not first growth Bordeaux). Some winemakers had great success with the so-called "wild" fermentations and accused (with some accuracy) Davis of resisting this method. However, for every successful "wild" fermentation which gained notoriety there probably was a poorly produced wine. In the end, the science that Davis contributes to the field is a vital and important factor in the growth of the wine industry. It can smooth out the rough edges foisted on the winemaker by variables which are all or part out of his or her control (weather, pests, soil depletion, etc.). Innate intuition may make good or even great wine, but science isn't going to hurt, especially when the winemaker is open to ALL ideas. As has been oft stated, a consumers pocket book should make the judgment. UCD makes recommendations based upon the best scientific evidence it can accumulate. This might run counter to the anecdotal results of a single winemaker's recollection or to the idea that a winemaker is an independent iconoclast, unfettered by "rules." Free spirits may make good wine, so can science. The chemistry of wine is extremely complex and a great deal of ego is involved on both sides of the Davis debate. One thing is, however, certain. Davis does not dictate winemaking. Davis is merely a tool to be used by people who want to make wine. How they use that tool is up to them and to their abilities. *2.2 HARVEST Weather is a major factor is determining whether a year is going to be a "good vintage" (or "year"). For example, was there enough heat during the growing season to lead to enough sugar? At harvest time, the short term effects of weather are quite important. To produce great wine, the fruit should be ripe (but not overripe), and have a high (but not overly high) sugar content ("brix"; typically about a 22 brix for table wine). Think of raisins. As the fruit dries, the water evaporates. What is left is the sugary fruit. If it rains just at the point the wine grapes are ready, and before the grapes can be harvested, the additional water will cause the water level to increase, and the brix will go down. Not good. (You might ask, why not just add some sugar in the wine-making process? Some do. Also considered "not good.") Every year the wine grape grower plays a game of chance and must decide when to harvest. Simplistically, if you knew it wasn't going to rain, you would just test the brix until it was just right, then harvest. If you harvest too soon, you will probably end up getting a wine too low in alcohol content (there won't have been enough sugar to convert to alcohol). These wines will be "thin." If you delay harvest, there may be too much sugar, which leads to too low acid content. This also affects the taste (and the aging possibilities) of the wine. During the harvest of 1989 I was in the Napa/Sonoma areas of California, where there was scattered rain. Winemakers in the area were not a happy bunch. As it turned out, this turned out to not be a great year "overall." But, it depends. In some areas rain was not a factor, in others it was. So you can't make a blanket statement that for ALL wines it was a poor year. *2.3 INITIAL PROCESSING OF THE GRAPE JUICE Grapes can (and might still) be crushed by stomping on them with your feet in a big vat. But a more practical way is to use a machine which does the job (and at the same time, removes the stems). What you get may or may not get immediately separated. Skin and seeds might immediately be removed from the juice. Separation may not immediately occur (especially for red wines), since skins and stems are an important source of "tannins" which affect wine's taste and maturity through aging. The skins also determine the color of the wine (see WHAT IS WINE). Maceration (the time spent while skins and seeds are left with the juice) will go on for a few hours or a few weeks. Pressing will then occur. One way to press the grapes is to use a "bladder press," a large cylindrical container that contains bags that are inflated and deflated several times, each time gently squeezing the grapes until all the juice has run free, leaving behind the rest of the grapes. You can also separate solids from juice through the use of a centrifuge. Aside: When I first started drinking Chardonnay, my tastes ran to wines with heavy flavors of oak (introduced in the barrel aging process by storing in wood barrels). Then I was lucky enough to be at the Acacia winery in Sonoma during harvest. The friendly people there had me take a wine glass and hold it under the device that was extracting juice from the grapes. Fending off the bees, which were very attracted to the sweet fluid, I got a taste of absolutely fresh unfermented Chardonnay grape juice. It was wonderful. I then knew what Chardonnay actually tasted like! From that point on my tastes have run to a different balance of oak and fruit flavors in the wine. The best way to learn about wine is to drink it. Sometimes it even helps if it isn't even wine yet . . . . *2.4 TURNING GRAPE JUICE INTO ALCOHOL Grape juice is turned into alcohol by the process of "fermentation." Grapes on the vine are covered with yeast, mold and bacteria. By putting grape juice into a container at the right temperature, yeast will turn the sugar in the juice into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The grape juice will have fermented. Yeast gives flavor to wine. However things on the outside of a grape are not necessarily so good for the production of good wine (for example, acetic bacteria on the grapes can cause the wine to turn to vinegar). The winemaker commonly eliminates unwanted contaminants by using the "universal disinfectant," sulfur dioxide. Unfortunately, the sulfites which remain in the wine may cause a lot of discomfort to some wine drinkers. (See ALLERGIC REACTIONS TO WINE.). Some winemakers prefer NOT to do this, and purposely create wines that are subject to the vagaries (and different flavors) of yeast that is "wild," that is not a commercial yeast strain used by the winemaker ("wild yeast fermentation"). By the way, some have said that these wild yeasts are found on the grape, but a number of people have written to say that there is no documentation that any wild yeast living on the skins of grapes leads to alcoholic fermentation. They propose that these "spontaneous" fermentations occur due to commercial yeast populations that live in the winery and have become "wild" over several generations--and have not been cleaned away or otherwise eradicated. The winemaker has many different yeast strains to choose from (and can use different strains at different times during the process). The most common wine yeast is Saccharomyces. This is a good point to stop and mention "Brett," also known as the Brettanomyces strain of yeast (which can be added or come from wild yeast fermentation). Found in some beers, it is considered by some (especially in California) to be almost completely undesirable in wine. Mostly this depends on your taste, it certainly IS found in some French wine (but is never good in excess). Look for meaty/gamy/smoky/sweaty socks notes. That's the short answer about Brett, but the fact is that this is one of the more controversial discussions for it brings into play several favorite areas of contention--The University of California and the idea of just what is winemaking, art, science or what? A little (but not a lot) of Brett can let a wine become distinctly individual. Somehow, however, it seems that many California vintners consider any Brett at all a major flaw. Naysayers like to say that this is due to the influence of the University of California at Davis (UCD) which, they say, somehow causes their students to produce standardized "cookie-cutter" wine. Brett is definitely found is some French wines, especially Burgundies and some Rhone wines. Nevertheless, finding Brett for some is a major problem--even a defect making the wine unworthy of purchase. To eliminate Brett does mean that any of the characteristics it imparts will also not be present. Does this make the wine less interesting? Does it make the winemaker less individualistic? Since, in the end, you can find the wine of your choosing in all the varieties produced both in California and world-wide, why not just vote with taste buds and pocket book? One more thing about "wild yeast fermentation." The process gives the "aura" of a hand-craft product. It is important to remember that not ALL hand-crafted products are quality products! Well. Back to the process. . . . As yeast works, it causes grape juice ("must") to get hot. But if there's too much heat, the yeast won't work. One modern way to deal with this is to put the juice into large stainless steel containers that have refrigeration systems built around the sides. The winemaker can regulate temperature precisely. A less modern, but still wide widely used way to ferment wine is to place it in small oak barrels. "Barrel fermentation" is usually done at a lower temperature in temperature controlled rooms and takes longer, perhaps around 6 weeks. The longer fermentation and use of wood contributes to the flavor (and usually expense) of the wine. The skins and pulp which remain in a red wine vat will rise to and float on top of the juice. This causes problems (if it dries out, it's a perfect breeding ground for injurious bacteria), so the winemaker will push this "cap" back down into the juice, usually at least twice a day. In large vats, this is accomplished by pumping juice from the bottom of the vat over the top of the cap. Some winemakers use a screen to keep the cap submerged at all times. Eventually the yeast is no longer changing sugar to alcohol (though different strains of yeast, which can survive in higher and higher levels of alcohol, can take over and contribute their own flavor to the wine--as well as converting a bit more sugar to alcohol). After all this is completed what you have left is the wine, "dead" yeast cells, known as "lees and various other substances. *2.5 MALOLACTIC FERMENTATION The winemaker may choose to allow a wine to undergo a second fermentation which occurs due to malic acid in the grape juice. When malic acid is allowed to break down into carbon dioxide and lactic acid (thanks to bacteria in the wine), it is known as "malolactic fermentation," which can impart additional flavor to the wine. A "buttery" flavor in some whites is due to this process. Since malic acid is perceived as more sour than lactic acid, the process also reduces the perceived acidity of the wine. Malolactic fermentation is much more prevalent in red wines than in whites, with the smell of apples in white wine denoting the presaging the presence of malic acid. *2.6 FILTERING AND FINING After fermentation, there still may be a lot of stuff floating around in the wine which some winemakers want to remove. There are various ways for the wine to undergo this "clarification" (for example, strain the wine through something like cheesecloth, called "filtering"), but the most common way is called "fining." When you make jellies, the recipes may sometimes call for adding egg whites. The materials that cloud the jelly are captured by the egg and you get a nice, bright result that looks really good in glass jars. It's the same with wine, even down to using egg whites. Except that the most common materials used for fining are gelatin or bentonite (a type of clay). When and where to use heavy filtering and fining is highly controversial, since removing these substances prevents the wine from obtaining flavors from them, affecting the character of the wine. You are certain to hear complaints about "over fined and filtered wine." *2.7 BARREL AGING The winery may then keep the wine so that there can be additional clarification and, in some wines, to give it a more complex flavor. Flavor can come from wood (or more correctly from the chemicals that make up the wood and are taken up into the wine). When wood aging is used, wines are stored most commonly in oak barrels. It it is considered by many that French oak barrels give the best flavor and that they must be replaced after several years of use. American oak is used by some producers and you can usually tell the difference. Other producers will buy the older, used French oak barrels and create wines that some feel are inferior (but they probably ARE less expensive). Some wines may never see anything but stainless steel and the glass that they are bottled in. In any event, using oak barrels puts an "oakiness" characteristic in wine. The wine may be barrel aged for several months to several years. *2.8 BLENDING WINE Ignoring any additional processing that might be used, you could empty the barrels into bottles and sell your wine. However, during the barrel aging, the smaller containers may develop differences. So the winemaker will probably "blend" wine from different barrels, to achieve a uniform result. Also, the winemaker may blend together different grape varieties to achieve desire characteristics. For example, blending a little Merlot into a Cabernet Sauvignon can give is a more "mellow" taste. This process also temporarily creates very purple stained teeth in the red wine maker. Other blends may seem unusual. Recently I had a blend of 50% each Chardonnay and Viognier. (I liked it.) *2.9 BOTTLING WINE At some point the wine will be placed in bottles. Producers often use different shaped bottles to denote different types of wine. Colored bottles help to reduce damage by light. (Light assists in oxidation and breakdown of the wine into chemicals, such as mercaptan, which are undesirable.) Bottle sizes can also vary: Applying generally to wines other than Champagne: split 187.5 ml 1/2 bottle 375 ml bottle 750 ml magnum 1.5 liter (2 bottles) Marie-Jeanne 2.25 liters (3 bottles) (Red Bordeaux) double magnum 3 liters (4 bottles) jeroboam 4.5 liters (6 bottles) imperial 6 liters (8 bottles) Applying to Champagne: 1/2 bottle 375 ml bottle 750 ml magnum 1.5 liter (2 bottles) jeroboam 3 liters (4 bottles) (& Burgundy) rehoboam 4.5 liters (6 bottles) (& Burgundy) Methuselah 6 liters (8 bottles) (& Burgundy) Salmanazar 9 liters (12 bottles) Balthazar 12 liters (16 bottles) Nebuchadnezzar 15 liters (20 bottles) Just prior to filling the bottle, the producer may insert nitrogen, which will sit above the liquid preventing contamination by oxygen. A capsule will be placed over the top of the bottle. Originally made from lead foil, fears of lead poisoning (and U.S. law) have brought about the use of other metals or even plastic. -------------------- *3. AGING WINE -------------------- Most people assume that the longer that you keep a wine, the better it will get. So probably the most commonly asked question you hear is, how long do I keep the wine before drinking? (Since its best to store wine under certain conditions, like in a cool damp underground cellar, this is known as "cellaring" wine.) It is a misconception that you MUST age wine. The fact is, throughout the world, most wine is drunk "young" (that is relatively soon after it is produced, perhaps 12 to 18 months), even wines that are "better" if aged. While some wines will "mature" and become better over time, others will not and should be drunk immediately, or within a few years. Eventually ALL wine will "go over the hill," so even the wines meant to be kept for many, many years should be drunk before its too late. Wines which are expected to be matured in the bottle before drinking can go over the hill faster if not properly stored. If someone is giving you a very good deal on an old red wine that you would otherwise expect to be great, start to wonder how it was kept! Tannin is a substance that comes from the seeds, stems and skins of grapes. (For a taste of heavy-duty tannin, try a strong cup of tea.) Additional tannin can come from the wood during barrel aging in the winery. It is a preservative and is important to the long term maturing of wine. Through time, tannin (which has a bitter flavor--"mouth shattering"?) will precipitate out of the wine (becoming sediment in the bottle) and the complexity of the wine's flavor from fruit, acid and all the myriad other substances that make up the wine's character will come into greater balance. Generally, it is red wines that are the ones that CAN (but do not have to be) produced with a fair amount of tannin with an eye towards long term storing and maturation. The bad news is that you shouldn't drink it young since it will taste too harsh (and probably cost too much, besides). The good news is that after a number of years, what you get is a prized, complex and balanced wine. Remember that red wines get their color from the stems and skins of the grape. This gives the wine tannin and aging capacity. White wines may have no contact with the stems and skins and will have little tannin (though some can be added, again, through barrel aging). Therefore most white wines don't age well. Even the ones which do get better through time will not last nearly as long as their red cousins. A fair average for many "ageable" whites would be about 5 to 7 years (some might go 10). On the other hand, really "ageable" reds can easily be kept for 30 years and longer. So, how do you figure out how long to keep a wine before drinking it? We'll get to a summary, but it IS just a summary. Check out other sources for the particulars.. Two wineries, side by side, producing the same grapes and the "same" wine. One ages considerably longer than the other. Why? While they are the "same" grapes, perhaps the soil or microclimate (small variations in the local weather due to terrain) is just a bit different. Maybe the vines are older. The winery may have processed the wines differently (for example, heavy filtering). (In fact, even the size of the bottle matters- -a 1/2 bottle ages faster than larger bottles.) There are lots of reasons, so general rules are just that--general. In any event, the red French Beaujolais Nouveau is meant to be drunk within days. Its a light, fruity wine. White wine is the next least aged wine. But here there is a range from a light wine like Sauvignon Blanc or a light Chardonnay, to more ageable "complex" Chardonnay of good White Burgundies. Probably drink the former within a few years (aging isn't needed, and the latter from 3 to 7 years). Dessert wines like Sauternes or other late harvest wines (Riesling, Gewurztraminer, etc.) should be aged. Sauternes get better over a VERY long time: 10, 20, 30, 40 or more years! Then come the reds. While the vast majority of wines produced today CAN be drunk immediately, a good number of red wines will benefit by SOME aging and some will benefit from a LOT of aging. The ones that you open now that taste like road tar may very well be fantastic in 5 or 10 or 20 years. Look to some French Bordeaux (maybe up to 30 years) or Cabernet Sauvignon. [Getting more specific about some red grapes, rules of thumb MIGHT be for the very best wines: Cabernet, 10 to 15 years; Merlot, 4 to 7 years for many; Nebbiolo, 10 years or more; Pinot Noir, about 5 years to start.] Some people contend that while California wine won't "go bad" in the bottle, it doesn't get any better--unlike French wines that mature (get better) with cellaring. Don't ask me to explain this controversy as I have had plenty of California wine that seemed to me to be better after aging (but then, I said I wasn't an expert. On the other hand, I know I like it when I drink it.) So much for the summary. Didn't help much, did it? As you learn more and more about wine, you get a feel for which wines are produced to be aged. That doesn't mean that you still know when it is the BEST time to drink the wine. You need to check around. Ask fellow wine drinkers (and, any unbiased wine merchant with whom you can establish a relationship). Get a book that gives opinions. Read the magazines. These resources have the ability to tell you what happened when THEY drank the wine. Was it still good, is it starting to go over the hill, is it gone? At least one correspondent tells me that Australian wines seem to mature faster in Australia than in Europe, even if kept at similar temperatures and humidities. Just one more reason why it is best to ASK (and taste) about individual wines. Lucky ones (like wine critics or friends of expansive people with big cellars) can get to be part of "vertical tastings." A "vintage" is the year in which a wine is produced. Line up a particular wine on a table with a bottle from each vintage, say, 1971 through 1992 and what you get is a "vertical" of that wine. A young wine, designed to age, can taste harsh (from the tannin). As you sample older and older bottles, the wine will mellow. Flavors come into balance. The oldest wines will lose their tannin and their fruitiness and eventually have a flat taste. Somewhere in there is the vintage which tastes the way YOU like it. That part is up to you, not to the pundits. But their comments can help. There are lots of resources (see Learning About Wine) which can help you get an idea which wines should be drunk when. When we first started learning about wine, we bought way too much white wine, which somehow we still have. Some of it--which was wonderful when purchased--can now best be described as awful. Since you'll hear the old cliche that you should cook only with wines you would drink, that wine isn't even good for cooking. I plan on trying to turn it into vinegar. ASIDE: One of the first really "good" wines we had was a 1984 Acacia Winery Lake Chardonnay. We bought a case of it and drank it slowly (like I said, we've got a lot of white left over). A few years back we asked the winemaker how it would be. His answer was "never open it . . . just remember the way it was, you'll be happier." We're glad to say he was wrong. As this is being written, that bottle was opened last night (it was 10 years old). Past its prime but still pretty good! So even the winemaker may not always know, either. When you are just starting out, it probably doesn't pay to buy many wines for aging ("laying down"). First off, you are going to want to drink some of them, and the ones that are "good" won't be so good this young, and they'll cost too much besides. There are plenty of wines that are good NOW. As you drink these wines, you'll get an idea of what types of wine you like. With a little learning, you'll get an idea of the style of wine you want to put away. And you may not make the mistakes we did, besides. (On the other hand, we DID manage to get a few wines that did age well and we are just drinking now. So much for rules.) Don't forget, how you store the wine will affect how long it lasts as well. Even the size of the bottle will change its life. Getting good advice about particular wine is the only good idea here. ----------------- *4. STORING WINE ----------------- What is the best way to cellar wine? If it is a wine that is meant to be drunk within a year or so, you probably don't have to keep it in any really special place (like an expensive refrigerator style wine cellar--check the ads in the back of wine magazines for examples), other than it should be relatively cool and out of the light. Some DO say, "panic at 70 degrees" Fahrenheit. For wines that should be aged, a cellar should have proper: --Temperature which does not have rapid fluctuation. 55 degrees Fahrenheit is a good, but you can live with 50 to 57 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 14 degrees Centigrade). Wide swings in temperature will harm the wine. Having too high a temperature will age the wine faster so it won't get as complex as it might have. Having too low a temperature will slow the wine's maturation. --Humidity. About 60 percent is right. This helps keep the cork moist. The wine will oxidize if the air (and its oxygen) gets to it. If the cork drys out, it can shrink and let air in. This is another reason to keep the bottles on their sides. The wine itself will help keep the cork moist. --Lack of light. --Lack of vibration. --Lack of strong odors. Whatever it is that is causing the odor stands a good chance of getting through the cork and into the wine. If you live in or have a cave, you probably are all set. For the less fortunate, you can buy (or even build) a wine cellar. Also, in some places, commercial storage cellars exist. Every once in a while you can go visit your wine. You should know that some people have not followed the temperature rules and it is their opinion that the wines have not suffered. They have found that SLOW temperature swings from relatively cold to relatively warm (but not really hot) have not drastically affected the wine. Nevertheless, consistently storing wine at warm temperatures is going to age it faster and breaking the other rules probably isn't going to help. *4.1 REFRIGERATORS AND AIR CONDITIONERS Why not just use an old refrigerator? Wines prefer humidity, but refrigerators are designed not to be humid. If you get around this problem, there still is the fact that refrigerators take no effort to dampen the effect of the compressor turning on and off. The vibrations throughout the appliance are not considered a good thing for long term storage. Air conditioners aren't really meant to run at the lower temperature needed by wine. If you manage to get the unit set to such temperatures, the coils may "ice up." You also need to deal with the humidity (get a humidifier). With enough home ingenuity, some common sense and knowledge, and some homework, you can convert an entire room into a wine cellar. *4.2 BUILDING YOUR OWN CELLAR See the BOOKS section for assistance. Can this be done? Sure. The biggest hint is that you should build BIG. There is the natural tendency to buy wine at a faster rate than you can drink or store it. So while you're already at it, build for the future. *4.3 CELLAR SOFTWARE Large amount of wines tend to get lost around my house so the computer comes in handy. Personally, I use a standard database program which I have tailored to my needs. It only took about five minutes to set up the database. There are wine specific software programs available (some even including descriptions and lists of particular wines). I have not seen any of them, but will list those mentioned. --WineBase available from ken.tripp@blaze.bbs.net.au --WinWine. Windows based package. 1-800-WINWINE. ------------------ *5. DRINKING WINE ------------------ *5.1 TEMPERATURE TO DRINK AT Room temperature. Well, that's what you always hear. The problem is that, at the very least, it is a bit inaccurate, and at the worst (as demonstrated by a whole lot of restaurants around where I live) you wouldn't want to drink it at 80 degrees Fahrenheit ("it's the room temperature, isn't it?") As cool wine warms, vapors rise off the wine. Since your sense of smell is a very big part of what things taste like, getting those vapors into your nose is important. Try drinking a bottle of wine that has been heavily refrigerated. In some ways, it will taste a lot like water, or at least tasteless alcohol. On the other hand, if you serve a little below room temperature, you'll get the benefit of the vaporizing effect. So one rule of thumb is to serve the wine 1 or 2 degrees below room temperature. But, there IS a limit to the warmth. To some extent, you can use the following: --The BEST red wines; "big" red wines: 59 to 61 degrees Fahren- heit, 14 to 16 degrees Centigrade. --Lesser reds, rose, and "complex" white wines: 50 to 54 degrees Fahrenheit, 10 to 12 degrees Centigrade. --Less complex white wines: 46 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, 8 to 10 degrees Centigrade. --Sweet white wines, Champagne: 43 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit, 6 to 8 degrees Centigrade. If the wine is too cold, can you warm it in the microwave? I wouldn't think so, but one correspondent tells me that he saw (they call this hearsay, don't they) a notable wine expert do it with an old and expensive bottle, so . . . . Personally, I find that holding the glass with my hands usually gets it warmed up pretty quickly. *5.2 OPENING THE BOTTLE *5.2.1 CORKS Most corks are made from cork. Since cork is expensive, some wineries are experimenting with making corks from plastic or other high-tech materials. Since the idea of the cork is to keep what's inside the bottle inside, and what's outside the bottle outside, it doesn't seem to matter what the cork is made of. It is questioned by some, however, whether a non-cork cork might allow the material it is made out of to leech into the wine with harmful side effects to the wine and to humans. A screwcap (gasp!) probably is better than a cork since it does the same job and can't "cork" the wine. Screwcaps are now coming on the market in somewhat more upscale wines (they've been on jugs for years--and don't forget that a lot of wine comes out of "milk carton" type cardboard containers that certainly don't have corks). When you remove the "capsule" (which may or may not be made from some sort of metal foil) from the bottle, you may find a cork which is discolored or even has a lush growth of mold growing on top. If whatever it is hasn't gotten into the wine (also check the "fill level"--if wine has leaked out it is a further indication of trouble), then all you need do is wipe the cork off with a damp rag, towel dry it a bit and remove the cork. Wipe off the top of the bottle. Read on about "corked" wine. A handy use for leftover corks is to clean knives. Keeps your fingers away from the blade, but lets you exert enough pressure to get the blade clean. *5.2.2 Cork Screws There are lots of different types of devices which will remove a cork. Some are a lot easier than others. To me, one of the harder types is the one that is invariably used by the waiter in a restaurant. I once asked a waiter why he didn't use something easier and he told me that the manager thought it made the place look more "professional." The only benefit I can see from those sorts of corkscrews is that they are useful when pulling a cork from a bottle of wine that is sitting in a cradle (and they have a built in knife for cutting the capsule). Some people don't like putting a hole into their cork (I guess they figure they're going to use it again?) and use a cork puller known as an "Ah-So". The device is made of two metal prongs which you wriggle back and forth so that the prongs move down the side of the cork (sometimes pushing the cork into the wine). When you hit bottom the tension lets you pull the cork back up. There are EXPENSIVE corkscrews, like the US $100+ Leverpull (tm) which works, as many times as I have seen it in operation, quite well. (It is the sort of thing you'd bolt to a countertop.) But I don't actually see why you need to spend the money on it. I've gotten pretty good at using the Napa motel free giveaway corkscrew (you can get them for about US $1). At home we like to use the approximately US $20 Leverpull which has a Teflon coated screw and a nice long mechanism that extends at a 180 degree angle at the top which you can push around with your finger when the mechanism is extended (to distinguish from a slightly less expensive model that you twist with your hand). Some people say "don't let the screw go through the bottle of the cork." It does with the Leverpull, but it does it so neatly there never are any particles that come loose (at least so far!). *5.2.3 Now That the Bottle is Open The first real rule is that you don't want shake up the wine (well, most wines) very much. Get something that lets you get the cork out easily and smoothly. Its a nice idea to find something that doesn't break the cork off in mid-pull (there ARE little hooks that will help you fish out a cork you've been forced to push down into the bottle). With fancy old red wines, it can get a bit more complicated. As wines mature, sediment (which is tannic), described by some as "crud in the bottle" will come out of the wine. If the wine is laying on its side, the sediment will be along the lower edge of the bottle. The best thing to do is stand the bottle upright a day or two before you plan to drink it. Then the sediment can fall to the bottom of the bottle. Handle the bottle very carefully. You don't want to mix the sediment back through all the bottle. When you pour, stop before any sediment comes out. If you haven't managed to get the bottle upright in advance, you can serve the wine from a cradle which inclines the wine at about a 45 degree angle. If you carefully open and carefully pour, the sediment will stay along the bottom edge and out of your glass. Just because there was no discoloration or growth along the top of the cork does not mean that is isn't possible that the cork hasn't caused a problem with the wine, or that there isn't some other problem. It is useful to smell the wet end of the cork before drinking the wine. Sometimes it will give you advance notice that there is something wildly off about the wine, including that the wine may be "corked." To me corked wine has the flavor of wet, musty cardboard. Once you have really tasted a corked wine, you'll know what it is--it is not subtle. Some people think that 1 out of every 12 wines is corked. At least in the circles I drink in, I can only remember finding 2 corked wines over the last 10 years. But then, I can't afford a whole lot of really OLD wine. All in all, most wine isn't corked. (If you aren't "lucky" enough to have a real corked wine, apparently you can buy the odor of the stuff from enterprising entrepreneurs. One advertised business is: The Wine Trader, attn: "Corky," P.O. Box 1598, Carson City, Nevada 89702.) A wine might also be "madeirized." A poorly stored bottle, exposed to heat or oxygen can end up smelling and tasting like, well, like Madeira (or Sherry). It will not have the right color and probably has lost it's fruitiness. *5.3 DECANTING This is where you pour the wine out of the bottle into another container (a "decanter"). Properly decanting a bottle lets you get rid of sediment. Use a candle behind the neck of the bottle to see when sediment gets to the neck (I'm repeating the standard line here---Assuming you don't get it close enough to heat up the wine, is there some reason you can't use a light bulb?). Stop pouring as soon as you see the sediment. Not all wines have sediment, but old vintage Port does and is always decanted for this reason. Some people will decant through cheesecloth, wire mesh placed in a funnel or even coffee filters. There are other reasons to decant wine. For example, some young white wines may be have a sulfurous quality which can be removed by spirited decanting. Decanting also lets red wine "breathe." Some wines (for examples some Burgundies and Bordeaux) when young are "accessible," meaning that you can detect the bouquet and flavors that are and will be in the wine. But then chemical reactions take place and the wine closes up (becomes "closed"). What was there before is harder to perceive. The wine gets, as they say, "dumb." Aging the wine causes the wine to again open up (tannin, a bitter flavor, turns to sediment and won't be tasted--if it isn't poured into the glass!), and is more "complex." Since letting air get to wine can help to open it up, decanting will help this process along, though not as much as aging it would. Be forewarned, however. Not all wines benefit from this airing (known as "letting the wine breathe"), for example, fine Burgundies). Also, you can allow a wine to breathe too much. While oxygen helps to open up the wine, it also oxidizes the wine, which will eventually ruin it. Experience is important here. In any event, if you don't know, don't decant. While there are those who advocate letting wine breathe, most don't, or when they do, advise a relatively short period of time (and hour for young reds, 2 to 3 hours for older fine reds). Some people will let a wine breathe by opening up the bottle, but not decanting it. This really isn't of much use since not much oxygen is going to get down that small neck. Aside: I knew one wine expert who swore that he could "age" fine young red wines as if they were laid down for a decade, merely by vigorously shaking the wine up and down and pouring them back and forth between containers. I've done it. It "seems" to work. *5.4 WINE FLAWS Due to improper production, handling or storage, there ARE a fair amount of things that can go wrong with wine--most of which should be cause to return a wine if ordering in a restaurant. As mentioned in the section on CORKED WINE, how often that flaw occurs is controversial. It may also be that some people attribute ALL flaws to "corked" wine. In any event, a flaw IS a flaw, by whatever name. A non-exhaustive list follows. --Brettanomeyces (Brett). Earthy and/or manure type smells caused by the Brettanomeyces strain of yeast. Liked by some (for example particular French wines), disliked by many California vintners. In small amounts, can add "character" to a wine. Too much, and forget it. --Corked. Smells like musty cardboard or a damp basement, caused by trichloranisol (TCA) 2,4,6, a compound released by molds that can infest the bark from which corks are made. One theory: might be caused from chlorine residue left from bleaching corks. --Dekkera. Another wild-yeast caused flavor of fresh dirt or cement. Liked by some (for example in some Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone and Italian red wines), disliked by many California vintners. Dekkera can also come from contaminated equipment and barrels. --Madeirized. Wine subjected to oxygen or heat through poor storage which ends up tasting like Madeira or Sherry. No fruit flavor left. Off-color. --Mercaptan. Smells of garlic or onion or even of skunk. I'm told that this is much of the cause of the "foxy" flavor produced by grapes native to North America. It is said that the term "foxy" came about because there wines were often made from the Fox grape, where the flavor was first seen. --Sulfur. Burnt match smell caused by too much sulfur dioxide (used in the winemaking process) and rotten egg smells caused by hydrogen sulfide from bacterial contamination. Depending on what it is, it might go away if you air the wine for a while. --Volatile Acidity. Smells of vinegar. May go away if you air the wine for a while. There are long lists of flaws and descriptions in How to Test and Improve Your Wine Judging Ability (see BOOKS section), and Elements of Wine Tasting (American Wine Society Manual #11). 5.5 DESCRIBING THE WINE Lots of terms have grown up on how to describe wine. When you hear them tossed about and you don't know anything about them, you can feel lost AND the people using them may sound more than a bit lofty. But after a while you'll find that you'll start using the terms too! I think that Dri kinda fell off her chair the first time I said the wine had a nice "nose!" There are a lot more terms than I'm going to talk about, but here's a sample (get a good book, or check out the World Wide Web site listed below): --Austere : The wine is kind of stiff or tight, sort of hard. Hard to tell other traits. --Balance : Describing the relationship between tannin, acid and alcohol. You want to drink a "well-balanced" wine. --Big: A strong, perhaps alcoholic wine. It is a good wine that can get better. --Buttery: A sort of smooth feel and taste, like butter. Most often seen in white wines which have undergone malolactic fer- mentation. --Dry: If sugar remains in the wine it is sweet. When it isn't sweet, its dry. --Flabby: A bland tasting wine that isn't going to get any bet- ter. --Hard: A wine that has a lot of tannin still in it, like a young fine red. The tannin keeps you from tasting the other qualities of the wine which will come out through maturation. --Grassy (or herbaceous): Smells like grass. Often seen in Sauvignon Blanc. --Nose: The totality of what you smell. --Thin: A watery sort of wine. I have been told that the book "Masterglass" by James Robinson contains an excellent, unpretentious list of terms. I have not seen the volume myself. Also see the Internet Resources list elsewhere in this FAQ. There is a World Wide Web glossary of wine terms available. *5.6 THE RITUALISTIC ART OF WINE IN A RESTAURANT Its one thing to learn about wine, buy it and drink it. Ah, but then comes the restaurant. There's all those RULES! Who do you talk to? How do you do it? What do you do when they stick the cork down in front of you. (And what happens when you're sure you want to drink a Gewurztraminer [geh-vertz-tra-MEEner], but can't pronounce it let alone, spell it?) The evening's fun starts with the wine list. If you're lucky they've brought it to you. If you're VERY lucky, they've brought ALL of them to you. [I can recall eating in one of the "best" restaurants in a capitol city of one of the United States. The waiter never mentioned that they had a "special" wine list with the "better" wines on it. He had only brought the short, less- expensive list of decent but not as fine wine. One wonders if they didn't intend to sell the good stuff? Maybe it was how I looked.] An informative wine list will tell you the type of wine, the producer of the wine, where it was grown (though with some wines, that is inherent in the name), and the vintage (year) that it was grown. Since there can be considerable variation in vintages (or the wine may be just too young), this is an important piece of information. If the wine list doesn't say, ask! [OK, so I'll admit it. When we first started drinking wine in restaurants, we brought along a little pocketbook guide that told us what were good wines. We'd sneak a look at the guide, then confidently and boldly order--hoping that we got the pronuncia- tion right.] Now lets say you don't know about the wines on the list (and haven't sneaked in your handy guide). Once again, ask. In a good restaurant, the waiters will have a good working knowledge of the "wine list." And in some restaurants (more in Europe than in the United States), there will be an individual (the wine steward or Sommelier) who's only job is to work with the wine. Often this person can be invaluable in choosing a wine for you that perfectly matches the food. A word of warning: Sometimes their job is to point out the most costly wine they think they can get you to pay for. I'm not saying this is the norm, but caveat emptor always applies. Personally, we decide on what we are having for dinner before we order the wine. This seems to perturb most waiters and wine stewards who always seem in a rush to have us order. While they MIGHT be trying to do the right thing by getting the bottle opened as soon as possible, we're usually more interested in the food to start. The waiter can wait. Some people may find a particular wine that they wish to drink. That is certainly fine and then they can choose a food that matches the wine. When your wine comes, look at it. Make sure it's the bottle (and vintage) you ordered. Busy staff can and DO make mistakes. The server will remove the capsule (which traditionally was made of lead foil but is giving way to supposedly less toxic materials like aluminum or even plastic). The top of the cork should be wiped off (it can be moldy or have other contaminants), then removed. The cork is usually then given to the person who ordered the wine. Why? What do you do? This is where some people start to squirm. Don't worry, there IS a reason for this. And it even makes sense. Once you know the reason, you know what to do. So what's the reason? Alright, actually I've heard two equally plausible stories. Both sound correct, or at least useful. The first is that if you take the cork and sniff it you may note some off-smells. This can be your first indication that the wine has problems. If it is corked or has turned to vinegar, you'll not likely want to keep the wine. (There are other, sometimes more subtle things that can go wrong.) The second is the idea that someone between the winery and the consumer may figure that unknowing wine neophytes couldn't tell or wouldn't complain about a wine no matter what. So they SWITCH the wine by opening the bottle, replacing the good stuff with something cheaper and then re-cork it (I guess with a different cork). So the cork is shown to you so that you can see that it has the marking of the winery that produces the wine you ordered. Certainly you can check the cork to see if it is moldy (though usually you can spot this from a block away, and it doesn't necessarily mean that the wine is bad). You can see if it is moist. If it isn't it might mean the wine wasn't stored properly (but doesn't mean the wine isn't bad, so I don't know how this may help at this point). One wag recommends that as the cork is placed before you, you pull a cork out of your pocket and hand it to the server. The point being, I guess, that there is little usefulness in the cork ritual. Most people are going to sip it anyway. Some revel in the standoff of leaving the cork completely ignored and deciding if the server thinks you either imbecile or expert. A lot of people have written to say they think the whole cork ritual is useless. The person who ordered will then be poured a small amount of the wine for tasting. Having smelled the cork, you may have a good idea if there is something wrong. Give it a small sip. If the wine is bad, there is no reason for you to drink it. Send it back. Most restaurants will accept back a bad wine gracefully. But . . . , one should not be hyper-critical. Many people will tell you that only 1 in a 1000 bottles is bad, others place it at 1 in 50. Some go so far as to say 1 in 12. Our personal experience is that it has been a fairly rare occurrence. DO NOT send back a wine that "is good" but you don't like. You ordered it. The same applies to particularly older wines that you know darn well might not have survived. Though you CAN distinguish this last by recognizing the difference between a bottle that has gone "over the hill" and one which is corked, oxidized or otherwise bad. You shouldn't have to pay a restaurant for something that is bad for reasons beyond your control. You probably have seen people "swirl" wine around in their glass. Is that another part of arcane ritual? Sure, but it ALSO has a good reason. Swirling releases the smells of the wine, which are very important to enjoying the full experience of drinking it. You can swirl the wine around, stick your nose in it, even suck it through your teeth. All these things "bring out" the wine. I LIKE to swirl, then sniff, then sip. Sometimes I manage not to swirl it onto the tablecloth, too. Check out the discussion on what temperature of a wine should be when served. There's nothing that should keep you from insisting that a restaurant do the same for you. That's what ice buckets are for. I've been in plenty of "fancy" restaurants that have brought out a fine red wine at 70 degrees or so, Fahrenheit. An interesting point was sent to me by a correspondent which I think is worthy of reproduction (almost) in full: "Incidentally, you don't usually need to taste a wine to tell it is off. The nose is enough. Just give the glass to the server and ask him what he thinks if you're not sure. Most aren't confident enough to assert that the wine *is* OK to your face." And whether they are knowledgeable enough or not, "turning the initial tasting from confrontation to discussion will probably improve your chances of getting good wine." [Reserved. Much longer discussion of restaurant etiquette.] *5.7 GLASSES The size and shape of the glass can contribute to the enjoyment of drinking wine. Whether you need to spend a fortune on your glasses (which I tend to break a lot of when cleaning up) is another story altogether. Generally speaking a glass with a long stem lets you swirl the wine more easily (swirling helps bring out the smells of the wine, which is very important to the tasting process). The long stem also keeps the heat of your hand away from the wine. (Of course, with the way I've been served some wines, you have to grasp the bowl of the glass firmly and often just to warm it up!) In order to capture the scents, its nice to have a glass that is more narrow at the top than the area below. In this way the bouquet of the wine can get trapped by the narrowing of the glass. Riedel produces an expensive line of glasses, none of which I own. Supposedly each glass is designed to maximize taste and aroma by delivering the wine to the right part of the mouth, as well as being shaped properly to catch and concentrate the scents of the wine. Some swear that these Riedel glasses make a large difference, especially after side-by-side tastings between Riedel and non-Riedel glasses, others don't. Decide for yourself! Wine drinking is an adventure. Think about it. If you had an especially good wine experience, was it just the wine? Or was it also the events surrounding the drinking of the wine? Two IDENTICAL wines could seem different merely by the activities that surround its consumption. A romantic dinner? While the glass you use may or may not have an impact, I suggest that other peripheral items may be much more significant. Washing glasses somehow has gotten controversial. Seems some people object to the dishwasher. Probably one should merely watch out (whether washing by hand or machine) about using too much soap or detergent which might leave a residue that will affect the wine. Storing glasses is also something to think about. I tend to break them (no, not drunk, just clumsy the next day). The cost of expensive wine glasses is going to add up if you are ungraceful, so there may be the temptation to store them in the cardboard box that they probably came in. If you do this, wash to glasses before use. If the cardboard as gotten at all damp, it may get moldy and contribute off flavors to the glass and to the wine. *5.8 STORING WINE AFTER IT'S OPENED Wine deteriorates in the presence of oxygen. The most practical thing to do is finish the wine. When this isn't sensible, the idea of buying smaller bottles (or taking home unfinished bottles when drunk in a restaurant--you don't HAVE to leave them--though in California, make sure you take it home in the trunk of your car), when available, can be a better solution. You can cook with leftover wine, or even turn it to vinegar (why buy when you can have homemade?). But, there is always the time when you want to try to preserve the quality of the wine for as long as you can. To do this, you want to prevent as much oxygen as you can from getting to it. One of the better ways is to fill the bottle with an inert gas. There are several different systems which do this, but they tend to be relatively to extremely expensive. Nevertheless, for the serious aficionado, this is probably the best solution. Another product, the Vacu-vin (tm) is a small pump device that comes with rubber stoppers and a small hole in the middle of the stopper. The idea is that you can suck a fair amount of air from the bottle, thus reducing the effect of oxygen. Some, but not all, people feel that it might add 2 or 3 days to the life of the bottle. Other cheap and interesting ideas: Get a bunch of glass marbles. Clean them, then put them in the bottle until the liquid is to the top, then cork. Or, just transfer the wine to a smaller bottle. Or both. One economical wine lover suggests freezing as a means of longer term storage. I haven't tried this and probably won't; freezing should alter the character of the wine. Cooking with leftovers is probably a better bet. Generally speaking, most stored wine, no matter what you do to it, won't be as good as when you opened it. ---------------- *6. BUYING WINE ---------------- *6.1 WHAT WINE DO I BUY? Nobody can tell you that, since what YOU like is the best test. The more you taste different wines, the more you will come to know what you like, etc. But . . . If you are just starting out, here's some hints that we and others seem to ignore completely a lot of the time: Don't buy too much of a wine you haven't tasted (just because it got a good rating or is something you liked in earlier vintages). Don't buy a bunch of wine that you won't drink until after it goes bad. (I don't want to tell you how much white wine I have aged to extinction from my earlier days in buying wine.) *6.2 WHERE TO BUY WINE Depends on what you're drinking. Fortified wines to be carried and drunk while wrapped in a brown bag can be gotten pretty cheaply at the local market or liquor store. And, in SOME of the United States, wine can only be purchased in state run establishments (often closed on Sundays). If you are drinking a wine that is meant to be drunk young, you can pretty much buy your wine at the best price you can find. When it comes to wines to cellar, more care should be exercised. You want to learn a bit about your wine merchant. Since wines can be stored improperly or may have been subjected to heat and other improper handling, you could find that after keeping an expensive red wine for 10 years, what you have to drink is worthless. Wines can often be purchased at wineries (what an odd place to find wine). The good news here is that you may get wines that are never available anywhere else (you don't mass market 20 cases of wine). The sort of bad news is that you might find that the wine you bought could have been found less expensively elsewhere (though one hopes that the storage conditions at the winery are better?). Wineries will ship wine, depending on where they are and where you are. Various laws come into play about the shipping of wine from one place to another (though I heard that one wine merchant- -I wasn't told who--merely labels the box "guns" and has no trouble at all; there ARE ways). Some wineries sell virtually all of their wine by mail. (You have to make awfully good wine to get away with that type of business [right, Burt & Ed?]) Other wine merchants (sometimes calling themselves wine "clubs") will ship wine. Several people have positively mentioned the following (but I don' have any independent knowledge and guarantee nothing!): Geerlings & Wade (Boston, Massachusetts, USA) 1-800-782-WINE. -------------------- *7. SPECIFIC WINES -------------------- *7.1 GRAPES Before you talk about specific wines, one must talk about grapes. While there are lots of grapes in the world (travel up and down the "Central Valley" of California and see all the "table" grapes), there are a select few which are used for making the best wines. These are known as "noble" grapes. [A note--I know that there are a LOT of grapes missing, especially a lot of French varieties. As I personally learn more, they'll get added.] Here are some: *7.1.1 Red Wine Grapes --Cabernet Sauvignon: One of the components of French Bordeaux, it is also the major (if not sometimes only) grape in the most popularly drunk American red wines in what might be called, for lack of a better term, the "snob appeal" class. (For in fact there is probably more American jug wine that never sees the cabernet grape drunk each year in the United States than all the cabernet sauvignon from all the wineries in the world put together. Prestige and/or quality are not always equal to popularity.) Cabernet sauvignon contains a lot of tannins that lead to the long aged, "better" red wines. Depending on where it is grown it may smell of cassis and black currants or black cherry and red currants. Some people may notice a cigar box smell. Bell peppers, asparagus, and rhubarb are common tasting notes for cabernet produced from grapes that are not quite ripe. A bit of this sort of character is considered, by some, to be pleasing (the wine is called "herbaceous"), too much of this flavor is unappealing--and the wine will be described as "vegetal". Out tasting at a "fancy" winery I tasted a wine that smelled and tasted so overwhelmingly of asparagus (which I don't like) that I couldn't drink anything else the entire day. The winery people admitted that while some people loved that particular wine, others had the same reaction as myself. --Cabernet Franc: Also a component of Bordeaux, a little is often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon to add bouquet. Some don't think much of it when drunk all by itself. --Gamay: Produces a fruity wine such as French Beaujolais. (The California Gamay Beaujolais is not the same grape, but makes a wine that comes close.) --Grenache: Often used to make rose wine, it is a component of French Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Cotes du Rhone and most other appellations from the south of France. There are also many tasty grenache-based wines from Spain (where it is called garnacha) and from California. --Merlot: The major component of most French Bordeaux, also with less tannin that makes for a smoother characteristic in the wine. Alone (or practically alone), it makes another of the more popular U.S. wines. Though it is like Cabernet, it is usually "rounder". It is often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon. --Nebbiolo: Can be found in California, but is really a grape of the Piedmont area of Northern Italy. Found in Barbaresco and Barolo wines, which can be aged with great success. --Syrah ("true Syrah") and Petite Sirah are not the same, the former a relative of Durif from the Rhone in France (and a major variety in its own right), the latter a variety grown relatively widely in California and said to be genetically the same as the obscure French Durif variety. Both produce more or less deeply- red-colored, tannic, long lived wines, the latter being a bit more "peppery." You might also see Australian Shiraz, which is the same grape variety as the "true" French syrah, but because of differences in growing conditions between the two countries, much of it ends up tasting more like the California petite sirah, perhaps with more of a chocolate note. --Pinot Noir: The only grape in the famous French Red Burgundy appellations of the Cotes de Beaune, Cotes de Nuit and Cote d'or.. Some U.S. winemakers will make Pinot Noir "in the French style." Or not. Interestingly, they are lighter in color (but not flavor) than Bordeaux/Cabernet. --Zinfandel: Mostly from California, it has a great deal of fruit like characteristics. Some young Zinfandels are also "spicy." Good red Zinfandel is often a bargain in restaurants, being less expensive than other wines, but still very drinkable. (Huge quantities of Zinfandel are made into "White Zin," a sweet, uncomplicated (and usually inexpensive) wine that is favored by people who do not drink much wine. A decent White Zinfandel can make a nice "picnic wine." *7.1.2 White Wine Grapes --Chardonnay: Produces French white Burgundy and perhaps the most popular (once again "snob" class--see cabernet sauvignon, above) wines in the U.S. "Give me a glass of white wine" will probably get you Chardonnay at "better" restaurants. (In fact, a lot of jug wine--which is to say, a vast amount of wine--in the United States is made from what are "lesser" grape varieties like French colombard or sultana.) --Chenin Blanc: The major grape planted in the French Loire valley. In the U.S., often used to make a light, fruity wine. --Gewurztraminer: Some confusion abounds this wine, partly because non-German speaking persons may not order it in a restaurant because they can't pronounce it (there is a pronunciation key elsewhere in this document) and partly because of the way in which parts of the word can be translated. I'm told the German word "wuerz" literally means "spice", but "gewuerz" is better translated as "aromatic" or "fragrant." Wine from this grape has a floral smell and the wine itself is often drunk with spicy foods. Gewurztraminer also makes a good "late harvest" sweet dessert wine. It is more common in Alsace, Italy, and the United States than in Germany and many "experts" say Alsace makes the best. --Riesling: Also, to me, producing a floral smelling sort of wine, it also makes a sort of light, fresh type of wine. Makes a great "late harvest" sweet dessert wine (for which it is especially known in Germany). Another viewpoint, it isn't so much floral as "minerally" with accents of fuel oil--not light and fresh, instead, lots of depth and complexity in something like a good German Riesling Spatlese or Alsatian Grand Cru. --Sauvignon Blanc (sometimes called Fume Blanc, at least in California): In the U.S., makes a crisp, light wine (sometimes with a "grassy" characteristic). It is a component (along with Semillon ) of the French dessert wine, Sauternes and the white wines of Bordeaux. --.i.Semillon;. See Sauvignon Blanc (except for the Fume part). Because I am neither an expert or a global traveler, nor independently wealthy, you may notice a lack of discussion about other grapes from around the world. I'm always open for opinions, though! Anybody want to tell me a lot of good things about, for example, Germany, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain (these are things people have written to me about) and you name the list of other countries, wines, producers that I've missed! *7.2 WHAT'S IN A NAME? A "variet" is just a grape, and a varietal is a wine made up of 100% of a particular variety of grape. However, United States law allows that a wine may be labeled in the manner of a varietal if it contains 75% of that variety of grape. So, the next time your bottle says Cabernet Sauvignon, check the label. Perhaps your "Cab" also contains something like Merlot, Cabernet Franc or some other grape. (This isn't a bad idea, since you can give a Cabernet a "smoother" quality by blending in "smoother" grapes.) French wines follow labeling rules which are a bit different. A red Burgundy is made of 100% Pinot Noir, grown in the Burgundy area of France. A French Bordeaux is made with different grapes, but again is grown in the Bordeaux area of France. So your rule for French wines is that they are known by the geographical area of origin (also known as "appellation"), not by grape. Another example is Chablis (which happens to be an area in Burgundy), which is made of 100% Chardonnay. Also, the vintner must follow certain standards and practices in the production of the wine, set out by the Appellation d'Origine Controlee (A.O.C.). The A.O.C. also sets out standards for the quality of wine which range from Vins Delimites de Qualite Superieure (VDQS--the best quality) to Vins de pays ("county wines") to Vins ordinaires (ordinary wine). The A.O.C. system is used throughout Europe. One note about the A.O.C. Like just about all laws, there are those who must feel that they must be broken. There are the oft rumors that unethical producers will dilute their wine with grapes not in accord with the law. Vigilance is required on the part of the government and the consumer. So a quick summary of these rules are that United States wines are characterized by what goes into them while French wines are characterized by where the grapes are grown. Winemakers may also put a very specific area from which their grapes are harvested on the label. For example, there are excellent U.S. Pinot Noirs that come from the "Rochiolli vineyard" in Sonoma. A single producer thus might have a line of 4 or 5 Pinot Noirs, perhaps all from Sonoma, but not all from the same vineyard. Often (but NOT always--to each their own), "better" (or at least more expensive) wine comes form a "better" vineyard. In the United States there are places called "Approved Viticultural Areas" or AVA. If 75% of the wine is grown in that AVA the AVA may be placed on the label. Other terms may be placed on the bottle which the winemaker used to denote a "better" wine (perhaps based on the style of production, aging, grapes, etc.). One such term is "reserve." You may feel, however, that a non-reserve wine (usually less expensive) tastes better to YOU than what the winemaker has labeled "reserve." *7.3 MERITAGE As a merchandising tool, a new name has reached the marketplace. U.S. producers creating blend wines (usually with less than 75% of any particular grape) have agreed to use the term Meritage to designate a high quality wine using Bordeaux style blends of grape varieties. While "Meritage" is a blend that is often used to denote an upscale wine, blends (not labeled Meritage) as such can represent a very good value in the purchase of wine. Look for, example, wines denoted "Table Wine" instead of with any particular grape. *7.4 CHAMPAGNE Champagne is a "sparkling" wine that comes (of course) from the Champagne area of France. Three grapes can be used to make Champagne: Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir. It is produced by a technique known as Methode Champenoise. In Methode Champenoise, there is more than one major fermentation (see FERMENTATION in HOW IS WINE MADE). The first fermentation takes 2 to 3 weeks. The wine is then placed in very sturdy bottles (to withstand the internal pressure that will be part of the process) along with sugar and yeast (Liqueur de Tirage). A temporary cap (just like the type you find on a bottle of beer or soda) is placed on the bottle. The sugar and yeast cause a new fermentation to occur. Since fermentation produces carbon dioxide (the same gas that makes the bubbles in your soda), which can't escape from bottle, what you get is carbonated wine. This fermentation also creates new sediment, which must be removed. This is done by placing the wines on their sides on racks at about a 45 degree down facing angle. Then every day the bottles are turned a bit (called "riddling" or "remuage"), and eventually also tilted farther down. After about 6 or 8 weeks, the sediment has now moved to the neck of the bottle, which the vintner then freezes. The bottle is opened and the force of the pressurized wine pushes the frozen sediment out of the bottle (this is called "disgorgement". Since the bottle is now no longer full, wine and sugar (depending on what sweetness desired) is added. The bottle is then given its permanent cork. Some say Champagne does not mature in the bottle, so you needn't bother cellaring it. Others argue that you may enjoy a little aging on some vintage Champagnes. Mostly, I think they're drunk quick. The French discourage (to put it mildly) the use of the word "Champagne" for sparkling wines made (even in the same manner) elsewhere in the world. Also know that not all sparkling wines are made using the Methode Champenoise. For example, instead of carbonating the wine in the bottle and hand turning the bottles every day, you COULD put the wine into huge stainless steel tanks for the second fermentation. This will get you much cheaper carbonated--or sparkling--wine. [reserved: how to open a bottle of Champagne; styles of Champagne, Naturel, Brut, semi-dry (demi-sec), etc.] *7.5 PORT Port is a "fortified wine". Brandy is added to the wine to stop fermentation before the yeasts eat all the grape sugar, thus yielding a sweeter wine, which is also has a higher alcohol content. True Port comes from Portugal (the Duouro region, to be exact). But since winemakers in other countries have taken to producing "Port," Duouro Port makers have started to call THEIR Port, "Porto," or "Oporto" (from the city in Duouro). There are two main categories of Port: *7.5.1 Vintage Port Wineries will decide ("declare") that the harvest in a some particular years (or "vintages") is worthy of producing this port, which is aged for two years in wood from grapes of that harvest year only. It will also continue to mature once bottled. Not only are not all years declared to be vintage years, but not all wineries may decide within a particular year that THEIR wine is a vintage year, and even in a declared year (which may occur two or three times in a decade) perhaps only 10% of the grapes will go into vintage port (with the balance going to wood ports). So in most years there just is no vintage Port at all! Vintage Ports get much better with age. Generally don't drink them before 15 years. Some can keep getting better for a long time after that--even 100 years. Like most good wine, a vintage port shouldn't be left around undrunk once opened. --Single-Quinta Vintage Port:Quinta This is true vintage Port--wine from one harvest year bottled unblended after two years in cask. When a shipper "declares a vintage", the vintage Port from that year usually comes from wines produced by grapes from various vineyards (quintas). It is said that no one vineyard has all the characteristics to make the best vintage Port--it needs to be blended with other vineyards to be the most complete and complex wine. However, sometimes a producer's single best vineyard will yield grapes fine enough to warrant bottling on their own, while the rest of the vineyards that would normally contribute to a vintage Port weren't as successful. The producer may then choose to vinify this wine from that single vineyard, or "quinta". This is called "single- quinta vintage Port" and the quinta name will appear on the label. So, whereas a Port labelled "Graham's 1991 Vintage Porto" is a vintage Port from a declared year, "Graham's Malvedos 1988 Vintage Porto" is a single-quinta vintage Port from the Quinta dos Malvedos, the best vineyard that Graham's owns. The one exception to this nomenclature is the Quinta do Noval, which is actually a producer, not a single quinta. (Noval's best vineyard is called Nacional, and its single-quinta Port is the rarest, most expensive, and reportedly best of all.) *7.5.2 Wood Port Within this category are three sub-categories, based on color: *7.5.2.1 Ruby Port A dark red, somewhat sweet "full-bodied" wine which has probably been aged in wood for several years. *7.5.2.2 Tawny Port Not such a deep color, it is a "smoother," less sweet wine which may have been aged in wood for 20 years. The difference between tawny Port and ruby Port is simply the amount of time that the wine spends in the wood cask before it is blended and bottled. As the wine ages, the ruby-red color of the young wine becomes paler and browner. Top tawny Ports from the best producers are just as complex and fine (and expensive) as vintage Port, though they will have a different character. (If you find something labeled tawny Port which seems inexpensive--or shall we say, "cheap?," you may have found something produced by blending "tawny" Port with "white" Port. Needless to say, you'll tell the difference and Port connoisseurs will tell you that they aren't worthy of the name "Port" at all.) *7.5.2.3 White Port A sweet white wine made from white grapes grown in the Oporto region of Portugal. As with red Port, fermentation is stopped by adding brandy to the partly fermented wine. Not really like the other (red) Ports, which are usually drunk after a meal, this is usually drunk before a meal. Wood Ports will not get any better by cellaring, so you can drink them as you buy. *7.5.3 Decanting Port As you age your good Port it is going to "throw off" a good amount of sediment which is going to end up in your glass if you don't decant. So, get into the habit of decanting. Unless you like to eat sediment, of course. [Reserved: Expanded discussion of Port. I've got forty pages of notes!] I have no knowledge of, but repeat posted information that there is a a quarterly newsletter called Re: Port. P.O. Box 981, Cherry Hill, New Jersey 09003. Said to list availability and best retail prices for vintage port in the U.S. Apparently a sample copy is available. *7.6 DESSERT WINES *7.6.1 Botrytis While the classification of "dessert" wines can include any number of things, this is where we'll deal with those wines that are affected by "the rot." Not just any rot, however, but the "noble rot,"Botrytis cinerea, a mold which causes the vine disease called grey rot. Some years (but not all), when the weather is exactly right, with warm, sunny afternoons and damp, foggy mornings, the mold doesn't rot the fruit, but affects it in a different way. About 90% of the water in the grape disappears and the grapes shrivel up. Since relatively little of the sugar is lost, you get extremely concentrated and sweet grape juice. These grapes can be harvested and treated specially. Noble Botrytis adds a honeyed, aromatic flavor characteristic of its own to the wine. In the end, what you get is a sweet and, when lucky, an incredibly complex and flavorful liquid that, as it ages, turns from pale yellow to dark gold, maturing and concentrating the flavors. The most famous of these wines is the French Sauternes, and the most famous French Sauternes is Chateau d'Yquem. It may take an entire vine to produce one glass of this precious liquid which is barrel aged for 3 1/2 years before bottling. But even then, it should not be drunk for at least 20 years! It merely gets better and better and could be drunk after 100 years. One can go on and on, gushing over this, but there is nothing quite like the myriad of intense flavors that come from an aged bottle of this rich, sweet, complicated wine. Chateau d'Yquem is so good that stands alone, classified "Grand Premier Cru" (first great growth). Other Sauternes will be classified "premier crus" (first growth) and "deuxiemes crus" (second growth). Sauternes are often comprised of 80% Semillon and 20% Sauvigon Blanc. Since what is normally lousy weather contributes to the attack of Botrytis, harvesting grapes can continue past the normal end of season, perhaps into December. Many wineries will produce a "late harvest" wine in the manner of the French Sauternes. So while you will find Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes in Sauternes, you can also find, for example, late harvest Riesling or Gewurztraminer. (I drank a late harvest Chardonnay once. Not great, but interesting. And a good way to get rid of essentially what was "rotten" grapes.) The U.S. wines I have seen do not age nearly as long as Sauternes, but will undergo maturation in the bottle for some time. Other truly great (you decide if they are "better" than Sauternes) sweet dessert wines produced from late-harvest, Botrytis affected grapes include (but certainly aren't necessarily limited to): --German Beerenauslese (BA) and Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA) rieslings from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer and Rheingau regions. They are made from nobly-rotted riesling grapes. TBA is made from the most highly raisined grapes only and is outrageously sweet. Some say these are every bit as good as any Sauternes (including d'Yquem), and they are a lot rarer, since noble rot strikes Germany far less often than Sauternes. --Sweet wines of the Loire valley in France such as Anjou moulleux, sweet Vouvray, Quarts du Chaume, Rochefort, and Bonnezeaux. These are made from Botrytis-affected chenin blanc grapes. *7.6.2 Eiswein a.k.a. Icewine Another popular category of dessert wine is Eiswein (a.k.a. Icewine, although strictly speaking that is, I'm told, a trademark of the Vintners' Quality Association, Ontario, Canada). Eiswein is produced by leaving the grapes on the vine until start to become raisins (see the discussion of sauternes, above) and until they freeze. Temperatures of -7C (20F) or below are required. The wine is then pressed, and the shards of (water) ice are removed. The combination of extremely overripe grapes with the concentration resulting from removing the excess water produces an extremely sweet, intense, luscious wine. Eiswein was originally developed in Germany in the 18th century, and is now produced in several areas along the northern and southern fringes of the world's wine-producing areas, including northern Germany, the northern United States, and New Zealand. However, the biggest production now comes from Ontario, Canada, where Eiswein has become a dominant part of the wine industry. In Germany and elsewhere, most Eiswein is made from Reisling, and a few other varieties. In Ontario, most is made from Vidal, a thick-skinned hybrid grape well-suited to the purpose. The result is a thick, fruity wine, with flavors ranging from apricot to fruit salad and tropical fruits Ontario Eiswein is typically produced with juice at a level of 45 brix (as compared to 22 brix for a table wine). Often a "second pressing" of icewine grapes, with somewhat lower brix levels, is used to make a "Select Late Harvest" wine. The flavors of these "baby icewines" are similar to icewine, but with lower intensity and much lower prices. Some attempts have been made, in areas not "blessed" with a cold winter, to produce Eiswein artificially, by putting grapes in a freezer. The results are typically described as "good but not great." One reason is that the grapes are usually not left to overripen as much as they are when the "natural" process is used. On the other hand, it is usually a lot cheaper. ------------------------- *8. SPECIFIC PRODUCERS ------------------------- I'm not sure a FAQ is the best place to start up a huge database of wines and what people think about them. Maybe. I'm open to suggestion. But some wines just keep getting mentioned so here goes: *8.1 OPUS ONE Why does this get asked about so often? Perhaps there is a certain snob appeal in buying/ordering this wine. Recently while dining out I overheard another table (clearly owners of a wine shop) being asked by the restaurant manager whether the establishment should purchase some Opus One. They hemmed and hawed and politely noted that it was a "high end" item and perhaps there were other wines that would be just as good for lesser price. That sums up a lot of what I have heard of this wine, a joint production between Robert Mondavi and the late Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Bordeaux attempting to produce French style wine with California grapes. The consensus of posts we have seen were that Opus One is a generally well made wine that is overpriced but will be reliable to people ordering in restaurants who don't know much about better (or just as good) less expensive wines. I've never tasted it, so try some, if you can (and want to make up your own mind). --------------------- *9. FOOD AND WINE --------------------- This subject is enormous. Perhaps as time goes by I'll develop a listing, but we'll start with some basics. Drink red wines with meat, white wines with fish. Wrong! Drink whatever wine you like that YOU think goes with whatever you are eating. There aren't any rules. The fact that there are some combinations that "many" people think best complement food and wine may be a guide, but if YOU don't like it, or you like something else, do it! And red wine goes very well with tuna, thank you. From a chemical standpoint, what you do when drinking wine can have an enormous impact on what you drink (or whether you should drink at all). Try an experiment. Dissolve 1/8th teaspoon salt in a gallon of water. Do the same with sugar and another gallon of water. Take a sip of one then taste a wine. Try it with the other. You may be very surprised. Your taste buds are extremely sensitive. The addition of food will radically change the way a wine can taste. This is why tasting wine without eating may steer you wrong when it comes to what you really like. *9.1 FOOD COMBINATIONS PEOPLE HAVE LIKED *9.1.1 WINE AND CHOCOLATE Some will say this isn't possible. I think they're wrong. You'll find chocolate notes in Cabernet and this can make it a decent match. Also try Merlot or Zinfandel. A correspondent tells me that there is a chocolatier near the Musee D'Orsay in Paris that has a whole sheet of suggestions for wine with chocolate. Some of the best ideas are, he thinks: Vin Jaune, an "incredible, almost sherried wine" from the Jura; Chateau Chalon; fine solera Malaga; or an assertive young white port. [RESERVED FOR MORE] -------------------------- *10. LEARNING ABOUT WINE -------------------------- *10.1 HOW TO START OUT: A Personal ExperienceHOW TO START OUT: A Personal Experience When I was in college what we drank was jug wine, Sangria, sloe gin fizzes, and the occasional 100% grain alcohol that the pre- med guy would get from the lab. So taste wasn't exactly the idea. For many years, we didn't exactly drink much in the way of any wine at all. Then we were introduced to "good" wine. This wasn't something that you just drank, it was another facet of the meal, food to be enjoyed just like the entree or dessert. About this time a local "fancy" market started doing "winemaker dinners." This being California, there was no lack of some of the best people in the state showing up. The market was trying to get business, so it was inexpensive and the 5-course meals were great. (Thanks, Claudia.) And so was a lot of the wine. While it was interesting to listen to the stories the producers would tell (and try to decipher some of the questions that the knowledgeable folk asked), the most important part was that this was a way to be introduced to a lot of different wines, alone, and with food. Dri, who has the memory between us, could remember what was good, or what she or I liked, and still can to this day. I'm a lot slower and my test (I thought I'd invented it, but then saw it in a magazine--later) was the "GDE" test. Did it "go down easy?" Matching wines was Dri's job and I knew I liked what I drank. I also started to know what I didn't like. Dri and I don't always agree. Neither will you. We bought a few books and started to visit wineries, mostly in California, some in Washington and Oregon. We went on the tours, some of which were big and crowded. As we gathered up our nerve about us, we found that we could make appointments at little wineries which would show just the two of us around (often it would be the owner/winemaker doing the tour), talk to us for hours about their operation and about wine, and let us taste some of the "good stuff." (Word of mouth is always good advertising.) It also turned out that some "big" wineries will do the same, just for the asking. After a while one tour looks like another, but we just like being in the usually cool winery and drinking in the scents of grape and wine and wood that jump out at you--and learning about the winemaker/owners. Even when there is no tour, many small wineries will, on appointment, let you taste. (Please, don't be pushy with them. They're doing you a favor, too. They have a business to run and lives to live. We always ask if they have time and when is best for them!) We didn't try to hit every place on Highway 29 or the Silverado Trail, we slowly picked a few places that we thought had good wine, and went and spent time. And bought some to keep. So now we drink more wine and we're still learning. We found, as most will tell you, that the best way to learn about wine is to drink it. So true. Lectures, books, magazines, this guide, other people, etc., will help you and maybe get you started along the right track. But what they have to say are just clues to the easily solved puzzle of what YOU will like. Two interesting learning tools: restaurants that serve fine wines by the glass or have multi-course fixed price meals serving different wines for each course and wine tastings (often of verticals that will let you see just how a wine ages and when it is young, ready, or too old all at one sitting). Many restaurants have wine tastings as do wine clubs and associations. You can also do your own wine tastings (everybody brings a bottle of something, perhaps all reds, or all one varietal, etc.). Perhaps you host and have the guests chip in on the costs. This way you avoid duplication of bottles. *10.2 HOW TO START OUT: General ideasHOW TO START OUT: General ideas Read Kevin Zraly's "Windows on the World Wine Course", a very easy to read book with lots of graphics. Take a wine appreciation class. These can usually be found through university extension, junior/community colleges or even large wine shops. All three of these options are available in San Diego. These will introduce you to terminology, basic wine types, how to evaluate wines, etc. Find a tasting group, or a good wine shop that puts on tastings, preferably both. It is prohibitively expensive to taste a lot of wines if you have to buy a full bottle for each wine. Typically, a good wine shop should be able to point you to a few good tasting groups. There's usually a "Les Amis Du Vin" chapter in most major cities. If all else fails, get some friends together (who at least enjoy wines--and maybe even if they don't) for wine tastings. It's also not a bad idea to make friends with people who have cellars full of wine (!). Get copies of wine tasting newsletters, and try several wines recommended by each of them to see which ones most closely match your palate, then subscribe to the most appropriate ones. There's a listing of these resources elsewhere in this document. An important thing to do for any person who wants to start drinking better wine, is to find one or two wine merchants that you like, and to become recognized as a loyal customer, even if you don't initially spend a great deal. See which shops have tastings open to their customers. Tell the proprietor about your interests, taste, and budget. Many wine shop owners are enthusiasts who love to help (and talk) about wine. Try the offered wines then decide whether the wine is as the proprietor described it? Is it about what you asked for? If so, go back for more. A good merchant will repay your loyalty (and you'll repay theirs, and so on . . . ) *10.3 INTERNET SOURCES *10.3.1 Usenet Groups --There are currently two Usenet groups: rec.food.drink and alt.food.wine. Availability differs, of course, by site. If you can't get a group, ask your site administrator if he or she will add it. Many people post wine-related information to alt.bacchus. I have refrained from doing so as it is my understanding that the charter for that group is for other purposes. There has been some discussion of creating a group such as rec.food.wine which by virtue of being part of the rec.* hierarchy would be more widely available. To date, this idea has not taken hold. For more information on widely-accepted procedures for creating groups, check news.answers. *10.3.1.1 A Suggestion about Posting to Usenet In many groups, codes have evolved to make skimming the posts more manageable. For example: TN for "tasting notes". Better yet, "TN: '92 Opus One, '91 Caymus Reserve." So long as there is an archive that will sort as well as the one maintained by Grapevine, heading posts in this manner makes it VERY easy to retrieve the information you want. I'd also suggest something like "WN: Sterling, Grgich" for impressions upon visiting wineries. *10.3.2 Listservs --BEER-L: BEER-L@UA1VM.UA.EDU (list); LISTSERV@UA1VM.UA.EDU (listserv). Primarily for discussion of making and tasting of beer, but some HOME-MADE wine talk. --FOODWINE: FOODWINE@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU (list); LISTSERV@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU (listserv) --HOMEBREW%HPFCMR: homebrew%hpfcmr@HPLABS.HP.COM (list); homebrew-request%hpfcmr@HPLABS.HP.COM (listserv). Primarily for discussion of making and tasting of beer, but some HOME-MADE wine talk. --OZWINE: OZWINE@KOALA.CS.COWAN.EDU.AU (list); MAISER@KOALA.CS.COWAN.EDU.AU (listserv). Discussion of Australian and New Zealand wines. *10.3.3 Sites, including WWW and Gopher My how the 'net has grown. When I started this document, the Internet (does it really have a capital "I"?) seemed a smaller world of private individuals using educational, corporate and military computers to connect to the world in a community minded way (I'm ignoring the true reasons that gave birth to the Internet, that's another book that's been written already--not by me.) Now I'm not sure whether what I read is truly informational or a blatant act of fiction promulgated overtly or covertly by commercial interests. For that matter, why believe anything *I* say? And even if not fictional, am I getting the *whole* story when the site I visit limits their "information" only to advertisers/supporters of the site? There seems no way to stop the rush to commercialization of the World Wide Web, but I can complain about it, can't I? Some of the sites listed below are commercial, others appear to be private. Once AGAIN, caveat emptor, "Let the buyer beware." This area is probably the one that will go out of date faster than yesterday's news. I can't personally either test for the existence (or continued) existence all of these resources. E- mail me with corrections, if you'd like! *10.3.3.1 Annotated Internet Sites --WWW Glossary of Terms. URL: http://metcon.met.co.nz/nwfc/beard/www/wine_glossary.html#stoney --Grapevine has a few reviews, but more importantly, has an archive of rec.food.drink. URL: http://www.terra.net/grapevine/. --WWW Resource Page from Jarrett Paschel. URL: http://augustus.csscr.washington.edu/personal/bigstar- mosaic/wine.html Expects to include tasting notes, touring notes to Washington State wineries and links to other WWW resources on wine. Was the first to place this FAQ on the web. (Thanks, again.) *10.3.3.2 Formatted Internet Sites See Appendix A for my current bookmark file. Perhaps better yet, check out Dean Tudor's monthly list at URL:
  • Dean Tudor's Wine Beers & Spirits of the Net *10.4 BOOKS (In alphabetical order; may be paperback. No, I don't have an affiliation with any of these! Books marked with ** are ones which have been recommended by others but have not been seen by me. I provide absolute NO representation about the value, worth or usefulness of any of reference.) --**American Wine Society Publications. Source for technical wine publications. Call (716) 225-7613. --**THE GAME OF WINE by Forrest Wallace and Gilbert Cross "Charming, witty and full of anecdotes, recipes and advice." Sounds like fun reading about the entire concept of drinking wine, not just another tomb about wine drinking. --**HOW AND WHY TO BUILD A WINE CELLAR, by Richard Gold. --**HOW TO TEST AND IMPROVE YOUR JUDGING ABILITY by ? Marcus. 97 page booklet. Describes common wine flaws. --**Hugh Johnson, Hugh: Several classic and well-regarded works, including the annual Pocket Guide containing varietals, terms, regions, producers and vineyards, vintages, wine and food, etc. One poster did mention about the pocket guide: "not recommended for the extremely myopic." Non-pocket version available at a higher price. --**KELLGREN'S WINE BOOK CATALOG, Specialty Books Company, P.O. Box 616, Croton-On-Hudson, New York, 10520-0616, 1-800-274-4816. Book store or service. Free catalog may be available at the phone number shown. --**MASTERGLASS, Jancis Robinson. [publication info ?] Contains (I'm told) an excellent, unpretentious list of wine terms. --PARKER'S WINE BUYER'S GUIDE, Robert M. Parker, Jr. (Simon and Schuster/Firestone): Notwithstanding negative comments one might hear about "Parker," this is an excellent reference. It lists 7500 wines from around the world and can give you a very good idea of what is good or bad (though, as always, YOU may not agree with the tastes of the author). There is introductory information on, among other things, how to buy and store wine and aging of the wine. There is an overview of wine growing areas, ideas about the quality of the wine in recent years from those areas and commentaries about specific wines. A numerical rating system is used. Over 1000 pages, my latest copy (1993, 3rd edition) was US $21.00. --**SOTHEBY'S WORLD WINE ENCYCLOPEDIA by Tom Stevenson (1988, 480 pages.), US $40, Bulfinch Press, Little Brown & Company; 25 British Pounds, Dorling Kindersley UK. Glossy format with colored pictures. Wine regions, producers, maps, aging, varieties. Comprehensive wine reference. Probably dated if no new publication since 1988. --**THE WINES OF FRANCE by Steven Spurrier, Steven. [Publication data ?]. "Great addition to any library, and his section on the grapes used in wine is excellent, comprehensive and to be trusted." --**UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS BOOK CATALOG contains a number of books about wine. --**VINTAGE TIME CHARTS, Jancis Robinson Descriptions of how long to age particular wines. Described as the "classic" work. --Windows on the World Complete Wine Course by Kevin Zaraly. Sterling Publishing Company. My copy printed 1993, marked at US $22.95. "Helpful for people getting started." --**Wine Appreciation Guild Catalog. Wine Appreciation Guild, 155 Connecticut Street, San Francisco, California 94107. Large selection of books; retail and wholesale orders. Catalog has blurb on each book and therefore is a good reference all by itself. --**The Wine Book by Oz Clark. --**VINES, GRAPES, AND WINES by James Robinson discusses grape varieties worldwide. --**WINE SPECTATOR'S ULTIMATE GUIDE TO BUYING WINE, Wine Specta- tor Press, a division of M. Shanken Communications. (212) 684- 4224 or fax (212) 684-5424. US $19.95. --WINE TASTING, Michael Broadbent (Fireside/Simon and Schuster; my copy reprinted 1990, marked at US $10.95). This pocket sized book is very nice, small (with tiny print), yet in-depth. It isn't about particular producers, its about WINE. What it looks, smells and tastes like. How to taste. Color plates to show how wine changes. Nice section on how to put on a serious wine tasting. *10.5 MAGAZINES AND NEWSLETTERS (In alphabetical order. No affiliation with these, either. . . . Same this I said about books goes here, too. Asterisks mean I haven't seen it; reviews collected from various sources. Please let me know about corrections, complaints, changes, errors, etc.! Some publications may provide a free sample.) As with any compilation of this type, many people have many opinions, and the marketplace often works in conjunction with commercial publications, so, as always, Caveat Emptor and let YOUR palate be the guide. --**"Best Bottles Wineletter". Box 21011 Stratford, Ontario Canada N5A 7V4. Written and produced by William Munnelly, who purchases and tastes all the wines reviewed. About 30 to 40 pages double-sided. The focus of the publication is wines around or under $10--the idea being you don't have to pay a fortune for a good bottle of wine. Published every other month, by subscription only. Annual subscription fee is Canadian $40 (including GST). --**"The California Grapevine". 6 issues/yr. Approximately 20 pages per issue, U.S. $30/year. P.O. Box 22152, San Diego, CA 92192, (619) 457-4818. Focus on California wines, particularly Cabernet and Chardonnay. Some coverage of classified Bordeaux. Book reviews by Bob Foster. Articles by Dan Berger. Wines are evaluated by a panel of 10 to 12 on a modified Davis Scale (20 point scale). Due to the large panel size, the wines that are recommended tend to have wide appeal. [Note: Dan Berger is the wine writer for the Los Angeles Times. This household tends to agree with his palate and writings a great deal of the time!] --**"Connoisseur's Guide to California Wine". Monthly, no advertising. Approximately 16 pages per issue, $42/yr. P.O. Box V, Alameda, CA 94501, (510) 865-3150. Focus is strictly on California and U.S. wines. Each issue reviews two to three classes of wine, with 20-40 wines per class. Wines are evaluated by a panel of two on a 5-point scale (0-3 Puffs + Pour it down the drain). Reviewers are said to have "California palates", which means they like big, intense, chewy wines. [Opposing comments welcome!] **"Decanter". Glossy British wine trade publication recommended by some. U.S. $75 to $80 per year. Available at some large bookstores and magazine racks in the U.S. --**"The Fine Wine Review". Approximately 16 pages per issue. U.S. $28.93 per year. 2449 Jackson St., San Francisco, CA 94115- 1324, (415) 922-2755. International in scope, each issue tends to focus on one wine type, for instance, Northern Rhones. An individual reviewer, Claude Kolm, evaluates on a 100 point scale ("objective, no context scale"), and also A/B/C/D/F ("how good the wine is compared to other wines of the same type"). Some feel Mr. Kolm is more reliable than some of the other wine critics. --**"La Revue du Vin de France". 9 issues per year. 70p+8p per issue, 430FF per year. 18-20 rue Guynemer, 92441 Issy les Moulineaux Cedex, France; telephone: 33 1 40 95 86 00; fax: 33 1 40 95 18 81. Mainly French wines. Two special issues per year, one devoted to the new vintage (usually in June), and the last of the year called "les 500" which featuring the 500 best wines tasted during the year. Each issue contains 8 pages of tasting notes called "le cahier de degustation." Also articles about a special regions, a chateaus. Wines are either given a note (out of 10) or evaluated using a 5 stars notation for hard to judge wine. --**"New York Wine Cellar". Tanzer Business Communications, Inc. P.O. Box 392, Prince Station, New York, New York 10012. Interviews, ratings. Bi-monthly US $48; foreign air mail US $60. --**"The Quarterly Review of Wines". 4 issues per year. Approximately 70 pages per issue. U.S. $13.95 per year. P.O. Box 591, Winchester, MA 01890-9988. Glossy magazine. Mostly articles, few reviews. Doesn't give ratings. --**"Underground Wine Journal". Wine Journal Enterprises, 1654 Amberwood Drive, Suite A., South Pasadena, California 91030. (818) 441-6617. U.S. $48/year. International in scope, with good coverage of German and French wines, vertical and horizontal tastings of individual wine producers. Wines are evaluated by two or three reviewers on a modified Davis scale (20 point scale). Some say "very reliable reviews." --**"The Vine". British newsletter by Clive Coats. --"The Wine Advocate". From Robert Parker, Jr., an "independent consumer's guide to fine wines" published 6 times a year. The 1993 Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide says that The Wine Advocate costs $35.00 for delivery in the continental United States, $45.00 in Canada and $65.00 by air-mail delivery anywhere in the world (I'm assuming all prices in $US). For subscriptions or a sample copy write to The Wine Advocate, P.O. Box 311, Monkton, MD 21120, or fax to 410-357-4504. Mr. Parker is said not to be afraid to take a stand on a controversial wine, but some don't agree with his conclusions (why should they, to each their own!). --**".i.Wine Enthusiast Magazine. 6 issues per year. Approximately 52 pages per issue. U.S. $17.70 per year. 800- 356-8466 to subscribe Published by Wine Enthusiast Companies which consists mainly of a wine gadgets store and the magazine. Mostly articles and a few reviews. --**"The Wine News". 6 issues per year, approximately 40 pages per issue. U.S $18 per year. 353 Alcazar Avenue, Suite 101-B Coral Gables, Florida 33134. Includes review magazine "Inside Wine" Said to be similar to "The Wine Spectator" with large format and the same coverage. --"The Wine Spectator": A large, glossy format with lots of pictures. While considered by some "serious" (too serious?) types to be a lot of fluff ("the National Enquirer of wine"), it can be fun to read and is every bit as informative as a handbook at least to someone with little experience, and to the experienced as well. Lots of wine buying guides, reports from vertical tastings, and even restaurant recipes. Some have speculated about the cause and effect of advertising on ratings. 1994--Cover price: Canada $3.95; US $2.95; UK Pounds 2.50. Subscription Price US $40/year, $75/2 years. Call 1-800-752-7799 or send to P.O. Box 50463, Boulder, CO. 80321-0463. **"Wine Tidings. 8 issues per year. Approximately 30 pages per issue. U.S. $35 per year. 5165 Sherbrooke St West, Montreal QC H4A 9Z9. Mostly articles. Some reviewers felt that it was a bit expensive for what you get. *10.6 ELECTRONIC RESOURCES (No affiliation. Asterisks mean I haven't seen it.) --**Wines of the World: CD-ROM on wine browsing, making wine, wine appreciation. On-line videos of wine regions, wine making processes, etc. Windows and Macintosh. *10.7 COURSES ON WINE --University of California at Davis confers college degrees. --Wine & Spirit Education Trust, Five Kings House, 1 Queen Street Place, London EC4R 1QS, Great Britain. Provides three levels of wine courses, Certificate, Higher Certificate and Diploma (required to become a "Master of Wine"). *10.8 WINERIES Many people have asked for an on-line compendium of every winery in existence. This is a task beyond me, at least to start! Besides, there are plenty of books (see the section on BOOKS, what else?) which will tell you a lot more, in more current fashion, than anything that this guide can do. At this writing there is a listing of "some" wineries available by WWW (see the INTERNET section). It would appear that a lot of the web sites are commercial advertisements for the wineries. While they may be useful, they certainly do not provide a complete view of any wine area, at least last time I looked. A book would be better. My feelings about wineries are contained in the section: A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, so you can read it there. Wineries are an excellent place to learn about wine. *10.9 WINE TASTINGS Horace Rumpole, aging Old Bailey hack, attending what undoubtedly was his first wine tasting after many years consuming the less than stately Chateau Thames Embankment, given a somewhat more pleasing claret, found that it was a vintage "Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth, tasting of Flora and the country green." And while he reveled in drinking the "flavour of Dance, and Provencal song, and sunburnt mirth, mixed with a dash of wild strawberries," he was bedeviled by a fellow taster who demanded: "can't you spit?" [For a fun time, read Rumpole and the Blind Tasting, in Rumpole's Last Case, by John Mortimer , Penguin Books. Or read any Rumpole story! Also a popular TV program. Also a popular audio series, especially when performed (not just read) by Leo McKern--doing all the voices. OK, so wine isn't the only thing I like....] Poor Rumpole. All he was trying to do was enjoy a decent wine and he is reproached for failing to use the expectoration area. Of course the idea is that you don't DRINK the wine, you merely TASTE it. Among other things, this means that you don't get drunk. The concept of spittoons, or sandboxes, properly placed, is real factor in "real" tastings. It should be OK to drink the wine when there aren't many being served and care is taken. But if there is a large number of wines to sample, drinking them all is going to become a problem. On the other hand, you don't have to be all uppity about tasting wine. Friends gathering to try out a number of wines (in moderation) is a good way to learn about wine. "Dumping" the glass eventually is a good idea just to avoid the drunkenness, which, among other things, will prevent you from learning anything at all. The really serious also get into "blind tastings" where the participants (often contestants) must identify not only the type of wine, but the vintage and producer. There are those who can do that; there are also those who think the only way you CAN do that is to practice it 3 or 4 times a week. Having never participated in a blind tasting (and since I have an abysmal memory, I doubt that I ever will), I cannot attest to how much fun such a contest is. There are certainly those who take great pleasure in it. An interesting idea in any event is to taste a "first label" against the "second label" of a vintner. Some wineries will put out their best wine under their own name, and then use a different label for wine that they like but don't think is worthy of their normal production. Tasting between the two can give a good opportunity to see what the winemaker thinks about similar products. *10.10 WINE CRITICS --*ROBERT PARKER Robert Parker, is?/was an attorney, who was able to do something (like some other attorneys, John Mortimer--more accurately a barrister?--and William Daniels--an actor--come to mind) which suited his interests and was a whole lot more fun. He got to become the ultimate wine expert. Lots of people "don't like Robert Parker." They miss the point. Robert Parker, like all of us, has his own likes and dislikes. The fact that "Parker" likes a wine is completely of no consequence; if YOU don't like the wine (or vice-versa). If you wish to follow Parker because you know nothing about a wine and want to know where to begin, that's certainly fine, and not a bad idea. If you like a wine and Parker doesn't and you change your mind about it because you believe Parker over your own palate, then I'll wonder about you. Taste is on the tongue of the beholder. The only TRUE problem with Parker is that if he REALLY LIKES a wine, don't wait around long trying to find it. It'll be gone before you get a chance to buy (or the price will increase out of your range). Fortunately there are quite a few wines that Parker doesn't like that many find absolutely wonderful and remain bargains. Since wine making is an annual event, you get to figure this out every year. (A NOTE: Posts indicate that Mr. Parker has an investment in a winery (with his brother-in-law) in Oregon; that he does not re- view the wine, nor mention the name of the wine in his writings and reviews. Posts generally liked the Pinot.) ------------------------------- *11. MEDICAL NOTES ABOUT WINE ------------------------------- Alcohol can damage your liver. On the other hand, there has been much suggestion that the drinking of wine is somehow "good for you." While it might calm your nerves a bit, what many want to say is that, for whatever reason, it can protect you from heart disease, perhaps by lowering cholesterol. Some point to those parts of the world where people eat high fat diets, drink lots of wine, and live to a very old age. Some of the problems here are statistics. A good statistician can prove black is white, more or less. There may be other factors that are overlooked. The bottom line is that, at this stage of knowledge, it probably isn't a good idea to START drinking to obtain hypothetical protective effects. Whether it helps you if you are drinking is controversial. Most people will agree that if you drink "too much," it is NOT good for you (for a variety of reasons). *11.1 ALLERGIC REACTIONS TO WINE The biggest complaint here is that some people develop headaches from drinking wine. There are several proposed causes. One is that sulfites added by the producer (or can be naturally present in lesser amounts) cause the allergic reaction. Some people say that it is only red wine that causes them a problem. Sulfites are present in both red and white wines. Another possible cause is anthocyanin pigments which are what makes "red" grapes red. These are also present in blue cheese. If both cause you problems, maybe you've found a reason? While there are wines that claim to be sulfite free, most people will tell you that this is not possible, as sulfites exist in nature on the grape. However, the amount would be less if not artificially introduced. But since sulfur dioxide is used to control how the wine is produced (getting rid of unwanted yeasts, molds and bacteria), some feel that you may not get as good a wine. U.S. law requires that wine with over 10 parts per million of sulfites state that the wine "contains" sulfites. Solutions suggested by some (but not recommended or approved by me in any way) are: Drink lots of water before drinking the wine. Take a pain-killer first. The problem with this last one is that aspirin is known to enhance the alcoholic affect. The best answer is, if this is a problem, don't drink wine. Some suggest wines not made from grapes. Wines claiming to be "sulfite free:" --Organic Wine Works, Felton, California. Entire line of reds and whites. *11.2 CALORIES IN WINE Wine has approximately 25 calories per ounce. This can be a little higher or lower depending on the alcohol and sugar content. When cooking with wine, you can end up boiling out the alcohol. The result is that the calorie impact from the wine is drastically reduced. *11.3 PREGNANCY AND WINE; Heavy alcohol use in pregnancy can lead to birth defects. Some doctors feel that the safest course is not to drink any alcohol at all during pregnancy. Others feel that light, occasional drinking has not been shown to be harmful. Check with your doctor! *11.4 WINE AS A SLEEPING AID The general consensus is that alcohol might help you fall asleep immediately but that you'll be up in the middle of the night. A warm glass of milk seems to be a better idea. *11.5 LEAD IN WINE Some people are concerned about high levels of lead in wine. A possible reason is that the high acidity levels in wine help to cause lead to leach out of things that it touches. Lead "capsules" (the foil at the top of the bottle) have all but disappeared from new bottles of wine for this reason. You can wipe the top of a bottle with a damp cloth before pouring if you have an older bottle with a lead capsule. There is some reason to believe that lead can be leached out of lead crystal glasses. Whether this occurs in significant numbers in the short run I do not at this time know, but I have read some material that indicates it is not a good idea to store an alcoholic beverage in crystal decanters for long periods of time. ----------------- *12. TOURING ----------------- *12.1 CALIFORNIA CALIFORNIA WINE LINE. 1-800-946-3546. Free taped reports about all wine growing regions in the state, along with interviews, vineyard views and "what's going on in working wineries." Provides switchboard access to wineries and wine associations. Wine notes from Michael O'Shea. I don't know who exactly puts this together, but it includes a wine buying club and club discounts, so it is probably a commercial enterprise. Caveat emptor. *12.1.1 NAPA [Reserved] *12.1.2 SONOMA Sonoma County Wine & Visitor's Center. 1-800-939-7666. *12.2 CANADA *12.2.1 NIAGARA PENINSULA You may wish to tour the wineries of the Niagara Peninsula in southern Ontario. After visiting the famous Falls, the Wine Route can provide an interesting summer afternoon drive. One end is on the Niagara Parkway, between Queenston Heights and Niagara- on-the-Lake, and it wanders through the vineyards and orchards to the Niagara Bench area and the town of Grimsby. It passes near about 25 wineries. The route, not counting stops, takes 2-3 hours to drive. Coach tours are available. Most of the wineries provide free tastings. However, if you want to try Ontario's famous Eiswein (icewine) you will probably have to pay a little - it's too expensive to give away. *12.3 FRANCE A railway trip follows the "wine route" through the Moselle valley, with impressive views of the area. [I know, there's lots more, but I've never been to France.] ----------------- *13. MISCELLANY ----------------- *13.1 KOSHER WINE When I think of Kosher wine, I think of Mogan David. Most of those wines are sweetened and some use artificial flavors. Posts have spoken of other producers: --Carmel --Baron Herzog (California) --Gan Eden (California) --Galil (Israel) --Golan Heights (Golan Heights) --Royal Kedem (Israel) --Weinstock (California) --Yarden (Golan Heights) *13.2 IMPORTING --INTO THE U.S. I've not checked the following information. Check with Customs! Posts indicate: You are allowed to bring into the U.S. some amount of liquor duty free. After that, 10% flat rate for the first $1000 above the $400 duty free limit (for most other items) allowed. You must carry the wine with you. Mailing/shipping it back requires an importer, and some say it will disappear in any event. *13.3 PAN-GALACTIC GARGLE BLASTER While I wouldn't bet that there is any wine in a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, who knows? Check with Zaphod Beeblebrox. *13.4 SHIPPING If you ARE shipping wine, take note that many wineries will hold off shipment to accommodate either your schedule or the weather. You probably don't want your wine sitting around a very hot loading dock in the middle of summer. Check the formatted World Wide Web Sites (Appendix A) for some URL's discussing legal aspects of wine and the shipping of wine. *13.5 REMOVING LABELS FROM BOTTLES Several suggestions here, but I haven't seen and/or done any of them. --There is mention of a plastic laminate that is stuck onto a bottle. In peeling it off, you get a plastic preserved label, all in one step. They say to check for ads in the Wine Spectator. --Heat with a hair dryer, then peel off the label. --Soak about 20 minutes in moderately hot water with a couple drops of dish detergent. Peel off. If they still don't come off, try carefully using a single-edged razor at "exactly the right angle" to help slice it off the bottle (careful not to slice yourself or the label). *13.6 MY SIGNIFICANT OTHER DOESN'T LIKE RED WINE It seems that the natural progression when learning about and drinking wine is to move from light fruity white wine to light fruity red wine, then to the more hearty and more aged red wines. A constant question turns out to be (paraphrased) "what red wine do I give my significant other who doesn't like red wine?" The answer is: "None. Water would be nice." Why drink wine if you don't want to? Why drink something you don't want? But, for those who want an answer, here's a sampling (not all tried my me, and already I have letters that the list is completely wrong!): Bardolino. Beaujolais. Bergerac. Cotes du Frontonnais. Dolcetto. Gamay. Grenache Rose. Lighter Pinot Noirs. Rioja Gran Reserva. Rose. Valpolicella *13.7 RECIPES *13.7.1 Wine Coolers (I've never made this....) ----Two bottles red wine (don't spend a lot!). 1 container frozen orange juice concentrate. Several cinnamon sticks, several whole cloves. Chill and serve in a punch bowl with strawberries on top. Add soda water for a weaker concoction. *APPENDIX A. FORMATTED WEB SITES Here is my April, 1995 list of formatted sites which was created by randomly surfing the web and adding the links to my bookmark file, then washing the file through a PC program that removes duplicates. Unfortunately, a duplicate means JUST that, the exact same link. If I happened to hit Web pages at the same site, they will still be in the list (though some I have left intentionally). You should be able to transfer this list to a bookmark file and use them as is. Before you do, however, you may wish to check out the very link listed. Mr. Tudor prepares what is considered to be the most up- to-date, extensive web list of sites on Wine, Beers and Spirits.
  • Dean Tudor's Wine Beers & Spirits of the Net
  • Washington Wine Tour
  • Grapevine
  • Legal Issues Related to Wine
  • Legal Information on Wine Shipments
  • Magic Windows Home Page
  • American Wine
  • Virtual Vineyards
  • The Grapevine
  • Burgundy Cellar
  • Fuji Wine Page
  • Sam's
  • Warehouse Wines
  • Nicks
  • Napa Wine Page
  • T Shirt catalog
  • CCC Wine Page
  • Croatia Wine Page
  • Wine Bargain Page
  • UC Davis Page
  • HSCA
  • Wine Weekly
  • Wine Page
  • Wine Labels
  • Hungary
  • Slovenia
  • Bath page
  • South Africa
  • Casa del Vino - World Wide Winery
  • Clos LaChance Wines
  • Forest Hill Vineyard
  • Orfila Vineyards
  • Portland Oregon Visitor Information Server
  • Sonoma County Wine and Visitors Center
  • Appelation Spring
  • Cornell Wine Research and Extension
  • Hungarian Wine Regions
  • Les Vignerons [netmarket.com]
  • NetMarket
  • Nicks Wine Merchants
  • Outrageous Wine Lover's List
  • Sam's Wine Warehouse
  • South African Wines - Teletimes February 94
  • Stefan Institute
  • University of the Witwatersrand Computer Science Department
  • Warehouse Wines and Liquors
  • Wine (csscr.washington.Edu)
  • Wine mailing-list
  • Wine.com
  • Wines on the Internet
  • Wi neries
  • Wines of Slovenia
  • Decanter Magazine
  • Sam's Wine Warehouse
  • Nick's Wine Merchants
  • Wineries of Northern Michigan
  • Nicks Wine Merchants in Australia
  • Harvard-Simthsonian CfA Wine Page
  • Sam's Wine and Liquors
  • Wine Weekly
  • California's Central Coast Wineries
  • Napa Valley Wineries
  • Henry of Pelham
  • Virtual Vineyards
  • Society of Wine Educators.
  • Quick Wine
  • Croatian Wines
  • Hungarian Wine regions
  • Long Island Wines
  • Northern Michigan
  • New York State
  • Santa Barbara County
  • Slovenia
  • Sonoma County
  • South African Wines
  • Washington State
  • Grapevine Server
  • Wine Research and Extension
  • Wine Weekly
  • Wine Net News
  • Bath University Students Union Wine Society
  • The wine society
  • Club Oenologie Francois Rabelais
  • Wine.COM
  • Magic Windows
  • Warehouse Wines and Liquors
  • Clos La Chance Wines
  • Ambrosia
  • The Internte Wine Rack
  • The Wine Specialists
  • Les Vignerons Inc.
  • Forest Hill Vineyard
  • Orfila Vineyards
  • Wines on the Internet (tm)
  • Nicks Wine Merchants
  • Fattoria di Tregole
  • Appellation Spring's Winery T-Shirt Online Catalog
  • World Wide Winery
  • Cellar Masters Club of America (tm)
  • Robin Garr's Wine Bargain Page
  • Wine Page
  • Chester's Wine Page
  • alt.food.wine
  • rec.food.drink
  • rec.crafts.winemaking
  • Ars Et Vinum
  • http://www.yah oo.com/Entertainment/Drinks/Alcoholic_Drinks/Wine
  • Companies@
  • CSIRO Grapevine Server
  • Institutes
  • Society of Wine Educators
  • Wineries @
  • WWWW* - World Wide Web Winemaking
  • Usenet - rec.crafts.winemaking
  • Henry of Pelham Winery
  • Rhebokskloof Estate Wines
  • Six Mile Creek Vineyard
  • World Wide Wine Connection
  • * California's Wine Industry Committee
  • Utah Law: HB0345 Regulating Sale of Wine
  • European Wine Reviews.
  • University of California Dep. of Viticulture & Enology
  • Food Center
  • [LINK]
  • [LINK]
  • NY State Wineries
  • US Wine Appellations
  • The Wine Bargain Page
  • ARS ET VINUM
  • The Wine Page
  • Crossroads
  • Clay's Beer and Wine Reference ================================================================================ All portions of this guide, whether contained in one document or in part are: Copyright 1994 Bradford S. Brown 1994 Bradford S. Brown COPYRIGHT INFORMATION AND DISCLAIMER - PLEASE READ This article is Copyright 1994 by Bradford S. Brown. It may not be sold for profit, quoted in whole or in part, or incorporated in commercial or non-commercial documents or reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the copyright holder. Permission may be expressly granted for this document to be made available for file transfer from installations offering unrestricted anonymous file transfer on the Internet, or other forms of file transfer currently known or to be invented in the future. Obtain permission from the copyright holder. If such permission is granted, such distribution shall be allowed only if this guide is distributed in its entirety and that all copyright notices and disclaimers are included. This article is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. While all information in this guide is believed to be correct at the time of writing, this guide is for entertainment purposes only and does not purport to provide advice. If you require advice, look elsewhere. The authors of this guide cannot accept any liability for any consequences arising from the use of this guide or from the information contained in this guide. This guide was completed on April 24, 1995. END.