Wine lovers, novices and long-time aficionados alike, are treated with the opportunity to taste new and exciting wines regularly, thanks to these wine clubs. If you still haven’t joined any wine club, maybe the following benefits would excite you to quickly sign up on one:

• Instead of going to wine shops, you have the advantage of receiving top quality wines for a reasonable price on a monthly basis. Your high quality wines are courtesy of a panel of wine experts who have done all the research for you.
• You can also enjoy an exclusive access to selections that are normally not offered to just about any connoisseur.
• You can have the chance to partake in wine tasting of yet-to-be released varieties.
• Wince clubs can also help you increase your wine knowledge with literature and information related to high quality wines, wine maker, and the types of grapes that are being used. Even as life-long wine lover, there’s always something new for you to learn.
• Your can stock up and add items to your collection without having to face rows and rows of wines inside wine shops.

A wine club will help you become a wine expert within a few months. With all these advantages, joining a monthly wine club is truly a fruitful investment.

To master the wine tasting basics, there are three things that you have to consider: the wine’s appearance, smell and taste.

Appearance: Color and clarity

Tilt up your glass in front of a light then notice the color - it can indicate the wine’s age and freshness: A white wine’s greenish tinge indicates that the wine is young, while a brownish hue could mean that that wine is old or was not stored properly. For red wines, purplish tinge indicates that they are young while a deeper red color shows that they are old.

To assess the wine’s clarity, look at the glass from the side while holding it up. There should be no floating particles present. You may also look at the thin clear layer on the wine’s very top to make sure that it is free from any sediment.

Smell: Swirl and sniff

After checking the color and clarity, lift the glass to your nose to smell the wine. Remember this mantra: Swirl and sniff.

Swirl the wine around to release its aroma. Then take a long sniff. To guide you, here are the most common wine aroma:

• Woody – has a scent of wood
• Spicy – has a spicy or peppery scent
• Vinegary – has a smell similar to vinegar (not good)
• Metallic – this smell indicates contamination (not good also)
• Fruity – smells like ripe fruit or berries

Taste: Sip and swish

After pleasing your eyes and nose, it’s now time to taste. Take an initial small sip and then swish it around inside your mouth. Sip and swish. It’s okay if you wouldn’t notice anything. The first taste often serves as preparation for the full taste as it cleanse your palette.

Savor the wine on the second sip. To get a full taste, wash it around in your mouth. Exhale slowly after swallowing. Let the taste and aroma linger for a bit.

Enjoy the flavor and try to pick out all the different hints of taste in each wine. As you practice the basics of wine tasting, you will learn more about the characteristics of every wine.

Red Wine with Red Meat, White Wine With White

The general principle “red wine with red meat, white wine with white meat,” works well in most instances. This is important to remember because a tannic red wine would only overpower, say, a delicate white fish. On the other hand, dry white wine, such as a fresh Viognier, would seem too light when paired with a joint of rare roast beef. While there are exceptions to this rule, they must be really tasty exceptions. For instance, roast chicken, which counts as a “white meat,” goes very well with a fruity red wine. Salmon and fresh tuna are also best served with red.

The Rule of Complements

This one is a bit contemporary than the above principle. To have a great food and wine match, look for a wine with flavor and aroma that brings to mind the trademark flavors of the served dish. For instance, you can pair a slightly sweet seafood, like lobster or crab, with a slightly sweet, rich white wine like a California Chardonnay.

The Rule of Contrasts

This one proves the principle that opposites do attract. This is almost works like the previous principle, but with a twist. It offers more room for experimentation, which can lead to great surprises. Try matching a lean white like a White Bordeaux against a rich, oily fish like bluefish or mackerel to see what I mean.

Remember that these three are guides only. You can try the standard rules first but as you gain more experience and expertise, you may decide to create your own wine and food pairing, that is, according to your delicate taste.

Made from a delicate and hard-to-grow grape variety of the same name, pinot noir wine is one of the oldest and most celebrated types of wine. Since the grapes are hard to grow, this type of wine is produced in smaller amounts compared to other varieties. This makes pinot noir pricier too, but definitely worth its value.

Pinot noir grapes grow in the Burgundy region of France and in different parts of Europe, like Austria, Germany, Italy, and Hungary. It is also planted in New Zealand and Australia. In the States, California and Oregon are the largest producers. During processing, the grapes produce a light colored type of wine. This characteristic attracts many people, as it possesses a silky soft texture, which also makes it a good choice among first time red wine drinkers. Its flavors may include cherry, spices, herbs, florals, and light tannins.

The unique depth of flavors makes pinot noir perfect for almost any type of dishes. If you are serving seafood (most especially salmon), fowl, beef, and earthy vegetable dishes, such as mushrooms, your guests will be delighted once they take a sip of their pinot noir. They will swear that these dishes are the perfect pinot noir pairings.

Set your mind

Before setting foot inside the store, you must know what you are looking for to avoid being bogged down by the vast selection. Are you planning a party or is the wine just for a simple dinner? It’s always a good idea to have an inkling on what to buy than just barging in and spending too much time looking over until you chanced upon something you like.

Look for free tasting

When you go out to buy wine, be mindful of the wine shop that you’ll enter. See to it that there’s wine available for tasting. This way, you will have an idea if the bottle is worth the purchase or just that. A bottle.

Furthermore, it is a great idea to be friendly with the wine store owner or at least with the sales person. It never hurts to ask for an opinion from some someone who shares your enthusiasm. These people sure know a lot about their stuff and they’d be glad to make some recommendations.

Before you buy wine online, you have to know beforehand which type you plan to buy. Much like shopping in the real world, not knowing what to buy only encourages browsing and buying things that one doesn’t really need. Having some knowledge of what wine to buy will provide for a better online shopping experience. Online wine stores have extensive wine choices, and it really would help to narrow them down.

And as in real life, wines are available on different price points. A budget may be helpful in determining how much you are willing to spend per bottle that you are going to buy. Do keep your eyes peeled for great deals. Several online wine stores have a list of top-ranked wines at different price points. You could have great wine for under $10.

Lastly, but certainly not the least of your concerns, you should check out the site’s shipping options and policies, as well as how secure their site is with regards to online payments. Make sure their site is secure as you would most likely be paying with credit card. We all know how that is.

After making your purchase, put your feet up and wait for your purchase to arrive. And when it does arrive a few days later (sometimes the next day), pop the cork and enjoy every sip.

There are classic wine and cheese pairings, but these days the mood is all for which one prefers, similar to the what-goes-with-red-what-goes-with-white question. Of course if one were just to start delving into the world of wine and cheese pairings, one must know the classics and from there decide if they agree or if they prefer this cheese with that wine. There are general rules in determining which goes with what:

· The more pungent the cheese, the sweeter the wine.

· White wines go with softer cheeses and stronger flavors.

· Red wines go with harder cheeses and milder flavors.

· It is also a general rule that sweet white wines and dessert wines go well with a wider variety of cheeses.

Judging from these wine and cheese pairing rules, it looks safer to go with white wine especially when offering a variety of cheeses, since those are the ones that go well with a lot more. Of course if you’re having a wine and cheese party at your home you may want to test and taste your offerings before settling on which ones make the cut. When you already have the wine and wondering which cheese to pair it with, your best bets are Parmigiano or Romano cheeses.

To make your life easier, we made a couple of quick table- so you’ll have something to refer to when having your next wine and cheese party:

White Wine Pairings

Red Wine Pairings

WINE RECOMMENDATIONS	CHEESE RECOMMENDATIONS
Shiraz	Sharp Cheddar
Port	Gorgonzola, Stilton
Cabernet Sauvignon	Blue Cheese, Sharp Cheddar, Camembert

]]> http://wine101blog.com/happy-together-wine-and-cheese-pairings/feed/ http://wine101blog.com/equip-yourself-with-essential-wine-accessories/ http://wine101blog.com/equip-yourself-with-essential-wine-accessories/#comments Sat, 10 Jul 2010 07:31:05 +0000 admin http://wine101blog.com/?p=242 Have you ever wandered into that part of the wine store that doesn’t actually hold wines? It has all these contraptions and accessories and gadgets that are meant to enrich our wine drinking experience. I always spend a good deal of time in the wine accessories area, trying to see if there’s something new or what crazy wine contraption has just come in. It’s amusing and fun.

Now, any wine enthusiast must surely have some wine accessories on hand. And yes, it does enrich the wine drinking experience and generally makes our lives easier. Take for example the bottle stopper. If you’re anything like me and misplace and/or destroy the cork each time, then you may want to consider purchasing a couple of these babies. They take the place of the cork and keep the air out of the bottle should you want to continue consuming your bottle the next day (on those rare occasions, at least!).

If you’re really serious about wine drinking, you may want to start decanting your wine, and for that you would need some decanters and wine funnels. Decanting a wine removes the sediments and impurities in the wine that may affect its taste. It also allows the wine to breathe. A decanter is a glass serving vessel to which the wine is poured.

And of course, no serious wine drinker is without a corkscrew. Unless you’re gifted with super strength and can pull out the cork effortlessly without popping veins, you really do need one. I find that winged corkscrews are the most helpful, but it is your choice which one you’re more accustomed to.

Starting with these essentials, you could be on your way to better appreciating your wine drinking experience as well as make your life easier. Gadgets and contraptions don’t really make one a wine connoisseur in an instant but they do help you get there.

The interest in wine has been so great lately that people are clamoring to know more about them, a Wines 101 of some sort. My wish is your command, though I’m only going to touch on the basics for now, specifically simple information. This is not an all-in-one-go wine master course.

What is Wine?

Simply put, wine is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented grape juice. Crushed grapes are fermented using various types of yeasts, which then convert the natural sugars in the grape juice into alcohol.

What are the different types of wine?

Classifications or types of wine are many. They can be grouped by their color or by their alcohol content, for example. Several basic types of wine are:

· Color (Red, white, and rose wine) – This classification refers to the actual color of the wine. All grape juice is virtually colorless. White wine is allowed to ferment as it is, hence the natural light color. Red wine is made when the juice of the grapes are allowed to rest with the red or black grape skins and allowing the color to seep through the juice, giving this type of wine their distinct deep color. Rose wine is made from white wine with a bit of red wine added to them.

· Sparkling or still – Sparkling wine has been carbonated, therefore making it a little fizzy, much like soda. Champagne is a famous example of sparkling wine. Still wine is pretty much any other wine that does not have carbon dioxide.

· Dessert Wines – these types of wines are very sweet and have higher than 14% alcohol content.

· Wine Location – Certain people prefer their wine to come from a specific country or even a specific region in that country. Famous winemaking countries include France, Spain, and Italy. Other countries gaining recognition for their wines are Australia and Chile. And though not a country, California has grown to have a quite good reputation when it comes to its wines.

How do you serve wine?

The question usually is to chill or not to chill, but even that is a personal preference. Recommendations, however, state that sweet white wines, dessert wines, champagne and rose wines, as well as red sparkling wines should be serve chilled (at specific temperatures for each type) while sherries and port are served closer to room temperature.

To decant or not to decant is also a question. Decanting wine is said to help a wine breathe, but is mostly recommended for wines with strong tannins. More delicate wines shouldn’t be decanted.

Red wine is red because it is made from red or black grapes. Actually, the juice of any grape is pretty much colorless. The color of red wine comes from letting the skins soak for a time until the juice acquires that deep red hue. Tannins are also something that you’ll hear more when talking about red wine than white wine. They are said to give red wines the complexity and stronger “mouth feel” that is somehow lacking in white wines.

Like other wines, you can buy red wine on every price point. The best thing about wines these days is that they are so well made that you can have really good wine at such a low price. And also, there is no “best red wine” in particular. The best red wine is a matter of opinion and one that can only be deduced from sampling many other types of red wine in the market. You may prefer sweet red wine, others may like the zing that sparkling red wine to many others. It’s all up to you.

Speaking of types of red wine, when people refer to red wine they are probably referring to any one of these (red wines are named from the grapes they were made from):

Cabernet Sauvignon - They have a blackcurrant flavor and smell similar to pencil shavings. Lots of tannin in this one.

Merlot – Tastes of black cherries and mint. Will usually have a higher alcohol content.

Pinot Noir – A good Pinot Noir will go down silky and aromatic. Pinot noir grapes are said to be the most finicky of all red wine grapes and will produce the widest range of quality.

Shiraz – Sweet, rich, and spicy with lots of tannin.

So the next time you drop by your wine store for your usual bottle of white wine, you may want to grab that bottle of red wine too. Time to see for yourself what the fuss is all about.