Care for Your Glassware

Like wine, the care and storing of your glassware is extremely important. A dirty, smelly, hot or cold glass can ruin the best of wines. Try not to use detergent when cleaning glasses. Use only extremely hot water, perhaps utilizing rubber gloves. Don’t turn them upside down on a towel or paper to dry as this traps funky aromas within. Don’t chill or heat stemware before use as this will affect the wine poured into them. Never hang glasses upside down directly above a food prep area as cooking smells will get trapped inside. Finally, don’t store your stemware around cleaning products, chemicals or other aromatic foods. Remember, a clean, room temperature glass is a happy glass.

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The Hangover

Where there’s wine, there’s hangovers. I’m sure most of us have experienced this – the furry sandpaper tongue, endless drum solo in the head, queazy stomach, slitted light-sensitive eyes, and foggy thoughts. Not a lot of fun! As for remedies, there are no magic solutions. Everything from “hair of the dog” to downing concoctions with raw eggs and other unusual ingredients don’t work. Although eating the morning after seems impossible, food helps replace lost nutrients and speeds up metabolism, Yogurt and milk soothe the belly and water hydrates helping flush toxins from the liver and kidneys. So until science creates an anti-hangover pill, the only practical solution is to not overindulge. Sip responsibly!

Warm Weather Sipping

The BBQ is all fired up and I can smell those burgers sizzling? The key to warm weather sipping is simplicity. No need for complex, delicate or aged wines here! What you want are young, fruity, fresh, robust wines with little, if any oak. For whites, try varieties like Pinot Grigio, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Muscadet and Sauvignon Blanc or styles like Verdicchio, Frascati and Soave. For reds, check out Gamay, Merlot, Malbec, Sangiovese, Zinfandel, Baco Noir and Zweigelt or styles like Beaujolais or Valpolicella. Even rosé makes a nice change of pace and most are made to be consumed young. Finally, serve all wine a little cooler than normal, try to avoid using plastic glasses, drink responsibly and enjoy.

Tipping in Restaurants

Aside from ordering wine in restaurants, tipping creates the most tension for diners. In America, eateries consider a tip discretionary, while in Europe, it’s automatically added to the bill. Although wait staff depend on them, a tip is a privilege, NOT a right. So if you’re demanding of your waiter, requesting substitutions or special dishes, asking about ingredients or have children with you, they work harder and should be tipped accordingly. Of course, great service should be awarded. However, if your waiter is rude, brings you the wrong order, spills something on you or is never to be found when needed, you might reconsider. As for how much to tip, do so according to your means. Cheers.

Single Vineyard Wines

Single vineyard wines are very special. This means the fruit comes from one particular plot of land, so no blending together of fruit from several properties exists. As a result, they possess more character. Why? Wines made from fruit from several vineyards mesh together characteristics of many locations and generally are more homogenous. A single vineyard wine is very unique as it echos only a specific site, soil composition and environment. They tend to be more diverse in character from year to year, as blending from several sources can iron out rough edges. Easy to recognize as the vineyard name, like Rockhill Vineyard, appears on the label, they are the ultimate expression of a particular terroir.

Barrel or Tank Samples

Ever hear of barrel or tank samples of wine? These are wines that are still in their respective fermentation and/or aging containers. In other words, they are unfinished wines where certain processes are still going on. The components are not yet harmonious, oak appears rough, and even tannins in reds can be devastatingly aggressive. Most folks don’t get to taste these as they’re very difficult to access and get a handle on. Winemakers, because it’s their job, do this regularly and can make something of them. Often journalists get to taste wines in this format as well. With more tasting experience, they can at times, project what the finished wine will be like and pass it on to the consumer.

Art in Label Design

Aside from what’s in the bottle, the label is a window to a wine’s content. Of course labeling laws dictate exactly what information has to be displayed on a wine bottle. Beyond that, it’s all about art. Millions of dollars a year are spent on label design. Graphic and fine artists are often hired to create distinctive, works of art for wines. Many, like the labels of 1^st growth, red Bordeaux, Mouton Rothschild, have become collector items and the original works of art worth a fortune. Numerous wine competitions actually have an award or medal for best label design. The truth of the matter is a poor label can negatively affect wine sales as many consumers buy their favourite imbibe by what the label looks like.