TIP:

When you are presenting wine as a gift, consider enriching the experience for the receiver; perhaps include a card with tasting notes or maybe a recipe with which to pair the wine, or even a favorite quotation. This is a thoughtful way to add to the enjoyment of the gift.

Proper Wine Storage

The two biggest dangers to wine are wide temperature fluctuations and high temperatures for a sustained period of time. For wines that you plan to consume in the next week to the next year, which will probably be most of your wine, a dark, low-vibration closet in a home or apartment with a normal household temperature of 68 to 72 degrees is fine. It’s also wise to store your wine on its side, so that the wine remains in contact with the cork and keeps the cork from drying out. Actually, the color and thickness of the wine bottle itself are inherently a great help in protecting the wine as well.

For your high-end wines that merit bottle aging before consumption, you need to be more concerned about storing your wines in a proper temperature- and humidity-controlled environment. Unless you have hundreds of these elite bottles and can afford to build your own cellar, a refrigerated wine storage unit is probably your best bet. Unlike a standard refrigerator, these units keep wine at an ideal temperature of about 55 degrees and 70 percent humidity, with a minimum of vibration.

Wine trivia

Wine has so many organic chemical compounds it is considered more complex than blood serum.

The lip of a red wine glass is sloped inward to capture the aromas of the wine and deliver them to your nose.

Cork was developed as a bottle closure in the late 17th century. It was only after this that bottles were lain down for aging, and the bottle shapes slowly changed from short and bulbous to tall and slender.

In King Tut's Egypt (around 1300 BC), the commoners drank beer and the upper class drank wine.

When Leif Ericsson landed in North America in A.D. 1001, he was so impressed by the proliferation of grapevines that he named it Vinland.

When Mount Vesuvius buried Pompeii in volcanic lava in A.D. 79, it also buried more than 200 wine bars.

The top three U.S. wine consumption states: California, New York, and Florida.

58 percent of legal-aged Americans contacted in a Nielson phone survey indicated that they drink wine.

Red wines represent 55 percent of restaurant wine sales.

The average cost of the grapes used to produce a $20 bottle of wine is $2.64.

A bottle of opened wine stored in the refrigerator lasts 6-16 times longer than it would if stored at room temperature.

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Tip:

Potential is important in scoring a wine because a wine that is too young may not taste very good now, but it may have the potential to become one of the greats - snatch it up while it is inexpensive!

Story of the Grape

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Spring Allergies and Wine by Linda Moran

Welcome to Vine to Wine. On today’s program we will be addressing the connection between your Spring allergies and wine.
Do you have mild allergies to all of this blooming going on in the Spring. Recently a woman asked why she couldn’t drink red wine during the allergy season and she wondered if it was because of the sulfites. But that’s not it. The presence of sulfites in wine confuses most consumers. Legislation requiring wineries to indicate on their wine labels that sulfites are present in wine, seems to be the source of most of that confusion. Sulfites have been around in wine for thousands of years. Sulfites are a natural preservative found in the vineyards and are also produced during the wine fermentation process. They act as an antioxidant. Unfortunately, not enough is produced to keep the wine fresh tasting and stable for very long. So - additional sulfites are put in by virtually all wineries. Individuals who have severe allergic reactions to sulfites usually know it - and know that sulfites are not only in wine but in dried fruits, nuts and vegetables. All of which, may use sulfite as a preservative. Sulfites are probably not what gave you a spring allergy headache, it is likely the histamines in the red wine - that is why I take an anti-histamine during allergy season. I hope this has helped you to understand a little bit about the sulfites in your wine and thanks for joining me on today’s Vine to Wine.

Aroma vs. Bouquet by Linda Moran

Welcome to Vine to Wine. Are you confused about the difference between the terms aroma and bouquet when describing a wine? - on today’s program we will describe the differences between the two terms aroma and bouquet.
Believe me, when describing wine, you are not alone in your confusion about the difference between aroma and bouquet. Actually, for years I didn’t know if there really was a difference. I simply thought the two terms could be used interchangeably to describe the smell of the wine. However, I learned there is a difference and it is actually a fairly simple one. Think of it this way, aroma precedes bouquet in the winemaking process the same way “a” precedes “b” in the alphabet. Aroma is the basic fragrance, those first smells of the grapes and the grape juices. They may remind you of fruit, flowers, herbs or spices. While on the other hand, bouquet is referring to the smells that come from the fruit in combination with the second part, the winemaking process. The yeast and fermentation along with oak, age and other contributors transform the smell of the juice. They evolve into a state in which the fragrances are more complex and deeper or layered. Those are the scents that identify the bouquet. So now you know the difference between aroma and bouquet.