View Printable Version

Q: What is the proper temperature to serve wine?

A: The right temperature can mean a world of difference in how wines taste. We tend to drink our red wines too warm and our white wines too cold. White wines, if too cold may be refreshing on a hot day, but lose their nuances and can sometimes be nearly tasteless. Red wines served too warm will taste overly alcoholic and light. So as a rule of thumb, white wines should be served between 50 degree to 55 degrees and red wines between 60 degrees to 65 degrees. To get the wines at the right temperature, follow the 20 minute rule – red wines in the refrigerator 20 minutes before serving, and white wines out of the refrigerator 20 minutes before serving.

Q: How long can does a wine keep after it is opened?

A: Air is a wines best friend and enemy. A little amount of air softens the wine and makes it pleasant to drink. However, the oxygen in the air also oxidizes the wine. A wine bottle, if properly stored, can last 3 to 5 days, maybe even longer. Cork the bottle and lay it on its side in the refrigerator – don’t worry if it is a red wine. The lower temperature slows down the oxidation. You can take the red wine out of the refrigerator about half an hour before you want to drink it.

Q: To breathe or not to breathe?

A: Many people will open a bottle of wine by pulling the cork and leaving it on the table to breathe for hours. The fact is that you are wasting your time if you do not decant the wine. The thought behind removing the cork is to allow air in the wine to soften it up. However, it has been shown scientifically that the narrow opening of the bottle does nothing even in a 24 hour period. So if you want to let the wine breathe, open it and decant into a carafe or a decanter a few hours before drinking.

Q: Should I decant my wine?

A: A wine is decanted for two reasons. First to allow the air into the wine to soften it, and the second to remove sediments. People usually decant older wines to remove the sediments. However, I lean against decanting old wines. The window for an older wine is very small. As I mentioned above, the air can be an enemy to the wine, especially in an older wine. If you decant an older wine to remove the sediments, make sure your friends are around so you can drink the wine before it falls apart. Younger wines will often benefit from a few hours of decanting, although it is not necessary since the wine should open up in your glass.

Q: Does wine gets better the older it is?

A: This is a big myth that wine gets better as it ages. Wine is the middle step of sugar conversion to vinegar. If left long enough, it will eventually turn into vinegar. In fact, there are only a very few wines that age well. Majority of the wines are meant to be drunk within three to five years of the vintage. However, wine does change as it ages. It may be fruity and tannic when it is young, but may take on some more austere characteristics as it ages and lose the fruitiness and the big tannic structure. Many people are disappointed when they taste older wines. By all means, have a small cellar to age the big California Cabernets and Bordeaux wines. But if you like your wine to be fruity, buy a few bottles at a time and drink them up. After all, as one my friend said ‘so many wines and so little time.’

Q: Do legs indicate the quality of wine?

A: This is another myth that needs to be put to bed. Legs, or as French call them ‘tears’ do not indicate the quality of wine. It’s merely physics. As you swirl the wine, there is surface tension between the wine and glass that holds the liquid. However, as alcohol evaporates from the top, the gravity takes over, the surface tension is broken and water runs down the glass. Depending upon the impurities in the glass, the water can streak down that causes the legs or tears. This had no indication as to the quality of the wine. The legs will be more pronounced in higher alcohol wines or wines that have higher sugar content. So next time you are at a party and someone talks about legs, just smile and enjoy your wine.

View printable version 

Q: What is Wine?

A: Simply stated, wine is a simple natural process that turns sugars in juice into alcohol by yeasts. This process is called fermentation. Wine can be made from any fruit, although over 99% is made from grapes.

Q: Why is wine mostly made by fermenting grape juice?

A:  Almost all the grapes, when picked off the vine, taste the same. Grapes, unlike other fruits, contain so many different flavor compounds that when fermented, the juice is amazingly complex, offering a wide variety of flavors and textures. A cherry wine will for the most part taste like cherries. However, the chemical compounds in grapes can mimic various fruit flavors. Lucky for us.

Q: What are different categories of wine?

A: Wine can essentially be divided into three broad categories –sparkling, still, and fortified. Sparkling wines have bubbles such as Champagne. Still wines have no bubbles such as Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot, etc. Fortified wines are made by addition of liquor, such as Ports.

Q: What are the different types of still wine?

A: Wine can be white, red or rosé. The juice of the grape is white in color, except for a few varieties of grapes. White wine is made by pressing the grapes to allow the juice to run free.  The juice is than fermented to produce wine. Red wine is made by allowing the skin of the grapes to stay in contact with the juice during fermentation. This allows the wine to absorb the skin color, hence giving wine the red color (Did you know that white wine can be made from red grapes by removing the skin from the juice?) Rosé wine is made by allowing the skin to stay in contact with the juice for a shorter time – hours instead of days.  This process gives the wine just a hint of color.

Q: What are tannins?

A: Tannins are found mostly in red wines. Tannin is a compound present in grape skins, seeds and stems and is detected in the mouth as causing a drying sensation. This is the same feeling when drinking a very strong tea. Since most white wines are not fermented on their skins, they do not contain tannin. To understand the sensation of tannins, take a few grapes, peel the skin and eat it without the pulp. The dryness caused on your palate is from the tannins.

Q: What is dry and sweet wine?

A: Fermentation converts sugar into alcohol. If fermentation is stopped before yeasts have consumed all the sugar, the sugar left behind is termed as residual sugar.  Depending upon the sugar level, the wine can be classified as sweet or semi-sweet. Wines without residual sugar as said to be dry.

Q: Why is acidity so important in a wine?

A: Acids make wine taste refreshing. They are most noticeable in crisp tasting whites, but are present in all wines to a varying degree. Low acid wines taste soft and smooth and can be pleasant to drink, but can also taste flabby with no backbone – akin to a pop that has gone flat. High acidity is perceived as a tanginess that makes your mouth water.