The how has to do with a storage place where the temperature is within reasonable levels (not less than 50, or more than 70 degrees Fahrenheit). A bottle stored at a temperature above 70 degrees will die sooner, but remember that a very young wine, (1 to 5 years old), can be kept under those temperatures for at least 6 months without getting spoiled. The only thing that will happen to your wine is that it will age faster, thus, creating a fabulous experience when you open it. More than 6 months may not be a good idea at those temperatures, but, why not trying?
Where to keep it, I would assure anyone that you don’t need a cellar if you don’t keep more than 10 to 20 bottles in stock and drink wine regularly. Far from heating devices, compressors, and coolers, would do just perfect. If you already have a cellar, you probably have all those answers.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Which wines we should try, at least once in our lifetime, and why?
We don’t have to get crazy about wine to experience some of the greatest wines ever made. $150, which can be a small fortune for some, is something most people can do once in a lifetime.
Many could do it at least once a year, on a birthday, anniversary, the closing of a great business deal, or the meeting with an important person. Wouldn’t that be a great investment on ourselves, while it would not cause us to go bankrupt, or lose our lifetime savings? I guess we all deserve it.
Now, which wines are those?
• If we talk about the type of wine, a great red wine, young or old.
• An expensive bottle of wine, red or white.
• A fantastic dessert wine, expensive or not.
• A 40 years old Port, or
• a 20 years bottle of Champagne.
If we consider grapes, an American Cabernet Sauvignon, an Oregon Pinot Noir, an Australian Shiraz, an Argentinian Malbec, a blend from Bordeaux, or a white wine from Burgundy.
Many could do it at least once a year, on a birthday, anniversary, the closing of a great business deal, or the meeting with an important person. Wouldn’t that be a great investment on ourselves, while it would not cause us to go bankrupt, or lose our lifetime savings? I guess we all deserve it.
Now, which wines are those?
• If we talk about the type of wine, a great red wine, young or old.
• An expensive bottle of wine, red or white.
• A fantastic dessert wine, expensive or not.
• A 40 years old Port, or
• a 20 years bottle of Champagne.
If we consider grapes, an American Cabernet Sauvignon, an Oregon Pinot Noir, an Australian Shiraz, an Argentinian Malbec, a blend from Bordeaux, or a white wine from Burgundy.
The impact of health in the popularity of wine
Is out of the question that some of the new wine drinkers are consuming wine just for health reasons. This can be a valid reason, but it could also be the opportunity to make wine part of our daily routines.
The best thing is that you may start drinking wine for the right or the wrong reasons, but at the end, regardless of the reason, wine will become part of your daily life, part of your business, your social affairs, and your general life style.
The fact that wine will make you live a longer and healthier life, besides making your dishes more appetizing, and your life style a more glamorous one, should be the best incentive for you to invest a small amount of your income on a beverage that will not just make you a happier and healthier person, but it would probably make you look smarter, sophisticated, educated, and traveled.
So, what can I say that would sound any better: stay smart, live a good and healthy life, and enjoy yourself. Wine is the trick!
The best thing is that you may start drinking wine for the right or the wrong reasons, but at the end, regardless of the reason, wine will become part of your daily life, part of your business, your social affairs, and your general life style.
The fact that wine will make you live a longer and healthier life, besides making your dishes more appetizing, and your life style a more glamorous one, should be the best incentive for you to invest a small amount of your income on a beverage that will not just make you a happier and healthier person, but it would probably make you look smarter, sophisticated, educated, and traveled.
So, what can I say that would sound any better: stay smart, live a good and healthy life, and enjoy yourself. Wine is the trick!
Historic changes on wine consumption
There was a time when wine consumption had to do with health issues. Then, it became the choice beverage for the noble, the royalty, or even the rich and famous.
In some countries, until recently, people never had or even heard much about any kind of wine. That, fortunately, is rapidly changing.
With the new trends of cultivating grapes in different latitudes, thus covering many countries around the world, and being sold at more reasonable prices, served with most types of foods, the consumption of wine has taken a turn for the best. It is widely grown, consumed, and highly appreciated at all levels, in almost every culture, and no longer considered an elite beverage, as it used to be not long ago.
Maybe a good number of wine lovers will never get to taste a famous Petrus, or a Chateau Cheval Blanc, or something like a bottle of La Tache, but most people can have today a great Merlot, a decent Cabernet Franc or a wonderful Pinot Noir, which is technically the same as those wines mentioned. The truth is that you could buy 20 cases of your favorite wine with what you pay for one of those bottles.
Wine consumption has changed… for the best, and for good.
In some countries, until recently, people never had or even heard much about any kind of wine. That, fortunately, is rapidly changing.
With the new trends of cultivating grapes in different latitudes, thus covering many countries around the world, and being sold at more reasonable prices, served with most types of foods, the consumption of wine has taken a turn for the best. It is widely grown, consumed, and highly appreciated at all levels, in almost every culture, and no longer considered an elite beverage, as it used to be not long ago.
Maybe a good number of wine lovers will never get to taste a famous Petrus, or a Chateau Cheval Blanc, or something like a bottle of La Tache, but most people can have today a great Merlot, a decent Cabernet Franc or a wonderful Pinot Noir, which is technically the same as those wines mentioned. The truth is that you could buy 20 cases of your favorite wine with what you pay for one of those bottles.
Wine consumption has changed… for the best, and for good.
When should we open a bottle of wine? Does age really matters?
From a technical point of view, age may be important when we drink a wine, but a young wine can be just as rewarding as an old wine.
The point is, do you want to drink your wine when it has reached its peak? This is something very hard to determine because to find that out you would need to keep several bottles of one type of wine, so you could open one every so often and wait patiently until you find that the bottle you open is at its best. This could be a very expensive experiment.
Are you one of those who simply prefer a young wine or your drinking habits allow you to keep a bottle for a long time? Or, maybe your budget is not such that you could buy an old and expensive bottle of wine?
Whatever the case may be, if you are satisfied with what you drink, and your concerns are not about discovering, just leave this task to the more sophisticated oenophiles. At the end, whatever you do about this, it is going to be worthy, interesting, exciting and educational, and definitely you will enjoy your wine one way or another!
The point is, do you want to drink your wine when it has reached its peak? This is something very hard to determine because to find that out you would need to keep several bottles of one type of wine, so you could open one every so often and wait patiently until you find that the bottle you open is at its best. This could be a very expensive experiment.
Are you one of those who simply prefer a young wine or your drinking habits allow you to keep a bottle for a long time? Or, maybe your budget is not such that you could buy an old and expensive bottle of wine?
Whatever the case may be, if you are satisfied with what you drink, and your concerns are not about discovering, just leave this task to the more sophisticated oenophiles. At the end, whatever you do about this, it is going to be worthy, interesting, exciting and educational, and definitely you will enjoy your wine one way or another!
Where and how to buy the wine we like?
These are very interesting questions.
Where to buy wine, undoubtedly anywhere, in your neighborhood’s wine shop, supermarket, restaurant, or simply join your favorite wine club.
How to buy wine, it is one of the most difficult questions to answer, but let me make a few suggestions:
•Look for your favorite color grape (red or white?)
•Decide about the price (low, medium priced or expensive?)
•Pick your favorite wine style, (light, medium or full body).
•If any doubts in any of these categories, never hesitate to ask the person in charge of the wine department.
•Finally, never drink alone, and never drink too much.
Where to buy wine, undoubtedly anywhere, in your neighborhood’s wine shop, supermarket, restaurant, or simply join your favorite wine club.
How to buy wine, it is one of the most difficult questions to answer, but let me make a few suggestions:
•Look for your favorite color grape (red or white?)
•Decide about the price (low, medium priced or expensive?)
•Pick your favorite wine style, (light, medium or full body).
•If any doubts in any of these categories, never hesitate to ask the person in charge of the wine department.
•Finally, never drink alone, and never drink too much.
About the Globalization of wine
Wine in the French style is being made in California, Oregon, Chile, Argentina, and other countries with the purpose to reach a greater number of consumers. Not a bad marketing strategy, but this new learned skill of our modern winemakers is defeating the concept of terroir, one of the few things that make wine different, rather unique, and something that separates wine from any other drink on earth. This is something that makes impossible the job of an expert in trying to determine, in a blind tasting, the origin, style, or particular characteristics of any given wine. This doesn’t make wine bad either, but, do we really want to have something called wine that always, no matter where it was made, taste the same year after year? Most of you would not want wine become another soda pop, as unsophisticated as a beer, or just another very consistent, always good, kind of beverage.
The grapes that make the most popular wines worldwide
It is an easy task to learn about the most popular grapes around the globe. Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Shiraz, Malbec, Zinfandel, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Riesling, and just a few other less common types, dominate the wine world. What we should do is to try some of the less popular ones, compare, decide whether they are of our liking and start consuming them regularly. A lot of times that knowledge will make possible to save a few dollars and have a better use of our limited budgets if that would be the case. Popularity may have to do something with quality, but in many cases that have to do with the difficulty in pronouncing or remembering other grape varieties, in particular their names. A good example is the grape called Gewurztraminer, a wonderful French grape from Alsace, being produced in many countries with outstanding results, which is one of those names with the greatest level of difficulty to pronounce and remember. The opposite, by far, was the popular Chardonnay from Chablis, named after the region, which is not the most charming, friendly, or easy to drink, but certainly the easiest to pronounce.
Wine consumption
Considering that wine is being consumed by more people worldwide, making it, more than ever, a universal culture, we don’t have to be too concerned about regional gastronomies. Today, wines can be matched to a large diversity of dishes without concerns with colors, flavors o textures, since we are learning that cooking methods are more relevant to food and wine matching, plus the known versatility of wines in pairing with foods. All of this is becoming more acceptable, making the consumption of wine less regulated by experts or matching charts, as well as other conditions that place wine as something that can only be consumed with certain dishes, served in a certain way, and even worst, served by certain people. There is nothing further from the truth right now. My motto, which has been the same for quite a long time, is: you can drink and enjoy the wine of your preference at any time, with good food and good company. That is, without a question, the perfect match.
Where is wine produced these days?
Wine is being produced in just about all latitudes around the world. I already explained that wine is made in regions considered not apt for wine production not long ago. As a result, understanding wines according to terroir may be more difficult, but the good thing about it is that the wine culture is penetrating unexpected regions like never before and wine is becoming more and more part of the daily life of many countries, as well as different economic levels, since good quality wines are being made at more affordable prices. People from all segments of the population are today in a position to acquire and consume wine on a regular basis. Although the concept of terroir was born in France and they are the only ones that strive to keep it that way, there are some other regions around the world, including the new world, that are willing to make the concept of terroir a part of their viticulture and philosophy.
The "universalization" of the grape
What this means has nothing to do with the so called globalization, which explains the ability of wine makers, from any part of the world, to make wines in the same style and flavor than wines from other regions. Good examples are the wines made by Mondavi in Italy and Chile, where the wines display a similar character of those made in Napa Valley. Now, “universalization” of the grape means that many grapes are being grown in countries that don’t have a history of viticulture. The wines from these countries are known by some experts as the "new latitude" wines, those produced outside the traditional geographical heartlands of the wine country.
The result may be a real shock to those who did not believe for a long time that good wines could not be made outside the Old World countries, or between latitudes 30 and 50, some of those like India, Thailand, Brazil, Colombia, even England, just to mention a few.
The result may be a real shock to those who did not believe for a long time that good wines could not be made outside the Old World countries, or between latitudes 30 and 50, some of those like India, Thailand, Brazil, Colombia, even England, just to mention a few.
A little bit of wine history
Wine has a long history, and it used to have certain kind of exclusivity to the Old World. Today it covers many regions around the globe, countries as far as New Zealand, and as improbable as Canada or China.
Wine was originally made to please and to heal. It became the drink of choice of the nobility, kings and emperors, then the rich and powerful, more recently the rich and famous, and finally just to please anybody who would enjoy a glass of wine, rich, poor, famous or not.
Today, wine is made consistently good and affordable. It would please just about any palate; regardless if is that of a novice or the palate of the sophisticated. It make sense to study it, but most importantly, it has to be tasted, compared and consumed regularly with food, without worrying about recipes, the so called perfect matches, or worst of all, somebody else’s tasting preferences.
Wine was originally made to please and to heal. It became the drink of choice of the nobility, kings and emperors, then the rich and powerful, more recently the rich and famous, and finally just to please anybody who would enjoy a glass of wine, rich, poor, famous or not.
Today, wine is made consistently good and affordable. It would please just about any palate; regardless if is that of a novice or the palate of the sophisticated. It make sense to study it, but most importantly, it has to be tasted, compared and consumed regularly with food, without worrying about recipes, the so called perfect matches, or worst of all, somebody else’s tasting preferences.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)