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Related Reading
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 Wine
for Dummies
By providing the context in which to begin exploring wine,
Wine for Dummies can easily become the send-off for a lifelong
education.
 Great
Wine Made Simple: Straight Talk from a Master Sommelier
At last, a wine book that makes selecting and enjoying wine
truly simple. With renowned wine expert Andrea Immer as
your guide, never again will you have to fear pricey bottles
that don't deliver, snobby wine waiters, foreign terminology,
or encyclopedic restaurant wine lists.
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A Way With
Wine
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Red, white, sweet, bitter, what's best with what food, and
how do I know which type of wine I'll like? To
be wine savvy at your next business dinner or to impress
your girlfriend on your next date, follow these helpful
tips to become a wine connassieur!
• What
is wine? Wine is essentially fermented grape
juice. Any fruit that contains sugar will turn alcoholic
if left to ferment. Fermentation is when yeast turns sugar
into alcohol. Of course the process is a tad more complicated
than that, but fermentation is the most essential part
of the wine making process.
• Traditional
matching. Red wine with red meat, white wine with
white meat, sweet wine with sweet foods, bitter wine with
bitter foods, and acidic wine with sour and salty foods.
It's a safe bet to follow these rules of wine matching
when trying to pair your food with a wine.
• The
difference between red and white.
The most obvious difference
between red and white wine is the color. Many people belive
red wines are made from red grapes and white wines
are made from green grapes, however, many white wines are
actually made with red grapes. It all depends on wheather
the skin of the grape is removed or not.
In general red wines are heavier
and more complex than white wines. White wines tend to
be sweeter and a good place to start for beginning wine
drinkers.
• Wine
Etiquette. Serving
order, if at a dinner party should be women and older guests first, then men,
then the host.
The proper way to hold any wine glass is
by the stem. This way the heat from your hand doesn't
heat the wine. Not to mention it keeps your fingerprints
off the bowl of the glass.
Avoid wearing perfume, smoking, or chewing
mints or gum. All of these will factor into the taste
of the wine.
•
Wine and your health. A study by UCA-Davis
has shown that drinking wine can reduce coronary heart
disease. It lowers the total cholesterol count, and raises
the high density lipoprotein. Basically wine keeps your
blood vessels clean. Wine also contains antioxidants which
help prevent cancer.
Wine can be used as a stress fighter and can help people fighting
illnesses such as cancer to combat them better when relaxed
and focused due to wine.
• In
the end taste is what matters. Certain wines are associated with certain foods, but
don't be afraid to break the rules and follow your instincts.
In all honesty you'll probably drink the majority of your
wine without food, either before your meal is served,
or after you're finished. Drink what taste best to you
and you can't go wrong!
Written by Kate Creveling
Do you have a favorite wine label and want to share it with us? Let
us know!
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On the Web
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Wines.com
guide to wine online
A
Wine for any food
Wine
making
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Wine Terms to Know
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• Chardonnay — The
worlds most popular white wine grape variety. Chardonnay
is best when matched with poultry, veal, pork, and pasta
which feature cream and/or butter.
• Cabernet Sauvignon — The king
of red wine grape variety, richer than Merlot red wines.
Cabernet Sauvignon is best with beef, lamb, duck and cheeses.
• Merlot — One of the great
red varieties of wine. Merlot tends to be lighter and less
intense than Cabernet Sauvignon wines. Merlot is best with
beef, lamb, duck, game meats, cheeses, stews, pizza and
heart pastas.
• Champagne — A
sparkling wine.
• Dry — The
complete absence of sugar in wine.
• Brut — A
very, very dry wine.
• Body —
The weight of wine in your mouth; commonly expressed as
full-bodied, medium-bodied, or light-bodied.
• Corked —
The wine tastes of cork, it is unpleasant to smell and taste,
slightly musty.
• Acidic —
Used to describe wines whose total acid is so high that
they taste tart or sour and have a sharp edge on the palate.
• Bitter —
Describes one of the four basic tastes (along with sour,
salty and sweet).
• Peak —
The time when a wine tastes its best. The peak time for
a wine is very subjective.
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