Important Tips for Wine Storage

Wine storage encompasses many parts of keeping the wine drinkable for months and years to come so as not to destroy a perfectly good bottle of wine.

• Darkness
• Cool
• Sideways

These are some of the most typical ways to store the wine so that the bottle isn’t ruined.

Storing a wine in the dark will ensure that sunlight isn’t beaming through the bottle and damaging the delicate liquid. Whether you store it on the wall, on a shelf or in a cellar, just make sure that it is at least in a slightly dark area or not in direct sunlight.

The wine doesn’t have to be stored somewhere cold, but not somewhere hot, either. A cool atmosphere will be perfect for the wine so that it tastes great when you decide to open it.

The wine should be stored on its side so as to keep the cork moist. If you notice, most high-end wine shops and liquor stores will keep the wine on its side even in the store. When you buy wine that is standing upright, check to see if it has a cork or is a screw-on lid. If it’s got a cork, think twice about buying it unless you’re going to be drinking it right away.

Different Kinds of Wine Storage

There are all sorts of wine storage. You can either build it yourself using blueprints or a kit as well as buying something that is pre-assembled.

Wall shelving is very common because it goes on the wall instead of on the floor where kids and animals could potentially access it. If you choose wall shelving for your wine storage, ensure it’s not going on a wall that experiences a lot of vibrations.

There is also various shelving that goes on the floor or on a table that will allow you to store the wine on its side and some are enclosed so you have the darkness factor included, too.

There are also refrigerators and cellars that are designed for keeping the wine in the ultimate environment: dark, cool and on its side. These options will take up more room and are expensive but they are usually worth it, too.

Where to Buy Wine Storage Units

You can buy wine storage units in local superstores, in specialty wine stores and online. Depending upon what you are looking for will help you to determine where you will buy it. If you plan on building something, the blueprints for many different models can be found on various websites.

Different Varieties of Wine

Not all wine is created equally, so it is broken up based upon the varieties of wines. These will typically be determined on the grape used, but sometimes also the process in which it was made.

The basic varieties include:

• Red
• White
• Dessert
• Sparkling

Within each of these categories, there are plenty more varieties of wine. For example, under red wine, you will have:

• Merlot
• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Pinot Noir
• Sangiovese
• Shiraz

Each of these will taste differently from each other because of the grape used. Some use all one grape while others will create a blend with several different kinds of grapes. It’s important to understand the flavors produced between the various grapes and the best way to do that is to taste them all.

Where to Taste Varieties of Wine

Wine tasting is becoming a common thing across the country as more and more people are showing an interest in wine. This is the best way to taste varieties of wine because you can compare them on the spot to understand the subtle differences found in many of them.

Wine flights. Many restaurants and wine bars offer wine flights. This is a great way to taste several wines at a very affordable price. You will get between three and five wines to try that are about the size of half a glass of wine.

Wine tastings. Bars, restaurants and specialty stores are offering wine tastings all the time as a way to get people in the door. The format is different with all of them as some will give you the choice of what to taste where others have them predetermined.

Shopping for Varieties of Wine

You can shop for varieties of wine almost anywhere. Very few stores, or even restaurants for that matter, have just one kind of wine. They will at the very least offer a red and a white, but typically even more than that. It’s easier to know what kind of wine you are looking for before you go shopping for it so that you aren’t confused by the selections offered.

Grocery stores will give you a couple of choices under red, white and sometimes sparkling wine. You will typically not get many choices and you will most likely be only getting the more common varieties. If you’re looking for something not quite so common, like a Cabernet Franc or a Pinot Grigio, then you may have to go to a specialty wine store.

There are plenty of specialty wine stores around and your local liquor store may have a section dedicated to wine. This will break up all the wines by region so you can choose your wine based on whether it’s from California, Australia, or somewhere else in the world.

Red Wines for Beginners: Learning Terms

You will need to know some terms so that you know what you are talking about. Red wines for beginners will be pretty comprehensive as the reds are where you’ve got a lot more choices and the flavors are more comprehensive.

Red wines for beginners should cover tannins, finishing notes, common spices as well as how to properly taste a glass of wine (look for the legs).

Your local community college may actually offer a course on red wines for beginners. This will give you a full explanation on terms and regions as well as the ability to sample some different wines. Many colleges are starting to offer courses on both beer and wine to residents without actually having to be a college student. Many of these courses typically are only a few hours in one evening and can be very educational.

Red Wines for Beginners: Tasting

The most important thing to red wines for beginners is tasting. Tasting wines will be the best way to learn what any of the terminology means. Learning if something has a spicy note versus a fruity note is hard to grasp until you’ve actually tasted to the two wines side by side.

Tasting is easier than ever in this day and age. You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on bottles of wine. All you need to do is research wine tastings in your area. Some may even designate a tasting as red wines for beginners as they will cover the more common ones without too many complex flavors going on.

You can also go to a vineyard in your area. Some local ones are so proud of their wine that they will let you taste the wines for free and then give you a really great deal on a bottle to take home.

Red Wines for Beginners: Where to Shop

You can shop for various things as red wines for beginners is your topic.

The first is to get a book or two, typically a wine dictionary. This will help you to understand all of the wine jargon as you are exposed to it.

You will also need a journal or notebook. Use this to create your own reviews on wine using terms that you will actually know and recognize. If it’s spicy or tastes like feet (some really do) you should write it down so that you know as future reference.

Next, you will need to get yourself some wine. You can look in stores, online, or at a local vineyard.

Ingredients for How to Make a Red Wine Sauce

You will need just a few ingredients when you learn how to make a red wine sauce. The ingredients will vary as you see fit, especially after you’ve made it a few times and want to start adding a new twist.

• Butter
• Red Wine
• Garlic

As long as you have these three ingredients, your sauce will be delicious.

How to Make a Red Wine Sauce

How to make a red wine sauce is not a difficult feat, even for those who aren’t good in a kitchen.

Get a saucepan on the burner on medium-high heat. Add two tablespoons of butter. Once the butter has melted, add a teaspoon of minced garlic to the pan. Move the garlic around until light brown. Then add 2 cups of red wine to the saucepan. You can use whatever kind of red wine you want, though the most common is either Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon. You’re going to let the wine reduce, which means that once it is half the size of what it started out as, the sauce has reduced. This will take about 10 minutes. You will now add a few more tablespoons of butter and whisk into the sauce. Once the butter is melted, the sauce can be served.

How to Make a Red Wine Sauce with Variations

How to make a red wine sauce taste different than the last time you made it is easy and will only require a few extra ingredients.

• For a creamy red wine sauce, add about ½ cup of heavy whipping cream to the saucepan at the same time that you add the wine. This will be great with pasta or for a different twist on a steak
• For a tomato sauce, add tomato puree into the saucepan when you add the wine. You can choose to strain it if there are chunks in the tomatoes, too. You will do this before adding the final pieces of butter in after it has reduced.

There are many ways that you can change up how to make a red wine sauce. You can add salt and pepper, shallots or onions and other dried or fresh herbs. Some choose to give it a unique taste by adding Dijon mustard in it, too. Be experimental and try some new ways. There are no rules.

How to Make a Red Wine Sauce for Different Meals

The ingredients that you add when you make your red wine sauce will determine what kind of meal it will go best with.

Tomatoes added in will go great in Italian meals.

Try adding a little mustard for a hearty steak.

Food & Wine Recipes with White Wine

White wine is a completely different taste than red wine and therefore won’t go with the same kinds of foods. Food & wine recipes taste best when they are paired appropriately. Lighter foods, like chicken and fish, will go better with a white wine because the wine, too is lighter. Many recipes that contain white wine are used as an addition to broth. It will add a little more flavor to boring chicken stock. The best wines for this can be found at your local grocery store as you don’t want to pay for an expensive bottle of wine when you are cooking.

• Chicken
• White Fish
• Shellfish

These are the best foods to cook when you want to integrate white wine into the food & wine recipes because they go more naturally together. There are always exceptions to the rule, but if you don’t have food & wine recipes to follow, you won’t want to experience your first time.

Food & Wine Recipes with Red Wine

There are many food & wine recipes that go well with red wine. The easiest recipe you can learn is that of a red wine reduction, which is basically a little butter and a lot of wine. When the sauce has reduced to half its size in the pot, you’ve got yourself a sauce that can be poured over meat or mixed in with a pasta or other starch.

• Red Meat
• Lamb and other game
• Salmon

All of these types of food make great food & wine recipes when you are cooking with red wine. You can use any kind of red wine when cooking with these kinds of food, however the most common is a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Merlot. Make sure the bottle that you’re pouring in doesn’t cost more than about $15 or your entrée just got a whole lot more expensive, too.

One of the most important things to remember with food & wine recipes is to ensure that the alcohol taste has cooked out of the food so that it doesn’t leave a bitter aftertaste with the diner. You can achieve this by making sure it has had ample time to cook out. You can find plenty of food & wine recipes in many different cookbooks by some of the best chefs in the world. Almost all of them (especially Julia Childs) cook with wine, so grab a recipe and a bottle of wine and have fun.

The Beginners Guide to Wine: What You Need to Know

As for a beginners guide to wine, you need to know some basics so that you can start to look for wines in your area. There are some wines that are more common than others, but being able to know a little about each of them will keep your education on wine well-rounded.

• Red Wine
• White Wine
• Sparkling Wine
• Ice Wine

Most people know that there is a color difference between red and white wine but don’t know why. The beginners guide to wine will cover this, but it doesn’t have to do with the kind of grape but more in the process. The inside of the grape is what’s used to make wine. The color comes from the external skin of the grape.

Ice wine is a little unique in that the grape is frozen while it’s still on the vine. These are usually a little more expensive than other wines but can be very delicious.

Finally, there is sparkling wine, which has the bubbles in it. The bubbles are a result of extra carbon dioxide in the wine – either through natural fermentation or added later.

The Beginners Guide to Wine: Flavors

The beginners guide to wine will always cover flavor. Flavor can come from many different things including the grape, the process, as well as the region that the wine came from. A good beginner’s guide to wine will break up all of the different options into categories or chapters so that you can recognize all of the differences and make an educated decision the next time you order wine somewhere.

There’s no need to order “house red” or “house white” when there are so many different varieties to choose from. When you order “house” without at least asking a question or two, it will easily identify you as a newbie to the wine world.

Where to Find Different Beginners Guides to Wine

There are many books out there dedicated to being a beginner’s guide to wine. One of the easiest books to get your hands on is “Wine for Dummies” which will cover anything and everything you ever wanted to know about wine and probably even a few things you didn’t want to know.

Other books can be found in the library or the bookstore, or online. Read the reviews of the book or page through it, first, so you know if the book you’re buying has the information you wanted in it.

Common Brands of Australian Wines

There are many common brands of Australian wine. Some will be seen right at your grocery store where others are reserved for restaurants and high-end wine stores. Australian wines can come in a variety of price ranges, though some of the cheaper bottles of wine can be just as good.

• Penfolds
• Yellow Tail
• Peter Lehmann
• Rosemount

More and more brands are becoming common because more wines are being produced every year. Wine has been produced for years but the average person is beginning to drink more of it and becoming aware of the different flavors that exist in wines, including Australian ones.

Whichever Australian wines you choose to buy, you will find that the wines are usually a heavy, developed flavor. Some are spicier than others, so it’s important to read the tasting notes on any wine before you buy them so you know what to expect.

What Australian Wines Taste Like

Australian wines are grown in warmer climates than other areas, so they will taste a little more unique than other areas. The soil is also different, which leads to a grape that will be a little different than in Chile, Italy, or anywhere else in the world.

Sommeliers are trained to know the difference between wines and the taste alone, to a trained palate, can be traced to a specific region. When you buy Australian wines, you will most likely be getting a Shiraz when you buy a red wine or a Sauvignon Blanc when you get a white wine, however there are variations of all of them.

Where to Buy Australian Wines

You can buy Australian wines all over the place. The Australians have been in the wine business for awhile now but over the past 5 years or so the wines have been making it to all parts of the world and being enjoyed by many.

Look for wine in your grocery store, at liquor stores, wine shops, restaurants and even online. You will find plenty of choices at every place you go with a wide range of prices to choose from. If you’re not sure which one to buy, there are plenty of sites across the internet and in wine magazines that make it a habit to rate wines and talk about the finishing notes so that you can buy a bottle that will taste great. When you pay attention to the finishing notes, too, you’ll be able to pair the wine with any meal and make sure that the combination is out of this world.

What Cabernet Sauvignon Is

Cabernet Sauvignon is a dry red wine that is medium to full bodied. Depending on where it was made and what the winery did with the grapes will determine the actual flavors. They can have undertones of fruit, spices, and even coffee.

Finding a Good Bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is a very common flavor of red wine and so it is readily available in many grocery stores and specialty wine shops. When you are looking for a good bottle of Cabernet, you won’t need to look very hard, but you should know exactly what you are looking for.

Wine can be categorized in many different ways:

• Price
• Region
• Vineyard
• Year

There will always be a significant difference in price on wines but price doesn’t always make it the better choice. There are $5 bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon that taste equally as good as a $40 bottle. It is based upon preference.

If you haven’t enjoyed many kinds of Cabernet Sauvignon, you may want to look at the different regions and decide if you like one region over another. There are many Australian Cabernets and many California Cabernets. While many prefer one over the other, the preferences may not stop there.

A single vineyard may handle their grapes a little differently. This is why there is competition amongst the local vineyards of one area. If all of the vineyards in California made the same tasting Cabernet Sauvignon, there would be a problem. Luckily for us, there’s a difference. For someone just beginning to taste wine, however, you may not have the experience to know one vineyard’s flavors over another. Sampling will help, otherwise buy what’s in your price range and keep track of what you do and don’t like.

The soil and weather is constantly changing, which also affects the grapes. When the grapes are affected, so is the wine. This is why the year is always printed on the bottle. Some will say that 2007 was a better year than 2008 and if a wine is very old, depending upon the quality, will either taste wonderful…or like vinegar.

Food Pairings with Cabernet Sauvignon

It is very common for restaurants to pair the items on their menu with various kinds of wine. Cabernet Sauvignon gets paired frequently with beef because the red wine is full bodied enough to complement the red wine. The different flavors in the wine can also be paired with different sauces. It’s important to look at what the finishing notes of the specific Cabernet is. Spicy or fruity will determine what it will go with best.

Wine glasses are used for tasting and drinking wine and the proper manner of holding and using them is considered as an element of cuisine etiquettes. The proper manner of drinking wine from wine glasses is to hold the glass from its stem and then drinking it. While many people neglect the importance of holding a wine glass from its stem, it is not just about social etiquettes of elegance. Scientifically, one can control the wine temperature by holding the wine glasses in this manner. Since the taste of wine largely depends on its temperature, holding wine glasses in proper manner will help you to enjoy the best possible taste.

If you hold the wine glass from its stem, the heat from your hands will be least effective to warm up the wine and hence, you will be able to sip your wine gradually at its ideal temperature. The stem of the wine glass is not in direct contact with the wine. However, if you hold the wine glasses from their bowl, the heat from your hands will directly affect the temperature of wine.

By holding glasses from their stem, one can avoid leaving fingerprints or markings on the glass and this will make it easy to clean and twirl the glass.

The ideal temperature of wine at which you will enjoy it the most can also be maintained by using proper shape of wine glasses.

On the whole, there are three major types of wine glasses that are used in general. The three types are; glasses for red wine, glasses for white wine and the champagne flutes.

Wine Glasses for Red Wine

The main feature of red wine glasses is a rounder and wider bowl. This wider bowl offers space for the beverage to pass gases. The rounder bowl also helps the wine to easily get cooled even after gaining warmth from the hands of the drinker.

Burgundy glasses and Bordeaux glasses are the major styles of red wine glasses.

White Wine glasses

The main characteristic of white wine glasses is their narrower, straight or tulip shaped sides. Because of narrower bowl, the chilled white wine in these glasses remains cool for longer period.

Champagne Flutes

Champagne wine glasses are tall and they are characterized by their narrower bowl on the top. The shape of champagne flutes helps the wine to remain at ideal temperature for longer periods and hence, you can enjoy sparkling wines in these wine glasses at desirable temperature.

Wine tasting glasses have been standardized by the ISO. According to the directions from the ISO standards, wine glasses should be stemmed in shape and their bowls should be tapered and elongated. The capacity of wine glasses should be 410, or 300, or 210 or 120 millilitres.

Reading Reviews on Cheap Wines

You can find reviews of virtually any kind of wine online. When you read these reviews, they will cover whether the wine is a decent enough quality to even waste your money with. These reviews can be found:

• Online
• In wine stores
• Wine magazines

Whether the wine is inexpensive or cheap in quality, you will learn about it by reading the reviews. You will be told what kind of wine they are reviewing, the year they are specifically talking about, the average retail price as well as whether the price is worth it and what kind of flavors you can plan on experiencing.

Tasting Cheap Wines

Tasting cheap wines can be done by going to a low-end wine tasting. These are common in liquor stores and even wine bars. If you can taste them, you will be able to make up your own mind about whether the cheap wine is good or not instead of listening to a review.

Your local grocery store may also offer samplings as they get a new line in. These are a great way to taste cheap wines because you’ll know that you can easily find it if you like it, too. Plus, they will let you take a few and they’re free!

Some cheap wines may be great for cooking with because the flavors don’t need to be as developed and mature when you’re mixing them with other ingredients like garlic and broths. So, if you buy a cheap bottle and decide you don’t like the taste of it, throw a cork in it and keep it near the stove so you can pour it into your next dinner.

Where to Buy Cheap Wines

You can buy cheap wines almost anywhere. Remember, are you looking for cheap wines that are inexpensive? If this is the case, you will be able to find them in grocery stores and liquor stores as well as online. Many online stores will help you to get wine even cheaper by offering a discount for when you buy an entire case (typically 12 bottles) so that you can get a great deal.

If you are trying to avoid cheap wines that are cheap in taste, make sure you’ve either sampled the wine or read a review on it if you plan on spending more than about $30 on the bottle. This will ensure that when you shell out that kind of money on a bottle of wine, you get a quality taste about it instead of something that you’re going to have to pour into your spaghetti sauce to get rid of it.