Frequently Asked Questions
- What is wine?
- My Significant Other Doesn't Like Red Wine - what should I do?
- What does it mean when we say a wine is 'corked'?
- What is the perfect temperature for red and white wine?
- Red Burgundy Wine Vintage Chart
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Wine is fermented grape juice. That’s the standard answer. Actually, wine can be made from all sorts of common and not so common foods. Things like fruits, herbs and flowers. Most wine, though, is made from grapes. And no matter what the wine is made from, there must be fermentation, that is, thatsugar be transformed into alcohol. If the amount of alcohol is relatively low, the result is wine. If it is high, the result is a"distilled liquor," something like gin or vodka. Or perhaps the ever popular 151 rum ("flammable, use with caution"). By the way, as fermentation cannot increase alcohol content past about 16%, for at that level the yeast dies and ends fermentation. Higher alcohol levels are archived through"distillation" (that is a lower alcohol beverage is heated. Alcohol, evaporating first, is collected and the vapor re-condensed). There are red wines, pink wines (also known as "rose" or sometimes "blush") and white wines. Since the inside of a grape is more or less "white," red grapes can make white wine. The color comes from letting the juice mix with the skins during the early wine-making process. A good example of this is White Zinfandel. The Zinfandel grape is very red on the outside. So, red grapes can make white wine, but white grapes can’t make red wine. Wines might be "fortified," "sparkling," or "table." In fortified wines, brandy is added to make the alcohol content higher (around 16 to 23 percent). Sparkling wines are the ones with bubbles, like Champagne. Table wine (which can also be called "still wine") are the most "natural." Both table and sparkling wines tend to have alcohol contents between 7 and 15 percent.
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First off, nobody is advocating that it is important to get people to start drinking wine. If water is what a person wants, leave them alone! In any event, a question that seems to keep coming up is "my wife doesn’t like red wine." So what? Why should she? That being said, it seems that the natural progression when learning about and drinking wine is to move from light fruity white wine to light fruity red wine, then to the more hearty and more aged red wines. When people come into my shop and tell me they don't like red wine I first try them witha glass of Fleurie. As a matter of interest my Fiancee thought she didn't like red wine until I started her on some of my Burgundy Pinot Noirs, and now she loves them. We have both concluded that her impression of red wine was based on the rubbish that most high street pubs serve and i really shouldn't mention Stowells for fear of prosecution!
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To me corked wine has the flavor of wet, musty cardboard. Once you have really tasted a corked wine, you’ll know what it is--it is not subtle. It is caused by trichloranisol [(TCA) 2,4,6], a compound released by molds that can infest the bark from which corks are made. One theory: you can’t get TCA without chlorine, which is used to bleach corks (for aesthetic reasons). If corks aren’t properly rinsed and dried this problem can occur. f you haven’t been "lucky" enough to experience a corked wine (at least for educational purposes), apparently you can buy the odor of the stuff from enterprising entrepreneurs. One advertised business is: The Wine Trader, attn: "Corky," P.O. Box 1598, Carson City, Nevada 89702.
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If you have had the white wine in the fridge, overnight, i would pull the wine out of the fridge and leave it for anything between 40minutes and an hour before you drink it. We over chill white wine and by doing so, the flavours and aromas tend to be supressed. I remember going out for dinner with a wine producer and all evening he kept pulling the wine out of the wine bucket and all evening the wine waiter putting the wine back in it, it was quite funny to watch! Admittedly some big white wines, 2003 burgundy whites. some Alsace whites need heavy chilling to either take off a bit of flabiness or give them a crisper edge. As for red wines, some red wine can be chilled such as Beaujolais, personally I think its a crime! Should White Wine be chilled?* White wines and rosés should be served chilled but not too cold: 10° - 12°C for young fruity wines and 12° - 14°C for fine whites and older vintages. It is often enough to keep them in the cellar until it is time to serve them. How to serve Red Wine* Red wines should be enjoyed at rather cool temperatures, 12° - 14°C for young fruity wines and a little higher, around 16° - 17°C for fine reds and older wines. In practice it will suffice to place them in the room where they are to be consumed one or two hours beforehand, keeping them away from heat sources.
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So many of you ask about what are the best vintages in the last few years in Burgundy that I decided to do my own vintage chart. This is solely based on my own knowledge with some of my opinion thrown in. The chart only goes back 15 years as that just about covers the expanse of wines that I have tasted in any quantity. | RED BURGUNDY WINE VINTAGE CHART | | | | 1990 | Very Good - Drink Now | | 1991 | Average - Only the better producers succeed | | 1992 | Huge Variation - some very poor some very good | | 1993 | Good year early maturity - probably past best | | 1994 | Average year - most wines past their best | | 1995 | Pretty good year - wines drinking now | | 1996 | Slow maturity - tight and closed some drinking well now | | 1997 | "Good Restaurant Year" - early maturity drinking well | | 1998 | Variable - Some a bit week and lacking depth - not great now | | 1999 | Memorable year - wines excelling in Cote de Beaune and Nuits | | 2000 | Light Year lacking substance | | 2001 | Average year - Not unpleasant - relatively good value | | 2002 | Stunning year - wines just opening now - mature for up to another 10yrs | | 2003 | Unusually hot year - Some great Reds - some lowly appellations shine thru | |
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What do you get for the man who has everything?
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UK exclusive on Henri Boillot's 2006 vintage - You read it on the Wine Cave first!
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What are the pitfalls with En Primeur buying?
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Figures published in May 2006 suggested that wine consumption in the UK was in decline this year after 25 years of steady rise.
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Screwcaps winning the fight with corks.
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Would you like some oak chips with your radiated fish sir?
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