Wine Basics by Vito's Newington

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Wine Myths:

Legs: The Ultimate Teaser

Restaurants Make Too Much Money on Wine
Smelling the Cork

White Wine With Fish

Red Wine With Meat
Wines Need to Breathe

Q & A:

Do sulfites give me a headache?

I’ve opened the wine; how long will it last?
What is the perfect wine for a Cheeseburger or Pizza?
Where do the best wines come from?

10 Tips for Buying Wine

Don't be afraid to ask for help when making a wine selection, either at a retail store or in a restaurant. There are many professionals that are eager to help.
Pay attention to the wine's appellation, the area where the wine was grown. Better wines come from better vineyards. If it says Napa or Sonoma, you may pay more, but it may be worth it.
Try something new. We all have favorites, but the glory of drinking wine is finding new and exciting ones to experience.
Pay attention to vintage, the wine's "born on date." Most wineries are making
wines that can and should be experienced fresh. Many of these are very good and
inexpensive. Don't worry about storing them; drink them.
Do not store wines in the refrigerator. Cold refrigeration can have a negative impact on wines. Put your white wines in an ice bucket 30 minutes prior to service.
At a restaurant; smelling the cork is not necessary, unless you like the smell of cork. The cork smell will tell you nothing about how the wine will taste. The cork will either be wet or dry, which helps determine if the wine was properly stored.
Do smell the wine, which should smell pleasant, fresh and not have any "off" aromas. It should smell alive, like fresh fruit, fresh flowers or fresh spice. If the wine smells stale (like wet cardboard), it is probably not suitable for drinking.
Do not let a waiter pour a full glass of wine, please! Small pours of wine can be swirled, allowing the wine to breathe and open up. Also, wine should be drunk in sips and enjoyed a little at a time. Ask the waiter to let you pour your own wine.
Except for Champagne, do not chill a cold wine in an ice bucket. "Cellar" temperature (about 55°) is ideal for tasting a wine's true flavors.
When you go to a restaurant, realize that you are paying for a service. In the cost of doing business, it is necessary and standard to markup wine 2 - 3 times the price you will see in a retail store, just like a steak or soft drink.

Wine Myths

Legs: The Ultimate Teaser

Not all great wines have great legs and not all wines with great legs are considered great. Legs are the thin oily lines of wine that drip down your glass. While legs are fun to watch, they are often caused by something other than richness and extraction, which is a key builder of legs. Make sure that it’s not the detergent, the temperature or the high alcohol that is causing the legs. A dessert wine is thick, so it can cheat because it has enough viscosity to stick to the glass.

Restaurants Make Too Much Money on Wine

They actually make their killing on ice tea and soda. Wine is a big expense. Inventory, printing, refrigeration, counting (and recounting), breakage, theft and glassware all add up to a big cost with little reward. The problem is that you go to a restaurant and you order a brand name product. You have an idea how much that wine costs because you saw it in the store. Did you also pay attention in the meat department? That steak you ordered was $5.99 at the store, why are you okay to pay $20 for the steak? Thinking of it this way might help make sense of the wine list pricing paradox.

That being said, hotels have it the worst because old fashion hotel pricing says that wine cost should be about 20-25%. Ouch! Paying the corkage is a good idea at a hotel and they like it too. It goes straight to the bottom line, with zero costs attached. Restaurant etiquette says that you should not bring in a bottle that is on the list, which would be like bringing a steak from home and asking the restaurant to cook it for you. Expect corkage to be somewhere around $20 a bottle. That is the margin that they lose when you bring it from home instead of ordering off the list.

Smelling the Cork

When a waiter presents you with your wine selection, it is often thought of as a good time to smell the cork. You are not wrong to do so as you can smell a few things on the cork, such as a stale cork. I suggest that you feel the cork and notice if it is warm or cool, wet or dry, hard or soft. This can tell you if the wine has been properly stored, or at least hint a few clues to you. The cork should be elastic, flexible, soft enough to be compressible and hard enough to hold together. Older wines will show some age on the cork. The “fill” line on the wine should be pretty close to the bottom of the cork. Hopefully the wine bottle has been kept in good storage to reduce evaporation.

If all these factors look good, just smell the wine and seek fresh aromas. If it is an older wine, note that the aromas may be more aged. However, you should never accept a wine that has any off aromas or stale characters. While some older wines may need a moment to wake up and really show their true selves, they should never smell dead, dried or stale. Stay alert for wet cardboard, wet cork and musty-dusty aromas, as this wine may be “corked.”

If this happens, the restaurant is able to replace the wine for a fresh bottle. You are encouraged to ask for a new one. This is not the fault of the restaurant, the winery or anyone specific (usually). It may just be the cork and small little bacteria that made it through endless controls designed to eliminate bacteria, a very hard task.

White Wine With Fish; Red Wine With Meat

Don’t let yourself be boxed in by too many rules. But unless you understand wine, this is a good rule of thumb. I would encourage you to take chance and experiment, but follow a couple guidelines.

Ask for help if there is someone there that can help you.
Spicy foods tend to go better with low tannin wines. I like spicy foods with cool refreshing whites.
Champagne goes with everything. Don’t be hesitant to get Champagne.
The goal of wine is to compliment the food, not to bury it. Drink wines that are light with lighter foods. As the food picks up more flavors, sauce and richness, the wine style should typically get heavier or compensate accordingly.
You typically get what you pay for in wine. That is why I like to buy an expensive alternative variety. What does that mean? Well, I like to spend around $40-60 dollars on a wine off a wine list. I can get an unbelievable bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre or Pouilly Fume for that. I will get a pretty mid-range Chardonnay or Burgundy. With reds, I go with varieties like Rhone, Beaujolais or Zinfandel in that same price range. You can’t, however, drink great Cabernets at the same prices.
Look at the menu first, whenever possible.
Don’t chill your wines too cold, except for Champagne.
Don’t let your reds get too warm.
Salmon and Tuna – red flesh fish may go better with a lighter style red wine than with white wine. Try a red Zinfandel or Syrah and see what I mean.
Try something new as often as possible.

Wines Need to Breathe

The best place it can breathe is in the glass. Old wines may need to be decantered (a large glass bottle that you pour the wine into). The object of a decanter may not be to let it breathe, as some wines may breathe pretty quickly and die as you sit and wait. The object of a decanter can be just to remove the wine from any sediment (solids that form in the bottle over time) from the juice. Young wines can improve in a decanter as they open quickly and some of the harsh green flavors can soften.

Q & A

Q: Do sulfites give me a headache?

A: Yes, some people are sensitive to sulfites. However, consider this: there are more sulfites in one glass of orange juice than in an entire bottle of wine. There is, however, no alcohol in a glass of orange juice. I urge you to seek the advice of a physician if you feel this sensitivity, as only they are qualified to give you the proper advice.
Sulfites and Alcohol affect everyone differently; it may depend on your ethnicity and/or ancestry. Some ethnicities are born with no resistance to alcohol; some develop a quick dependence on Alcohol. Use common sense to guide your way.

Q: I’ve opened the wine; how long will it last?

A: Remember, wine is alive, like a flower. You purchased the flower and it was a bud. A day later the flower is open. Two days later, the flower is losing its structure and its beauty. The same applies to wine. It is hard to hold a wine together for more than a few days. By day two, most wines I’ve tasted have shown evidence of the deterioration. Some wines hold together pretty well until day three, but only occasionally.

Q: What is the perfect wine for a Cheeseburger or Pizza?

A: California "Old Vine" Zinfandel is perfect for comfort foods such as these. Big zesty, jammy fruit that works well with a tomato slice or tomato sauce. Its acidity, fruit and spice take that greasy burger or pepperoni slice and make them much more refined. You'll take your next burger out of the fast food category, and put it into fine dinning right away.
Another fun selection would be Cote du Rhone from France, or Grenache Syrah from California or Australia.

Q: Where do the best wines come from?

A: This is a loaded question. The best wines come from the best fruit, and from winemakers who are properly equipped to make great wine. Personal preference and your own set of criteria help to determine the rest of this question.