I don't think so ... and believe me, your wine doesn't like it either.
A reader's question inspired me to address this enduring myth: I frequently hear from folks who've heard that wine bottles aging in the cellar should be rotated periodically, a procedure that is thought in some mysterious way to improve its development.
In fact, this is simply not so! Wine is best left undisturbed as it ages. Rotating the bottles would serve no purpose except the negative one of stirring up the sediment that gradually forms along its lowest side.
So if you're aging wine, please don't turn your bottles. There's no need for it in the short term, and if you're saving bottles for the longer term, it can be bad for the wine.
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Sangrķa makes a tasty quencher for a lazy, hazy summer afternoon, but there's no need to limit it to sweat season. There's still plenty of sangrķa-sipping weather left before mulled-wine time. And it's easy to prepare.
In a punch bowl or similar vessel, pour one standard (750 ml) bottle of dry red wine and an equal amount (more or less, to taste) of club soda, seltzer or sparkling water. Add a generous amount of thin-sliced citrus fruit -- limes, lemons, oranges or a combination. You're adding peel as well, so be sure to rinse it well. If you want to give it a little zing, add a shot of brandy or an orange-flavored liqueur like Grand Marnier. Some folks like a little sugar for sweetening. If you're in the mood, you can even make it with white wine and substitute kiwis (peeled), strawberries and table grapes for the citrus. Sangrķa is a forgiving punch -- it doesn't care if you change the rules in the middle of the bowl.
The wine you use to make sangrķa should be palatable, of course, but it's silly to waste expensive wine on this kind of drink. \r\n
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But what's "room temperature"? In the U.S., it's not unusual for it to reach 80F (27C) even when the air-conditioner is running; but I remember a trip to Scotland one fine autumn when my host's rooms have hovered around a brisk 18C (65F).
I submit that there's no harm in placing your red wine in the refrigerator for a short stay before dinner. Don't leave it too long -- 20 to 40 minutes on the refrigerator shelf is about right for most reds, up to possibly an hour for light and fruity styles like Beaujolais. An hour in a typical home refrigerator should bring your wine down to the natural temperature of an underground cellar (54F or 12C), which isn't really too cold for most reds; but don't worry if you miss the mark. It doesn't take long for it to come back up again, and the wine won't be damaged. \r\n
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Unless you have been diagnosed by a physician as a severe asthmatic with a sulfite sensitivity - a condition that affects fewer than 1 in a million people - there is absolutely no reason for you to be concerned about sulfites. If you're simply worried about the warning label on U.S. wines, I'd frankly encourage you to relax and not worry about it. If you actually are one of the unhappy minority who is allergic to sulfites - and have received this formal diagnosis from your physician - then you really need to stick to your doctor's advice, which will be to avoid all wines, as well as all beers, most sausages, greens from salad bars, many cheeses, and a wide variety of other foods that are routinely treated with sulfites.
If you'd like to read more on this topic, it's covered in the March 29 edition of our 30 Second Wine Advisor.
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This is not as simple as it seems. You see, most fine table wines are "dry" (unsweet), because wine is intended as a beverage to be drunk with food, and in that setting, dry wines seem to work best. Dry wine is an "acquired taste," though, one that it takes some experience to get used to. Sort of like coffee, which most people think tastes horrible when they first drink it but later come to enjoy.
If you're sipping wine by itself, like a cocktail, it's not surprising that it may seem a little tart, sour or even bitter. So one approach is to continue trying to develop your taste for traditional dry wines, but do this by serving your wine with appropriate food - beef or lamb with dry red wines, seafood and fish with whites.
It might also be that wine is just not your drink, and there's no shame in that.
And there are some sweet wines, ranging from very expensive (dessert wines like Port and Sauternes, for example) to quite modest. You'll also find "pop wines" like the Italian Lambrusco, which is slightly fizzy and quite sweet, or White Zinfandel, a sweetish pink wine that finds more favor among casual sippers than serious wine fanciers.
One more good alternative for people who really can't warm up to dry wines is the amazing world of German wines. The great white wines from the Rhine and Mosel valleys, most often made from the Riesling grape, are almost always at least slightly sweet, but it's a gentle flavor, more like the snappy sweetness of fresh fruit than the syrupy sugar of a candy bar. If you're giving up on wine because you need a little sugar in your life, give German wines a try.
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Now take a taste of a young Cabernet Sauvignon, and chances are you'll feel a similar sensation.
What you're tasting is tannin (tannic acid), a natural chemical that's sometimes found in tree bark, wood, and the skins, seeds and stems of some fruits - in particular some red wine grapes.
Tannins are used to "tan" animal hides to turn them into leather, and that's actually the process you feel when the tannins in tea or wine start to work on the proteins inside your mouth. Think about that the next time you enjoy a youthful Cabernet!
Tannins in wine come primarily from the grape, although aging wine in oak barrels can also impart a dose of the puckery stuff.
A healthy dose of tannins in a young wine can make it less than a pleasure to drink, and for this reason, certain wines - in particular red Bordeaux and other young Cabernet Sauvignons, the Nebbiolo-based reds of Northwestern Italy, and such less-widely known wines as the Tannat of Madiran - are customarily held in the wine cellar until they mature. During the maturation process, the tannins polymerize (combine into longer-chain molecules), and as a result of this process, the wine develops a bit of sediment in the bottle as its flavor evolves from harsh and astringent to mellow and complex. Tannins also act as antioxidants, naturally preserving the wine during its maturing years.
Not all tannic wines evolve into stylish maturity, however. If a wine is merely tannic without fruit in its youth, it isn't likely to become a thing of beauty with age. Balance is the key.
Finally, if you must "rob the cradle," as wine enthusiasts say of drinking an ageworthy wine before its time, this is the one case in which "breathing" - or better yet, decanting your wine with lots of splashing to mix it with air as you pour - may help soften its rough edges a bit. And serving a youthfully tannic wine with rare red meat will also go a long way to ameliorate that rough tannic astringency.
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In fact, it's a wine-tasting cup, an ancient tasting tool called a "Tastevin," which is pronounced "Taht-vahN" with a nasal French ending and means, well, "taste wine."
It's actually quite a historic item. Two hundred years or more ago, cellarmasters in Burgundy in France (where a very high-level wine society is called the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin) developed this cup to sample wine down in the cellar where it was dark, lit only by candles. The angular nooks and crannies in the shiny silver cup are designed to catch and reflect the light to make it easier to check the color and clarity of the wine.
In these days of electric light, it's no longer necessary to do this, and the tastevin has very little practical purpose any more. But it remains in use as a traditional "badge" for the sommelier, and a number of wine-accessory shops actually sell them for wine lovers who want a little piece of history for their own collection.
I doubt that anybody uses them to drink out of any more, although I did visit a winery in Georgia a few years ago that used an aluminum version for guests in the tasting room. I didn't like it at all ... too small and shallow, and the metallic cup made the wine seem to taste funny.
If you've just got to have one, though, I found three online shops that sell them to wine lovers. Artisans on the Web wine accessories, http://aoweb.com/frameset.html, has three, ranging from $17.99 for a plain silver cup to $20.99 for a tastevin with ribbon set and $22.50 for a tastevin with chain set (pictured). Wine Enthusiast, http://www.wineenthusiast.com, offers a cup and chain for $24.95. And in the UK, Waiter's Friend, http://www.waitersfriend.co.uk/gift.htm offers a tastevin for £9.50.
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I think the simple process of note-taking helps you focus on the wine, remember it better, and develop your "palate memory."
And once you've done that, I also think it's great to share the results with a group like the Wine Lovers' Discussion Group.
Sharing your comments on wines benefits the online wine-loving community in general by providing vicarious enjoyment and buying advice; and also, frankly, putting your notes online in a friendly environment gets you feedback through comparing notes and getting reality checks from fellow wine lovers.
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If it's a hot summer day, though, it's certainly acceptable to stick your bottle of red in the refrigerator for 30 to 60 minutes to cool it slightly. Conversely, very fine whites shouldn't be served ice-cold, as freezing temperatures may "stun" your taste buds and diminish your enjoyment. Take good whites out of the fridge or ice bucket at least a half hour before serving.\r\n]]>
Most of us find this a bit extreme, but there's ground for a more serious argument when we expand the definition of "terroir" to incorporate the overall effect on wines of the soil and microclimate in which the grapes are grown. Do Chardonnay grapes grown in Burgundy (for instance) produce wines with a consistent, identifiable character that distinguishes them from the same grapes grown in California, or those in turn from Australian Chardonnay? Does the vineyard matter, whether the grapes in question are grown on the other side of the road or the other side of the world?
This is material from which serious wine fanciers can build extended and joyous debates, and there's little question that the wines of specific regions - especially historic wine regions like Burgundy or Bordeaux - often show recognizable qualities that makes it possible (if not necessarily easy) to pick them out in a "blind" tasting, without the taster being aware of the specific wine being tasted.
But the wine maker's skills, and the decisions made between the grapevine and the bottle, are significant too. Should Chardonnay be aged in oak barrels, which impart strong and characteristic flavors, or in stainless steel, which is neutral? Should the wine maker put the wine through "malolactic fermentation," which reduces the wine's perceived acidity and typically adds rich and buttery flavors? These processes, commonplace in the New World but relatively rare in France, make a significant difference in the nature of the finished wine, but it's not "terroir."
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Some wine makers, especially those at smaller, artisanal wineries, believe that this process may strip subtle aromas and flavors from the finished wine, along with the haze, and so they make their wines by more traditional processes. The clarity may suffer (although most well-made wines come out clear even without filtering), but these wines are certainly as good, and perhaps even better, than the industrial-type wines.
If you notice a small amount of sediment in the bottom of the bottle, don't worry - it can't do you any harm. But it's not particularly pleasant to drink, so it's a good idea to pour carefully and try to keep the sludge (if any) in the bottle.\r\n \r\n]]>
In many cases, sadly, older wines are past their prime or were never intended for aging. For more information on this, see our Questionary article on "Old wine: Is it still any good?"
If your older wine is a legitimate collectible, however, and if it has been stored under reasonably good conditions, it may have value. Although we're not equipped to appraise collectible wines on The Wine Lovers' Page, you can find good resources online.
For the quickest and best way to determine the current retail value of collectible wines, click to Wine-Searcher.com. This worldwide reference is so complete that if you can't find your wine there, it probably means that there's no market for it.
The Chicago Wine Co., a wine-auction house, publishes the "hammer prices" of all the wines it sells at auction, and this is a good way to what other wines similar to yours have commanded in recent sales. Check its Website at www.tcwc.com and, once there, click on "hammer prices" and then on the vintage of your specific wine for a complete list of sales prices for wines from that year.]]>
How can you get the most out of a major event like the huge October 1999 tasting sponsored by the Schneider's of Capitol Hill wine shop at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., where some three dozen importers and distributors were offering samples of more than 200 wines?
There's no practical way to taste them all, so your options are clear: Take a random walk, sampling whatever you encounter (not entirely a bad idea) ... or spend a few moments making a coherent plan before you dive in to the mob scene. Here's how I handled the Schneider's tasting:
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