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Never lay a bottle of wine perfectly flat.
Seldom will you need to decant.
Always smell the cork.
Unlike most secrets, the ones I’m about to share with you are intended to be leaked at the water cooler. In fact, feel free to brag them to your barber or feed them to your mother-in-law.
Whatever the reason you enjoy learning about wine, your interest is shared by many, and has been for many years. Consider Winston Churchill, who drank a bottle of Pol Roger at the end of every challenging day. Or the bible, where possibly exists the very first promise of nectars sublime:
“Let us get up early to the vineyards, let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grapes appear”. Song of Solomon 7 v.12.
Regardless of who drank what, or who drank it first, the best reason for opening a bottle of wine is because you enjoy it. My secrets are simply to enhance your enjoyment as much as possible.
Alive. First, consider that wine is alive. Yes, alive and breathing from the time each grape is plucked from the vine, continually changing in chemistry and character as the nectar moves from vineyard to wine cellar. This fact alone helps to make most my suggestions appear more common sense than secret.
Cool as a Cuke. Wine should always be kept cool, and so stored at 55 degrees, preferably humid and dark. Temperature changes wreak havoc on wine, thereby altering its taste.
Face to Face. When stored, when decanted, when poured, a wine bottle should always face label-side up. Sediment settles, meaning the least amount of movement to the bottle assures the least amount of sediment in your glass.
Lay Me Down. A wine bottle should never be stored flat, but at an angle, its neck slightly elevated. An elevation of no more than 5 degrees ensures a moist cork, thereby ensuring the absence of weevils. We love dry wine; weevils love dry cork.
A Book by its Cover. A lot can be learned from wine labels. Most wineries list everything you need to know on their bottles’ back labels, including grape variety, alcohol content, vintage date, and grape growing region. The exception to this are French wineries, who offer only front labels.
By paying attention to labels, you can soon learn that 1982 was a great year for French wines, but not Californians. Like good friends, once you find a wine you like, you will find similarities in the company they keep. You will seldom be disappointed when expanding your familiar circle.
Like Father Like Son. Wines are typically as good as the grapes they come from. For example, the words Diamond Mountain on a Napa label will tell you the wine comes from a very prestigious grape-growing region, thereby suggesting an excellent wine. Like Diamond Mountain, Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, and others, the best vineyards are always in the middle of mountains, where the soil is not too dry, not too moist, but... well, you know the story.
A Glass of Wine, A Loaf of Bread, and Thou. Never drink wine without food. Food enhances the wine; wine enhances the food. And if you can share the experience with a few good friends, all the better.
Try Try Try Again. Drink the wine you like! But allow the opportunity for suggestions. Always heed the opinions of wine merchants, restauranteurs, tasting groups, friends, books. Remember when beer-battered Pike was your fish of choice? Maybe Shrimp came next, one day Calamari, while now you find yourself standing in line for a Sushi table. The more experiences you allow yourself, the more your tastes will develop.
Stop to Smell the Cork. Always smell the cork. Contrary to common belief, it’s the cork that sours the wine, not the wine that sours the cork. If the cork was unknowingly affected by bacteria or diseased bark, it will ruin the wine, as evidenced by a musty or moldy odor.
The cork should be removed approximately fifteen minutes prior to serving, especially true for lighter wines like Burgandies. Thirty minutes, no longer, for heavier wines like Bordeaux and Shiraz.
Never Too Thin. Your wine glass should be thin, uncut clear crystal. No intricate patterns or tints should detract from the glass’s tulip-shaped bowl, while a generous stem serves to keep fingerprints from the glass.
Less is More. Never pour more than a 1/4 glass of wine. This allows the wine to open up, to breathe. And while swirling the wine in your glass might further release its bouquet, there’s no need for continual movement.
Color Wheels. Seldom will you marry light foods with dark wines. Seldom will you mate dark wines with light foods. But as with any worthwhile rule, there are gratifying exceptions. For example, Salmon tastes terrific when accompanied by a Pinot Noir; whereas Duck and other game meats can be enhanced by a big-bodied Chardonnay or White Burgundy. (note: France’s White Burgundies are the same as California’s Chardonnays.)
Never Pop Your Cork. Or The How and Why of Selecting and Opening a Bottle of Aged Wine.
In the name of storytelling, let’s say you’ve invited an important guest to dinner next week. Because this story is somewhat fictionalized, we will select a bottle of wine from your impressively-stocked wine cellar.
It’s one week before your scheduled dinner party: you plan on serving a twenty-year-old bottle of wine, and so have selected five bottles from the same crate. Stand them on a flat surface, upright, and leave them there for the week. This allows sediment to completely settle to the bottom of the bottle, thereby clarifying the wine.
When determining which bottle to serve, consider the bottles’ ullage. Ullage is the space between the bottom of the cork and the surface of the wine. The bottle with the shortest ullage is your
best bottle.
Before the wine is to be served, hold the bottle label-side up while removing, not just the small dime-sized cap, but the entire capsule. This is done to keep the wine from touching the metal facing, which can tarnish the pour.
Wipe the neck of the bottle to further prevent unwanted flavors and particles from entering your glass.
Holding the bottle like a baby, label-side up, insert the point of your corkscrew’s “worm” into the center of the cork. Of course, your corkscrew will not be one of the many gimmicky ones you’ve collected through the years, but the boring handheld variety used at your favorite restaurants.
Once the worm is slowly turned into the bottom of the cork, and without breaking the surface, clamp the notched level against the lip of the bottle. Holding the lever firm to the lip, slowly lift the corkscrew upwards. As the cork begins to rise, change the position of your hand on the corkscrew so that your thumb is pointing upward. This allows you to keep a gentle pressure as the cork slowly and finally releases from the bottle.
Slow is the operative word. Pulling a cork from a wine bottle quickly releases the vacuum too fast, causing sediment to stir.
Because you are serving an older bottle of wine, this is one of those seldom occasions you should decant the entire bottle for aeration and clarity: Holding the bottle from its concave bottom–better known as the Pont–and with the label side still facing up, hold a small lit candle beneath the neck of the bottle as you watch the wine pass through the illuminated neck and into a clean, clear decanter. The instant you can see sediment cloud the lighted neck area, stop pouring.
Once decanted, pour a brief amount of wine into each glass. Holding your glass by its stem, swirl the wine into motion to further release its bouquet.
Last, But Not Least. Raise your glass in toast, always! To anything, to everything, or like Winston Churchill must have known, to this: that never is there a better time to celebrate each day, than now. That seldom should you rest with fear. And that always–yes, always, should you find occasion to enjoy good wine. Bon Vivant!
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