It’s hard to enter an establishment that serves or sells food without encountering wine. Sometimes choosing a wine can lead to confusion. If you are ready to get serious about understanding wine, this is the article for you.
The best way to enjoy wine is responsibly. Know your limits and ensure that you don’t overdo it, especially when with guests. While some wine with lunch or dinner is always in good taste, becoming sloppy afterwards due to drunkenness is not. Enjoyed in moderation, wine will be your friend for life.
Enjoy a wine tasting today. Wine tastings are events that allow you to try out different types of wines for a lower cost. You can turn it into a social outing, too. Invite other people that enjoy wine on this trip. Wine can help solidify the friendship and introduce new acquaintances to a world of flavor and delight.
Allow red wines to warm up. Often, red wines are stored at temperatures near 60 degrees. The best temperature for serving red wines is above 70 degrees, which allows the full body of the wine to be present. When you open a bottle of red, allow it to sit and come to room temperature before drinking.
You can easily make a mulled wine with only a few ingredients. You will need a bottle of red wine such as Merlot, Zinfandel or Cabernet Sauvignon, a peeled and sliced orange, a quality brandy, honey or sugar and a few spices including whole cloves, cinnamon and ginger. Combine your ingredients into a slow cooker. Then, heat for 30 minutes and enjoy!
Don’t fall for the trap that cheap wine is bad and expensive wine is good. There are exceptional inexpensive wines and wines that cost a small fortune that are difficult to drink. Experience as many different types as you can, no matter the price. WHo knows – you may find a favorite that is well within your everyday drinking budget.
Left over wine is wonderful for cooking. When you’re down to the bottom of the bottle, do not throw it out. Instead, reseal the bottle and save it for your next meal. You can use the wine to make a sauce for pasta, flavor meat or add to your special stew recipe.
Instead of throwing out your last bits of wine, consider saving it for a marinade for dinner the next night. Take your wine, add some seasoning and place it in a bowl. Add your favorite piece of meat to the bowl and let it sit for several hours or even overnight. This will add delicious flavor to your next night’s meal!
Do not go out and buy cases of wine just because you like the taste of it. Many times people’s tastes change over time, which means that you may not like this particular wine forever. Buying it in bulk may have you stuck with a lot of wine that you no longer like.
Allow yourself to be a little adventurous when shopping for wine. While it is really easy to stick to the tried and true wines from France or California, there are some fantastic varieties to be found all over the world. By stretching your boundaries just a little, you might find a wine that you really love!
Wine is just as good to cook with as it is to drink on its own. Putting red wine into your steak pan can enhance the flavor. You can also use white wine when you cook seafood like scallops or fish. Putting some wine into your food can add extra flavor to it.
Most people enjoy pairing wine with a fancy dinner. However, it is imperative that you always choose the best tasting bottle of wine that you can afford. People often don’t realize that wine can make or break the quality of the dinner. When in doubt, it’s best if you don’t!
If you are out on a date or with someone you want to impress, do not order a wine that you have not had before. Try to order wine that you are familiar with, or know that you like. Be adventurous in your own time, when you are not out in public.
If you have a wine bottle that is older than 20 years, make sure that you understand the deterioration process of the cork. Therefore, when you open the wine, there is a good chance that the cork will split or tear. This is a natural process that will happen with almost all wine bottles.
If you identify a strong aroma of caramel, smoke, nuts or even vanilla when tasting a wine, keep in mind that these aromas are there because of the oak barrels used to store the wine. These aromas will not be as strong if you drink the same wine from a bottle.
Champagne is for more than just weddings. Most people only consider champagne for something special. The fact is, champagne complements a wide range of foods. Champagne’s bubbles will help cleanse your palate. It is best to pair champagne with foods that are on the salty side.
When buying wine, the year it was produced is not necessarily the most important factor. While the climate of a region can change the taste of a wine, most of the largest wine-producing regions have fairly consistent temperatures. This means that a bottle produced in California in 2005 and a bottle from 2007, for example, should taste pretty similar.
With your increased knowledge of wine, a menu or wine store should no longer intimidate you. It will be easy to drink wine on your own or serve it to your friends. You are well on your way towards becoming a wine expert.
