Jan 5
What is Noble Rot, how does it affect your wines and which wines are impacted?
Noble rot, as you can see from the image, does not look pretty on the vine. It is a fungus called Botrytis cinerea that infects grapes left on the vine in too warm and humid conditions. These grapes are dehydrated and shriveled, but produces very concentrated sweetness. Noble rot affects Riesling, Sauvignon blanc, Chenin blanc, Sémillon and Gewürztraminer and results in very sweet tastes for these affected wines.
Heard a few wine terms and don’t know what they mean? Here’s a few that may help clear up your questions. If you have additional questions, I’m happy to help. Contact me
Sep 14
Stemware is as much a part of wine tasting as the wine is. Key facets of a wine stem you want to keep in mind:
CLEAR – The first “S” of your 4 S’s is sight. You want a clear glass to provide that view into the beauty and color of your wine.
RIM – You want a rim faceted to minimize chipping and that enhances your tasting enjoyment. Unlike rolled rim glasses, ours rinse easily making them quite hygienic.
SIZE and SHAPE – The shape of your wine glass should be appropriate to the wine that you’re drinking. Do some research on the right style of glass if you’re drinking a Pinot Noir or Cabernet or Champagne.
STEM – Your white wines should be stemmed. If you have stemless glasses for your whites, your wines will warm too quickly. Our stems are perfectly balanced, elegant and functional, and machine blown in one piece; adding strength and durability.
I’m happy to answer your wine stem questions. Contact me at www.greatWineSource.com with your questions.
Aug 12
If you love your wine, or even if you don’t and you’re transporting it for someone else, do not leave it in your car in the warm days of summer (or for that matter the frigid days of winter).
Wine when left unattended for long periods of time and exposed to the elements, extreme heat or cold, will at the very least be quite inconvenient with a raised cork and potentially leaking wine, and at its worst will entirely explode within the bottle, leaving a huge mess for you to clean up. If you leave it unattended for an hour or two, you may think it will be ok. It will not.
A car in the sun on pretty much any day gets warm; a car in the sun on a hot day gets hot and interior temperatures can reach well above 140 degrees. (Ever sit on hot leather on a hot day? OUCH!) Think of your wine sitting on the same hot leather. Would you leave perishables in your hot car? Would you leave milk in your hot car for any length of time? Starting to make sense? What would happen if you turned on your oven to 140 or 150 and put a glass of wine in there; how about a glass of beer? Same thing applies with wine. Don’t cook your wine in your car (or your oven).
Now, let’s look at the opposite. Winter weather. While it’s true that some foods will do just fine in winter weather (frozen foods for example in frozen temperatures will be fine), others are not meant to be in the extreme cold. What would happen though if you put your wine in your freezer for, let’s say 4 hours, 8 hours or more? Same thing will happen if left in your car in freezing temperatures. The liquid will freeze and pop the cork.
So, my friends, when transporting wine, keep in mind how long you may have to leave it in the vehicle, and if longer than an hour (or two at most), please take precautions — use a cooler to protect it, and if you can’t and you are one of my customers and bringing wine to your friends, please CALL ME and I will help you in any way possible.
Apr 19
Wine is best when shared with food (complementary of course) and friends. So, hopefully if you’re poured a delicious glass of wine, you are also in the company of good friends.
The first topic of education I’ll go over is what we should focus on when a glass of wine is poured for us — savoring all aspects of it …. the “S’s”.
Ideally, in my business, I prefer the “PSR” “pour, sip and repeat” to the 4 S’s. But, I do want to properly educate, so here we go.
First things first, be sure that you have a proper wine glass. If you are pouring a white wine, use a white wine glass; if you’re pouring a red, use a red glass; if you’re pouring sparkling, use a flute. The glass is just as important as other aspects. (If you need accessories, I’m happy to help, just let me know.)
There you have it. Your first lesson in wine tasting. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!
Please feel free to post questions or comments at any time. I will post updates to the blog regularly throughout the week. Thank you again for visiting, and I look forward to blogging with you again.
