Wine

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How Wine is Made

Wine is essentially liquid, fermented fruit. After grapes are gathered from a vineyard's grapevines and crushed, yeasts(tiny one-celled organisms that exist naturally in vineyards) come into contact with [more…]

Why Color Matters with Wine

It’s okay to like some wine colors more than others. You may prefer white, red, or rosé (blush) wines. The winemaking process and the color of the grape determine whether a wine will be white, red, or [more…]

Understanding How Wines are Named

Most of the wine names that you find in your wine shop or on restaurant wine lists are named in one of two basic ways: [more…]

How to Pronounce Wine Names

Nothing will set a wine snob on your case more quickly than a mispronounced name of a famous wine or wine region. The pronunciations of dozens of wines and wine regions appear in the table below, for easy [more…]

Understanding Wine Descriptors

Wine descriptors are common terms that you can use to describe a particular wine. Descriptors can help you put words to the wine you’re tasting. Unless you want to drink the same wine for the rest of your [more…]

How to Taste and Savor Wine

Tasting and savoring wine is a slower, more deliberate and more thoughtful process than simply drinking wine. Wine is a complex beverage, and when you simply drink it as you would any other beverage, you [more…]

How to Discern Wine Quality

Wine producers constantly brag about the quality ratings that their wines receive from critics, because a high wine rating — implying high quality — translates into increased sales for a wine. But quality [more…]

Understanding How Grapes Used in Wine Vary

Many attributes distinguish each grape variety from the next. The attributes of grape varieties fall into two categories: personality traits and performance factors. [more…]

The Most Popular White Grape Varieties

Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio are the most important and popular white grape varieties today. The wines made from these grapes can be varietal wines, or place-name [more…]

The Most Popular Red Grape Varieties

The most popular red grape varieties today are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah/Shiraz, and Zinfandel. You’ll encounter these grapes in varietal wines and place-name wines. These red grape [more…]

How to Uncork a Wine Bottle

Removing the cork from a wine bottle is the first challenge that faces you in your quest to enjoy wine. Uncorking a wine bottle is relatively simple once you get the hang of it. First you must remove the [more…]

How to Open a Bottle of Sparkling Wine

Opening a bottle of sparkling wine or Champagne is usually an exciting occasion. But the method of opening a bottle of sparkling wine or Champagne is a completely different technique than you’d use to [more…]

Which Wines Need Aerating?

The process of aerating wine — exposing it to air — is called breathing. Sometimes the aroma and flavor of a very young wine improves with aeration. But just pulling the cork out of the bottle and letting [more…]

Knowing Which Wine Glasses to Use

You can appreciate a wine’s aroma and flavor complexities much more out of a fine wine glass. Wine glasses come in all shapes and sizes. If you’re just drinking wine as refreshment with your meal, the [more…]

The Best Serving Temperatures for Wines

Serving wine at the ideal temperature is a vital factor in your enjoyment of wine. If you try tasting the same wine at different temperatures, you may find that you love it at one temperature and dislike [more…]

Entertaining with Wine at a Dinner Party

When hosting a dinner party, you probably serve more wines than you would during a normal dinner. Instead of just one wine throughout the meal, you may want to serve a different wine with every course. [more…]

How to Preserve Leftover Wine

How can you preserve leftover wine if you don't finish the bottle? The best method of preserving wine varies depending on the type of wine and how much is left in the bottle. [more…]

How to Store Wine for the Long Term

If you’ve decided to collect and store wines over the long term, remember that poorly stored wines make disappointment inevitable. To keep wines indefinitely, you really need a wine storage facility with [more…]

Shopping for Wine in Supermarkets

Supermarkets and discount warehouses make wine accessible to everyone. When you shop for wine in supermarkets or discount stores, the mystique surrounding the wine selection process evaporates: Who can [more…]

Shopping for Wine in Specialty Shops

Wine specialty shops are small- to medium-sized stores that sell wine and liquor and, sometimes, wine books, corkscrews, wine glasses, and maybe a few specialty foods. The foods sold in wine shops tend [more…]

How to Choose a Wine Merchant

Sizing up a wine merchant is similar to sizing up any other specialty retailer. The main criteria for picking a wine shop are fair prices, a wide selection, staff expertise, [more…]

Strategies for Wine Shopping

Most wine lovers discover (at least eventually) that wine shopping can be fun. You can assure yourself of more good wine-buying experiences than bad ones by coming to terms with your knowledge — or lack [more…]

Understanding American Wine Labels

Many American wine bottles have two labels. The front label names the wine and grabs your eye as you walk past it. The back label gives you a little more information, ranging from food pairings to other [more…]

Looking at California's Wine Regions

Wine grapes flourish throughout much of California — in wine regions as far north as Mendocino County in the upper third of California, as far west as the edge of the Pacific Ocean, and as far east as [more…]

How to Decipher Labels on European Wines

Wines produced or sold in the European Union (EU) must include some of the same information found on American wine labels. But the EU regulations require additional label items for wines produced in its [more…]

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