Today BestBuy.com is selling certain Riedel wine glasses for $9.99 for a 4-pack. I believe the sale is only happening today 1/17/2020, but I am not 100% sure about that. Anyway, Riedel wine glasses are great. The offer is available on the Bravissimo line of Prosecco, stemless Chardonnay, stemless Cabernet, and beer glasses. If you pay for shipping that will add $6, but you could get them shipped to your local BestBuy and pick them up without the added shipping cost.
Giving gifts can be stressful. Hopefully this provides you with a few options of openers for your friends, family, and maybe for yourself. Some version of opener is essential to have on hand for all wine lovers. Unfortunately, they can break, or get lost so it is a good idea to have more than one available. This post is a review of several different types of openers that can be found. There are affiliate links here so if there is something that you find appealing and you make a purchase using my link I might make a little money on the sale. However, the information is completely my own opinion on the use of each opener.
A corkscrew is essential for your wine loving friends. They probably already have one, but it is always nice to have a few on hand.
Budget pick at $12.50 – Vintorio Professional Waiters Corkscrew – Wine Key with Ergonomic Rubber Grip
Upgrade pick at $99.95 – Laguiole L’eclair French Handmade Waiter’s Corkscrew (Birchwood)
Winged Corkscrew pick currently at $8.99, and normally $18.95 – Hanee Rose Gold Wing Corkscrew Wine Opener
Electric pick currently at $31.90, and normally $39.99 – Brookstone Automatic Wine Opener
The Rabbit Style Pick at $34.95 – VINABON Wine Opener Set
The Ah So at $21.99 – Monopol Westmark Germany Steel Two-Prong Cork Puller with Cover (Silver Satin) The Ah So is my least favorite type of opener, but there is one circumstance where it is essential. That is when you are trying to open older vintage wines. By older I mean a vintage of about 10 years or older. (It is currently 2019, so this would be a good thing to use on wines that have a vintage date of 2009, or older.) This is because it helps keep older corks in tact when they are being removed. As corks age they become brittle and corkscrews tend to break off the top 1/2 of a brittle cork leaving the bottom half of the cork still in the neck of the bottle. If you go back in with a corkscrew to remove the rest of the cork you can end up with bits of cork in the wine. The Ah So slips in between the bottle and the cork and squeezes the cork. You can then rotate the Ah So to loosen the cork from the bottle. Then pull it out to remove the cork. It takes some practice to use an Ah So, but it is much nicer to go through the effort so you can avoid getting cork debris in your older vintage wines. You can either just use an Ah So if you know you are opening a bottle of wine that could have a problematic cork, or it can be used to retrieve the portion of the cork that is left after trying to open a bottle with another opener. (I have no idea where the name Ah So came from, and I do think it is a bit odd, but it is what it is.)
Choosing wine for Thanksgiving does not need to be overwhelming. Thanksgiving is all about spending time with loved wines and having a great time together.
To pick wine the first consideration should be: what kind of wine do you and your guests enjoy? I always try to think about who will be at a dinner when I select wines to share. Does your aunt like sparkling wine, does your nephew like sweet wine, does your partner like big bold red wines?
Once you have an idea of the direction of wines it is time to consider how these wines pair with the menu.
Maybe grab a sparkling wine if you will have cheese as an appetizer. It is a fun way to start a party. I really like a rose sparkling wine for Thanksgiving, but you select the right one for you and the other adults at the party. If no one likes sparkling, then maybe start with a crisp white like a Pinot Grigio, or Sauvignon Blanc.
Once you are moving on the the feast it is generally time to plan on fuller bodied whites, and red wines.
Turkey is the traditional protein for Thanksgiving dinner and it can be a little delicately flavored. A Chardonnay works really well here. The pear/apple flavors commonly found in Chardonnay will evoke that fall feeling. If you enjoy it, then opt for a buttery Chardonnay. If you are wanting a red wine then consider a Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir is a lighter bodied red and is more likely to pair well than a more full bodied red. The cherry character that is typical of Pinot Noir will work really well with the turkey, and it will also be an added berry character like the cranberry sauce.
Mashed potatoes would pair really well with a buttery chardonnay.
Stuffing would work great with a Viognier.
Green bean casserole would be great with a Chardonnay.
Sweet potato casserole would be nice with a Reisling.
A mushroom heavy dish pairs great with an earthy Pinot Noir.
Roasted brussel sprouts would go really well with a Nero D’Avola.
With all of that said – drink the wine that you love because Thanksgiving is all about sharing the food and drink that you enjoy with the people you care the most about.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
You may have wondered what the best way to open a bottle of sparkling wine is. Over the years I have seen many people pop the cork and shoot 1/3 of the bottle of wine across the room. This is not my recommended method of opening a bottle. For one thing it is dangerous. I once heard a statistic that 5 people a year lose their sight from being hit in the eye by a flying sparkling wine cork. I do not have the source of this, and it could be an old wives tale. However, the fear of eye damage is enough for me to open a bottle of bubbles a little differently. The other reason not to open the bottle like that is a little more practical – why waste so much wine if you do not have to?
This post is referring to opening a bottle of sparkling wine that has a cork and a wire cage. If you are opening a can, or a screw cap, or a crown cap then those are a little different.
To begin, just in case of an accident aim the bottle away from friends and family. An unopened bottle has a large amount of pressure. To give you a frame of reference for how much pressure is in a bottle of wine it is at least double the pressure found in a standard car tire. (Car tires are +/- 35psi and a bottle of sparkling wine is +/-75psi).
Have the wine chilled to the desired serving temperature for sparkling wine so 40°-50°F. Opening a chilled bottle will reduce the likelihood of losing control of the cork, and having large losses due to gushing.
Next you will remove the foil. There is usually a tab that you can pull to remove the foil. Sometimes it can be hard to find the tab so if necessary just remove the entire foil. The only purpose of the foil is aesthetics so you can find sparkling wine for sale that does not have a foil.
Next there will be the wire cage. There should be a loop of wire that you can bend down and twist to loosen. The key word here is loosen. You do not want to remove the cage completely. (Fun fact, the standard packaging method for sparkling wine give the loop 5-6 full turns.) At this stage the cork is no longer secured in the bottle and it could potentially pop out. With this in mind keep a hand with slight pressure on the top of the cage to keep the cork from escaping. You can quickly put a towel over the cage/cork at this point if you desire – just incase there is some gushing. Make sure that there is only a brief period of time where the cork/cage are not being secured by your hand if you do decide to use a towel.
Now for the cork removal. With the cage still in place, firmly grip the cork with one hand and the bottle with the other. (The of the cage as tire chains on tires. The cage will help you keep a grip on the cork as you open the bottle.) You can twist the cork, and hold the bottle still, or twist the bottle and hold the cork still. This is personal preference. While twisting you want to maintain a constant pressure on the cork. You want to remove it in a controlled way. Once it has loosened you will start to feel it being pushed out by the pressure from inside the bottle. This is when you want to make sure you hold the counter pressure on the cork to keep it from flying out.
The goal is to maintain the pressure until the cork comes out on its own. As the cork pushes completely out of the bottle you should hear a small release of gas. It is a similar sound to when you open a can of carbonated beverage. Just a quick pffffft sound. Now you can set the cork aside and serve the bubbles.
Another fun fact, sparkling wine corks start off in the same shape as standard wine corks – they are cylinders. They are thicker around than still wine corks. All wine corks are compressed before being inserted into the bottles. Sparkling wine corks are just under greater pressure to get them to fit in the neck of the bottle. These sparkling wine corks fit part of the way into the bottle and then the wire cages is put on to hold the cork in place. The top is able to expand to fit the inside of the wire cage. Because the rest of the cork stays compressed for months, or years they retain the more narrow diameter. This is how they come out in the mushroom shape.
Just a quick review:
If you read the post on tasting red wines then you will see some similar information here, but the post has been revised for white wines.
To begin, look at the color. Consider how the color compares with other wines of this varietal that you have had. White wines can be nearly colorless all the way to a deep amber hue. Does the color of the wine seem similar to other wines of that varietal that you have had? If a wine is leaning more toward that amber color then it is possible that the wine is oxidized. Oxidized wine has a sherry character and is considered a fault in wines other than sherries. Knowing this before you taste a wine is helpful information to have. It tells you that the wine could either be an older vintage, or it was stored incorrectly with excessive exposure to heat, oxygen, or both.
Consider the temperature of the wine. Is this wine being served right out of the fridge, or is it at room temperature? It is recommended that white wines are served in the 40-60°F range (40-50°F for light body whites, 50-60°F for fuller bodied whites) so it is good to know if the wine is cooler, warmer, or at the recommended serving temperature. A wine that is too cold will not be easy to taste. The fruitiness will be muted. If a wine is too warm then the fruitiness might seem excessive.
Now take your first smell of the wine. I like to do this before I swirl the glass. Think about what you smell. Now go ahead and give it a swirl and smell it again. Do you smell fruit? what kind of fruit? Is it cooked fruit, or fresh fruit? If it is fresh fruit is it citrus fruit, tree fruit, or tropical fruit? If it is citrus fruit, is it grapefruit, lemon, lime? Or if it is tree fruit, is it apple, pear, peach, or nectarine? Is there an oaky character? Is it a raw wood smell, or a toasted smell? Do you smell vanilla, caramel, clove, or chocolate? These are all aromas that are usually derived from an oak influence so they are indicators that the wine spent some time in barrel, or in contact with oak.
Now taste the wine. What is the first thing that stands out? Do you taste the same fruit that you smelled? Is the wine astringent, or bitter? What is the mouthfeel like? Is the wine balanced between the tartness and the sweetness? That is not to say that a wine is sweet, but the fruit character, and oak can contribute a perception of sweetness that can help balance out the sour and bitterness that wines can have.
Once you swallow the wine what happens? Did you taste flavors throughout the sip? Did it feel like you tasted it when you first put it in your mouth, maybe there wasn’t much in the middle, but you tasted it again when you swallowed it? What is the finish like? The finish is what you taste, and the sensations you have in your mouth after you swallow the wine. It is the after effect. Does it linger? Can you taste the wine for a while? Or does it go away as soon as you swallow the wine? Is there a burning sensation in your throat? That is generally an alcohol burn. It is the sensation that happens when you swallow a higher alcohol wine, or when you drink spirits. Is there a bitterness in the finish? This is similar to the taste that an aspirin leaves in your mouth if you don’t drink enough water with it.
I like to take a few sips and really consider all of this with each wine I am tasting. You may want to start keeping notes about the wines you taste. By taking time to think about what you smell and try to identify the aromas will help you build your wine vocabulary.
The answer here is tricky. Maybe they will and maybe they won’t. Wildfires seem to be getting more common. In California, the peak wildfire season is also the peak of the grape harvest.
Researchers are finding that the closer to harvest that the grapes are at the time of a fire event the more likely there are to show an effect from being close to a fire. So late summer into the mid-fall is the most problematic time for a fire. However, these same researchers are also finding that just because a vineyard is near a fire it does not guarantee that the fruit will show an effect from the smoke. (Hence the maybe, maybe not from above) There is still a lot of research going on about how fires, and smoke effect grapes and wines made from those grapes because we just do not know yet.
Once smoke effected fruit goes to the winery most winemakers will treat it differently than fruit that was not involved in a fire. This is because they want to minimize the impact of smoke. If a wine shows a smoke effect it is usually a smoky smell (think campfire), and sometimes an ash type character on the palate that can leave a bitter aftertaste. These are also characters that winemakers try to create wine wines by using toasted oak barrels. So… it might not really be a very big deal. It depends on the degree of the impact.
Another thing to keep in mind is that winemakers often have other tools at their disposal to reduce the smoke impact on a wine. Blending is a big opportunity to fine tune a wine, and it is used on nearly every wine that is commercially available. If there is a highly smoke effected wine then a winemaker can blend a different wine that was not smoke effected to reduce the impact. Like I mentioned before, oak barrels give some of the same characters that smoke from fires do, so a little smoke character from a fire could actually be a nice blending component for a winemaker.
Really all I want to share with you here is that fires happen, and winemakers will take that in stride and do their best to provide you with the highest quality wine that they can. Wildfires seem to be part of the current winemaking landscape and we are learning more and more about how to make excellent wines for our customers with the fruit we are given. Do not assume that just because there was a fire during a particular vintage that the wines will be inferior.
Pairing wine with any food is a very subjective thing. How a wine works, or doesn’t work will depend on your taste buds, and your personal preferences. These pairings are just for fun so be give them a try and see what you think. Do not be limited to these suggestions!
Sparkling Wines are often fruity and acidic. For that reason try them with fruity and tart candies.
Dry White and Rosé wines, like sparkling wines, tend to be crisp and fruity. Try pairing these with fruity, and tart candies. For the white wine try the more citrusy flavored candies, and have the berry flavors with the rosé.
Light bodied reds, like Pinot Noir, have the fruitiness to work with fruity candies, but they also start to work their way into the chocolate realm as well. Try the berry flavored starburst, and the halloween favorite Reeses Peanut Butter cups.
For full bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon, or Merlot I recommend going straight for the chocolate candies.
Food and wine pairing is an art. Finding wine and food that compliment each other takes a little trial and error. What works for one person might not work for someone else. So take these suggestions for what they are – just suggestions. You might not agree, but hopefully you will have fun trying.
The proper storage of wine is essential if you are interested in holding on to it for a while.
The first thing to know is that wine should be stored at the proper temperature – keep it cool. Somewhere in the range of 45-65°F. Ideally the wine is kept at a fairly consistent temperature within this range. This is why wine refrigerators are popular. Keeping the wine at a consistent cool temperature will prevent the wine from expanding and contracting with temperature changes. When these fluctuations happen it can cause the corks to leak, or be pushed out. Even if you do see some seepage, or the cork is slightly pushed out the wine may still be fine so try it before coming to a conclusion.
Next you will want to keep it on its side. This is specifically for wines that have a cork. Storing it on its side will keep moisture in contact with the cork and this helps prevent the cork from drying out. A dry cork tends to let in oxygen and will speed up aging and potentially lead to premature spoilage. Screw-capped wines do not need to be stored on their sides, but it will not hurt if you decide to store them this way to save space.
Wines benefit from being stored in dark places. Light can speed up the aging process and can degrade the wine in the bottle.
Humidity can be a good or a bad thing. Try to keep wine bottles somewhere in the realm of 50-80% humidity. Dryer than this can lead to corks drying out and allowing oxygen into the bottle. More humid that this can lead to mold growth on the cork which might not damage the wine itself, but can ruin labels. If you do have a moldy bottle then make sure to clean it off before opening and pouring the wine. Some vodka on a clean paper towel is a good way to remove it from the cork before opening a bottle.
A wine fridge is a good investment if you are storing several expensive bottles of wine. At big box stores you can get a 28 bottle wine fridge for a couple hundred dollars. If you have 10 bottles of wine that you have spent +/- $50 on then a wine fridge like this is a good investment to maintain the integrity of the wine you have spent your hard earned money on.
If you only have a couple bottles then maybe a wine fridge isn’t for you. Just do your best to store your bottles in a cool, dark place, on its side, and don’t plan on waiting more than a year or two to enjoy them.
To put it simply, organic wines are made from organically grown grapes with no added sulfites. However, nothing is simple.
For this post I am only discussing organic wine in the US. Wines around the world are made “organically” and the regulations for those are different than they are for US producers.
Organically grown grapes have some strict requirements on what can and cannot be used in the vineyard to protect the vines from pests and disease. Organic farming is a huge topic and much more than we will get into today. However, a vineyard must be certified organic for the wines made from those grapes to be used in organic wine.
Once a winemaker harvests these organic grapes and gets them into the winery they have some restrictions on how they can be processed. The main restriction is that wines made organically cannot have added sulfites. Sulfites are the additive in wine that protects it from spoilage. Sulfites are also an allergen so people who are allergic to sulfites might want to try organic wine. The caveat here is that some yeast species produce sulfites during fermentation so… just because wine is made without added sulfites does not guarantee that it will be sulfite free.
There are different certifying bodies for organic wines and they have different restrictions on what can be used so there is variation even within the US. Most will require detailed information about any products that a winery would like to use. They generally do not want inorganic materials added to organic wines. (Inorganic materials meaning things not derived from plants, or animals). However, depending on the certifying body wineries can often request to use “non-organic” products if an organic version does not exist. Usually in winemaking the thing that makes a product non-organic are sulfites that are added to many different winemaking products as a preservative.
Another thing to know about organic wines are that the words on the label matter. If it says something like “wine produced from organically grown grapes” then the wine itself is not certified organic and is probably made with added sulfites.
There are certainly nuances to organic wines, and how they are made. Just keep in mind that organic wines will have minimal sulfites, but may not be sulfite free.
Many people have asked me why a wine is not vegan. Well… it might not be depending on the winemaking practices.
If wine is fermented, aged, and bottled without intervention then it is vegan. Grapes, yeast, barrels, and sulfites are all vegan.
If on the other-hand, the winemaker takes steps to speed up the release of the wine, or to correct an issue with the wine, then there is a possibility that something they used was derived from animals.
The thing that prevents a wine from being vegan has to do with fining. Fining is the process of adding something in order to bind with and remove something else.
There are a number of animal derived fining agents that are used in winemaking:
Gelatin – is derived from animal tissue – usually pork based. It binds with and removes tannins and makes a wine less astringent, and can speed up clarification. This reduces the amount of time a wine needs to age before it is bottled and sold.
Isinglass – is essentially gelatin derived from fish. It is very good at removing hazy particles so it speeds up the clarification of wine – generally used in white wines.
Albumin – is derived from eggs. Albumin is good at helping clarify red wines. It removes tannins a little more gently than gelatin does.
Casein – is derived from milk. It removes polyphenols. It is typically used in white wines to treat, or prevent pinking. Pinking is when a white wine develops a pinkish, or orangish hue due to oxygen exposure.
These fining agents are not required in winemaking, but they help get the wine to the consumer more quickly. Wineries are starting to look for non-animal derived products, but the list of fining agents that they are legally allowed to use in winemaking does not offer many good non-animal derived options yet. The industry is working on it, but the approval process is tedious and slow.
