Frequently Asked Questions
About Wine
What happens when I can’t finish the whole bottle of wine?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions in Wine School (although I have never had this problem).
If you still have a portion of the wine left over, whether it be red or white, the bottle should be corked and immediately put into the refrigerator. Don’t leave it out on your kitchen counter. Remember, bacteria grow in warm temperatures, and a 70°F+ kitchen will spoil wine very quickly. By refrigerating the wine, most wines will not lose their flavor over a forty-eight-hour period. (Some people swear that the wine even tastes better, although I’m not among them.)
Eventually, the wine will begin to oxidize. This is true of all table wines with an 8 to 14 percent alcohol content. Other wines, such as Ports and Sherries, with a higher alcohol content of 17 to 21 percent, will last longer, but I wouldn’t suggest keeping them longer than two weeks.
Another way of preserving wine for an even longer period of time is to buy a small decanter that has a corked top and fill the decanter to the top with the wine. Or go to a hobby or craft store that also carries home winemaking equipment and buy some half bottles and corks.
Remember, the most harmful thing to wine is oxygen, and the less contact with oxygen, the longer the wine will last. That’s why some wine collectors also use something called the Vacu-Vin, which pumps air out of the bottle. Other wine collectors spray the bottle with an inert gas such as nitrogen, which is odorless and tasteless, that preserves the wine from oxygen.
Remember, if all else fails, you’ll still have a great cooking wine!
Why do I get a headache when I drink wine?
The simple answer may be overconsumption! Seriously though, more than 10 percent of my students are medical doctors, and none of them has been able to give me the definitive answer to this question.
Some people get headaches from white wine, others from red, but when it comes to alcohol consumption, dehydration certainly plays an important role in how you feel the next day. That’s why for every glass of wine I consume, I will have two glasses of water to keep my body hydrated.
There are many factors that influence the way alcohol is metabolized in your system. The top three are:
1. health
2. DNA
3. gender
Research is increasingly leaning toward genetics as a reason for chronic headaches.
For those of you who have allergies, different levels of histamines are present in red wines; these can obviously cause discomfort and headaches. I myself am allergic to red wine and I “suffer” every day.
Many doctors have told me that food additives contribute to headaches. There is a natural compound in red wine called tyramine, which is said to dilate blood vessels. Further, many prescription medicines warn about combining with alcohol.
Regarding gender, due to certain stomach enzymes, women absorb more alcohol into their bloodstream than men do. A doctor who advises women that one glass of wine a day is a safe limit is likely to tell men that they can drink two glasses.
Do all wines need corks?
It is a time-honored tradition more than two centuries old to use corks to preserve wine. Most corks come from cork oak trees grown in Portugal and Spain.
The fact is that most wines could be sold without using cork as a stopper. Since 90 percent of all wine is meant to be consumed within one year, a screw cap10.43 will work just as well, if not better, than a cork for most wines.
Just think what this would mean to you—no need for a corkscrew, no broken corks and, most important, no more tainted wine caused by contaminated cork.
I do believe that certain wines—those with potential to age for more than five years—are much better off using cork. But also keep in mind, for those real wine collectors, that a cork’s life span is approximately twenty-five to thirty years, after which you’d better drink the wine or find somebody to recork it.
Some wineries now use a synthetic cork10.45 made from high-grade thermoplastic that is FDA-approved and also recyclable. These corks form a near-perfect seal, so leakage, evaporation, and off flavors are virtually eliminated. They open with traditional corkscrews and allow wine to be stored upright.
But many wineries around the world use the Stelvin Screw Cap, especially in California (Bonny Doon, Sonoma Cutrer, etc.), Australia, New Zealand,10.44 and Austria.
What is a “corked” wine?
This is a very serious problem for wine lovers! There are some estimates that 3 to 5 percent of all wines have been contaminated and spoiled by a faulty cork. The principal cause of corked wine is a compound called TCA, short for 2,4,6-trichloranisole.
When we find such a bottle at the Wine School, we make sure that every student gets a chance to smell a “corked” wine. It’s a smell they won’t soon forget!
Some of my students describe it as a dank, wet, moldy, cellar smell, and some describe it as a wet cardboard smell. It overpowers the fruit smell in the wine, making the wine undrinkable. It can happen in a ten-dollar bottle of wine or a thousand-dollar bottle of wine.
How do I decant a bottle of wine?
1. Completely remove the capsule from the neck of the bottle. This will enable you to see the wine clearly as it passes through the neck.
2. Light a candle. Most red wines are bottled in very dark green glass, making it difficult to see the wine pass through the neck of the bottle. A candle will give you the extra illumination you need and add a theatrical touch. A flashlight would do, but candles keep things simple.
3. Hold the decanter (a carafe or glass pitcher can also be used for this purpose) firmly in your hand.
4.Hold the wine bottle in your other hand, and gently pour the wine into the decanter while holding both over the candle at such an angle that you can see the wine pass through the neck of the bottle.
5. Continue pouring in one uninterrupted motion until you see the first signs of sediment.
6. Stop decanting once you see sediment. At this point, if there is still wine left, let it stand until the sediment settles. Then continue decanting.
What’s that funny-looking stuff attached to the bottom of my cork?
Tartaric acid, or tartrates, is sometimes found on the bottom of a bottle of wine or the cork. Tartaric acid is a harmless crystalline deposit that looks like glass or rock candy. In red wines, the crystals take on a rusty, reddish-brown color from the tannin.
Most tartrates are removed at the winery by lowering the temperature of the wine before it is bottled. Obviously this does not work with all wines, and if you keep your wine at a very cold temperature for a long period of time (for example, in your refrigerator), you can end up with this deposit on your cork.
Cool-climate regions like Germany have a greater chance of producing the crystallization effect.
Does the age of the vine affect the quality of the wine?
You will sometimes see on French wine labels the term Vieilles Vignes (“old vines”). In California, I’ve tasted many Zinfandels that were made from vines that were more than seventy-five years old. Many wine tasters, including myself, believe that these old vines create a different complexity and taste than do younger vines.
In many countries, grapes from vines three years old or younger cannot be made into a winery’s top wine. In Bordeaux, France, Château Lafite-Rothschild produces a second wine, called Carruades de Lafite-Rothschild, which is made from the vineyard’s youngest vines (less than fifteen years old).
As a vine gets older, especially over thirty years, it starts losing its fruit-production value. In commercial vineyards, vines will slow down their production at about twenty years of age, and most vines are replanted by their fiftieth birthday.
What are the hot areas in wine?
It seems as if most countries are catching the wine craze. Here are some areas where I have seen major growth and improvement in quality, especially with certain grape varieties, over the last twenty years:
New Zealand: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir
Chile: Cabernet Sauvignon
Argentina: Malbec
Hungary: Tokaji (one of the greatest dessert wines in the world)
Austria: Grüner Veltliner
Portugal: Not just Port anymore! Try Bacca Velha and you’ll see what I mean.
South Africa: Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Syrah
And what will you be writing about in the year 2025?
Argentina, the United States, Australia, Chile, and China.
What are the most important books for your wine library?
Thank you for buying my wine book, which I hope you have found useful for a general understanding of wine. As with any hobby, there is always a thirst for more knowledge.
I hope that you noticed that at the end of each chapter, I recommended specific wine books for the different wine regions.
The following is a list of general books I consider required reading if you want to delve further into this fascinating subject:
The Essential Wine Book, Oz Clarke
Oz Clarke’s New Encyclopedia of Wine
Oz Clarke’s Wine Atlas
Great Wine Made Simple, Andrea Robinson
Hugh Johnson’s Modern Encyclopedia of Wine
World Atlas of Wine, Hugh Johnson
The Wine Bible, Karen MacNeil
Wine for Dummies, Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing Mulligan
Keys to the Cellar by Peter D. Meltzer
Oxford Companion to Wine, Jancis Robinson
The New Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia, Tom Stevenson
The Wine Report, Tom Stevenson
Parker’s Wine Buyers Guide, Robert M. Parker Jr.
Since the above volumes are sometimes encyclopedic in nature, I always carry with me two pocket guides to wine:
Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Encyclopedia of Wine
Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Guide
Where can I get the best wine service in the United States?
The James Beard Awards have recognized the following restaurants with the Outstanding Wine Service Award:
1993 Charlie Trotter’s, Chicago
1994 Valentino, Santa Monica
1995 Montrachet, New York
1996 Chanterelle, New York
1997 The Four Seasons,
New York
1998 The Inn at Little
Washington, Washington,
Virginia
1999 Union Square Café,
New York
2000 Rubicon, San Francisco
2001 French Laundry, Yountville,
California
2002 Gramercy Tavern, New York
2003 Daniel, New York
2004 Babbo, New York
2005 Veritas, New York
2006 Aureole, Las Vegas
2007 Citronelle, Washington, D.C.
2008 Eleven Madison Park,
New York
2009 Le Bernardin, New York City
The past winners for Wine and Spirits Professional of the Year Award are:
1991 Robert Mondavi, Robert Mondavi Winery
1992 Andre Tchelistcheff, Beaulieu Winery
1993 Kevin Zraly, Windows on the World, New York
1994 Randall Grahm, Bonny Doon Vineyard, Santa Cruz
1995 Marvin Shanken,Wine Spectator
1996 Jack and Jaimie Davies, Schramsberg Vineyards
1997 Zelma Long, Simi Winery
1998 Robert M. Parker Jr., The Wine Advocate
1999 Frank Prial, The New York Times
2000 Kermit Lynch, Berkeley
2001 Gerald Asher, Gourmet
2002 Andrea Immer, French Culinary Institute
2003 Fritz Maytag, Anchor Brewing Co.
2004 Karen MacNeil, Culinary Institute of America
2005 Joseph Bastianich, Italian Wine Merchants, New York
2006 Daniel Johnnes, The Dinex Group, New York
2007 Paul Draper, Ridge Vineyards
2008 Terry Theise, Terry Theise Estate Selection
2009 Dale DeGroff, Dale DeGroff Co., Inc
What’s the difference between California and French wines, and who makes the better wines?
You really think I’m going to answer that? California and France both make great wines, but the French make the best French wines!
From production strategy to weather, each region’s profile is distinct. California wines and French wines share many similarities. The greatest similarity is that both France and California grow most of the same grape varieties. They also have many differences. The biggest differences are soil, climate, and tradition.
The French regard their soil with reverence and believe that the best wines only come from the greatest soil. When grapes were originally planted in California, the soil was not one of the major factors in determining which grapes were planted where. Over recent decades, this has become a much more important aspect for the vineyard owners in California, and it’s not unheard of for a winemaker to say that his or her best Cabernet Sauvignon comes from a specific area.
As far as weather goes, the temperatures in Napa and Sonoma are different from those in Burgundy and Bordeaux. The fact is, that while European vintners get gray hair over pesky problems like cold snaps and rainstorms in the growing season, Californians can virtually count on abundant sunshine and warm temperatures.
Tradition is the biggest difference between the two, and I’m not just talking about winemaking. For example, vineyard and winery practices in Europe have remained virtually unchanged for generations; and these age-old techniques— some of which were written into law—define each region’s own style. But in California, where few traditions exist, vintners are free to experiment with modern technology and create new products based on consumer demand. If you’ve ever had a wine called Two Buck Chuck, you know what I mean.
It is sometimes very difficult for me to sit in a tasting and compare a California Chardonnay and a French white Burgundy, since they have been making wines in Burgundy for the last 1,600 years and the renaissance of California wines is not yet 50 years old.
I buy both French and California wines for my personal cellar, and sometimes my choice has to do totally with how I feel that day or what food I’m having: Do I want to end up in Bordeaux or the Napa Valley?
How long should I age10.46 my wine?
The Wall Street Journal recently came out with an article stating that most people have one or two wines that they’ve been saving for years for a special occasion. This is probably not a good idea!
More than 90 percent of all wine—red, white, and rosé—should be consumed within a year.10.47 With that in mind, the following is a guideline to aging wine from the best producers in the best years:
| WHITE | |
| California Chardonnay | 3–8+ years |
| French White Burgundy | 2–10+ years |
| German Riesling | 3–30+ years |
| (Auslese, Beerenauslese, | |
| and Trockenbeerenauslese) | |
| French Sauternes | 3–30+ years |
| RED | |
| Bordeaux Châteaux | 5–30+ years |
| California Cabernet Sauvignon | 3–15+ years |
| Argentine Malbec | 3–15+ years |
| Barolo and Barbaresco | 5–25+ years |
| Brunello di Montalcino | 3–15+ years |
| Chianti Classico Riservas | 3–10+ years |
| Spanish Riojas (Gran Reservas) | 5–20+ years |
| Hermitage/Shiraz | 5–25+ years |
| California Zinfandel | 5–15+ years |
| California Merlot | 2–10+ years |
| California/Oregon Pinot Noirs | 2–5+ years |
| French Red Burgundy | 3–8+ years |
| Vintage Ports | 10–40+ years |
There are always exceptions10.48 to the rules when it comes to generalizing about the aging of wine (especially considering the variations in vintages), hence the plus signs in the table above. I have had Bordeaux wines more than a hundred years old that were still going strong. It is also not unlikely to find a great Sauternes or Port that still needs time to age after its fiftieth birthday. But the above age spans represent more than 95 percent of the wines in their categories.