Wine 101 – Wine Racks

My criteria for small wine racks: they should be sturdy and beautiful, and if they’re made from recycled materials, foldable or easily storable when not in use, even better. There are many options offered at department and home furnishing stores, but I especially love the tabletop and wall-mounted wine racks sold at museum stores and Etsy, an online handmade marketplace. I found some great racks for under $100:

2-Bottle Rack: Wall mounted cork rack, designed by Deger Cengiz, found at South Street Museum Shop.

Cork Wine Rack

4-Bottle Rack: Modular and foldable, made of high tensile strength coated wire, designed by Ed Kilduff, found at Museum of Modern Art Shop in NYC.

Houdini Wine Rack

6-Bottle Rack: Made of bamboo, designed by M26 Studio, found at Etsy.

Mod Six-Bottle Wine Rack

9-Bottle Rack: Modular, injection-molded from transparent ABC recycled polymer, designed by Dagan Design, found at SFMOMA Museum Store.

Puzzle Wine Rack

Wine 101 – Decanters and Decanting

Baccarat Oenology

In a nutshell: decanting is pouring wine from its bottle into a pitcher, and “letting wine breathe” is exposing it to air.  Decanting removes sediment, and aerating gets rid of certain odors.

Port and older red wines (10+ years), sometimes develop sediment, and benefit from decanting. Sediment, which comes from the wine’s tannins and pigment, is natural and won’t hurt you, but it doesn’t look or taste good either. Once it’s rid of sediment and displayed in a decanter, an older wine looks particularly elegant.

Wine 101 – Bottle Shapes, Colors and Closures

Wine has to do with trust. If you saw wine in an olive oil or balsamic vinegar bottle, you would probably be surprised and confused. While their shapes would stand out on a shelf, they would not meet your expectations nor stimulate the appropriate aromatic or taste sensations.

 

 

Bordeaux

When I was choosing bottles for my wines, I wanted to do everything possible to offer an aesthetic experience. I was very mindful of creating an honest product that the consumer could trust. I didn’t want the consumer to feel misguided. I didn’t want the consumer to feel embarrassed about choosing the wrong wine.

 

 

Wine 101 – Large Format Wine Bottles

Palazzo Barberini

What is about a grand staircase, a high ceiling, or a long driveway? They’re dramatic. They’re memorable. They’re awe-inspiring.

For a stupendous gift for Valentine’s Day, your anniversary or important celebration, think big! Consider a large-format bottle of Champagne, Burgundy, Bordeaux or Napa wine. The largest sizes are rare, but you can find a Jeroboam or double magnum for $200-$500.

 

8 Sizes of Pol Roger Champagne

Wine and More – Which Wine Should I Serve to my Book Group?

I thought that book groups got together to have a good meal and wine, relax and discuss interesting books with friends. This turned out to be only partially true.  Yes, they are intellectually stimulating. No, they do not guarantee a hot meal or an interesting wine, especially not on a Monday night.

Wine 101 – Ordering Wine at a Restaurant

Ordering the food was easy. Then, gasp, it’s time to pick the wine. Everyone turns to the smartest person at the table. The hot potato lands on your lap. “You do it.” You place the order. The wine arrives. You’re in the spotlight. Yikes.

What happens next: the wine presentation. Why do they bring you the bottle and pour you a sample? A waiter or sommelier (wine director) presents you with a bottle of wine so that you can verify that it is, in fact, what you ordered.  Check. Then, he or she pours you a sample so that you see, smell and taste if is faulty. Hmmm?

How do you survive the wine presentation at a restaurant? Trust yourself. You can easily tell when food smells or tastes bad. Look for similar clues in wines. Defective wines look brown or cloudy. They smell and taste moldy, musty, burnt or like vinegar. If in doubt, ask the waiter or sommelier to examine the wine before it is served to the rest of table. At a restaurant with a focused wine program or a massive wine list, the sommelier is the person who has purchased the wine and knows what it is supposed to taste like.

WINE 101 – CLINKING GLASSES

My best advice: Look him or her in the eye when toasting, or bad sex for seven years!

My next best advice: No longer than one minute when addressing a group.