The variety of flavors that come from red wines are many. But how do you decide which one to get? Here is a brief guide on the more popular red wines. This way if you know what you are in the mood for, you can order your wine appropriately.

Here we go (in no particular order):

Merlot

This is considered to be an easy wine to start with if you are new to wine tasting. It is thought to be easier to drink (some other reds have very distinct characteristics that some people may not like).

This wine is a softer red wine and has lower tannins that other reds. It is also generally less expensive than others.

The Merlot grape is actually dark blue in color which is why the wine is not a dark.

Flavors that you can expect from a Merlot are: black cherry and plum. Other flavors include vanilla, tobacco, clove and herbal flavors.

As for food, a wide variety of food pares well with Merlot. Chicken and light meat are great. You might stay away from fish or salads though.

Syrah

A Syrah is the same as a Shiraz. This wine is very dark (darker than a Cabernet Sauvignon) and has high levels of antioxidants (for those of you that want to drink red wine for any health benefits). As a matter of fact, generally speaking, the darker the wine the more antioxidants they have. So white wines are very low.

What to expect with a Syrah: cherry, plum, blackberry, boysenberry, blueberry. Other flavors might include tobacco, pepper, black olive, vanilla, licorice, coffee and chocolate.

The Syrah (Shiraz) is a dry wine that often has a bite on the finish.

Foods that go well with this wine include red meats, barbecues, lamb, and light cheese.

Cabernet Sauvignon

Coming from the Cabernet Sauvignon grape; some would say that this is the best grape in the world.

This wine is a full bodied wine which is dry and has strong tannins. It is dark in color, but as stated above not as dark as a Syrah.

What to expect: black currant, black cherry and blackberry. Other flavors may include pepper, tobacco, vanilla and licorice.

Food parings include red meats, lamb, strong cheeses and heavy pastas.

Pinot Noir

This grape is grown in cooler climates and is a lighter bodied red wine. It is fresh and has rich fruit flavors.

You can expect to sense strawberry, cherry and raspberry and even tobacco, clove, licorice and vanilla.

Foods for a Pinot Noir include ethnic dishes, pork or poultry and even salmon.

Other very mentionable red wines to check out include:

Zinfandel

This will be dry with strong tannins. It is considered light, but tastes very bold (bolder than the Pinot Noir).

Malbec

Some of the best will come from Argentina, but also comes out of France and Chile. This is a fabulous dry and dark red wine. Check out a wonder Malbec from Argentina.

There are of course other red wines, but these are the staples that you will find on any decent wine list.

 

 

 

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Properly storing your wine is crucial to anyone interested in protecting their collection.

If you are a collector of fine wines then you will definitely want to be aware of all of the options available to you.

There are actually many options that you can choose from. What is the most important thing for your wine however is to maintain proper temperatures and overall conditions. This will allow your wine to thrive.

For the most part, the temperature of any wine storage space will be somewhere between 50-60 degrees F. Keep in mind that this is for long term storage and to necessarily for short term handling. The area that you keep your wine should have plenty of ventilation. The area should not be stuffy.

Most people store their wine in areas that are not close to their living space as there tends to be temperature fluctuations and sometimes clutter. You will also want to keep your wine from extreme vibrations. This will disturb the sediment and ruin your wine.

Lighting is also an issue. Wine needs to be kept away from harsh light. Most storage areas are quite dark. Intense light can harm the wine and ruin the taste. You do not want to ruin your investment.

So there are a couple of options for your wine storage. You can use a wine cellar or a specific wine cooler. You might also want to think about a wine rack to display your wine. You can find racks in all shapes and sizes. They can come in wood or metal, so whatever your style might be, you should be able to find something.

Some of these rely on your preferences. Some people like to display their collection and even tour others through their wine cellar. It is quite an experience. Some people have several locations to store their wine.

One thing that is a must however is that you should always store your wine on its side or horizontally. A wine can sit straight up when served, but for storage your wine needs to by lying down. If not, you risk drying out the cork which allows for air and debris to enter the bottle. When this happens, your wine is ruined.

Wine cellars are for more long term storage. This is for a serious collector. Some people invest a lot of money in their wine, so it is important to keep it well.

Wine coolers are similar in that the maintain a temperature that is good for the wine. Generally speaking, room temperatures are not ideal situations for wine to be housed in.

For a short term it might work, but if you want your wine to taste good, you really need a wine cooler. They have become very poplar and are not as expensive and you might think. You can check out some wine cooler reviews here.

Wine drinking is something that is becoming more popular every year. People buy nice wines, they go to wine tastings in even have wine parties. Many people also buy wines from around the world online. If you want to keep your wine as it should be kept, then you really should think about storage options.

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Ever wonder how to evaluate wine? Here are some tips.

We have all probably heard wine experts talk about wine in ways that might seem strange to us. They use terminology that we might not be familiar with. They sound so sophisticated and proper, some might even say they sound a bit funny. What exactly are they saying?

Do good wines have certain characteristics that we should look for?

There actually are several items that experts look to in order to determine if a wine is good. It is not necessary to know all of them, but there are a few key things that you might want to look for.

Complexity

What does it mean for a wine to be ‘complex’? If you can pick up several different notes and flavors, then the wine is considered to have complexity. For example, when you are able to pick out tastes like cherry, plum, apple or tobacco then your wine has complexity. The more complexity your wine has the higher the quality of that wine.

Balance

What does it mean to be balanced? When a wine is balanced the acidity, sweetness, tannins , and alcohol blend together nicely so that you should not be able to strongly detect any of them. When you taste a wine and it is very sweet or you can sense a strong acidity, then it is not considered balanced. Likewise, if your wine seems to be rather strong in alcohol content then the wine is probably not well balanced. If your wine is not balanced, the taste is not as good and therefore the quality is less.

There are several other factors that come into play when determining a wines quality. For example, the wines finish or its typicity are important. But the ones mentioned above will get you started.

Go here for more wine tasting terms.

 

 

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We have probably all heard that drinking a daily glass of red wine has certain health benefits. But is it really true?

While binge drinking is certainly to be avoided, research does show a beneficial effect on our health from moderate red wine consumption

Even Hippocrates (the father of of western medicine) promoted the consumption of wine for a healthy diet.

You see, red wine has antioxidants that are called flavonoids. And these flavonoids are thought to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. 

What exactly do they do?
They can help reduce the production of LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol. This is what we call ‘bad cholesterol’.
They can also boost the HDL (high density lipoprotein) cholesterol. This is what we call ‘good cholesterol’.
Finally, they can reduce blood clots.

But that is not all. Wine contains the antioxidant called resveratrol and this antioxidant is thought to ‘inhibit tumor development in some cancers’¹. Resveratrol has also shown signs of nerve cell creation, which may ultimately serve to treat Alzheimer’s patients and potentially other neurological diseases.

So are some wines better than others as far as antioxidants go? Yes. The wines that have the most flavonoids include, Cabernet Sauvignon, and then Petit Syrah and Pinot Noir. Other reds, such as Merlots and Zinfandels have less concentration of the antioxidant. You can basically think of the sweeter wines as having fewer flavonoids and your best bet is to go with a dryer wine. You can also think, the darker the wine, the better.

You really should drink the whole bottle. NO, just kidding. Far from it. One serving is consider a 4-oz glass. And that is about all you need to get the maximum benefit from the red wine (men might benefit from possibly 2 servings).

There are other health problems where drinking red wine is not advised. Always consult with your doctor about health and nutrition concerns.

Some other benefits thought to come from drinking moderate amounts of red wine include the following:

• Drinking wine may improve your brain functioning and help to save your memory
• Red wine may reduce the risk of infection
• Drinking wine with your meal may kill the bacteria that often causes food poisoning
• Wine drinkers can have better circulation and a reduced risk of developing arteries that are blocked
• Red wine may help against neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia
• Drinking wine may lower the chances of suffering from depression
• Moderate amounts of red wine may reduce bowl tumors that can lead to colon cancer
• Red wine may have anti-aging properties (from the resveratrol)

The benefits seem endless, so go ahead and crack open a bottle!

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Chill Your Wine Fast!

Let’s say you don’t have a wine cooler and you really don’t have room in your refrigerator to store your wine. Then let’s say, some friends stop by and you look like an unprofessional wine drinker without any chilled wine. What to do?

The best way to chill your wine in a hurry is to put it in a metal bucket or pot with equal parts ice and water. But what really kicks it up a notch is to add salt to the ice water. Why salt, you ask (although many people may already know this)? The salt will get the water colder much faster as it slows the rate at which your ice melts.

While your wine is in the salt ice water, make sure you move it around every few minutes. It should be good to go in about 15 minutes or so. This will give you some time to get some snacks together and by that time, your wine will be ready and no one will be the wiser.

If you are a regular wine drinker and have a collection, you might want to think about getting a wine cooler. They come in many sizes to fit your collection needs.

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Generally speaking, France has been the leader in this area. And this was still the case in 2013 according to The International Organization of Vine and Wine.

However, the US – for the first time (2013), actually purchased more wine than France. In fact, according to Business Insider, the French have had a 7% decline in their wine purchases.

This of course begs the question, what is going on? The New York Times wrote about this phenomenon and suggested a couple of possibilities for the swap.

First off, America is enjoying a time of great wine. They have more access to better wine than ever before and are growing a strong appreciation for it. This would account for the growth in the US.

Secondly, it has been noted in Europe that their culture seems to be taking on a more American-like approach to life. Meaning, they are working longer hours and even skipping meals with their families. And this is the time when a lot of wine consuming would be had – with the family.

Another possibility is the idea that the wine in Europe is much better than it has ever been and therefore the Europeans buy less wine, but wine of higher quality.

The French still lead the world in wine production, but a lot of it is being consumed in the US.

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The shape of your wine glass affects how much you get and how much you drink

Do you fill your wine glass up to the rim? Well, that’s not really how it is supposed to be served (although I never complain). But research shows that the shape of a wine glass affects how much wine we put in it.

For example, wide glasses get more of a pour than narrow glasses. Not only that, you will drink less wine if you drink out of a narrow glass because you actually think you are getting more (I’m not sure this applies to everyone…). Talk about an optical illusion!

A researcher at Iowa State says, “People have trouble assessing volumes… They tend to focus more on the vertical than the horizontal measures. That’s why people tend to drink less when they drink from as narrow glass, because they think they’re drinking more.”

The moral of the story: if you want more wine, make sure to get the wide glass.

Oh and a tip on getting more wine in your glass…. hold your glass when someone pours. Researchers at Iowa State and Cornell University found that holding your glass while pouring will get you a 12% larger pour. Twelve percent is nothing to laugh at!

Check out this video

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