Recently, a wine bar opened up in the Pacific Beach area of San Diego.  It’s called Enoteca Adriano, and I’ve been eating there a lot because of the great pasta, intimate atmosphere, and of course, the great wine list.  One of my favorite wines they offer also happens to be the least expensive on the list–the 2006 De Canal Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.

Abruzzo is an Italian wine-growing region east of Rome.  Although they grow a variety of grapes, including Sangiovese, the most popular wine grape from the Abruzzo region is the Montepulciano grape.  In order for a varietal to carry the name Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, it must be at least 85% Montepulciano, with the remainder Sangiovese.  Its Riservas need to be aged at least 2 years before release, with 6 months of that time in wood barrels.

Montepulciano grapes are big, juicy, and produce good quality wines even when grown in large quantities–an unusual characteristic for a wine grape, and a special boon to the historically poor Abruzzo farmers.   The wine it produces is a deep, rich color.  Its tannins are mild and the wine is low in acidity, making it a soft, drinkable wine that pairs well with a variety of foods (making it a great choice for sharing).

The 2006 De Canal Montepulciano d’Abruzzo at Enoteca Adriano is $18.  If you have trouble tracking it down online, try other Montepulcianos–most are reasonably priced, and many can be found for around $8.  Pair with Pasta Bolognese or roast pork and enjoy!

1. If the conditions aren’t right, the wine will rot.  There’s nothing worse than opening a bottle after years of storage, only to discover that instead of aging gracefully, it’s turned to vinegar.  Keep the temperature of your wine cellar, wine refrigerator, wine closet, or wine cabinet between 50 and 65 degrees F for red wine and 45 to 60 degrees for white wine.

2. Here’s a nifty trick: since heat rises, and white wines need cooler conditions than reds do, keep white wines close to the floor and red wines closer to the ceiling.

3. Maintain a relative humidity between 50 and 70%.  Click here for our discussion on the importance of the right humidity for wine aging.

4. Keep bottles out of the light as much as possible.  When you do need to flip the switch to read the labels, make sure you’re using incandescent, not florescent—the extra UV light from florescent bulbs can penetrate the glass and interfere with the wine’s aging process.

5. Store bottles on their sides to keep the cork moist (a too-dry cork can shrink or even crack, letting in too much air and ruining the wine).

6. Use racks specifically designed for wine storage.  Certain types of woods and treatments can impart undesirable tastes to the bottles or can not rot in the damp, cool climate of your wine cellar.

7. Since you want to protect your wines from temperature fluctuations, and the areas nearest the door of your wine cellar are most vulnerable to temperature and humidity shifts, keep the younger wines that you plan to drink soon near the door, and the investment bottles that you want to age in the back corners.

8. Protect your wines from vibration.  Put your wine cellar in an appropriate place (a professional can help you find one), and avoid picking up the bottles.  Hang wine tags on the necks of your stored sideways bottles and write the label information on them.  This way, you can browse through your collection without disturbing the bottles.

9. The best way to ensure your collection is organized is to keep a regularly updated database of what’s currently in your cellar.  You can use a book or even a computer spreadsheet.  There is also some nifty software built for managing wine collections. Your records should note when you bought the wine, its name, region, producer, vineyard name, price paid, estimated value and future value, and leave space for tasting notes—the most important part!—for when you finally drink it.

Do you have aspirations to build a great wine collection but don’t know where to start?  Have you collected a few bottles but are unsure about how to build what you have into a cohesive collection?  Here are some tips and hints to help  you out.

The best way to start is to educate yourself.  Before you’re ready to spend your money on a bottle worth aging in a wine cellar, you need to figure out how to pick out a good one.  Read books, articles, and blogs on wine.  But don’t forget that the best way to learn is through practice.  Be proactive in your learning.  Visit wine stores and talk to the knowledgeable employees.  Go to wine tastings and talk to the employees there–they are often a wealth of information that most people ignore, and they love to tell you about the differences between vintages and varietals.

You also need to lean what wines you like.  There’s no sense investing time and money into a bottle of oaked Chardonnay, only to find out that you really don’t like oaky wines.  Now, it’s easy to decide whether you like or dislike a particular bottle.  It’s harder to remember what bottles you like and what bottles you don’t when you’re in the wine shop ready to purchase.  The best way to quickly build up an inventory of your tastes in wine is to keep a wine notebook.  Whenever you taste a wine, take a few notes on it.  Use a simple rating system (1-10, for example), so that you can easily tell how you felt about a particular wine.  When you’re at the store facing hundreds of bottles, a wine notebook will help you have purpose and direction.  If you can’t try a particular wine before purchase, check out online reviews.

If you have a wine cellar or a wine cabinet or refrigerator, it’s imperative that you learn about wine aging.  Some wines age better than others.  Some should age for only 2 years, while others can benefit from 20 years of aging or more.  Besides reading and talking to experts, a good way to learn about aging is to tag your bottles.  Buy several bottles of the same varietal and vintage.  Tag them with the date that you stored them.  As you open each bottle, take notes!  (Remember that wine notebook? This is another thing it’s good for.)   Another benefit of buying in bulk is price.  Buying a case of wine (12 bottles) is usually more cost effective than buying those bottles individually.  But 12 bottles is a lot, so make sure you like the wine before you buy a whole case.

Don’t forget that wine is supposed to be fun.  Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and try new varietals.  If you love Merlot, branch out a bit and try other reds–you might find yourself falling in love with Spanish Rioja or even California Cabernet Sauvignon.  But if you find that there’s nothing you like better than a buttery Chardonnay, feel no shame in stocking your wine cellar with dozens of bottles of the stuff you love.  It’s your wine collection, after all, and it should be a reflection of you.

Building a wine collection can be a pleasurable and interesting pastime that you can enjoy for the rest of your life.  Having knowledge of wine, and a collection that reflects that knowledge, is something wine collectors get a great deal of satisfaction from.  But there’s no sense in putting time and money into wine collection unless you have a proper place to store it.  Wine stored incorrectly won’t age well, and you’ll find bottle after bottle of your hard-won collection opening up rancid.  Check back for our next post on the right way to store wine.

We’ve all had it happen: the moldy cork, the bug in the glass, the wrong wine.  There are some things that are clear reasons to send back your glass or bottle.  But what about the less obvious problems?  These 5 tips tell you what is–and isn’t–ok in restaurant wine service.

1.  Size (and shape) matter.  At family-style restaurants (especially Italian), you might be served wine in small, stemless tumblers.  This is part of the cultural experience and is perfectly acceptable (and a fun way to drink wine!)–but ONLY if you’re drinking inexpensive table wine.  If you’re springing for the good stuff, it should be served in a glass that will bring out its full flavors.

Another thing you want to watch out for is restaurants that serve wine in those ridiculously small 6-oz glasses.  To get a proper pour, they have to fill the glass nearly to the brim!  This leaves no room for the swirling and sniffing that are part of proper wine enjoyment.  Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about this one except politely mention to the management the benefit of a regulation-sized 12-oz tasting glass.

2.  If you ordered a bottle for the table, the waiter should have you taste the wine, regardless of your sex, age, or whether you’re paying or not.  Here’s what to do:  When the wine is presented to you, make sure the bottle is the one you ordered.  The waiter will open the wine and place the cork on the table next to you.  DON’T smell the cork!  You can’t tell anything by smelling it, and it makes you look like an amateur.  All you need here is a visual inspection.  Make sure the cork is wet on the wine side and dry on the other side.  This is pretty much the extent of what you can tell from the cork: even if it is moldy, as long as the wine side is mold-free, the wine is probably fine.  There’s one exception to this rule: very expensive wines sometimes have a label printed on the cork.  Make sure the info on the label matches that on the bottle, especially the vintage.

After you’ve inspected the cork, place it on the table next to you.  The waiter should dispose of it.  Next, taste the wine.  If you want to do this step like the pros, read this post for a how-to.  If all you want to do is make it through the tasting with your dignity intact, just sniff and then sip the wine to make sure it isn’t rancid.  What you’re looking for is a smell like a moldy basement–this indicates that the wine is corked.

3.  If you’ve ordered a bottle, you should expect the waiter to fill the wine glasses as they empty.

4.  You should NOT expect the waiter to bring an ice bucket for your bottle of white wine, unless, of course, you ask for one.  White wines should be served at between 45 and 50 degrees F, depending on the varietal–much warmer than a near-freezing bucket of ice water.  If your wine is served too cold, the flavors will be masked and it will taste overly acidic.  However, if you order Champagne or another sparkling wine, the waiter should automatically bring you an ice bucket, as these wines need to be kept very cold for best taste.

5.  You should never feel pressured by your waiter to spend more money.  If he or she is filling your wine glass to the brim, it’s probably to get you to buy another bottle.  If you ask for a wine suggestion, he or she should offer more than one, at different price points.  If you order a bottle of wine that the restaurant has run out of, your waiter should suggest another in the same price range.  Establishments that are focused on getting you to spend more money are generally not trying hard enough to ensure your wine, food, and service is tip-top.  If you feel pressured to spend more than you wanted to, or judged for being budget-conscious, don’t go back to the restaurant.

6.  Always remember that you are the one paying for your wine, and you should expect service that reflects this.  But be forgiving: restaurants are hectic places.  If your favorite bottle of wine isn’t available, don’t stress–it’s a chance to try something new.  If your waiter isn’t at your elbow when you drain your glass, fill it yourself–he was probably dealing with a picky customer.  As long as the service is generally good, don’t let a small error ruin your night out.

Want to know what to do when you’re the one opening and serving the bottle of wine? Or learn more about wine glasses? Our Wine Storage Education Center has all the info you need.

Summer is so close that you can practically taste it!  Well, in my case, the tasting is more literal than figurative, because right now, I’m enjoying a chilled glass of rosé and dreaming about the beach.  Rosé is the quintessential summer wine: it’s light and refreshing, meant to be enjoyed chilled, and goes perfectly with summer foods like grilled chicken and fresh salads.

“But what’s up with that color?” you might ask (especially if you’re of the male persuasion).  Yes, rosé is pink.  But don’t let this deter you!  Remember that rosé is pink by necessity, not design.  Rosé attains is color, which can vary from a pale orange to a vivid purple, because at the beginning stages of winemaking, red-skinned grapes are crushed and allowed to remain in contact with the wine for about two or three days.  The skins are then discarded, but they were in the mixture long enough to impart their color–and flavor–to the finished product.  The skins give rosé its appealing tart, flavorful quality, setting it apart from the generally lighter white wines.

In the 1970s, the style was for rosés to be of the medium-sweet variety.  This has perhaps contributed to a negative public perception of rosé: many think of it as a pink, sweet wine that isn’t taken seriously by true wine connoisseurs.  But what’s stylish and cool in the wine world is constantly changing, and as a result, drier, bolder rosés are now all the rage.  Rosé is being produced in new and different ways that are resulting in unique and complex wines: many rosés are now made from grapes from the Rhone region such as Syrah and Grenache.  And in France, arguably the wine capital of the world, sales of rosé have now surpassed the sales of white wine.

So how do you pick a good one?

The number one characteristic of a good rosé is crispness.  ”Crisp,” in wine terms, conveys that a wine has a tart, acidic quality–one that’s not overbearing, but is rather pleasing and refreshing.  Taste a couple of rosés, and you’ll probably find yourself especially enjoying those that are highly crisp.

The best way to pick a good rosé is by region.  And since rosé is so popular in France, it is France that produces the highest-quality rosés.  Look for the region on the bottle to get a better idea of what’s inside.  Rosés from Bandol and Cassis are very high quality.  They are usually dry and well-balanced.  But since these are the best rosés, they are usually also the most expensive.  If you’re looking for something a little more budget-friendly, look for rosés from the French regions of Tavel and Lirac (which produce dark, rich rosés more like red wine than white), and Coteaux du Languedoc (which produces a wide variety of rosés that are usually of good quality and inexpensive).

So give summer a warm welcome this year: next time you get the urge to cook on the grill and eat outside, pick up a delicious, refreshing rosé to complement your summer mood.

If you’re interested in scoring great deals on wine and prefer your PJs over your formal wear, you should check out online wine auctions.  Whereas live wine auctions are most useful to that select group of wine collectors that is in a position to drop thousands of dollars an hour on wine, online wine auctions are great for every casual wine collector.

Online wine auction houses allow you to bid on your own time, meaning that you can do your research before you buy a whole case of something you’ve never tasted.  They allow you to look for something specific or browse easily.  As the auction progresses, you can also easily keep track of what other bidders are offering.  Most auction sites even give you the ability to automatically track your bids, so you don’t have to worry about constantly checking the auction to keep track.  And don’t forget the PJ factor!

If you’re interested in using online wine auctions, make sure to read the fine print.  Delivery of wine is prohibited across some states.  Some sites may charge extra for usage fees.  And make sure that the shipping costs won’t add more to the price than you’re willing to pay.  With a little research, online wine auctions can be just as safe as live ones–and a whole lot more user-friendly.

Here are a few online wine sites to get you started:

Wine Bid: Wine Bid is the largest, most popular wine bidding site.  It offers lots of collector-quality bottles, many at great prices.  You can browse their plethora of bottles without registering.

Ebay: The old standby now sells wine too.  Ebay ranks highly because of their trustworthy, easy-to-use interface.

Wine Commune: Wine Commune has been around for more than a decade.  Its searching feature is extremely user friendly: it allows you to find the specific bottle you’re looking for and then compare prices from thousands of sellers.  Like Ebay, it also has  ”buy now” option for those without the patience to bid.

So you’re on your way to a dinner party.  You stop at a wine shop to pick up a bottle.  But then you stand there, bewildered.  Red or wine?  How expensive?  What do your hosts like?  What will go with their dinner?

Let us simplify matters for you:

First of all, you should not expect that your hosts will serve your wine at the actual dinner.  Remember that gifts should not come with obligations.  Especially if they’re wine lovers like you, they might have put a lot of time and planning into their wine selections, and your wine just might not fit with their planned menu.  It’s always polite to relieve your hosts of any obligation by saying something like, “You definitely don’t have to serve this tonight, unless you want to.  Put it aside and enjoy it another day!”  With this as your tactic, you don’t have to worry about pairing your wine gift with their food.  A bottle of wine that you’ve tasted yourself and enjoyed makes the best gift, and it can be a great conversation starter!

Another tactic is to call ahead of time and offer to provide wine for the dinner, or part of it.  If you don’t know your hosts well, this may be stepping on their toes, so use your judgment.  If you’re good friends with your hosts, they will probably be grateful to you for taking some of the planning–and expense–off of their hands.  If you’re going to bring wine to share, a great choice is champagne to be served with appetizers.  Champagne is almost universally liked (especially if you stick to a dry champagne, to please more palates), and it goes well with almost any kind of appetizer your hosts might serve, even those tough-to-match cheeses.  Just make sure you provide more than you think you’ll need–champagne goes fast!

If your host wants you to get involved, you can bring a wine that pairs with a specific dish or course.  But remember that pairing goes far beyond that simple “whites with fish or chicken, reds with red meat” rule.  If you want to learn more about pairing wine with food, click here to see our post on the subject.

Remember that picking out a bottle of wine to give shouldn’t be a stressful experience.  Put a little time and thought into it, and your hosts will be happy!

If you’re just starting out collecting wine, you probably find wine labels more than a little daunting.  How do you pick through all the fine print and strange words to get the information you need?  What’s just advertising and what’s useful to know?

Although every wine bottle is different, and labeling practices differ between countries and even wineries, there is information listed on every bottle that will help you find out more about the wine in the bottle.  Let’s decode it:

Wine maker or winery: Usually in the largest font and often at the top of the bottle (though it can be located in the middle or bottom too) is the name of the company that made the wine.  In the French label pictured here, the winemaker is Jo Pithon.

Vintage: Contrary to popular belief, vintage does not denote the year the wine was bottled, but rather the year that the grapes were harvested.  Some wine makers may wait several years before turning grapes into wine.  Here, the vintage is listed as 1994.

Appellation: The bottle will always list the country or region where the grapes that made the wine were grown.  Appellations can be as broad as “The Napa Valley” or as specific as the vineyard the grapes were grown in.  But beware: just because the wine label lists a certain appellation doesn’t necessarily mean that all the grapes that went into the wine were grown there.  Most regulations allow from as much as 15% of the grapes to be grown elsewhere.  Here, the appellation is listed in the middle of the label as Coteaux du Layon St. Aubin. This information is also listed near the bottom of the label.  The word Controlée after the appellation means that the area the wine was grown in is defined as a wine-growing region by French law.

Varietal: Many, but not all, wine labels list the varietal, or the specific kind (or kinds) of grapes that went into the wine.  Most Italian and French wines (like the one pictured) do not list the varietal, because their wine laws dictate that the wines from each region must be made from traditional varieties.

Ripeness and Quality: Some wines list information about the ripeness of the grapes used.  They may also list information about the quality of the wine.  This is common in wines from Germany and Austria (but wouldn’t it be helpful information from all wineries?)

Other: Much more additional information is often available, what it is depends on the bottle.  If a wine is estate bottled (made from grapes grown in the winery’s vineyard), the label will usually say so.  The wine’s alcohol content and the size of the bottle will usually be disclosed.  In the U.S., the back label of the wine will contain the Surgeon General’s warning regarding alcohol consumption and whether the wine contains sulfites.  The back label also, of course, carries the description of the wine, but you can usually disregard this as advertising hype rather than useful information.

Next time you purchase a bottle of wine, take a second look at the label.  You can learn a lot about the wine in the bottle if only you know where to look.

1.  Uncorking the bottle before  service improves the wine.

It’s true that aeration before service does improve some wines.  But studies show that the neck of a wine bottle is too narrow to allow enough oxygen to get in contact with the wine to make any detectable difference in the taste and aroma.  If you want to aerate your wine, decant it.  A quick decanting is great for removing the sediment that may have collected in the bottom of your older wines, and a longer decanting is great for young red wines that are still tannic.  Want to learn how to properly decant a bottle?  Click here.

2.  Serve white wines with chicken or fish and red wines with red meat.

This is one of the oldest and most enduring wine myths.  Whether a wine is white or red doesn’t have as much to do with which dishes it should be matched with as do the specific qualities and flavors of both the food and the wine.  The most important quality to consider when pairing food and wine is balance.  A wine should complement the food, accentuating its flavors.  It should not overwhelm the food, and the food should not overwhelm it.

For example, buttery salmon cooked over a wood fire would pair nicely with a Chardonnay, which has buttery flavors from aging and oak flavors from being kept in wood barrels.  A steak pairs well with an aggressive red wine that’s high in tannins and acid: the tannins bind to the proteins in the wine, acting as a natural palate cleanser and refreshing the mouth to enjoy each delectable bite of meat with fresh taste buds.  Pairing wine with food is nothing short of an art, with many subtle nuances to consider.  To learn more about it, click here.

3.  ”Reserve” wines are of superior quality.

Although a few countries (Spain is one) have strict regulations governing when winemakers can put “reserve” on the label, the U.S. does not.  Originally, “reserve” wines were those the winemakers held back for themselves.  Logically, they were of better quality, but mostly they were probably just those wines that best fit the winemaker’s personal tastes.  Today, “reserve” has no true meaning, and is placed on the label at the discretion of the winemaker.  Often, the hiked-up price just isn’t justified.

4.  Red wine should never be chilled.

Red wines taste best at a temperature between 55º and 65º.  The average room temperature?  Around 70°.  When wine is served too warm, its alcohol flavors jump to the fore, masking the more subtle–and more enjoyable–flavors and aromas.  The correct temperature to serve a red wine at depends on the individual wine, but in general, lighter reds should be colder, bolder reds warmer.  To see a more detailed explanation of red wine chilling, click here.

5.  Great wines have great “legs.”

Many wine drinkers like to begin a tasting by swirling the glass, then holding it up to appreciate the “legs,” the little rivulets that run down from a swirled glass’s inside rim.  Legs that are many in number and thick, meandering slowly down the glass are said to be “great,” as in, “This wine has great legs.”  But many drinkers confuse great legs with great quality.  In reality, swirling the glass leaves a small quantity of alcohol and water near the top.  The alcohol evaporates first, increasing the surface tension of the leftover water until it gives into gravity and starts flowing back down the glass.  Wines with high alcohol contents will have more legs that are thicker and move more slowly.  Wines higher in alcohol are generally more viscous, so legs can also clue you in about the wine’s viscosity.  But they tell you next to nothing about how good it will taste.

6.  All German wines are sweet.

Germany does produce a lot of sweet wines, but they make many dry ones too.  If you’d like to try a German wine but sweet wines give you a headache, look for the word “trocken” on the label–it means “dry.”

7.  The more a wines costs, the better it will taste.

This is true only as a very general guideline–it is nowhere near a rule.  Though winemakers would love to have you believe that quality of taste is the only thing that dictates price, this is simply not true.  Prices depend on many factors, only a few of which relate to taste.  Things like how costly the harvest was that year, how pricey the land was, fluctuating grape prices, and even where you purchased the bottle have huge impacts on the price, but not necessarily on what’s inside the bottle.

Here’s a common phenomenon: a small, unknown vineyard has a great year, and produces a wine of great quality.  Because it’s not a well-known wine, it’s inexpensive.  Word gets out about this great deal, and the price of the wine goes way up.  But subsequent vintages aren’t as good; the wine is relying on the reputation it got during that one good year to justify its high price, but the quality is no longer there.  So though high price can reflect high quality, there are many scenarios in which it does not.  Do your research and don’t be afraid to try new things: there are many great bottles out there for around $10.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, you know about the “green” revolution.  If you’re interested how the eco-movement affects your wine, read on.

1.  What does “green” really mean?

“Green” is a pop culture term, so it doesn’t have an “official” or standardized meaning.  Though you can usually count on “green” wineries to at minimum use organic grapes (more on that below), many wineries are really upping the eco-friendly ante.  They are using alternative sources of energy (like solar), making a big effort to conserve water, and recycling production materials.  Some are really going back to the earth by using traditional, rather than chemical, methods to maintain soil health.

2.   What does “organic” really mean?

When we think organic, we think of small farms, but in the age of health food superstores, the meaning of the term “organic” isn’t that simple.  Wines labeled organic are made from grapes that have not been treated with chemical pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, or fertilizers.  But be careful: while USDA-certified “organic” or “100 percent organic” wine, in addition to being made entirely from organic grapes, doesn’t have added sulfites, wine labeled “made from organically grown grapes” may contain them.  But what’s the big deal with sulfites?

3.  What are sulfites, and why do I care if they’re in my wine?

Sulfites are chemical compounds that occur naturally in all wines.  They are also often artificially introduced, either to stop fermentation at a certain point or to preserve the wine and prevent oxidation.  Sulfites have been added to wine for hundreds of years, but have recently become a hot-button issue because of their allergy-causing properties.  In fact, sulfites are one of the 9 top food allergens.  Asthmatics and those prone to migraines are at special risk.  If you’re concerned about sulfites, make sure the label says, “no added sulfites.”  But be careful: many many foods contain sulfites, and most producers are not required to put that information on the label.

4.  What about “local” wines? You probably won’t be able to find many wines that are both organic and produced locally, but just buying ones that are local can lessen your carbon footprint.  Locally produced goods require much less fuel because they don’t have to be shipped long distances, and buying them also supports small businesses.  Plus, buying wines locally means that often, you can talk directly to the farmers, who will know much more about how the grapes are grown and the wine is produced than your local grocery store clerk will.

5.  Does it taste better? Of course, it’s silly to think of “organic” as a synonym for “good.”  But according to a recent UCLA study, organic wines in the mid-to-high price range (over $25) scored higher than comparable non-organic wines.  Here are two possible reasons: 1.  The absence of chemical additives improves taste.  2. Organic grapes are often of higher quality, and in fact, many vineyard choose to use organic grapes for the taste, even if they aren’t running a “green” operation.

6.  Is it more expensive? Here’s a real shocker: organic wines above the $25 barrier are priced, on average, 7% lower than their non-organic counterparts.  What gives?  Organic wine became popular in the 70s, and because of less-than-stellar production practices, tended to be of poorer quality and also to turn to vinegar faster.  Modern organic wines don’t have these problems, but the stigma persists.  In fact, many wineries that produce organic wine tend to ignore the fact on the label–and are able to charge 13% more for their superior product.  So cash in on the organic deal–at this rate, the false “hippy wine” stigma won’t last.