What is Ice Wine?

• I have to admit that I really didn’t know what ice wine was until I started to do some research; as a result, I thought I would share what I was able to learn with my readers.

It turns out that ice wine has actually been around for a very long time, since 1794. Word is that ice wine was created by accident by a German vineyard owner who was out of town when he should have been harvesting his grapes. Instead of scrapping the crop, he decided to harvest the frozen grapes and voila, the result was the creation of ice wine. This varietal was originally known as “winter wine” and was Germany’s secret until 1962, when the wine began to be commercially produced throughout Europe.

Following are some facts related to ice wine:

• First of all, the grapes must be picked frozen directly from the vine, normally in the early morning as first frost hits;  if the grapes are artificially frozen by placing them in the freezer, the wine cannot be considered ice wine; it must be called by another name.
• As you might imagine, ice wine can only be produced in areas that have consistent cold weather throughout the year including Germany, Canada, Austria and British Columbia.  The United States also produces some ice wine although due to the unpredictability of our weather in certain areas, an Indian Summer can totally ruin a season’s ice wine crop.
• The grapes are pressed immediately after they have been harvested.   Ice bits are extracted from the grapes and the taste is derived from the concentrated sugar and acid which did not freeze.  The ice wine is then stored in oak barrels for several months to ferment.
• Because the process of making ice wine is very time consuming, it can be very expensive and is distributed in small bottles.

I’d like to hear your thoughts; have you ever tried ice wine?  If so, what did you think of it?

Cheers!!

Diane Aksten

Choosing the Right Wine Glass

I chose this subject for this week’s blog post because, oddly enough, I actually had two different people this week ask me about wine glass (or stemware) selection.

The first thing I will say is that there are no hard and fast rules; I would consider the following suggestions to be exactly that: suggestions depending on space and financial limitations.

The wine tasting experience is not only composed of the taste and smell of the varietals being sampled but also the visual display of the wine as well. Typically, when we’re sampling red wines, we’d use a glass with a larger bowl which will allow us to swirl the wine; gentle swirling generally occurs only with red wines and allows the wine’s flavors and bouquet to expand within the bowl, heightening the flavors of the varietal. Larger bowled glasses also have wider openings which allow us to stick our entire nose into the glass to more fully experience the wine’s smells and flavors.

Since white wines are typically more delicate in nature in terms of taste, a wine glass with a smaller bowl and opening is more appropriate to contain those flavors. We don’t generally swirl white wines so larger bowled glasses aren’t necessary if you’re predominantly a white wine drinker.

If your drink of choice is champagne, a tall slender flute will allow the bubbles associated with champagne to be highlighted. It is said that visual enjoyment of the bubbles in champagne is enhanced by the relative height of a flute compared with a white wine glass.

In summary, if you have the room and the budget to purchase all of these different types of glasses to have on hand, depending on which wine you happen to be drinking, that’s great. However, many people are lacking the space and/or the budget so an acceptable alternative would be what the California Wine Institute developed as an all-purpose wine glass; this glass is 5-1/2 inches tall with a 1-3/4 inch stem and a tulip shaped bowl with a capacity of 8 ounces. Many reasonably priced wine glasses can be purchased at your local Target, Kohl’s or similiar department store; however if you have some cash to burn, Southern Living At Home has some beautiful red and wine glasses; check them out.

I hope this information will help you when you’re trying to decide which wine glass to choose.

Cheers!!
Diane Aksten

Wine and Holiday Gift Giving

It’s hard to believe but another holiday season is almost upon us; in a little over two months, Christmas will be here and, chances are, we’ve all got at least one person on our holiday shopping list that is impossible to buy for; it’s that guy or gal who claims they really don’t need a thing and can, therefore, offer absolutely no assistance for our gift giving dilemma.  How about a bottle of wine for those wine lovers who have everything?  As an Independent Wine Consultant for WineShop At Home, let me offer some guidelines before purchasing that gift of wine:

• If at all possible, determine the recipient’s preference beforehand:  Is your sister-in-law a white wine drinker or is her preference for a nice Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot?
• Skip the boxed wine; this should go without saying but if you’re going to give a gift of wine, make sure it comes in a bottle
• The best wine isn’t necessarily the most expensive; there are many superb wines in the $15-$20/bottle range, such as our limited production, artisan wines at WineShop At Home

Here are some suggestions if you’re stumped but would like to surprise that special someone on your list with a gift to remember:

 A wonderful and unique gift is a wine club membership. With WineShop At Home, you can give either 2 or 4 bottles of wine shipped directly to the recipient’s home for a very reasonable cost. The gift giver can choose to give all red wines, all whites or a combination of both, depending on the recipient’s preference. Gift memberships are available in 3 month, 6 month or 12 month durations. A wine club membership is the gift that continues to be enjoyed throughout the year.

For those looking for a very personal gift, our personalized wines are the perfect way to commemorate any occasion. Our wines can be personalized with any image and text of your choosing and will surely represent a one-of-a-kind gift that will not be duplicated. Our personalized wines are ideal for corporate gift giving, too; personalized with your company’s name and logo, this will be a unique and memorable way to keep your company at the forefront of your customer’s minds.

I look forward to assisting you in choosing a gift that will be enjoyed long after the holidays are over.

Cheers!!
Diane Aksten

Letting your Wine “Breathe” – Huh??

If you’re a beginner in the wine drinking arena, sometimes you’ve heard the phrase “letting wine breathe” and didn’t know exactly what that meant or what the purpose was; today’s post will address this question.

The idea behind allowing your wine to breathe (or aerate) is to maximize the wine to the surrounding air. By allowing your wine to be mixed with the air, the wine’s flavors and aromas become much more pronounced and enhance your wine drinking experience. Typically, red wines are the wines that benefit most from breathing and can be accomplished in as little as 15-20 minutes prior to serving. However, if the wine is relatively young, like a young Cabernet Sauvignon, it will most likely take closer to an hour to achieve proper aeration. Conversely, a more mature wine (8 years or older) should be decanted (discussed in the next paragraph) and the window for aeration is much smaller before the flavors of the wine begin to break down and deteriorate.

Most people are under the mistaken impression that merely uncorking the bottle will accomplish the goal of allowing the wine to breathe; this isn’t the case because the opening of the bottle is simply too small to allow enough air in for any significant breathing to take place. There are three simple ways that you can use to aerate your wine: a wine decanter, a wine glass or an aerator.

If you choose a wine decanter, choose one with a large opening; this will allow more air to reach the wine and proper breathing can take place. I like to use a nice decanter but anything with a wide mouth opening will do, like a flower vase or pitcher. You can also use a wine glass; I use red wine glasses which have a larger opening and bowl and allow me to swirl and really stick my entire nose into the glass and experience all of the wine’s flavors and aromas. A wine aerator (which can be purchased at fine wine stores or Bed, Bath and Beyond, for instance) is an accelerated way of allowing the wine to breathe by pouring the wine through the device directly into a wine glass. You will see a noticeable difference between a glass of wine that has been run through the aerator and one that has not; the aerator significantly opens up the flavors of the wine.

A good rule of thumb for aeration: the more tannins a wine has, the more time it will need to aerate. (Tannins are derived from the grape’s seeds, skins and stems used to produce the wine and are what give wines that “pucker” feeling or dry mouth feeling). A Pinot Noir, for example, will need relatively little time to breathe because it has lower tannin levels; conversely, a Cabernet Sauvignon will require more breathing time due to higher tannin levels.

I hope that this information has been helpful and will assist you with your wine drinking experience.

Cheers!
Diane Aksten

Rules for Chilling and Serving Wine

When I conduct wine tastings, I am often asked one or both of these questions at some time or another:

• Should I chill my wines before serving?
• At what temperature should I serve my wines?  Are white wines served at a different temperature than reds?

Let’s address the first question: “Should I chill my wines before serving?” The answer to this question is yes but let me clarify: the answer is yes for BOTH red and white wines.  Many people think that red wines should not be chilled and consequently, serve them much too warm and entirely ruin the tasting experience.  Let me go on record as saying that you should chill your reds; I tell my hosts to refrigerate all wines 4-5 hours prior to our tasting and take out and uncork the reds one hour prior to allow the wine to breathe before we start our tasting.  Whites should also be opened and recorked and placed back into the refrigerator until the tasting begins.

In response to the second question, the serving temperature does indeed depend on whether the wine is a white or red.  The following temperatures apply to different varietals of wine:

• 45 degrees (F.) – This is the appropriate serving temperature for most white wines including Reislings, Chenin Blancs, Sauvignon Blancs and Chardonnays; serving them colder tends to minimize the aromas and flavors and you won’t fully enjoy the wine being tasted.
• 50 degrees (F.) – Full bodied reds such as Sauternes and rich white Burgundies, in addition to light reds like Beaujolais, should be served at this temperature.
• 60 degrees (F.) – Serve the following red wines at this temperature:  Zinfandel, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Bordeaux.

My hope is that this information will prove valuable to you and will allow you to add enjoyment to your wine drinking experience.

Cheers!!

Diane Aksten

What’s the Deal with Sulfites and Wine, Part II

In Part I of this series, I provided a definition of sulfites or sulfur dioxide (a chemical compound present to some degree during the winemaking process which acts as a preservative) and also discussed the potential health problems that some people may experience as a result of drinking wines with high levels of sulfites, including allergic reactions, headaches and respiratory problems, to name a few. As a result, some people wonder if there is such a thing as a sulfite free wine which will allow them to continue to enjoy drinking wine without suffering health related side effects.

Sulfite free (or organic) wines are a bit of a misnomer; no wine can ever be considered 100% sulfite free because minimal levels of sulfites occur naturally during the process of wine fermentation. However, current FDA regulations require that both domestic and imported wines that contain more than 10 ppm (parts per million) of sulfur dioxide must contain the statement “Contains Sulfites” on the label. This disclosure requirement was designed to protect individuals that may be allergic to sulfites (an estimated 1% of the population); people with asthma are most at risk. Most wines contain sulfite levels of about 125 ppm; the legal U.S. maximum is 350 ppm. Wines without chemical additives (with naturally occuring levels of sulfites) will generally weigh in at around 10-20 ppm.

For those who want to limit their sulfite levels, organic wines are probably their best bet because, by definition, organic wines are produced from organically grown grapes without the addition of chemical additives. So if you are searching for wines with the lowest sulfite levels, choose a dry red wine like a Zinfandel, Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon followed by dry white wines such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Chenin Blanc as a middle ground choice. On the other hand, sweet white dessert wines have the highest sulfite levels followed closely by blush wines and semi-sweet white wines.

Here’s to hoping that your wine drinking experience will be enhanced by the information I have provided in this blog.

Cheers!!!

Diane Aksten

What’s the Deal with Sulfites and Wine, Part I

After a brief respite to get married and honeymoon, I’m happy to be back with all of you to talk about a subject that I’ve wondered about for some time: what exactly are sulfites and how do they affect your wine drinking experience?

First of all, let’s define what sulfites are: according to the Random House Dictionary, sulfites are “any sulfite-containing compound, esp. one that is used in foods or drug products as a preservative and that can cause severe allergic reactions in susceptible individuals: use in fresh fruits and vegetables banned by the FDA in 1986.” Sulfites are also used during the winemaking process and act as a preservative; without the addition of some level of sulfites, wine would turn to vinegar in a relatively short period of time, usually within a matter of months. So, while it appears that sulfites are a necessary component of the winemaking process, their inclusion may present some health problems for certain individuals.

The most common side effect of sulfites in wine are headaches but other health problems also include rashes, allergic reactions, respiratory problems and even breast cancer (although a definitive link to sulfites and breast cancer has not been established). So you may be asking yourself at this point: Although I suffer from the occasional headache but don’t want to give up drinking wine totally, is there such a thing as a sulfite free wine? The answer is maybe, depending on who you ask.

In Part II of this series, I’ll talk about these so called sulfite free wines (otherwise know as organic wines) and which wines have the lowest sulfite levels. I hope that this information has proven helpful to you and will allow you to continue to enjoy your wine drinking experience.

Cheers!!

Diane Aksten

The S’s of Wines

When I conduct wine tastings, one of my goals is to make the evening as fun and interactive as possible for guests.  During the tasting, we talk about the aromas and fruits we’re detecting in the different varieties of wines;  I also suggest some simple food and wine pairings which don’t require hours of preparation in the kitchen.

Before we taste our first wine, I share some fun tasting techniques and ask guests if they know what the S’s of Wine are; I generally get some amusing responses which come close to resembling the actual S’s and then we proceed with our first sample, incorporating the following concepts designed for guests to get the most from their tasting experience:

• The first “S” is See–the idea is to hold the glass up to the light and look for bold color and clarity; cloudiness is not an attribute you want to observe.  Sometimes the best way to really observe the color is to place the wine in front of a white background (like a piece of paper); colored backgrounds tend to distort the color of the wine.  Most wines should be clear and not possess any cloudiness.
• Swirl is the next “S”–be careful with this step; the idea is not to swirl the wine so violently that it ends up all over you (particularly messy if you’re sampling a red wine); place the glass on a table and GENTLY swirl three or four times.  This swirling motion allows air to be released and aromas and bouquets to be more fully experienced.
• The third “S” is Smell–Be really bold when you undertake this “S”; don’t be afraid to stick your entire nose into the glass and inhale deeply.  The smell of the wine is also referred to as its nose or bouquet; try to determine what types of fruits, aromas or florals you’re detecting at this point.
• Some consider this to be the most important “S” of all–Sip or Taste.  Again, be bold; take a medium size sip, hold it in your mouth for a few seconds, purse your lips and draw in some air across your tongue, then you want to act as if you’re chewing it by swishing the wine in your mouth (I know, this sounds a little odd but work with me…) then swallow.  This entire process should take a few seconds.

So there you have the 4 S’s of Wine.  I hope this information has been valuable and will assist you in your own wine tasting experience.

Cheers!!

Diane

Ever Wonder Which Wine Pairs Well with Pepperoni Pizza?

Now I realize this is not a burning question that’s been keeping you up at night (at least I hope not!!!) but perhaps it brings to mind a larger question: how do I know what type of wine to serve with a particular dish, whether it’s seafood, poultry, beef or pizza?

When I conduct tastings for my clients, discussion of wine and food pairings are a part of our preparation for the tasting. Once the hostess has chosen the wines for the tasting, we discuss what types of cheeses, chocolates and fruits would compliment the chosen wines. Since the object of my tastings is to keep it simple for my hostess, we don’t get into really extravagant meal pairings with our wines; this way, it makes for a casual, fun, low maintenance gathering for all involved.

However, if you are planning a formal (or informal) dinner party, there are a myriad of resources to help you decide which wine to choose;  here are just a few that I’m aware of:

• Food & Wine Magazine–I subscribe to this magazine and it has a lot of great features including food and wine pairings
• Wine Spectator–This website has an abundance of information including wine reviews, food and wine pairings and the ABC’s of Wine
• Kendall Jackson Vineyard Estate Wine and Food Pairing Guide–This is a comprehensive one page guide which also links to a variety of recipes

For those of you that have an IPhone, here are a couple of apps that I’ve downloaded: 

• Hello Vino, which is easy to use with good, basic information (and free)
• Vino for Dinner, which costs $2.99 and provides detailed pairing information with recommendations for specific wine varieties as well

I hope this blog has provided you with some helpful resources for your own wine and food pairings.

P.S. In answer to the original question I posed in my title, either a Zinfandel or a Chianti would be a great choice with pepperoni pizza.  The Zinfandel is a red wine with a taste of blackberries and the Chianti is a spicy red wine with flavors of pepper and red cherry.

Cheers!!

Diane

Get Out of Your Wine Comfort Zone

For those of you who enjoy wine, as I do, I suspect that you probably have a type of wine that you prefer more than others and that is normally what you find yourself drinking.  As creatures of habit, we tend to stick with what we know and what we feel comfortable with.  Speaking for myself, I have historically been a white wine drinker, specifically Riesling, for more years than I can remember.

However, once I became an Independent Wine Consultant for WineShop At Home, a whole new world of wine choices opened up for me.  During the private in-home wine tastings that I conduct for my clients, I’ve had the opportunity to sample a variety of both white and red wines.  As a result, I’ve expanded my own wine horizons and ACTUALLY ordered some delicious red wines, something I never envisioned myself doing.

So, the point I’m making is get out of your wine comfort zone and TRY SOMETHING NEW!!! You may even surprise yourself by finding a new wine you like just as much, if not more, than your old standby!!!!