Basic Wine Facts that you don’t NEED to know, but you really should
- There are 5 glasses of wine in a bottle
- A “glass” of wine is technically 5oz (if you’re a liquor drinker that’s a little over 3 shots)
- Most wines are between 10%-14% abv
- A wine expert is known as a “sommelier”
- Some popular wine exporters are Italy, France, Argentina, Chile and Spain
- When you see the word “vintage,” on a bottle of wine, the number associated with it is the year that the grapes were harvested and that bottle of wine was created.
- Typically, a bottle without an “age” explicitly listed is a blend
- While this might seem obvious, a dry wine is a wine that is less sweet. An example of a dry wine would be a cabernet, a sweet wine would be moscato
- TEMPERATURE MATTERS!!! While wines are usually stored at the same temp that is NOT how they should be enjoyed. Yes, white wines should be colder and reds warmer, but people frequently take that a little too far.
- White wines should be served between 45 and 52 degrees, red wines should be served between 60 and 66 degrees. If you’re a true sommelier these temps get even more in depth.
- Assuming you don’t have a built in wine store, then the most basic rule of thumb is take your whites out of the fridge 30 min before serving (assuming you’ve been refrigerating them) and put your reds in the fridge 30 minutes before serving (assuming they’ve been stored on a wine rack with no temp control
- This essentially allows your whites to be served right above a refrigerated temp, and your reds to be served warmer than whites but not too warm that you lose the integrity of the flavor
- There are a gazillion types of wine, an expert breaking it down for a beginner would probably break those types into 9 categories, I’m breaking it down into 3 categories: Red, White and Rose. I’m also going to save the wine types that neither of us have ever heard of for a different post and just cover the types that come boxes (just kidding) but really we will stick to well known wines that will typically be staples at most bars/restaurants
- The glass you serve your wine in matters, we will cover that in a different blog post as well
White Wines
- There are both sweet and dry white wines
- “Beginner” wine drinkers almost always prefer a sweeter white wine
- An easy wine for a beginner to start with is a light bodied wine, like Pinot Grigio or Sauv Blanc. These are my favorite (white wines) for the summer. They’re refreshing and smooth
- Heavier white wines are better for red wine drinkers who are stuck at the house party of someone who only has whites or for someone looking to graduate to the next level of wine drinking…an example would be Chardonnay
- If you’re a college girl who needs a cute “cheers-ing” boomerang with a glass full of alcoholic white grape juice then you’re going to want a Moscato. Moscato has a ton of flavor and is notably more sweet than Sauv Blanc or Chard. If you want to keep the perfume-y flavor of a Moscato without the throat-coating sweetness then a Riesling would be a good choice.
Rose
- Rose wines will come in a shade of pink. The pink color comes from dying the wine with the skins of grapes used to make red wines
- I can enjoy a good, dry rose like Syrah (Shiraz) Rose, although Rose also comes in sweeter styles like the ever popular White Zinfandel.
Red Wines
- For a lot of people red wine is an acquired taste, usually red wines are bolder and richer than white wines and the poplar types of red wine are typically more dry
- A lighter red wine to start with is Pinot Noir, they typically have a more “earthy” taste and lack the fruitiness that a lighter white wine would have.
- Slightly heavier on the spectrum would be Merlot. While you can drink a Pinot Grigio like water on a hot summer day, Merlot is a great wednesday night wine, a couple glasses to have with good dinner. Merlot offers a great amount of flavor, it pairs well with a wide variety of foods and doesn’t overpower them.
- Now for the dry reds and my personal favorites…these wines are heavy, full and rich. They’re the wines you order with a steak and they are not the ones you use to “slap the bag.” (Although you definitely can, it’s not something I really recommend).
- The most well-known dry reds include the legendary Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Syrah (not Syrah Rose)
XOXO-MaiaElizabeth
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog featuring THREE Spring sangria recipes!