Prunings

Below you will find bits of helpful or interesting information about wine-related topics. Some of these have appeared in past Viking Vineyards Wine Spot Newsletters. Others have not (too long for the newsletter). Please check back frequently – I will be adding to PRUNINGS as I find items I believe will be of general interest to people who love to use and drink wine.

TOPICS:

WINE SPILLS

WINE SHOCK

WINE TASTING

WINE-RELATED LINKS

WINE SPILLS

OH DEAR! A RED WINE SPILL!! Steady – this is not a complete disaster. Try these, in this order, until the stain is gone:

1. Blot with white wine (if the spot is still wet)
2. Blot with detergent solution
3. Blot with white vinegar solution
4. Blot with ammonia solution

Detergent Solution: One cup of dry laundry detergent to one cup of lukewarm water.
White Vinegar Solution: One part white vinegar to 2 parts water.
Ammonia Solution: One tablespoon of ammonia to half a cup of lukewarm water.

IT REALLY WORKS – I’VE USED IT!
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WINE SHOCK  (AND I DON’T’ MEAN FROM THE PRICE ON THE STICKER!!)

Did you ever wonder why that wine you liked so well in the winery you visited while traveling didn’t taste so good when you got it home ("I paid money for this??"). It may not really have been a temporary lapse of judgment on your part! Wines may go into a temporary condition called ‘wine shock’ during the first few days to weeks after shipment, especially after bumping around in the back of your car. Pack wines especially carefully so they don’t get shaken up any more than necessary. And give them a chance to ‘rest’ before you open them – at least a week (if you can wait that long to try that treasure you found!!).
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WINE TASTING

The definition of a good wine is a wine that you like! But you determine what you like through a process called ‘wine tasting’. Wineries are one of the few places you can taste before you buy. Take advantage!! Visit many wineries and try many types of wine. It’s worth the time, it’s a pleasant way to pass some time, and you might surprise yourself with what you end up liking.

In order to get more out of your wine tasting experience, you might want to consider the wine in three stages: look, smell, and taste. It’s helpful to write down your impression of each wine, since they will all run together over time. You can use a simple notebook to record the date, place, details from the label, price, where it was purchased, and the size of the bottle, and, most important, your impressions. Or just wing it! If you really like a wine (or really dislike one), you’ll remember it!

Look

Pour the wine into a clear, stemmed wine glass, making sure not to fill it more than one third full. Why stemmed? I’ll talk about that later.

Begin by looking at the wine in good light against a plain, white background. Hold the glass by the base or the stem (more about why you hold it that way at a later time) and tilt the glass approximately 45 degrees. Hold the wine to the light and view the color and clarity of the wine as the light shines through it. It should not be cloudy or hazy. Next, look down on the wine and notice the hue of the wine, especially around the edges. Also notice how much color graduates from the center of the glass to the rim.

White wines vary from almost colorless, to hints of green or yellow. A brownish tinge is a sign of too much oxidation, caused by contact with the air. Reds tend to tell more in terms of age and quality by their color. Reds become paler with age. The rim of the glass is where to look to get a feel for the age of a red wine. The paler and more brown, the more mature. Alternately, a slight brown tinge around the edges of a young red wine may be a sign of oxidation.

The following table shows the differences in the color of wine as it ages.

Swirl

Continuing to hold the glass by the stem or base (or, if you don’t feel comfortable doing that, set the glass on a flat surface), swirl the glass to get the wine moving. The main point in doing this is to aerate the wine, so it releases its aromas. However, before you take a whiff, remember to take a look at the wine. The way wine clings to a glass and then trickles down tells you something. In wine circles it is referred to as the phenomenon called "legs." A wine that trickles back slowly and in distinct streams is high in alcohol, sugar, or both. A wine that breaks quickly and raggedly may be old, low in alcohol, or dry. (Be careful that you have a clean glass, as detergent and lint can interfere with the surface tension of the wine.)

Smell

Raise the glass to your nose and sniff. Swirl the wine in the glass again, and then smell more deeply. The first thing you will notice is wine does not always smell like grapes. The most common scents in wine are floral, fruity, spicy, vegetative, or wood odors. Over 500 aromatic compounds have been identified in wine, derived from the grapes, fermentation, and maturation. The fruity aromas come from the grapes. The more complex aromas such as yeast, butter, or oak come from the fermentation process. The aromas produced as wine matures are often very subtle and difficult to describe.

Taste

Take a generous sip, enveloping your mouth with the taste. Take your time. Savor the different flavors and move the wine around gently inside you mouth to expose the wine to all of your taste buds. Swallow the wine when you feel you have experienced the flavors and feel of the wine. Next, pay attention to the aftertaste. It should remain pleasant and linger.

You may find it necessary to cleanse your palate in between different wines to make it easier to distinguish the different taste sensations associated with the different wines.. This can be accomplished with plain water, or the use of bread and crackers. Also, when tasting a number of wines, always drink whites before reds, dry before sweet, and old before young. This system allows your palate to adjust according to the qualities of each wine. (For example, a dry wine may taste bitter if tasted after a sweeter one. Or a light white wine may become tasteless rather than tasting delicate after a dry, heavy red.)   

MORE TOPICS TO COME!!! !! CHECK BACK SOON
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WINE-RELATED LINKS

Below is a list of links to some of our favorite wine-related web sites. This list will continue to grow as we find more sites. If you have any favorite sites you would like to share with others, I’ll be glad to include them here (after I’ve checked them out for appropriate content). Please e-mail your suggestions to viking@vikingvineyards.com.

http://www.ohiowines.org (website of the Ohio Wine Producers Association with links to many Ohio wineries’ sites

http://www.wine-lovers-page.com (general information about wines)

http://www.ucdavis.edu (use the SEARCH command to find wine-related information)

http://www.winexwired.com (e-magazine for Generation X – and anyone else interested in unpretentious wine information)

http://www.travelenvoy.com

http://www.ohgrapes.org (Ohio Grape Industries site with listings of all Ohio wineries, even those that do not belong to OWPA)

http://www.suite101.com (not really about wine, but an interesting on-line publishing community of writers, readers and educators - lots of interesting stuff here!)

http://www.sheratonakron.com (a great place to stay while visiting our area!)

http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineguest/wgg.html (a glossary of over 2000 wine grapes, with their parentage and characteristics)

MORE LINKS TO COME!! CHECK BACK SOON!

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