The Fundamentals of Wine

Sometimes you just have to pick up a good bottle of wine for a party or choose from a list at a fine restaurant. Wine snobs sometimes seems to be part of an exclusive club. Let this brief primer give you the key to the hidden door.

Wines are categorized according to color: red, white or rosé and by dryness, which refers to how much sugar has been consumed by the yeast used to produce the wine. The less sugar, the drier the wine. Wines also are described with additional adjectives such as "oaky" a taste produced by the oak casks that wines are often aged in, or they may have elements of fruits such as a taste of cherries, peach, citrus and so on. Some wines, such as Gewurztraminer are also described as spicy.

As a general rule, the reds will work best with more intensely flavored foods such as red meats, pastas with tomato based sauces and many of the foods that you will typically consume in colder weather. The taste of a good red wine is generally heartier and may be too much in the hot summer months or when served with delicately flavored fare such as chicken or fish.

One exception to that rule is Beaujolais Nouveau. This particular red traditionally makes its appearance in stores around Thanksgiving-just in time to accompany the turkey with which it works best.

White and rosé wines are especially good for drinking during the summer months. In fact, some people may find that adding a little seltzer and a twist of lemon or lime to white wine makes the perfect Summer tipple.

White wines are just great with chicken or fish as mentioned before, but surprisingly enough some are perfect companions to Chinese food. The spicy flavor notes of a Gewurztraminer, a semi-dry German wine, gives chicken curry a special zing. A nice Riesling also works great here too.

These two wines represent one side of the white wine spectrum. The other side is represented by an Oaky Chardonnay. Not all Chardonnays are heavily flavored with oak, but this is one wine variety where the taste is likely to show. You will want to sample at least a few different white wines, with or without this taste to see what side of the divide you wind up on. Oak is something you either love or hate.

In addition to being a good drinking wine, a splash or two white wine and a few sprigs of tarragon can really jazz up a blasé chicken breast, while a little red wine is just the thing for a homemade Bolognaise sauce, so try to keep a bottle of each around.

The rosé or blush wines are friendly drinking wines for a day on the porch overlooking the garden. These wines work well without food and are most accessible for a beginner. The most famous blush is White Zinfandel. Please note that when you order "Zinfandel" you should be getting a hearty red wine, not a blush.

Long Island and upstate New York vineyards abound in affordably priced, easy-drinking whites and rosés. When attending a wine tasting at a vineyard during the summer, at least one white or rosé will be a standout that has been produced by the bucket load. Don't be afraid to bring home a bottle or two of whatever nature has produced most generously that season because it is often one of the best.

Some reds you will want to work into your repertoire include: Cabernet Sauvinon, Cabernet Franc, Shiraz, Merlot and Zinfandel. These are bolder wines than the whites, rosés or Beaujolais Noveau earlier mentioned ,and they will work well with a nice piece of roast beef or steak Although all of these are reds, they taste very different from each other, so you should sample a tasting of each at your local wine store or vineyard to see which you like best.

When you bring home a bottle of wine you will want to serve it at its most tasty. White wines and
rosés are chilled in the refrigerator before serving. Reds are best served at room temperature. Because wines contain a head-splitting preservative known as sulfite, the bottle should be opened in advance and allowed to "breathe" . This precaution will dissipate the unpleasant sulfites and improve the taste of the wine. Don't be afraid that opened bottle of wine will go bad in your refrigerator if you don't drink it immediately. It will probably be better the next day.

Have you ever heard of the old saw about "smelling the cork" in a good restaurant? If you order a wine, the wine-master may hand you the cork. You needn't smell it-he is allowing to to see that the cork is in good shape and has done its job of keeping the wine drinkable. You want your freshly-opened wine to breathe, but a wine with a deteriorated cork can turn to vinegar.

Today, this is less of a problem as a shortage of cork has led to bottles with screw-top openings and plastic corks. I hate plastic corks because they cannot be reinserted back into the bottle. If you live alone and don't want to be forced to consume the wine prematurely for fear of spilling an uncorked bottle into your meatloaf, investigate the single-serve bottles that are sold in units of 4 in some liquor stores.

Salud and Bon Apetit.