Decanting Wines

Decanting old wines, just prior to serving, helps to ensure that the clarity and brilliance are not obscured by any deposit that may have developed over time. It's best to pour slowly and avoid decanting the last ounce. Decant young wines as much as several hours before they are served to give the wine a chance to breath, simulating a stage of development that might normally be acquired after years of aging. It's best to pour quickly, even up-ending the bottle – the idea is to expose the wine to air. No matter what wine you are decanting, be mindful that wine kept in the decanter for a longer time than necessary to develop its optimum bouquet detracts from the wine. Ask a wine expert how long the bottle you bought should be decanted before you serve it. You can stop the decanting process by closing the decanter with a decanter stopper.

How to Judge a Fine Wine

Fine wines are considered the highest end, rare and super-premium wines and are typically the most expensive. There are many controversial opinions and standards that apply to what is considered fine wines. By definition, a "fine wine" is a wine considered superior in kind, quality, or appearance. However, this term is debatable in the wine industry. Wine experts use terms like class, breed, authority, aristocracy and polish to better define fine wines. Rating wine is the easiest way to determine how fine it is. Below are some basic criteria you can use at home to judge the quality of your wines. These four main criteria are the defining factors used by top winemakers in the world to label their vintage bottles. Balance: A wine must be equal or greater than the sum of its parts. No one particular component should dominate the taste. For example, a wine shouldn't be too fruity or too acidic. Length: The wine experience must not be too fleeting. It should be linger in your mouth. Complexity: The wine must have a mysterious nature to it. It should not be too straightforward or simplistic. Typicity: The wine should reflect the highest achievements from within its particular region and style.

Host a Wine Tasting Party

Itching to try new wines with a bunch of friends? Want to host a unique party that will have your friends talking for weeks? Then think about hosting a wine tasting party. There are several ways to do this. You can either hire professionals to come into your home to run the whole event or you can do everything yourself. Here are some helpful hints for either way. Hiring professionals: There are companies that send wine consultants into your home to school your friends about tasting wine, wine terminology and wine accessories. They bring the wine, pass out score cards, talk about each bottle and answer questions. After that, they take wine orders for those who'd like to buy. Often, hosts get special rewards for throwing the party. For example, free shipping, a free wine accessory or a percentage off their order. Do it yourself: Send out invitations to your wine tasting party and ask guests to bring a bottle of wine. It's best to stay in one theme. For example, stick to Cabernets or Chardonnays or Italian wines. When the guests arrive, bag the wines so they can't be seen and number them. As your guests go about the room tasting, they have a score sheet where they mark down what they think. The person who brought the wine most people enjoy wins a prize (perhaps a bottle of wine). As with the first option, supply light appetizers such as cheese and crackers so guests can clean their palates.

The Process of Making Wine

The process of making wine involves six-steps: growing grapes, harvesting, crushing and pressing, fermentation, clarification, and bottling. From the time you pluck the first grape from the harvest to the time a bottle gets its label, this is how the process of making wine takes place.

1. Growing grapes is the first step in the making of this intoxicating drink that in 2002 alone, sold 595 million gallons in the United States. In general, the type of grape you use will determine the type of wine, whether it be a Chardonnay or Merlot. Grape growing is dependant upon conditions of soil, topography, and climate to be just right.

2. At precisely the right time, you will need to harvest the grapes to prepare them for the process of winemaking. The harvesting season varies based on the type of wine and the locale of the vineyard. In the northern hemisphere, winemakers will harvest the grapes between late September and early October. There are two methods of picking grapes – either by the preferred method of hand picking or by a mechanical picker.

3. Mechanical crushing and pressing occurs as the next step to making wine. This process extracts the must or juices, which will soon become wine. In order to make white wine, after crushing, you have to separate the must from the skin and seeds. The process of making red wine involves leaving the skin intact for coloring and flavor during fermentation.

4. Wine fermentation involves storing the must in fermentation tanks, cooled to a temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Add yeast and sugar to start the process of wine fermentation. The must might be stored in fermentation tanks for as little as less than two weeks to over four weeks time.

5. The next step is clarification. Winemakers will typically store the must in barrels to allow the solids to settle or apply filtration methods to separate out the unwanted particles out of the wine.

6. The final step is the bottling process. One method of getting the wine into the bottle is by using a pump to suction the liquid from storage and into a bottle machine which measures out a predetermined amount into each wine bottle. The machine will seal the wine bottle with a cork. Finally, a labeling machine places the final touch on the product, and it's ready for consumption.

Dessert Wines for the Seasons

Many people enjoy wine with food. And then some pair wine with seasons. More specifically, certain dessert wines are better with certain seasons. Here is some helpful advice when you want to pair dessert wines with one of the four seasons, courtesy of Leslie Sbrocco, author of "Wine for Women." For spring, try a sexy and fun tawny port. A good tawny from Portugal is amber in color and never overly sweet. It captures the essence of honey, nuts and caramel. This makes it perfect for cheeses, nuts, fruit tarts and vanilla ice cream. The longer a tawny ages in the barrel, the richer and more luscious it becomes. For summer, try a fresh and crisp German Riesling. These dessert wines are the epitome of things light and summery. For fall, try Sauternes from France, a taste of honey, spice and sweet fruit combined with a creamy texture. This is great with pungent blue cheese, foie gras and baked apples. For winter, try a vintage port, a fortified dessert drink made by adding a dollop of brandy to the fermenting wine. This wine ages for decades. It's great with brownies and chocolate desserts.

How to Choose a Wine Gift Basket

Wine baskets make wonderful gifts for wine lovers. But there are so many on the market to choose from. If your head is spinning with all the choices, wine experts say to narrow your focus by thinking of these three questions: Who is the recipient? Studies have shown that more women than men prefer wine accessories such as corkscrews and wine charms. If your recipient is a wine novice, choosing simple wines that are well-known will suffice. However, if you're sending a basket to your boss who is a wine expert, you might want to go bold and send more obscure wines. What is the occasion? Different wine gift baskets are suitable for various occasions. Wine gift baskets are a favorite for parties. You might want to choose a large basket with more wines than accessories for a party atmosphere so everyone can have a taste. What is your budget? You can purchase a great wine basket for as little as $25. However, expensive wines will cost more and you can send wine baskets that cost well over $100 if you choose.