I was browsing through my local paper the other day and came across an article by Jon Rogers.  Jon, of Wines Without the Mystery, is a wine educator and consultant who teaches a wide variety of classes.  The article was entitled: You have no need to fear ‘the cork ritual’.  The article presents some great advice on the presentation and evaluation of the cork in a restaurant.  While his article was extremely informative, the questions that popped into my head were much more basic.  For example, when did cork become the favorite way to plug a wine bottle?  Where does the cork come from that wineries use everyday?  I figured it was time to get back to my research to find some answers. 

Egyptians: The First Cork Users

The Egyptians first used cork as a stopper thousands of years ago.  Later, ancient Greeks and Romans used cork for a variety of uses, including wine stoppers and olive oil.  In the 1600’s, a monk called Dom Perignon was using wooden stoppers wrapped in rags to seal his bottles of wine.  These crude plugs most often just popped out and were ineffective.  He started using cork plugs and successfully stoppered his best wines.  Wine bottling would never be the same, as cork soon became the essential answer to successfully sealing the bottles. 

First Cork Factory Was In Spain

In 1750, the first cork stopper factory opened in Anguine, Spain.  The widespread use of cork ultimately resulted in wine bottles undergoing a transformation from short and fat to tall and slender, because the slender neck was easily sealed with cork plugs.  Spain and Portugal produce over 80 percent to the cork used in the world.  Wine bottle cork comes  from the bark of a Cork Oak Tree.  The bark of trees older than 25 years is carefully stripped from the tree to protect it and perpetuate the life of the tree.  The bark is dried for up to six months then boiled for a few hours and then allowed to dry another 2 to 4 weeks.  

After the final drying process, the bark is carefully cut or molded into the correct sizes.  A washing process follows using chemicals that sanitize the corks from any bacterial growth.  Bacterial growth in the cork would quickly render a wine useless to drink.  New technologies for eliminating cork contamination are also being used such as irradiation.  Corks are then shipped in specially sealed bags to wherever they are needed. The entire cork making process could very well last a year.  

From Tree To Wine Cork May Take A Year

Portugal continues to be the world leader in cork production.  There are over 5 million acres of  cork forest in the world and over thirty percent of that area is in Portugal.  There are three basic sizes of natural cork from the standard size up to the larger champagne cork.  While cork is still the preferred sealer for bottled wine, some wine producers have begun using screw cap sealing systems on their bottles; thereby, throwing out the romance and sophistication of opening a corked bottle of great wine.  Corks can easily be used to re-seal partially used bottles of wine.  Smelling the cork when it is first removed will give you a quick idea of a wine’s quality.  Because of its fire resistance, cork is now also used in rocket technology.  Who knows what other uses may develop from this natural product. 

As I always say, buy the wine you prefer, have a proper wine storage cooler, and serve it at the correct temperature and you will enhance your enjoyment of this unique beverage.  Do not forget, smelling the cork will provide you critical evidence of what your first sip might taste like. 

Author: Ronald Senn, Vice-president, Ideal Wine Coolers, July 2010

Biggest Wine Country

Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay

Visit Texas Hills Area

Many of us have danced the Texas Two-step.  I found another Texas tradition, the Texas Two-sip.  The Texas Two-sip is a challenging, blind taste test of a collection of in state and out of state wines.  The goal is to use your taste buds to find the best.  There are special rules and forms to fill out, but no specific rules on what food you can eat.  Sounds like a party to me.  The only caution I have is I did not find out the rule when you get to take your blindfold off.  Be careful where you step.

When I was in the military traveling home on leave, I had car trouble in Fredericksburg.  The people took me in, fed me and housed me, while the resident mechanic repaired my heap.  When I was getting ready to leave, they gave me the gift of a thank you for my service and covered all my bills.  Because of the wine growing there, I now have another reason to take a pause there.  Look out Highway 290 here we come.

Author: Ronald Senn, Vice-president, Ideal Wine Coolers, June 2010

You work for days on end until the time arrives when you get a day off from work.  It only took seconds to kiss my wife, grab my gear, hook-up the boat and hang the “Gone Fishing” sign on my office door.  My wife yelled at me as I was going out the door: “Don’t catch anything if you don’t want to clean it”.  Ten relaxing hours later, I appeared at the kitchen door with a stringer of bass, crappie and catfish.  Before my wife could corner me, I started immediately to clean the fish at the kitchen sink.  Of course, my wife would have preferred that I clean them outside.  She did give me the go ahead as long as I took the fish remains to the out door garbage can, scoured the sink with Lysol, mopped the floor and sprayed some aerosol fragrance that I will call “Odor de Normal”.  Time spent traveling to fish, catching the fish, cleaning the fish and sanitizing the kitchen totaled 12 hours and 27 minutes.  This was still better than 8 hours behind my desk. 

Couple of weeks later, I declared, “Tonight we are having those fish I caught for dinner.”  My wife said, “You cook and I will go to the store for some wine”.  She then asked a series of perplexing questions, “Are you leaving the skin on or taking it off?”, “Is the meat from these fish white, pink or red?”, and “How are you going to cook the fish?”  In a somewhat sarcastic way, I responded, “Skin on, white meat, grilled.”  She left me with the passing comment, “That is all I needed to know” and off to the store she went.  I did not have to be told that she knew what she was doing, because the “smarty-pants” grin on her face told me.  The fish and wine combination that resulted from our joint efforts made the evening for us. 

What she knew about wine and fish, I obviously needed to learn without her knowing it.  I do not do well when “smarty-pants” is right.  Research with help from the search engines was undertaken immediately.  I found a posting by Kara Newman in what she calls a “Whimsical Guideline” for wine and fish/seafood combinations.  She said, “White wine with white seafood, pink wine with pink seafood, and red wine with red seafood”.  I thought that rule might be too easy to be true.  More research merely uncovered the wide range of opinion and advice on this topic. 

I discovered there are principles to follow to get the right combination of fish and wine.  The principles involved are the weight and texture of the food, the intensity of flavors, the need to balance tastes and the need to match flavors, unless a counterpoint flavor would be better.  This did not make sense to me until a read an article on DrinkWine.com called Basic Principles of Successful Food-Wine Pairing.  I even found out what “umami” was. 

The WineDoctor.com has a whole series of paring wine with everything from soup to nuts.  The most important pairing that they tout is the paring of wine with people.  I am a firm believer that you should drink the wine that you enjoy the most and worry less about what food you may have paired with.  They said pair red wine with fish, but they also added plenty of “ifs and buts” to their basic rule.  I also came across an article by Sheral Schowe called “Choosing the Best Wine for Fish”. Her article provides more specific input on the wine and fish combinations.  Another website, Ehow.com has a complete array of instructions, tips and warnings to help guide your fish and wine selections. 

My research was complete and I was ready for the next time we had fish for dinner.  It did not take long for my research to pay off.  My wife said, “I bought some fresh halibut at the store for dinner tonight”.  I replied, “That sounds great to me.  You cook and I will pick up the wine”.   She responded, “What wine were you going to get”.  Without hesitation and with a Cheshire cat grin of my own, I said, “Without a doubt a Chardonnay, Condrieu or Rousanne would be the perfect match with halibut”.  The dumbfound look on my wife’s face was worth the research.  Who says that you cannot teach an old dog a new trick? 

Remember what I always say store your wine properly, serve it at the right temperature and enjoy it completely. 

Author: Ronald Senn, Vice-president, Ideal Wine Coolers, June 2010

Our family gathers at least twice a year for a big sit-down dinner together.  Last Thanksgiving, it was my wife’s and my turn to feed the clan, which added to 39 hungry individuals.  By subtracting the kids and the beer drinkers, my task was to gather enough wine glasses for about 29 adults.  After pulling our glass serving collection out of the cupboard, I counted 11-white wine, 7-red wine, 5-brandy snifter, 3-champagne and 2-pilsner beer glasses for a total of 28 glasses.  The last person lucked out and received a small water glass to enjoy the wine.  It is common for many of us in this situation to bring out a hybrid collection of glassware when we entertain large numbers.

When choosing wine glasses, WineDoctor.com has four basic rules to consider.  Rule #1 is the glass should be plain and clear.  Rule #2 is that the glass should be of sufficient size to allow pouring a good measure and at the same time allow room for the “swirling” process to release the aromas.  Select a glass that has a stem for holding is Rule #3.  The stem allows holding your wine glass without transferring heat to the bowl of the glass and consequently your wine. The final rule is that good wine glasses have a taper at the top, which is smaller than the bowl of the glass.  This serves to concentrate the aromas towards the nose.

Some glassware companies have designed glassware for every kind of wine one might purchase.  If one were to purchase their complete line of wine glasses for each individual wine, the next project we would undertake is remodeling of our glass storage cabinetry.  Many website wine aficionados state we can get by quite well by selecting four basic designs for our wine glassware collection.  Get different glassware designs to enjoy red, white, sparkling and dessert wines.  The glassware you select should be thin as thick glasses are thought to affect the taste of the wine, making it more difficult to properly lip the glass for sipping.

A red wine glass should have a bowl fuller and rounder and with a larger opening than other wine glasses.  The bowl of the glass should be wider than the opening of the glass.  Red wines have complex aromas and flavors that this shape of glasses enhances when the wine contacts with more air.  A white wine glass should be more “u” shaped, which allows aromas to easily release.  For sparkling wines, get an upright narrow glass also called a “flute” glass.  The narrowness of this glass helps retain the carbonation and capture the flavor.  The dessert wines should be served in a smaller glass to direct the wine to the back of the mouth.  These wines also contain higher alcohol content making a smaller serving wise.  Pour only enough wine to fill the glass to the widest part of the bowl.

Correctly, caring and cleaning your stemware is the last concern for being ready for drinking your favorite vintage.  Some say wash the glasses only using hot water and others say washing with detergent is okay as long as it is unscented (e.g., no lemon added).  If detergent is used, stemware should be thoroughly rinsed.  Once rinsed allow the glasses to drip dry in an inverted position.  After drying, use a soft cloth to polish them and remove residual water spots.  Store them upright in a cupboard ready of use.

After taking a strong chiding from my clan on my hybrid wine stemware, I have since upped my collection.  I can now accommodate up to 30 people with the proper glass for their respective wine choices.  I did not nor will you have to spend a fortune to be prepared.  Now let us enjoy our wine in the best possible stemware and do not forget wine enjoyment starts by correctly storing your wine before use.

Author: Ronald Senn, Vice-president, Ideal Wine Coolers

What is the best temperature to serve and store your favorite wines?  I have been asked this question many times.  Trying to be responsive to Blog readers and business clients, I embarked on what turned to be a two-day research project.  What I found is hundreds and hundreds of websites that present information on wine storage and serving temperatures.  As you can imagine, the opinions about temperature facts were all over the board.

Keeping your wine at the correct temperature is critical to maximizing its value and taste.  Wines kept at too high of a temperature will age faster than desired.  Wine stored at too cold of a temperature can develop deposits or other sediments in it.  Each type of wine has its own desirable storage temperature range.  Keep in mind the ideal storage temperature is not always the same as the ideal serving temperature.

Some general information was reasonably consistent from one website to another.  The common refrigerator generally operates at 35 degrees F.  The lighter the wine the cooler it should be served.  The warmest you should serve any wine is 60 to 65 degrees F.  Wine should be stored where humidity is about 70 percent.  If you had to pick one temperature to store wine, store it at 55 degrees F.

Based on website research, the following table represents averages of all the information that was found.  This table for obvious reasons cannot be portrayed as the definitive answer to the best temperatures for storing and serving your wine.  It can be used as a guide for your information and use.  With over 1,000 different types and variations, the wine temperatures evaluated were limited to a few varieties that are more common.

No one can tell you the precise storage or serving temperatures of wine.  The biggest variable to consider is what your own personal tastes tell you.  Having a wine refrigerator to better control the temperatures of your stored wine can help you experiment to find just the right temperatures for your tastes.

For more information and temperature management solutions see: idealwinecoolers.com.

Author: Ronald Senn, Vice-president, Ideal Wine Coolers, Jan/2010