Faq

Frequentely Asked Questions. Here below you will find the answers to the common doubts about italian wine.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

Aroma wheel: What it is, where to get it
The wines of the world offer thousands of scents in their almost infinite variety. As an aid to novice wine tasters--and experts too--the wine scientists at the University of California at Davis, one of the leading wine-making and grape-growing schools in the U.S., came up years ago with something called the "aroma wheel." The oenologists at Davis consulted with scores of wine lovers and wine tasters to list all the descriptive terms they could imagine for the smells of wine. Then they organized them, categorized them, eliminated all that seemed ambiguous or less than clear, and ended up with a list of 12 major categories of wine smells, subdivided into 29 subcategories and in 94 specific terms.
It's called a wheel because it is a circular table, with relatively similar smells placed close together around its circumference..

Bargains: How to find them at the wine shop
Everybody loves a bargain, but no one likes to get the short end of the deal. So, when you're digging merrily through the cut-rate bin at your favorite wine shop and spot a price tag that seems too good to be true ... is it?
As a regular customer of the bargain bins, I'd say my record is about 50 percent: Half of the "great buys" turn out to be treasures but the other half are disappointing. Is there any way to tell? Not really, but here are a few things to watch for, based on my years of experience looking for the good deal.
Old inventory: Often a wine shop will put a sale price on an item that's been taking up space on the shelves without moving. You'll never see this with a highly rated, popular label, but if the marked-down wine comes from a less than "trendy" region -- Greece, say, or Switzerland, or even parts of France that lack the cachet of Bordeaux or Burgundy -- then there's a good chance that you've got a legitimate value for your sale price. Ditto if the wine appears to be the previous year's vintage, being "dumped" to make room for the new release.

Damaged wine: A reputable shopkeeper won't knowingly sell wine for full price if it has been through accidental harsh treatment such as being left on a loading dock in summer sun. Into the marked-down bin it goes, waiting for the unwary customer. A wine that's been "cooked," unfortunately, will be diminished in enjoyment at the least and possibly rendered undrinkable.
On the other hand, if the problem is merely the formation of innocuous tartrate crystals in the bottle, an alarming-looking condition that doesn't significantly affect the wine, you may have a bargain on your hands.
If you know the store's staff and feel they can be trusted, it's never inappropriate to ask. Otherwise all you can do is take the risk if the price seems right. Loss leaders: Local laws permitting, now and then a shop will offer a few wines at a very good price, hoping to lure customers into the store for the bargain and then sell them a few more bottles while they're in. This is perfectly legitimate marketing, and wise consumers will keep an eye out for such sales.

Bible: What does it say about wine?
Does the Bible condemn the consumption of wine or does it endorse it? In fact it appears to do both. "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise," according to Proverbs. But the Book of Judges notes that wine "cheereth God and man." And in his letter to Timothy, Paul advises, "Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities."
For every verse about wine that "stingeth like a serpent," there are two more that speak of the joys of wine, and that allude to Christ and his apostles -- not to mention the Old Testament kings and peasants -- enjoying it.
I would respectfully submit that the seeming contradictions simply represent an honest evaluation of a beverage that was a part of daily life for the people of the Holy Land in biblical times, a wine-producing and wine-consuming land. Its people drank wine with every meal and knew it as both a happy element of daily life and a potential source of pain.
From the Old Testament, which has Noah beginning his new life by planting a vineyard and making wine (and suffering the embarrassment of overindulgence) to the lovely Gospel story in which Christ turned water into excellent wine for the enjoyment of the wedding guests at Cana, the Bible both warns of the dangers of overconsumption and expresses gratitude that God made the wine that gladdens the heart of man. The key, of course, is moderation, and that's something that some people have (more or less) understood from ancient times to the present.

Big bottles: What are their names?
Wine may go back many millennia to Bronze Age times, but the wine bottle as we know it today is only about three centuries old. It was only the development of the cork-stoppered, cylindrical glass bottle - which could be stacked on its side, keeping the cork airtight and wet - that permitted the development of ageworthy wines that improve with cellaring.
The "fifth" bottle, originally one-fifth of a gallon, now rounded off metrically to 750 ml., was said to be a suitable ration for one man with dinner, back in the days when men were men (and most wine was quite low in alcoholic strength). One theory holds that this size bottle was actually the largest that early glass-blowers could produce with one full breath.
But even in those early days, for very special occasions, wineries would put up their product in impressive, oversize bottles. For reasons lost to history, most of these bottles were given the names of Biblical figures like the evil king Nebuchadnezzar and the long-lived Methuselah.
The naming conventions varied somewhat among wine regions, with the two standards being Champagne and Bordeaux in France. In case you run into a big bottle, here's a quick field guide to the larger sizes: Breathing - Does the wine need air?
As a general rule, I consider the practice of giving wine time to "breathe" before it's served to be somewhat overrated.
The idea behind it is simple: Wines that need aging may be shy on aroma and flavor when they're first opened, a characteristic that's sometimes described in winespeak as "closed" or "tight." Give them a little exposure to air, the theory goes, and you're providing a rough-and-ready substitute for the more gentle oxidation that occurs with fine wines as they age in the cellar.
While there's some truth in this, it's worth remembering that it only applies to certain wines. Most wines are fresh and fruity and ready to go as soon as they're put in the bottle, and letting these wines breathe risks missing out on their first blush of freshness. Worse still is the risk you take in breathing an older wine that's fully mature, as some older wines - like some older people - become fragile with age and may give up their spirit very quickly after the cork is pulled.
So I recommend breathing only for young, tannic wines, typically reds (or, even more so, youthful Vintage Ports), as a way to ease the initial "closed" quality or harshness from tannins. But if you do it at all, don't simply pull the cork, which exposes only a tiny circle of wine the size of a dime in the bottleneck to the air. Rather, pour a glass, and do it briskly so the wine gets a good exposure to the atmosphere. Then leave it for an hour or two, and you may find that the wine "opens up" before dinner.
Another approach, of course, is simply to open the wine at the time you serve it, take it as it comes, but if you find it shy, harsh and astringent, push back your glass and enjoy it after dinner, when it's had time to breathe.

Brett: What's that "barnyard" smell?
In the sometimes slightly wacky world of wine evaluation, it is entirely possible for a wine taster to say, "This wine tastes like $#@*!" ... and mean it as a compliment.
Let's take a look at bad flavors in good wines, and specifically brettanomyces ("Breh-TAN-oh-MY-sees" or just plain "brett" for short). Brett is a wild yeast that's sometimes found on grapeskins and that can get into wine barrels, where it resides and grows and can be almost impossible to remove. When brett appears in a wine, it creates earthy organic aromas and flavors that don't sound appetizing. The aroma of brett-afflicted wines may range from leathery to mousey, wet-fur, or "barnyard" aromas like chicken manure or horse sweat. Some tasters also find a twangy metallic quality in the aftertaste of bretty wines. In short, it's no coincidence that many wine scientists refer to wines with brett as "afflicted" or "infected."
Brett is often found in red Rhone wines and Burgundies, where no less a luminary than Voltaire once commented, apparently favorably, that Burgundy smells like "merde." Chateau Beaucastel and Domaine Tempier, both from Southern France, are two well-known names that almost invariably show brett, but it is not unknown in wines from other parts of the world, even California, where the noted (and expensive) Dominus is known for it. (And, in a slightly different category, the style of Belgian beers called "lambic" also rely on brett for their unusual character; it's reported that some of the most famous lambic breweries dare not sweep the cobwebs from their production rooms for fear of banishing the native yeast.)
Brett is controversial because some wine lovers enjoy a touch of it in wines and feel that it adds complexity, while others consider any trace of it a significant flaw. And just to make things a little more complicated, wines made from certain grapes - most notably Mourvedre - may show a similar-only-different earthiness that's easy to mistake for brett.
Personally, I can take a little of it, as long as that "barnyard" quality forms an elusive overtone that evokes country lanes on damp summer nights; but when it gets excessive (the country lane leads into a working chicken farm), it's a little too much for me!
Have you ever encountered a wine that made you think of barnyards or worse? Is a little brett just right for you or way too much? If you've got an opinion to share, drop me a note.

Buying wine: How much do you need?
Here's a perennial social question: How much wine should you buy?
It's always hard to predict how a crowd will behave, and a lot depends on whether your friends like to drink, how many of them prefer wine, beer or liquor, how long the party will last, and so on.
But by working with a few basic principles, you can usually come up with a good estimate. The standard "fifth" wine bottle, now turned metric at 750 ml, contains enough wine for five 5-ounce glasses, a fairly standard serving. If you assume that half of your guests will want wine, and that they'll average two glasses each (some drinking only one, others three or four), then you have a starting point for calculating your shopping list.

So, if you're inviting 90 pals to a holiday gathering, you might assume that half of them will take wine; figure an average of two glasses for each and you get 90 glasses, which divided by five makes 18 bottles or 1 1/2 cases of 12. I'd err on the high side by purchasing two cases (choosing a store that offers a discount for case purchases). Beer for the rest -- assume three bottles each -- and soft drinks for the teetotalers in attendance. The chances are that you'll have leftovers to stock your bar; but if you're thrifty (and if local laws permit), you might ask in advance if the wine shop is willing to take back unopened bottles. Calories: How many in wine?
Just because wine contains no fat or cholesterol, don't get the idea that you can drink a lot of it without showing the results on your waistline.
The exact calorie content of wine varies depending on both its alcohol and sugar content, so a strong, sweet wine like Port has a much higher calorie load than a dry table wine of normal strength. But you can assume that your 5-ounce glass of dry red or white table wine is likely to have 100 to 125 calories, while a rich dessert wine could go up to 150 calories or more for a smaller 3-ounce glass.

Carbohydrates: How many in wine?
If you're on a low-carbohydrate diet, you might want to take wine off your bill of fare for the duration. Wine contains no fat and no protein, but just about all of its not-insignificant calorie content is in the form of carbohydrates and alcohol, which is metabolized much like a carbohydrate.
Wines vary substantially depending on their alcoholic content and whether they have residual sugar, but a 5-ounce glass of dry white table wine may have 1.0 to 1.25 grams of carbohydrates, while a similar portion of red may go up to 2.5 grams, and sweet wines with their high sugar content will have substantially more, up to the range of 10 grams in a 3-ounce serving of a strong dessert wine like Port.
Bear in mind that low-carbohydrate diets may reduce calories, but they do this by adding a frightening level of calories from fat to your daily intake. I suggest a good moderate lifestyle of sensible eating (including wine!) and exercise, and consult your physician for advice if you feel a need to diet.

Cellaring ageworthy wines
Storage conditions are important for the long-term storage of fine wines. The optimal environment for cellaring is a constant 55F (13C), which unfortunately is too cool for air conditioning but not cold enough for the refrigerator; so to be very serious about collecting, you may need to invest in a temperature-controlled cellar unit, which isn't cheap.
But sturdier reds, at least, can be kept quite well for 10 years or so at cool room temperature, as long as you can keep them as close to 70F (21C) as possible.

Cleansing the palate: What to use?
What is the best way to cleanse your palate between tasting different wines?
Good white bread is the standard palate-cleanser at tastings because it's neutral in flavor. If you watch professional wine buyers doing their work, they'll take a piece of bread and a drink of water between wines in order to judge each one from a standing start.
At social wine tastings, you'll often see cheese or even more substantial snacks like shrimp, roast beef, meatballs or bacon-wrapped chicken livers served, but this is not such a good idea when you're evaluating wines for purchase because wines taste different with food than without it.
You'll sometimes see apples and other fruit served with wine, but I don't recommend it, as fruit may make the wine taste a little sour.