Today’s question was sent in by Mike from Astoria who asks “What are you supposed to do with the cork when the sommelier or waiter hands it to you during service?”.
Video sum up: at a restaurant what are you supposed to do when the server hands you the cork?
You can do whatever you want. Unless you are a highly educated wine person there is really not much you will be able to say from the cork itself. You can smell it, you can feel it (moist vs dry) but in general it is only an old fashioned process of wine serviced.
Today’s question was sent in by Madeleine from Manhattan who asks “How long does wine last once opened? How to conserve wine to last longer once opened?”.
Video sum up: How to conserve wine to last longer once opened?
To conserve wine you have to prevent air from coming in contact with the wine itself. Wine will turn to vinegar if left exposed to air. To do so you need to use a very simple pump to to remove air from the bottle. This kind of technology is also used by restaurants.
After pumping the air, keep the white wine in the refrigirator and the red wine in a dark and cool place.
Other more sophisticated device / method also exist:
Carbon dioxide method
very expensive refrigirated devices
If you use a pump you can easily conserve your wine a couple of days
Today’s question is from Sony in Queens who asks “What importance should we give to wine rankings?”.
Video sum up: How much importance should we give to wine rankings / ratings?
Yous should consider wine rankings as a guide. But no more.
Don’t use them as a bible, use your own opinion, it’s up to you, it’s what you like.
To go further:
The Wall Street Journal: A Hint of Hype, a taste of Illusion. They pour, sip and, with passion and snobbery, glorify or doom wines. But studies say the wine-rating system is badly flawed. How the experts fare against a coin toss. (Read more)
Today’s question is from Patrick in New Rochelle who asks “How many aromas and flavors can we really distinguish through our nose and palate?”.
Video sum up: How many aromas and flavors can we really distinguish through our nose and palate?
Basically there are four flavors that we can taste:
bitterness
saltiness
sourness
sweetness
Everything else is about your nose and your ability to memorize specific odors or aromas
If you read wine description you will see everything from fruits (pineapple, blackberry, cherry,…) to peppers or even to more man made smells like asphalt, milk chocolate ice cream…
Jeremy recommands you to spend time smelling wine and smelling the things around you like wood, your car or a baby diaper (!). Also use tasting notes to discover the nomenclature of terms used to describe wine.
Finally you can smell hundreds of things in wine, it is really up to you and your experience.
Today’s question is “Can we distinguish white wines from red wines when you are blindfolded?”.
Video sum up Can we distinguish white wines from red wines when you are blindfolded?
Jeremy’s challenge is to find a white wine from a red wine.
Vision is one of the sense used to judge and appreciate a wine. Jeremy found the white wine mostly thanks tannins.
If you are still not convinced have a look at these two videos:
Where the hell is the white wine? Jeremy’s challenge is to find a white wine among a total of four wines (3 reds and 1 white). Did he manage to find the white wine while blindfolded?
Today’s question is from Chase who asks “What is a difference between a Chablis and a Sauvignon Blanc?”.
Video sum up: What is the difference between a Chablis and a Sauvignon Blanc?
Chablis is actually a town (click here to locate it in Burgundy, France). The wine called Chablis, which is produced in Chablis, is made from the Chardonnay grape. Chablis is grown in soil that is made of sea beds which gave it a mineraly taste.
Sauvignon Blanc is a grape.
So Chablis and Sauvignon Blanc have nothing in common, one is a town the other one is a grape. Only exception, as far as the taste is concerned, Sauvignon Blanc has sometimes (not always) a mineraly taste like Chablis.
It is a french term which gives a wine producer the right to say that a wine is from a particular region.
AOC has different names in the world. For example iIn Italy some winemakers decided to be DOC, DOCG or IGT. The last category are now well known as the Super Tuscan.
To go further:
how to pronounce “Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée” [link]
more information about the Super Tuscans and the Italian appellation [link]
