Wine 101

As part of building our wine cellar, we are collecting wines to enjoy in retirement. We don't know when retirement will come for us, but when that happens, we want to have some nice wine waiting for us when we get there.

This led me to joke about buying retirement wines for my, ahem, 4-0-Wine-K, and I use the term to justify a purchase of a nice bottle that I'm probably not going to see for 20 years or more.

In past articles on this site, we've broken down topics like how to build a wine cellar for cheap and the math behind aging wine (with the takeaway that you may need a lot of bottles if you want to regularly enjoy 10, 20, and 30-year-old wine). But in this one, I wanted to go down another rabbit hole when it comes to building a wine cellar- retirement bottles.

Yes, part of building a wine cellar is having great bottles to enjoy now. Part of it is to have bottles to enjoy later. But another part of it is to have bottles to enjoy much, much later in our retirement years.

So let's go down the rabbit hole of funding our aptly named 4-0-Wine-k.

Read more

When studying wine in the WSET program, we quickly realized that there were hundreds upon hundreds of wine terms we had to know.

Many of these were about the grapes and regions themselves, we will admit, but there were countless others we had to know for grape growing, winemaking, sales, tasting, service, and more.

So in this one, we thought we'd share some common wine terms and their definitions so you can hit the ground running when talking about wine!

Note: Are we missing some terms? Probably. There are far too many wine definitions out there for one single article. But we had to start somewhere, so here we are!

Read more

When it comes to wine books, we have many favorites from books for those with passive interests in wine all the way to those who want atlas-level tomes with great detail.

But if you are studying wine, particularly in structured programs that have exams, these book are often not the best as the programs want you to stick to the source materials as best as possible. In these situations, 3rd party resources are often frowned upon since they can differ from official material drastically.

During my WSET studies, one book in particular jumped out as being incredibly helpful- Amble Wine's Explore Wine Maps: World Edition book.

While this book is an unofficial, 3rd party resource, the format, layout, and language used matched up to those found in the WSET program nicely and really helped me improve my learnings of geography, grape characteristics, and more!

So while this book could make for a great coffee-table book for all wine fans, for students, particularly students in WSET Diploma, it is a must-have resource.

Read more

If you are a fan of wine and are looking to enjoy a short (or long) term sobriety, such as Dry January or Sober September, you may be wondering what dealcoholized and nonalcoholic wines are like.

Although the process of how alcohol-free (or mostly free) wines are made varies, the dealcoholization follows a few standard processes that all have similar net end effects.

So in this one, we thought we'd put our chemical engineering hats on for a change and talk about dealcoholized wine- how its made, what to expect, and share a fun little trick we learned to help the wines taste just a bit better.

Read more

We've all been there- you go to open a bottle of wine, put the corkscrew in, pull, and only part of the cork comes out. You broke the cork!

Don't panic- it happens to the best of us.

While corks are inherently elastic, they are not perfect, and there are many reasons for why a cork could break from being old, improper use of a corkscrew, or simply a poorly cut cork!

So in this one, we thought we'd take a look at why corks often break and what you can do about it to still enjoy that bottle of wine!

Read more

When it comes to Thanksgiving, we hope that you are thinking about the wine pairings as much as you are the food.

But if you are struggling with the best Thanksgiving wine pairings, don't worry! We are here to help.

In this one we thought we'd share some of our favorite pairings for different elements of Thanksgiving, including turkey, the array of sides, pumpkin pie, and of course other non-pumpkin desserts as well.

Suffice it to say, you have a lot of options for this meal!

Read more

Have you ever been in a wine store and confused over the sheer volume and types of wine? We've been there.

Thankfully, when you stop to think of it the world of wine can be simplified down into a handful of core styles. So let's break down the various wine types you may see and explain a bit more of each in this guide!

Read more

There is no worse feeling than opening a bottle of wine, pouring the first glass, taking your first sip with great anticipation, and finding out that you simply just don't like the wine.

We've all been there.

There could be any number of reasons why you don't like the wine, from it being outright bad (read: spoiled) to any number of flavor characteristics just not being your thing.

So in this one, we thought we'd take a look at what you may want to do with a bottle of wine you don't enjoy. From cooking with it to making Sangria, reducing for use in a cocktail, and more, the sky is truly the limits of what you can do with a bottle of wine you aren't too fond of!

Please Note: In this article, we suggest ideas on what to do with wine that you will still later consume. If you suspect your bottle of wine is faulty, either having turned to vinegar or may be contaminated/spoiled by some other mechanism (e.g. cork taint, heat damage, etc.), we only recommend dumping it. Never, ever consume wine you suspect is spoiled under any circumstances.

Read more

A wise man once said…

“To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems” – Homer Simpson

…and we couldn't agree more.

Nothing beats a good quote about wine, and, quite thankfully, there are many. From quotes found in religious texts to those from notable public figures, winemakers, and even quotes from BCE, there really are a number of gems worth sharing.

So, looking for the best wine quotes and wine sayings? Read on to discover some of the best!

Read more

If you've ever started to plan a wine trip, got to the point where you began researching wineries, and felt utterly overwhelmed, you're not alone.

Although we find researching wineries to be a fun part of planning wine travels, we must admit it is also one of the most tedious and time-consuming.

When we planned our wine tour in Piedmont, for example, we knew we wanted to spend five days in Barolo and Alba, and we booked our accommodations and dates relatively easily. Sorting through hundreds of wineries to find ones that were highly rated, open for tours, and available on our dates became a challenge that required many, many hours of research and back-and-forth emails.

So in this one, we thought we'd dive more into our own process of researching and selecting wineries to visit when traveling!

Note: We take a deep dive into planning wineries to visit when traveling in this one. As such, this article is written for those who are the most into wine like we are. If you are a passive wine fan and simply want to enjoy a few wineries in any given region, this guide can help you, but you may be able to skip a few steps based on your interest level.

Read more