Wine 101

When it comes to planning a wine trip, we'll be the first to admit that there is a lot to think about.

From determining where you want to go, where you want to stay, how to find wineries to visit, buying wine, and doing other non-wine activities, the amount of information you may have to sort through can be quite robust.

We are no strangers to planning wine trips from the simplest day tour when in a city near a wine region all the way to researching multi-day itineraries in some of the top regions of the world.

In this one, we thought we'd take a step back and share our process for planning wine trips and break it down in a step-by-step guide for those looking for the same.

But as we recognize that not everyone may be as insanely into wine as we are, we also wanted to break down recommendations for those who simply want to go wine tasting without a ton of planning while also providing robust tips for those who make take more time to find the best of the best.

Suffice it to say, we hope to have something for everyone here!

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When it comes to learning about wine, sometimes it is hard to beat a good book.

Over the years, we have collected many of the best wine books and read through resource after resource to improve our knowledge.

So in this one, we thought we'd share five of our favorite books about wine to help you jump right into this fascinating world!

Note: The wine books discussed below are organized by how approachable they are from most to least. That is to say, the first books referenced below can be enjoyed by all knowledge levels whereas some of the later books should be reserved for the most intense wine students. When applicable, we've attempted to highlight when a book is or is not appropriate for some readers and equate them to relative levels of WSET and other wine programs for reference.

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If you have ever studied for a wine course, known someone studying for a wine course, or even watched documentaries about people studying for wine certifications (the Somm movies come to mind), odds are good you have encountered flashcards.

These ubiquitous pieces of paper have been synonymous with fact-based memorization techniques for generations- partly because they work but also because they are cheap and easy to make.

For wine exams, where you often have to memorize many keywords (often in other languages), geographies, weather patterns, laws, and more, flashcards are incredibly useful for a quick and continual reminder of topics you may be struggling with before your exam.

But with that being said, I have a confession to make- I've never made a single flashcard for any of my wine exams. 

Instead, the digital flashcard service Brainscape was recommended to me for my WSET Level 2 exam, and I've been hooked on the service through to the Diploma modules. So today, I thought I'd share a bit more about why that is and why the modest monthly fee can be a game-changer for studying.

Note: It is important to highlight that Brainscape is a flashcard service, not a wine program, and they are not associated with WSET. The website simply has a wealth of wine decks available for those in the WSET program which are created by 3rd parties. We may use terms interchangeably in this post but want to be clear about this upfront. Likewise, all photos are direct screenshots of Brainscape.

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We'll be completely honest that how long wine lasts after opening depends on several factors. There is simply no one-size-fits-all approach for how your bottle of wine will taste over time once the cork is removed, and this requires a robust discussion to even start covering all the categories.

We can cross off a very important one in that, for us, a still bottle of wine generally lasts about two hours. We've done exhaustive research over many years and can say with absolute certainty that an open bottle of wine in our house does not last more than a few hours.

Sometimes it is as quickly as one hour, sometimes as much as five or six hours, but generally speaking, a bottle disappears within two hours simply because we drink it and never have leftovers.

But all joking aside, we have to admit that is more or less a non-answer. Really, the question we want to address in this one is how long does wine stay fresh after opening, as this topic is far more interesting.

First up, let's touch base on what causes wine to go bad to begin with. As chemical engineers, you know we find this topic fascinating!

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When it comes to learning how to taste wine properly, there are an untold number of approaches out there.

You can go to the extreme and research the bottle/wine region in great detail to know what the wine is supposed to be like (all before even opening a bottle). You can follow one of a nearly infinite number of structured tasting approaches taught around the world. Or you can simply wing it and just dive right in without rhyme or reason.

The good news is there really is no wrong way to taste wine insofar as you actually drink what is in the glass in front of you.

But for those who want to really stop and appreciate what is in their glass, some of the structured methods are perhaps the most fascinating. So in this one, we wanted to talk about these wine tasting techniques in greater detail!

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Over the years, we've visited dozens upon dozens of wineries, tasting rooms, and specialty wine stores around the world and have found we have one consistent pattern- we almost always leave with bottles. It doesn't matter if the winery is epic or borderline terrible, we leave with a bottle from virtually every place we visit.

While someone should probably organize an intervention about that, there is also a method to our madness.

To put it simply, we've found that the best approach to shopping for wine is to only buy single bottles when visiting wineries- never cases and very rarely multiple of the same bottle. Why? We simply don't trust our palate after a day of tasting!

To us, the true test of a winery is not how their individual tastings stack up, but rather what we think of a bottle on its own without any other wine along with it. That requires buying what we perceive to be our favorites from each and every tasting, taking them home, and enjoying them one by one over time.

In this one, we thought we'd take a step back and discuss our logic behind this a bit more. It may sound a bit confusing, but we promise it will make sense by the end.

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