What to Get the Wine Lover in Your Life for Christmas

Shopping for your loved ones at Christmas can be difficult for anybody, but what about if your loved one is a wine lover? What do you get somebody that has a passion for wine? Hopefully, I can help you with that with this list of presents any wine lover would be happy to receive.

Wine Opening Set

Sure, your beloved wine lover probably already has a wine bottle opener of some sort, but that doesn't mean that there aren't still tools for them. A look through many of your stores will result in Wine Accessory sets that usually feature a corkscrew, bottle stoppers, and a drip ring. This might not be used every day by your wine lover, but his is a great addition to a wine bar.

Wine Picnic Set

If your wine lover is a fan of the great outdoors, a Wine Picnic set is a great way to encourage them to spend time outside, and to allow them to take wine with them. Most of these feature at least two wine glasses (usually made of durable plastic), a corkscrew, a cheese knife, some small plates, napkins, space for at least one bottle of wine, and an attractive carrying case that is easy to transport around a park, lawn, or wherever your wine lover likes to enjoy the outdoors.

Wine Glasses

Anybody that drinks wine is sure to have a descent set of wine glasses, but for a new wine lover, a great set of white and red wine glasses is always welcome. A simple set of white wine glasses and some red wine glasses with a nice bowl will be appreciated by your wine lover – and who doesn't need an extra set of wine glasses?

Wine Refrigerator

A wine fridge is perfect for anybody that keeps a lot of wine on hand and wants it to be at the perfect temperature at all times. Depending on how much you're willing to spend, this present can be quite affordable or quite expensive. Ranging in size from less than 10 bottles to upwards of one hundred, wine refrigerators are perfect for keeping wine in a central location and at the perfect temperature.

Wine of the Month Club

The gift that keeps on giving. Receiving wine every month will give your wine lover something to look forward to every month, and it can expose them to new wines that they've either expressed interest in and haven't had the chance to try, or varietals that they haven't even heard of. Coming in a variety of prices and options, this is a great present for every level of wine enthusiast.

About the Author

George R Perry is the writer of the $20 Sommelier, a blog focusing on affordable wine. The $20 Sommelier can be found online at: http://the20bucksommelier.blogspot.com .

Wine and Food: Do You Really Have to Drink Red Wine with Red Meat?

Having worked in a number of restaurants, I was usually asked my suggestions on how best to pair a glass or bottle of wine with a meal selection. What surprised many of my guests was that I didn't always follow the rule of pairing red wine with red meat and white wine with white meat. There are a few reasons why, and here they are:

You Don't Have to Follow Tradition
The biggest thing to remember is that just because people have been pairing wine and food a certain way for however long doesn't mean you have to do so. You'll be eating and drinking the selection, and if you think the Riesling sounds great with the New York strip, that's your business and nobody else's. Don't let people looking at you funny discourage you from branching out and trying new and different wines with your meal, even if the pairing you select is something a little out of the ordinary.

Wine Flights
Wine flights are very popular at many wine intensive restaurants, as they let the restaurant offer a small selection of complimentary wines at a slightly increased price in the hopes that you will buy a glass or bottle of one of the small samples you tried. More and more, restaurants are pairing wine flights with their meals, as it benefits their bottom line. One thing to notice is that most wine flights offer differing types of wine, be it a range of chiantis, a range of chardonnays, or a range of Italian, Australian, French, or Californian wine, which can include both red and white wine.

Using wine flights is a really great way to find out if that really dry chardonnay will actually go well with your medium rare porter house while letting you try some other wines that might also work. Don't be intimidated just because you don't recognize every type of wine in a flight. Branching out and trying new things is part of the fun of wine drinking.

Compliment or Contrast
Part of the art of pairing wine and food is deciding whether you want the food to compliment or contrast the food you're offering. While you might be offering a sirloin that one would normally pair with a nice dry red, if you've spiced that same sirloin with peppers or seasoning that raises the heat of the steak, you may want to pair it with a white wine that will help cut that spice and make the entire dining experience more enjoyable.

While there's nothing wrong with having your wine compliment the meal you've prepared, picking a wine that contrasts your food is a great way to broaden your horizons and to find new and exciting way to enjoy your food and your wine, which is really the most fun of pairing food and wine.

Blended Wines
Blended wines can mean anything from a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio to something like a White Zinfandel or a Rose'. Blended wines like a Chardonnay/Pinot Grigio blend are unique in that they offer aspects of both wines, depending on the ration of each. White Zinfandel and Rose' add another dimension in that they can pair well with many different food options because of their unique flavor profiles. While many guys might not want to be caught drinking pink wine, don't rule out a good Rose' to go with something like prime rib if you're interested in trying something new.

Do What You Want
When it all comes down to it, it's your money and your palate. Only you can really know what you like and what you think will taste best. Don't let anybody tell you differently and don't be afraid to experiment both at restaurants and at home. Trying a new or different pairing at home can often be a better way to find out that something doesn't pair well instead of at a restaurant where you're then stuck with something that doesn't taste as good as it sounded at first.

About the Author
George R Perry is the mind behind the $20 Sommelier, a blog specializing in affordable wine reviews and wine advice for the wine lover on a budget. The $20 Sommelier can be found online at: http://the20bucksommelier.blogspot.com/ .

Corks: Does Your Wine Really Have to Be Sealed with Real Cork?

As I sit down to write this, I can already envision the hate mail I'm going to receive from wine purists. The reason for that is because so many wine drinkers believe that the only way that a bottle of wine should ever be sealed is with true cork. I have to say that I just don't agree with that. Here's a few reasons as to why.

Cost
Cork cost money. By switching from real cork to either a synthetic cork or a screwcap, wine makers can shed money off their costs, which they can in turn pass on to you. More and more of your up and coming vineyards are switching to the use of screwcaps and synthetic corks to help them achieve the affordable wines they need to make themselves competitive in an ever growing wine market.

Taste
I'll never be able to say for certain that a real cork can enhance the taste of the wine, but one thing I do know is that a rotting cork can add bad flavors and ruin a perfectly good bottle of wine. As not everybody knows how to properly store a bottle of wine, there are times when your cork can actually be a detriment to the wine. Whether it's by falling apart and letting air into the bottle which can, in turn, turn the wine into very expensive vinegar, or crumbling into the bottle itself, real cork is unreliable in its ability to preserve wine.

Sediment
If there's one thing I can't stand when drinking a glass of wine, it's when I have sediment from the cork at the bottom of my glass. While simple floaters in the bottle from opening the bottle and driving the corkscrew through the cork and into the bottle are bad enough, cork that has dried out too much and then fallen apart into the bottle can quickly turn into a grainy sediment at the bottom of the bottle that can ruin your enjoyment of the wine by altering the taste and the texture as you go for that last drop.

Opening Ease
While screwcaps are by far the easiest way to open a bottle of wine (no corkscrew required), synthetic corks are still easier than real corks for one simple reason: they don't break apart. I'm a professional bartender and have opened more than my fair share of wine bottles through the years, but even I have cracked, crumbled, and broken corks. Synthetic corks won't shatter, crumble, and don't shed anything into the glass if you push through them with your corkscrew. There's no concern about ruining a bottle in the opening process, and that's a big win in my book.

There's No Right Answer
In the end, there really is on right or wrong answer to the debate of which method of sealing wine bottles is best. Wine review sites, sommeliers, and experts can debate it for all time, but in the end, the only thing that really matters is the wine, and whether the cork affects that or not can only be determined by opening bottles of wine and enjoying them, which I am more than happy to be the first to do.

About the Author
George R. Perry is the mind behind The $20 Sommelier. A retired bartender, George now commits himself to writing wine reviews and helping budget shoppers find affordable wine to enjoy. The $20 Sommelier can be found online at: http://the20bucksommelier.blogspot.com .

The Art of Ordering a Bottle of Wine

Wine, Vino, the Nectar of the Gods. Whatever you want to call it, thanks to a growing number of vineyards and the exponentially growing demand for quality, affordable wine has made the number of wines on the market explode.

While the expansion of the wine market has helped to make quality wine more affordable, it’s also helped to make the choosing of a good wine at either a restaurant or grocery store a bit more tricky. Fortunately, there are a few simple things to keep in mind when doing so that will help to ease the process.

Perhaps the oldest question, and the easiest to answer, is which wine to drink with which food. The traditional response is that you drink white wine with white meat (pork, chicken, seafood), and red wine with your red meat. While this generally holds true, that doesn’t mean there isn’t some wiggle room. With white zinfandel and rose’ varietals floating around you get a mix of both your red and white wine, which can be paired with almost any kind of food.

The biggest mistake made when searching for a wine is the fear so many people seem to have with asking for advice. The smartest thing one can do when trying to figure out which kind of wine they want is to ask the question. Ask your server, bartender, ask the lady at the checkout counter, ask the person at the next table (which I’ve had happen to me…it’s really quite amusing), read some wine reviews ahead of time, ask anybody to get an opinion on what kind of wine to go with.

“Give me your most expensive bottle of wine!” We’ve all seen the movies, we all know the line, the guy trying to show off by buying the most expensive bottle. Words of advice: price isn’t the end all be all when it comes to buying a bottle of wine. Now I’m not trying to say that if you spend forty dollars on a bottle of wine that it won’t be good, but some of the most enjoyable wine I’ve bought has cost me less than twenty dollars a bottle.

If you were to go behind the bar of most wine intensive restaurants you’d probably find that while they more than likely have at least one bottle of wine that runs over fifty dollars, it’s the ones that run around twenty to thirty that tend to be going out to tables, and nobody is complaining. While showing off your impressive bank account is great, don’t let price be a determining factor when choosing a bottle, or glass for that matter, of wine.

“How will I know how the wine tastes?” Valid question, thanks for asking it. Surprisingly, most restaurants will give you a sample of the wine you want to try. If you go to a wine store, while they might not be able to give you a sample, they should be able to give you an excellent idea of what to expect from the wine.

Most restaurants use a progressive wine list, meaning that from top to bottom, the wines are listed lightest to darkest, sweetest to driest. This means that if you want a very dry red wine, you should jump to the bottom of the list, whereas if you want a medium bodied white you’re probably going to want to look around the middle of the white wines.

Ordering a bottle of wine at a restaurant is not a scary event. By simply talking to the staff, maybe doing a little bit of research before you go, and really just having a willingness to try something new, ordering wine is as easy as trying to decide if you want Miller Lite or Bud Light. Don’t be afraid to try new things, and just remember, the worst thing that can happen is that you don’t like it.

Oh, and as a side note, while price isn’t a determining factor, if you can’t pronounce the type of wine, not to be confused with the name…some of those are just mean and tricky, then you deserve to be charged for the most expensive bottle of wine on the list. Remember, it’s merlot (mer-low), not merlot (mer-lot). It’s cabernet (cab-er-nay), not cabernet (cab-er-net). This has been a public service announcement from your local bartender.

About the Author

George R. Perry is the mind behind The $20 Sommelier. A retired bartender, George now commits himself to writing wine reviews and helping budget shoppers find affordable wine to enjoy. The $20 Sommelier can be found online at: http://the20bucksommelier.blogspot.com .

Does the Type of Glass You Use Really Matter When Drinking Wine?

Just about any store you go into that offers wine glasses will have a section marked off a red wine glasses and white wine glasses. The question I've often hear is "Does the glass type really matter"? There are varying opinions on this, but here are a few things that I've always thought about when asked that question.

When it comes to white wines, the type of glass that you use is really irrelevant. Some people will say that you should use a glass with a smaller opening or thinner bowl, but when it really comes down to it, the only thing that should really be of concern to you when selecting a glass for your white wine is whether or not it is clean. Nothing ruins wine quite as quickly as a dirty glass.

For red wines I'm often of a mixed opinion. While I typically use a glass with a larger opening and bowl than what I would use to pour white wine, neither do I think it will compromise the wine if you don't use a glass like this. The advantage to using a glass with a larger bowl and opening is that a) you can get your nose into the bowl and really let the aromas of the wine wash over you and b) more oxygen is allowed into the glass allowing the flavors of the wine to open up, essentially like decanting the wine but on a smaller scale.

The other question I've heard is whether the material of the glass matters. This question is much easier to answer. While crystal looks great, and I'll never not recommend it, glass is by far less expensive and since neither will have any effect on the actual taste of the wine, there's really no reason to go out and spend money on crystal when some inexpensive glass goblets will do just as well.

When it comes to which glasses to drink your wine from, the best advice I can ever give is to go to your local store and invest in some inexpensive, basic wine glasses, roughly six labeled as "red wine" and six labeled as "white wine". Most places will sell these for roughly two dollars a glass, which is great since you will eventually break some of them, and there's no reason to be replacing $50 glasses just because somebody knocked one off the table.

As a side note, when it comes to whether or not to buy glasses with or without a stem, there really isn't any difference with the notable exception of it being somewhat more difficult to knock over a glass without a stem. Personally, I'm a big fan of using stemless wine glasses for outdoor parties as you don't have to worry about them getting knocked over and having broken glass in an area that's harder to clean up. Either way, neither one will affect the taste, so whichever you prefer is always going to be fine.

About the Author
George R Perry is the mind behind The $20 Sommelier, a blog of wine reviews on affordable wine priced at $20 or less. He can be found online at: http://the20bucksommelier.blogspot.com .