Smelling wine cork

When a waiter presents you with your wine selection, it is often thought that it is a good time to smell the cork. Well, it is not wrong to do so as you can smell a few things on the cork such as a stale cork.

I would suggest that you feel the cork and notice if it is warm or cool, wet or dry, hard or soft. By feeling the cork can tell you wheather the wine has been properly stored or at least hint a few clues to you.

The cork should be flexible, elastic, soft enough to be compressible and hard enough to hold together. Older wines will show some age on the cork. The “fill” line on the wine should be pretty close to the bottom of the cork. Hopefully the wine bottle has been kept in good storage to reduce evaporation.

Wine alcohol and the body

Alcohol can be both a tonic and a poison for the body.

In recent years, debate has been heated about alcohol's impact on health. Some researchers claim that moderate drinking actually makes you healthier than those who do not drink. "Moderate drinking," as defined by the U.S. Department of agriculture and the dietary guidelines for Americans, is no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men.

One drink is considered to be 330 ml of beer, 150 ml of wine, or 40 ml of spirits (hard liquor). Each of these contains about 12 to 14 grams of alcohol.

The active ingredient in alcoholic beverages is ethanol, a molecule that directly affects the stomach, brain, heart, gall bladder and liver. It also affects levels of lipids and insulin in the blood.

If consumed moderately, alcohol can lower a person's chances of having a heart attack, ischemic (clot-caused) stroke, or other forms of cardiovascular disease. This effect is found in both men and women.

Alcohol raises levels of the "good" cholesterol, HDL, which provides protection against heart disease. In addition, moderate drinkers (as opposed to non-drinkers or heavy drinkers), are more likely to be at a healthy weight, get 7 to 8 hours of sleep at night and exercise regularly, according to a 1985 national health interview survey.

Equipment to make wine

Although there are may  hoem brewing kits available, fundamentally you can make wine effectively using basic tools found at any good hardware store.  The tools that you will need to make wine at home include:

• A two gallon bucket with a lid that fits securely on top.
• A spoon for stirring
• A pan that can be used to boil the ingredients
• A fine mesh strainer
• A fermenting vessel with a rubber bung and airlock
• A funnel
• Bottles and corks
• Tubes for siphoning
• Brushes and bottle brushes to maintain the equipment
• Wine making instrumentation including a hydrometer.

Wine serving

Perhaps the most important aspect of wine service as it can greatly affect the taste and the aroma of the wine.

Chill white or rosé wines in the refrigerator 1-2 hours before serving, to about 12°C. Do not use the refrigerator to store wine. This can encourage the development of bitartrate crystals and make the wine taste simple and flat. The high acidity of white wines will taste less tart when cool. Alcohol evaporates faster at warmer temperatures, and can interfere with the delicate aromas of these lighter-bodied wines.

If a wine needs to be chilled quickly, iced water is a far more effective means than placing it in a container of ice cubes.

Red wines should be chilled about 30-45 minutes in the refrigerator before serving, to about 18-20°C. You have probably heard that red wines should be served at room temperature, and you are right. However, the term "room temperature" refers to rooms in Europe way back when, and they were around 15°C, not the 22-24° we find in modern-day America. The slightly colder temperature slows the evaporation of alcohol, thus improving the aroma and flavor, and making the wine smoother. Don't over chill; this makes the tannins in the wine taste rough and bitter.

If a red wine is very cold try decanting it into a warm jug or pouring it into warm glasses. You can also use a microwave but be careful not to cook the wine - 15-20 seconds will usually suffice. Some light red fruity wines benefit from light chilling to around 10° e.g. Beaujolais, especially for summer drinking.

How to make wine?

With a basic history out of the way, what are the actual steps to ferment your first batch of wine?  Well, if you want to start at the beginning, buy the fruit that will eventually become your final product.

Sourcing wine grapes does not need to be complicated.  In fact, these days you can even do it over the internet.    Unless you want to just get the basics in place, don’t turn to grapes or fruit from the local grocer, but instead find a regional source of wine grapes that will ship directly to you.

Once you have your fruit supply, the initial step is simply to mash the fruit and create an extraction.  Depending on the grape, wine can be made from the straight juice without additional liquid or sugar added.    However, often additional sugars, fruit juices and water will need to be added to create the desired concentration of fruit flavor before fermentation.  The end product of this first step is known as a must.  During subsequent steps yeast will be added to the must to ferment the juice.

Wine and food pairing

Wine and food pairings is an individual choice. Every person's sense of taste is different. In general, each person should decide for him or herself what combinations of wine and food taste good - don't worry about what anyone else says should work. However, I understand this is difficult when a wine drinker is just starting out.

Wine and food matching is the process of pairing food dishes with wine to enhance the dining experience. In many cultures, wine has had a long history of being a staple at the dinner table and in some ways both the winemaking and culinary traditions of a region will have evolved together over the years. Rather than following a set of rules, local cuisines were paired simply with local wines. The modern "art" of food pairings is a relatively recent phenomenon, fostering an industry of books and media with guidelines for pairings of particular foods and wine. In therestourant industry, sommeliers are often present to make food pairing recommendations for the guest. The main concept behind pairings is that certain elements (such as texture and flavor) in both food and wine react differently to each other and finding the right combination of these elements will make the entire dining experience more enjoyable. However, taste and enjoyment are very subjective.

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Enjoy!