10 THINGS YOU WISH YOU KNEW ABOUT WINE
Forbes
magazine publishes a supplement called FYI four times a year.
Billed as the periodical profiling the good life, FYI provides insight
into a number of luxuries including wine. In
the Fall 2001 issue, Richard Nalley writes an article with the above title.
I enjoyed the article so much, that I thought I would provide a summary
for our readers.
1.
The best wines never leave Italy/France/Spain.
Just
the opposite according to Nalley. The
best wines are shipped to the U.S., the world’s biggest, richest import
market. However, I would disagree with Nalley if he were talking
about California wines, where some of the boutique trendsetters never see the
light of day at our East Coast retail emporiums.
2.
Adding sulfites changed everything.
Nalley
discloses that sulfites have been a preservative used in wines for centuries. However, the big change was the American requirement that
warning labels disclose sulfite content due to the small percentage of Americans
with sulfite allergies. I’ll add
that the higher the sulfite content, even a non-allergic person like myself
suffers a side effect; increased snoring.
3.
Truly life-enhancing wines don’t “travel” well.
It’s
your life-enhancing experience that makes the wine you enjoyed that night
“something special”. If the
wine were truly special, according to Nalley, it would travel well.
4.
Why do people sniff the cork?
Nalley
must have been reading Winostuff a year or so ago when Wino Bob issued his
definitive treatise on this subject. Nonetheless,
Nalley provides the definitive conclusion; it’s snobbery.
If the cork is pulled, sniff the wine itself.
5.
But don’t some corks make wine smell like other people’s shoes?
Yes,
it’s the result of bacteria and Winos John and Bob will tell you that it’s
bacteria whether it’s a bad wine or your smelly feet.
Get over it. It happens.
Go back and read Wino Bob’s treatise.
6.
So why have a cork at all?
Corks
serve to keep oxygen out of wine. There
are other substitutes but the industry knows that the snobs want to see corks. Nalley sites some champagne manufacturers who place bottle
caps on their champagne until it’s ready for shipment.
7.
What’s the deal with that silver ashtray dangling from the
sommelier’s neck?
The
first tastevins were originally designed to allow merchants buying wine to gauge
the color of the wine while in dim, candlelit cellars.
Now, the snobby sommelier’s use them.
I agree with Nalley. A lot
of establishments serving excellent wines do not employ sommeliers who insist on
tasting the wine.
8.
If one glass of wine is good for my health, won’t three glasses turn me
into a suave dynamo of sexual magnetism?
Nalley
says this is absolutely true. I
think the bellringer of this could be Wino Bob.
What do you think, Bob?
9. Is
it cheaper to order wine directly from the winery?
No,
wineries don’t want to alienate their distributors and retailers.
However, per Wino Wally, you can get some tough to find wines when you
order directly from wineries, particularly if you’re a member of their wine
club.
10.
Isn’t dry wine always better?
It
is if you like it. In finer wines,
dryness means less than balance according to Nalley.
Wino Wally
October 6, 2001
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