All About Wine … frequently asked questions

This column will be updated regularly but to begin we thought we'd share with you the most asked questions. If you have any specific questions for our wine experts, please stop in… we'd love to meet you! Or if you prefer, e-mail us at experts@slingerlandswine.com

How much should I spend on wine?
This is always an interesting question because there is no answer. Sheila offers this advice: there are 3 levels of wine buying - the inexpensive every day/picnic/cookout wine; the moderately priced dinner wine or weekend wine; and the special occasion wine - this is when you "shoot the moon" or at least buy the best wine you can afford.

How do I match food and wine?
Sheila recommends identifying 3 factors:

• How much do you want to spend? There are plenty of good to excellent wines for under $15.00.
• Do you like red or white?
• Are you serving the wine with food?

Now you've narrowed the field and can choose a good wine with some certainty that will compliment your experience. For additional guidance we've developed a "Food and Wine Resource Library" Check it out the next time you visit the store.

What type of wine do I cook with?
Look for a good flavorful wine that will stand up to the heat of cooking. Personally I like to sample a glass of wine when cooking so I always buy what I like to drink. I might serve something different with the meal depending upon the character of the dish.

Is wine fattening?
A glass of dry wine contains about 85% water, 12% ethyl alcohol and small quantities of tartaric acid and various other components. Wine contains no fat.

A four-ounce serving of dry white wine has about 104 calories and four ounces of red wine had about 110 calories. Sweeter wines contain 10% more calories depending upon how sweet they are; fortified wines that are higher in alcohol than table wines also contain additional calories because of the higher alcohol.

Are there any wines without sulfites?
Sulfur dioxide exists naturally in wine as a result of fermentation. It also exists naturally in other fermented foods, such as bread, cookies, and beer.

Winemakers use sulfur dioxide at various stages of the winemaking process because it stabilizes the wine (preventing it from turning into vinegar or deteriorating from oxygen exposure), and it safeguards the flavor.

Very few winemakers refrain from using sulfur dioxide; most use it out of concern that their wine will change after it is bottled or that its shelf life will be shortened. Depending on where you live, your wine shop may carry wine whose sulfite content is so low that their labels do not have to carry the phrase contains sulfites (which the U.S. government requires on the label of any wine that contains more than 10 parts per million of sulfites).

How Do I Taste A Wine?
There is more to drinking wine than just tasting; good wine pleases the senses of sight smell taste and touch.

Sight
Hold the glass to the light. The wine should be brilliantly clear. The depth of color is significant. You will learn by experience what it should be for each variety of wine.

Smell
Swirl the wine in the glass to release its fragrances, and sniff rather sharply to bring them to the nerve endings high in the nose. The aroma is the odor of the grape, most noticeable in young wines. The bouquet is the complex odor developed by aging. With experience you will be able to distinguish between them. The nose of a good wine is never weak or insipid.

Sip
Take a sip and roll it in your mouth to reach all the taste bud areas
Associate the taste with the variety you are sampling. The various components should harmonize yet the effects should not be flat.

Swirl
Roll the wine once more in your mouth. Note the amount of astringency present and get the "feel" of the wine. Depending upon type, age and other factors it should be light, moderate, or heavy to the mouth's touch, but never cloying or thin.

Swallow
Swallow the wine and note the taste sensations remaining. The aftertaste should always be pleasant.