Video Transcript: Maximum Wine Enjoyment
Written By: Anonymous on Thu, Feb 28th 2008
Brian Freedman: Welcome to the Classic Wines Minute brought to you by ClassicWines.com; I am your host Brian Freedman. Join me as we explore the world of wine with the Sommelier instructors, here at the Wine School of Philadelphia.
Keith Wallace: Hi! I am here today with my absolute favorite Sommelier instructor, Maria Valetta.
Maria Valetta: Bet I am your favorite Keith. What are we talking about today?
Keith Wallace: Well, today we are talking about a few easy tips on getting the most pleasure out of drinking wine.
Maria Valetta: Great, great.
Keith Wallace: Fabulous. Well, to start off, would you like the cork?
Maria Valetta: Okay. So, once this bottle of wine is open there is always that question of what do with the cork. Truth of the matter is, smelling the cork isn't actually going to tell you whether the wine is faulty or not. The best way to tell if your wine is faulty is by smelling it in the glass, which is why they do pour you a taste.
So, you give this a good swirl and that's when you stick your nose in the glass, and what you're going to be smelling for if it's faulty is, maybe that moldy wet basement dampness, okay.
Keith Wallace: That reminds me of my grandmom's house.
Maria Valetta: Yeah, sure, grandmom's basement, exactly, or maybe a little vinegar. You want to just make sure that the wine smells fresh that it smells like the way it supposed to smell.
Keith Wallace: Oh well, let's do that. Well, that wine is so tannic, that's huge.
Maria Valetta: It is. There's a lot of bitterness a little tannis in there. This is when your decanter comes into place.
Keith Wallace: Alright.
Maria Valetta: The best thing to do is to decant your wine. I say, why not decant. You don't need the fancy decanters, but they sure look lovely on the table. This will help too number one, if your wine is been in that tight bottle entire time that it just needs to breathe. So, the decanter helps with the breathing process. If it's an unfiltered wine, it's going to help the settlement get to the bottom, and not in your glass.
Keith Wallace: Well, alright. Maria, let's switch all these glasses with this, and the interesting thing is that really just that little bit of air play, actually will try open the wine up.
Maria Valetta: Absolutely. I mean you don't need something super fancy but it sure looks nice on the table.
Keith Wallace: Yeah, that's true. Let's give this another taste now that we have actually decanted this for a few minutes.
Maria Valetta: Let's do, because I think even after just a short time being in the decanter, it's going to taste completely different.
Keith Wallace: Even the nose is opened up quite a bit.
Maria Valetta: It makes a big difference on the tannins.
Keith Wallace: Mind you, I mean this is a basic eight dollar bottle of wine, although it turned in one moment from a very tannic unwieldy little thing to very soft and subtle. I mean that was just a little bit of interplay with the air and the decanter. That's pretty pleasant.
Maria Valetta: Absolutely. Now, you could have a different type of glass for every type of wine that you drink, white, red, burgundy, Bordeaux, but the truth of the matter is you don't need it. Personally, I prefer to have a stem because I feel it's a best way to hold wine glass. By the stems, number one, you don't get any dirty fingerprints on it, and you don't change the temperature of the wine. That's a great way to increase pleasure of your wine drinking experience.
Keith Wallace: Absolutely. Cheers, cheers, thank you Maria. Well, join us again as we continue our journey in the world of wine.
