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Wine Storage

So you have learnt a lot about health benefits of wine and want to try it out. Great! So, you are into the process of purchasing the best wine that’s available around. You have made an expensive investment and are happy to bring home the treasure. Now that you have brought your favorite wine home, you need to know about how to store it properly to make sure that you do not ruin it. Storage of wine is an important topic and you should know a lot about it in order to keep your wine in a good drinking condition.

Are you aware that the major factors affecting storage of wine are present in the environment? Yes, it is true. You need to know about how you can actually store wine to retain its original quality and taste that made you fall in love with it in the first place.

Here are some of the factors you need to consider in order to store your wine in a perfect manner. Understand the factors given below and follow the instructions so that you don’t end up wasting your hard earned money.

a) Proper hygiene of the facility:

This is a vital factor that affects wine storage. It is very important to maintain the cleanliness of the place where the wine is stored. Never store wine in a poor ventilated place or a place full of grime or dirt. Poor ventilation transforms the taste of the wine and the dirt will spoil the label on the bottle. Thereby, affecting the overall resale value of the wine.

b) Lighting:

Light is known to have a great impact on the properties of wine. It can promote premature aging of wine. If wine is stored at a place where there is an access to a lot of light, it may ruin the wine.

c) Angle of the bottle:

Always store wine at a horizontal position rather than upright. This will not dry out the cork. If you don’t store the wine bottle at a horizontal angle, the cork will dry up. This facilitates the air to come in contact with the wine earlier than it actually should and ruin it.

d) Vibration:

You should never store wine in a vibration free environment.

e) Humidity:

About 70% humidity is acceptable for storing wine. A higher amount of humidity will destroy the label and a lower amount of humidity will speed up the oxidation process and end up ruining the wine.

f) Temperature:

The optimum temperature to store wine is around 55 °F (13 °C). A lower temperature may delay the natural ageing process and a higher temperature will speed up this process.

You should work towards maintaining a healthy balance between all the above mentioned factors. This will help in the proper storage of wine.


Food & Wine Pairing

Are you looking forward to pairing your favorite meal with a good quality wine? Then you require an extensive knowledge about pairing wine and food. If you don’t then you can potentially spoil the whole experience. In fact you could be spoiling the taste of the wine & food.

Some of the bad qualities you may come across in pairing wine and food include sweetness, bitterness, alcoholic properties and non-desirable metallic flavors.

You can easily adopt several fool proof methods to pair food and wine. First and foremost, you should remember that the food and wine you want to pair should have similar characteristics. The reason is that both these items have strong flavors. You should not mix and pair food and wine that consist of characteristics different from each other. If people try to pair sweet wine with steak they end up getting undesirable results.

Mixing wine and food of different characteristics will prove to be a very bad experience for you. Proper pairing will work towards providing a distinct and pleasant element to your overall wining and dining experience.

Experts believe that wine with citrus taste will go well with chicken laced with butter and garlic sauce. You would simply love the outcome.

You should follow certain rules before starting off to prepare new dishes for wines with high alcohol content. High alcohol wines should be combined with barbecued dishes such as barbecued meats. If you happen to pair a big wine with light flavored dish, then the chances are that the wine will overpower the dish.

In case, you like wines that consist of a lot of tannins, then you should pair them with dishes rich in salt or protein content.

You can also enjoy dessert wine by pairing it with your favorite dessert that is sweet in moderate amounts.

You should also trust you own instincts prior to combining foods & wine together. At the end of the day go with what works for you.

The best food & wine pairings result from a lot of research and experiment. You should learn about wine & different types of cuisines and how they match when combined.

Another option is to purchase Activate Your Taste Buds which has over 730 food & wine pairings from author Martin Peston who has been running wine  events in Australia for the past 10 years. A great book and currently available as a digital download from www.creativewinebooks.com.


Gabriel Glas – The One Glass for all Wines

Are you tired of opening your wine glass cabinet and seeing heaps of different wine glasses?
You find one glass but can’t seem to find the other?

A few years ago I came across some new wine glasses from Austria called Gabriel Glas.

They claimed that this wine glass is all you need for all your wines – sparkling, red, white & dessert wine.

Wine should be allowed to express itself, and unfold its aroma in the appropriate glass.

The glass creator Siegfried Seidl collaborated with wine critic René Gabriel which resulted in GABRIEL-GLAS©.

These glasses are medium height, elegant & affordable.

The conical shape of the glass enhances the aroma. and the bouquet regardless of white, red or sweet wines..

The glass has a width of 95 millimeters allows a certain instant decanting effect, as the just poured wine gets a lot of air.

There are 2 different versions:
The machine- blown Gabriel-Glas weights 145 grams.
The mouth-blown Gold Edition Gabriel-Glas weighs 90 grams.

Both versions are produced in one single manufacturing process (bowl & stem).
Both glass versions are dishwasher safe.

Both versions (Standard and Gold Edition) are made from high quality crystal glass, which is tougher, more scratch resistant and break-resistant than a leadcrystal glass.

My verdict on these glasses is that I was very impressed. I was so impressed I decided to use them at all my wine events. They feel great, look great and make wine tasting a pleasure. Many of my attendees have bought these glasses after trying them. In terns of breakage, in 2 years of using them weekly only 4 glasses have been broken.

You can find GABRIEL-GLAS© for sale at Top Australian Wines website.

Martin Peston (Director)
Wine tasting Events


A Beginners Guide to Enjoying Red Wine

The world of red wine is a rich and wonderful world filled with everything from a gentle South African Merlot to the peppery richness of Sangre de Toro, Blood of the Bull from Spain. In general, many of the rules of wine drinking have been cast aside in today’s world, making it more accessible, and with the increased demand, supply has soared, allowing for inexpensive and very delicious wine readily available to all.

Still, there are many who feel that the world of wine is overwhelming. With so many wines to choose among, where do you begin? How do you properly enjoy a red or white and with what meals would they be best matched ?

Let’s look at some very basic tips to maximizing your journey into red wines.

Don’t spend a ton of money on a bottle of wine. Leave that for later, once you’ve explored the brands and varietals that you like. There are so many wonderful and delicious wines that are available at a price range of $20 to $30 a bottle.

Stick with a varietal, for now. In other words, pick a wine that is primarily made from one type of grape, i.e. a Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, etc. Try to avoid blended reds to begin with, though they can be quite delicious. By learning the flavors of the varietal grapes, you’ll better understand what it is about the blend that you like.

Reds like to breathe. Open the bottle and let it sit for ten minutes to an hour depending on what it is. This allows oxygen to get into the wine and allows it to open up. For that matter, pouring the wine into the glasses and allowing it to sit for ten to twenty minutes accelerates this process. You’ll find the flavor is much more enhanced by this approach.

Reds at room temperature and whites are generally chilled.

I mentioned earlier that many of the rules of wine loving have been discarded, or at least loosened, such as red wine with red meat or pasta and white wine with fish or poultry. While these are not bad guidelines, they really are not carved in stone and nowadays waiters will not turn up his/her nose at a guest who asks for a red with fish or enjoys a nice, tart Chardonnay with a burger.

Merlot with what? While a Merlot can be a perfect complement for a spaghetti meal (particularly if you have a nice buttery garlic bread), it can easily sit beside a pork chop or fried chicken dinner. A Merlot is a lovely, non-pretentious start to your journey and should open the door nicely to a journey of wine loving.

Good luck and enjoy!


7 Tips to Getting Rid of a Wine Hangover


How about combining your favorite meal with your favorite wine this weekend? It sounds a great idea but don’t you think you may overindulge? Well, you may not mind this but what about the hangover you have to face, the next morning. How would you like to spend your entire Sunday afternoon sitting inside the bathroom, with one hand on your forehead and the other on your stomach? It’s a terrible feeling isn’t it?

Hey, hold on! I am not trying to put you off wine. I am just showing you the realcpicture of a hangover that you may require to face the following day after you have overindulged in your favorite wine.

This sounds really bad but don’t worry, there are many tips you can follow in order to get rid of a wine hangover. All you need to do is to follow the
instructions given below:

a) Water, water and water:
Water is the key to getting over the wine hangover. Drink plenty of water. Alcohol has a tendency to dehydrate your body. If you want to stay away from the temptation of overindulging in wine, the best way is to have a glass of water between each glass of wine. It is necessary to keep hydrating your body with water.

b) Food:
Sounds great! Believe me, it really works. Eat your favorite meal or some snacks an hour before a drink. This will save you from overindulging and the hangover. The meal or snack you have should include bread or pasta.

c) No prescription drugs:
Don’t mix wine with prescription drugs for more effects. This will only damage your body.

d) Milk:
Drink a glass of milk prior to consuming wine. This will provide a protective coat in your stomach and helps you absorb the alcohol in the wine.

e) No salt:
Salt will prove dangerous as it tends to maximize the process of dehydration. You should stay away from salt when having alcohol…

f) Aspirin:
An aspirin will help you stop a headache. Avoid taking ibuprofen or paracetamol. These medicines usually have adverse effects on the body especially after the consumption of wine.

g) Avoid dark drinks:
The major hangover you experience may be due to combining red wine with whiskey. You should mix whiskey with soda or water. Avoid mixing it with cola and tonic.
A hangover is due to overindulging in wine. Moderation is the key. Follow the instructions mentioned above you will feel better and deal with a hangover better.