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INTRODUCTION

Numerous books on wine, and wine and food pairing, have been written over the years. And many stories have been told about the moonlike surface of Châteauneuf du Pape and that magical bottle of Rioja Gran Reserva that paired so seamlessly with an unbelievable meal at Restaurant XYZ. But while there is a lot of excellent writing about wine, food, and the synergy between them, much of it has actually missed most of “us.”

“Us” I define as Joe and Mary America-at-Table: people who really enjoy wine, and wine with food, but don't have the inclination or the time to learn the language of wine specialists. They (or we) are people who simply want to celebrate the simple pleasures of tasty food, drink delicious wine, enjoy the company of family and friends sharing a meal, and have a way to think and talk about what “worked” in an enjoyable combination of wine and food.

Over the years I have found that most individuals do want some guidance and useful information and are curious about wine but don't want to have to take a class or pore over a reference book before going to their local wine store or supermarket to shop for food and drink. This group includes me. Having spent many of my formative years hanging out with friends and family and appreciating the pleasures that good, unpretentious wine and food can bring to the table, I can't spend too much time with people who are sooooo serious about wine and food that the planning of all their vacations is based on traipsing about wine regions and special restaurants. Nor do I buy into the belief that the enjoyment of wine depends on the exclusive consumption of wines scoring ninety points or above on somebody's scale or costing the equivalent of a second mortgage.

Much of the world's quality wine is being discussed and consumed in a vacuum. Horizontal tastings of Riesling across geography, verticals of Chateau Doesn't-That-Impress-You, and samplings of the latest and greatest release of Evan's “Acme Vineyard” Zinfandel are, for the most part, served, judged, and revered in isolation—in the complete absence of anything resembling food. And although the “wine and food thing” has been on the rise over the past few decades, and more and more people are expressing an interest in learning about it, most of them feel as if they are on the outside and do not really know where to begin.

That's where I hope this book can be of use. Over the last twenty-plus years and in varying professional capacities, I have taught well in excess of twenty-five thousand people about wine, food, and the enjoyment of both. Along the way I have discovered that people want to know what wines are “like” (dry or sweet, tannic or not tannic, what style they're made in, and so forth), how they taste, and, finally, what foods they pair best with. That's about as far as most of us want to take it. Some get deeper into the subject, but they are in the minority.

Intriguingly, however, even these relatively wine- and culinaria-obsessed folks confide that there is not much out there that covers the pairing of wine and food—why and how they work together. For those people, it is my intention to provide solid, nuanced information. In collaborating with the renowned chef Joyce Goldstein (aka Mom) in developing and exploring particular recipes tailored to different types of wine, my aim has been to create a forum in which both the wine buffs and the foodies feel comfortable and included in this book's broader audience. It's a risky but deliberate strategy.

Many authors make wine and food pairing much more complicated than it needs to be. I believe that if you have to think too deeply, it's simply not worth it. A better goal is to reach a personal comfort zone of wine and food in which you can decide effortlessly whether it's the wine or the food that will drive a particular dining experience. Whether you choose the wine first and pick compatible recipes, or choose your menu first and then the wine to accompany it, you will ultimately find pairing as intuitive and natural as breathing.

So read on—there's something here for everyone. For the novice or the more experienced wine lover, the professional wine and food geek, or the weekend “let's-try-this-wine-with-this-dish” warrior, Perfect Pairings can help.

And always remember, as we say at my house, if you don't like the wine you selected, you can always run downstairs or to the fridge and pick out something else!

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

This book is designed to be a practical and easy-to-use guide for learning about wines and their styles and how to pair them with food. The flow is logical, beginning with an introduction on how to taste wines with thought and increasing discernment. The goal of this section is to provide you with some coaching and direction that will help you discover a thoughtful approach toward wine tasting and evaluation and develop a more confident palate.

Once we've established a wine comfort zone, the next section of the book explores cooking for and with wine and how recipes and ingredients can influence the choice of wine to accompany a meal. This section, which includes opinions, pointers, and discussion of a few wine-friendly foods and their tricks, seeks to (as the title of my son's first-grade reading development book eloquently put it) “explode the code.” Here, that means addressing and at times challenging the orthodoxies of wine and food philosophy (for instance, the idea that you must always serve red wine with meat and white wine with fish).

The heart of the book is the separate chapters looking at twelve varietals (grape types), along with sparkling wines and dessert wines, each exploring the where (where the grapes are from and the wines are made), the how (how they are interpreted and produced to define their style), and the what (what they taste like). Finally, we consider what you need to bear in mind when cooking to accompany the specific styles of each wine.

Each varietal chapter concludes with a selection of recipes that have been created specially for this book to highlight particular interpretations and styles of the given wine. Each recipe is followed by comments from Joyce and me about the rationale behind the dish and its pairing with the wine. In the Chardonnay chapter, for example, I discuss four acknowledged and readily available styles of Chardonnay: oak-aged and influenced by malolactic fermentation, European and mineral-scented, explosive and tropical-fruit-packed, and aged/mature and nutty. We've developed dishes that highlight each of these styles. Every varietal chapter also includes a lexicon of tasting descriptors associated with that varietal and recommendations of producers who make wines that are representative of their regions and geographies in different price categories.

To round out the book, we present several menus that are mixed and matched from the book's recipes to create fun and educational dining events. Perfect Pairings is interspersed with tips, useful pointers, and a “cheat sheet” to reinforce and summarize key points. It concludes with a glossary of everyday wine terminology that will help you understand more about how wines are made and how they are described.

Throughout this book I encourage experimentation. Whether you choose to do informal wine tastings to learn about grapes, wines, styles, and geographies or to create delicious meals to further your learning and pleasure, it's all about fun, enjoyment, and what works best for you. Remember that, ultimately, what gives you the most happiness along the wine and food journey is all that matters.

So, let's move on to the basics of tasting.

TASTING AND ENJOYING WINE

Nobody is born with a wine palate. As nobody consumes Merlot as mother's milk, wine appreciation is completely learned. Learning to enjoy and to discriminate among wines is an acquired taste or skill and one for which everybody, regardless of level of perceived sophistication, is entitled to his or her own opinions.

Think about it. As my friend Steve Olson once put it, on the day you figure out you can spit out the strained spinach and have seconds on mashed bananas, taste opinions are born. Your point of view ultimately determines your wine preferences. I want to help you learn to feel comfortable saying, “Delicious!” or “Blech!” and to understand why you have the preferences that you do. Once you know something about a wine's background—the grape type, characteristic flavors, region of origin, production style, and so on—you'll know what to expect from your first sip.

The idea of wine evaluation is implicitly bizarre. No other consumer product causes such paralysis by analysis. Certainly we do not experience angst when shopping for soda, mineral water, shampoo, or chocolate-chip cookies! Although wine is no longer the exclusive domain of the so-called wine snobs, people are nevertheless intimidated by the variables and complexities of this magic beverage.

Learning wine appreciation is much like training for running a marathon: you have to temper your initial expectations. Wine lovers aren't born overnight but are formed with focused practice, best accompanied by the feedback, company, and direction of someone whose palate they trust and respect. Eventually you'll experience a moment when the lightbulb goes on. For me it was listening to dining-room babble while sipping a red Burgundy at Thanksgiving when I was about sixteen years old. The wine's complexity and layering of flavor all of a sudden made sense, and, as a reminder of that day, I still have the empty bottle, displayed with many others along the walls of my dining room.

Wine evaluation or tasting is a series of cross-references, with tastes framed against past experience. Once you've tried twenty or thirty Zinfandels, your palate will begin to recognize a basic varietal character linking those different bottles. With the recognition of that varietal “signature,” you can taste each successive Zinfandel against that standard and give it the yea or nay vote.

It's always helpful and informative to taste more than one wine so that you can compare. How can we find out what we prefer if not through comparison? Tasting two or three wines side by side is a great way to learn.

SAMPLING WITH ALL YOUR SENSES

With a little discipline, you can enjoy tasting wine and learn quickly. If you don't employ a systematic approach, you'll lose the benefit of context and your growing personal experience and perception.

In wine evaluation, we make use of all the senses:

Sight:	The appearance of a wine is often overlooked, but it's packed with information.
Smell:	Most evaluation is done through aroma analysis.
Taste:	It's overrated in the evaluation process but still essential.
Touch:	Wine possesses tactile qualities, such as body and texture, that are critical to enjoyment and understanding.

Hearing, too, in the figurative sense—listening to what the wine has to say—is also an evaluative step!

SIGHT

The appearance of a wine provides information about the wine's quality and age. With experience you can sense, literally at a glance, how a wine was vinified (or made) and from what type of grape or grapes it was produced. Wines that have spent a long time aging in an oak barrel may look deeper and richer than those that have not. This contrast would be obvious in a side-by-side comparison of current releases of a barrel-fermented Chardonnay with one that was fermented in a stainless-steel vat. Wines of different grapes display different hues: a lightly pigmented, cherry-colored Pinot Noir contrasts dramatically with an inky black Zinfandel, for example.

Examine the wine against a neutral background. A sheet of white paper or a white shirtsleeve will do fine. Avoid tinted backgrounds that will distort the wine's appearance. Ample light is critical, and natural light is far better than incandescent. Tilt the glass away from you and look across the surface of the wine. Compare the color at the rim of the glass with the color in the center. The difference, referred to as rim variation, is more common in red wines than in whites. Generally, the more the layers of color change from the center of the glass to the edge, the older the wine is likely to be.

ROSÉ AND BLUSH WINES

A rose is a rose, except when it's a…rosé! While rosé wines come in varied types, the best examples are made from red grapes. When pressed, all grapes run with clear juice; it is during the process of alcoholic fermentation that color is bled (the French call this process saigner) from the skins. The color of wine made from red grapes progresses from clear to blush to rosé to red. If the skins are removed when the liquid reaches a rosé color, the resulting wine will share characteristics with both reds and whites: mild red-wine flavors with a chillable white wine personality. Rosés should be served at a slightly warmer temperature than whites, however; an ideal temperature is around 55 degrees.

Dry rosés can be refreshing alternatives to light- or medium-bodied white wines. The grapes most commonly employed in dry rosés include Grenache, Carignan, Mourvedre, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc. Pinot Noir lends itself to a lovely rosé still wine (often called vin gris), which can be quite enjoyable for warm-weather drinking. Vin gris and other dry blushes and rosés are delicious with fish, fowl, white meats, grains and pasta, and summer produce.

However, not all blush or rosé wines are dry. Off-dry examples such as white Zinfandel, blush Merlot, and Rosé d'Anjou (made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc in the Loire Valley's Anjou region) can easily take the place of a Riesling or Chenin Blanc. These wines, which should be served somewhere between 45 and 50 degrees, are excellent with ketchup-slathered burgers, aromatic curries, spicy Asian fare, and sweet barbecue sauce. Production methods for off-dry rosés vary; many are mass produced, and grapes are blended to achieve the desired color and sweetness profile.

The wine at the center of the glass should look bright rather than milky, hazy, or anemic. Although unfined and unfiltered wines are fashionable today and can be dull in appearance, most wines will reflect light and display brilliance; these are signs of quality production. Wines shouldn't exhibit effervescence; the exceptions are sparkling wines (obviously), young whites that may retain a bit of youthful spritz, and specific interpretations of whites and even reds that, by design, may impart a prickle to the tongue. Identify the color of the wine with descriptors that are meaningful to you. One person's straw yellow is another's light sunflower. Does the color make contextual sense? Remember that red wines fade and lose color as they age, whereas white wines darken and intensify in hue. If a producer's new release of Cabernet Sauvignon is a faded mahogany brown, there's likely a problem. But if a friend at home pulls out a well-stored ten-year-old Chardonnay that still appears youthful in color, this, of course, is good!

Take note of the depth of color of the wine. Generally, wines that are deeper and more saturated in hue will have more muscle and oomph, while those less intense in color will be lighter and more elegant. Although color is no guarantee of quality, it will give you a sense of what to expect from the wine: a full or light body, powerful or delicate flavors.

Finally, swirl the wine to examine the so-called tears, or legs. Swirl the glass and note how liquid rivulets form and run down the inside of the glass from the apex of the “swirl line.” The speed at which the tears form and run down the side of the glass can tell you something about the wine's personality and body, but, again, they are not an indication of quality. The rule of thumb is straightforward: the slower the formation and fall of the tears, the higher the alcoholic content or sugar in the wine. Thus richer, full-bodied wines tear more slowly than lighter wines; and, in general, warmer-climate wines (most reds, for example) will tear more slowly than cooler-climate wines (whites). The tears of sweet wines, with their higher sugar content, fall more slowly than most others. If you find in your initial swirl that the tears aren't forming, swirl several more times. As when you season a pan, you need to create a thin coating of wine on the glass for the tears to form.

WINE AGE AND COLOR

SMELL

Most information about a wine is discerned in the nose, not in the mouth. Most of what we think of as taste is actually what we smell. When your nasal passages are congested with colds or allergies and you can barely breathe through your nose, you can barely taste anything at all. Fillet of sole tastes the same as chicken. It's essential to spend time sniffing and reflecting on the wine's aroma. Professionals will tell you that about 75 percent of their evaluation time is spent analyzing the aromas of a wine.

As with looking at wine, smelling it is a learned skill. Several short, sharp sniffs are more efficient than one big inhalation. The nose is a very sensitive instrument, one that fatigues quickly and should not be overworked. By swirling the wine in the glass, you increase the surface area and the wine's exposure to air and thus deepen the aromatic impact. I always recommend picking up the glass, smelling the wine statically, and then swirling it and going back for a second sniff. Cupping your hand over the glass will further amplify the aroma.

First make certain that the wine smells clean—free of faults. Wine should smell like wine, not vinegar, rotten eggs, or roadkill. If in doubt, ask for an opinion from someone else. Second, the description on the label should match what you get in the nose and subsequently the glass. If the label says it's a rich, smooth, and chocolaty Cabernet Sauvignon and what you smell is a bitter, sharp, and austere wine, something's wrong. The initial scents of wine are largely fruit-driven. Yes, wine sometimes actually smells like grapes, as a grapey Grenache-based wine or Gamay Beaujolais will do. Most, however, smell fruity but not grapey per se. That's to say we smell fruit other than grapes. For example, Chardonnay can put forth aromas of lemon, apple and even pineapple. This may sound surreal to the novice wine drinker (it's grape juice, right?), but if the aroma is not obvious and if a wine's not speaking to you, close your eyes and free-associate. Think of it as going to the science museum and trying to identify the aroma of the mystery vials laid out to explain our olfactory system. And remember, one person's lemon is another's grapefruit, so don't obsess about nailing the exact descriptors, because a given wine will have a wide variety of aromas.

Some wines will display earthiness, or what wine folks often refer to as terroir. It's an all-encompassing term that is commonly and erroneously referred to as the taste of the earth (or dirt). It's far more than that: terroir includes the effects of soil composition, drainage, slope, weather, and sun exposure, among other factors. Terroir is most commonly associated with traditionally produced Western European wines. A great German Riesling may hint at dry slate and petrol, or a classic red Barolo may remind you of black truffle and parched earth. These are not, of course, additives to the wines but rather characteristics that express themselves more noticeably in cool climates (such as central or northern France) than in warm ones (such as southern Australia or central California). Although the term has snob appeal, terroir is neither good nor bad. It simply is. You sense it as both aroma and taste. In wines where terroir is profound, the fruit is usually more subdued, and vice versa. Distinctive terroir aromas are generally obvious and become easier to discern with experience. Try a classically interpreted European wine alongside its American or Australian counterpart, and the difference becomes clear: for example, a French red Bordeaux's minerally terroir can be readily distinguished from a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon's fruit-forward nature.

Many wines are aged in oak barrels (known as barriques), which can impart aromas and flavors. Most classic, small wine barrels are traditionally coopered by heating and bending the wooden staves over fire; the resulting charring of the staves affects the flavor of the wine. In whites, you may detect aromas of caramel, vanilla, toast, cinnamon, or other sweet spices. In reds, the nuances are more likely to be chocolate, smoke, toast, coffee, and, again, vanilla and sweet spices.

As you smell, you develop initial insights into the wine's personality. Tartness in wine (its acidity) can be estimated by salivation. If you are very sensitive to acidity, smelling a sharp white wine such as a young Pinot Grigio can make you salivate in the same way that placing a lemon slice directly under your nose will do. Nasally detected bitterness, especially in ample red wines, may indicate the presence of tannins, naturally occurring compounds in red wines that produce a gritty, chalky sensation, similar to the astringent effect of strong black tea. Alcohol, which may come off as a hot or slightly burning sensation in the top of the nose, can be evident and provides a clue as to the richness or body of the wine. Fuller-bodied wines are by definition higher in alcohol and may prickle your nose. Compare a sniff of wine with one of vodka, gin, or whiskey to get an exaggerated example of this burning sensation.

TASTE AND TOUCH

As you may have gathered by now, I believe that tasting (from an evaluative standpoint) is overrated. Once you've made comprehensive visual and olfactory assessments of the wine, the tasting serves merely to confirm your observations. Of course, there are certain attributes that can be evaluated best through tasting, but, by and large, appearance and aroma will give you a clear sense of the wine. For me, the primary reason for actual tasting is the enjoyment.

In tasting, the key is ensuring that you take in enough to evaluate. Many people sip wine like coffee, covering about 15 percent of their taste buds, and not thoroughly coating the mouth for maximum appreciation and evaluation. So sip amply! Some people like to slurp the wine; this, like swirling the wine in the glass, incorporates extra air into the wine. “Chewing” the wine to move it around in your mouth can also be helpful.

The ultimate yardstick in tasting is overall balance. Do all of the components come together seamlessly? Individual characteristics shouldn't stick out: too much oak, too much alcohol, sugar, or acidity.

Everything hinges on the acidity or tartness of the wine. Rate it on a one-to-ten scale. If flat water is a zero and liquid electricity is a ten, we're looking for a five to seven in the mouth, depending on the wine. A wine with an acidity of less than five will seem flabby or watery in the mouth. White wines, which generally come from cooler climates and have an acidity rating of five to nine, are usually sharper than reds, which need sun and warmer climates to ripen the grapes (and typically rate between five and seven). Next, note whether the wine is dry to the taste, off-dry (exhibiting a slight sweetness), or perceptibly sweet in style (like a dessert wine). Is that acidity level appropriate for the wine? Is a dry wine too sharp? Is a dessert wine cloyingly sweet? Either of those impressions could well be perceived in an out-of-balance wine: one is too acidic and the other not acidic enough.

A wine's body or texture is directly related to the amount of alcohol it contains. Lighter-bodied wines are less alcoholic (7 to 10 percent alcohol), while a fuller-bodied wine will have ample alcohol (13 to 16 percent). Again, is there enough acidity to balance the alcohol? Too little, and the wine will come off in your mouth as clunky and heavy, like a Christmas tree drooping under the weight of too many ornaments. Texture, too, is important. We can speak of a wine as having a silky or smooth mouthfeel (especially if it's been in oak and has slightly more alcohol), or being lean or austere, or somewhere in between.

The flavors will generally be consistent with what you picked up in your nose, though you may discover a few additional flavors in the mouth. Last, measure the finish or persistence of the wine. How long do the flavors linger in the mouth after you swallow? The longer the finish, the better the wine is said to be. Good wines have a ten- to thirty-second finish, the best wines linger even longer. Acidity is again critical, as it “pushes” through the finish as a big wave brings a bodysurfer in to shore. Wines that are deficient in acidity are often described as short or thin.

OVERALL EVALUATION

Once you have swirled, looked, sniffed, and tasted, you are in a position to make a judgment on the wine. It's empowering, as you become more experienced, to decide that a wine is bad or simply not to your taste. There are plenty of wonderful bottles out there that may not please you. By the same token, as you become more seasoned and comfortable with your palate and judgment, you become less dependent on the opinions of others. This should be your long-term goal, for wine, like art, is a personal taste. After all, you have the right to walk into the Louvre and give the Mona Lisa an 89- or even a 75-point score. Why not?

STORAGE, SERVING TEMPERATURE, AND GLASSWARE

A number of my winemaker friends lament that once their wine has left the winery, it may travel a rough road to the mouth of the consumer. Three things can compromise the quality of any wine after it has left the winery: storage, serving temperature, and choice of glassware.

STORAGE

Proper storage is essential for any wine, both for its long-term aging and its near-term enjoyment and pleasure. Try to store your wine in a place that is cool (55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit), dark (free from any direct sunlight or regular incandescent light), free of vibration (no shaking on top of the refrigerator), and moderately humid (approximately 50 percent humidity). A classic wine cellar isn't obligatory; any cool, dark area of your home will do, as long as it is not subject to the extremes of temperature that can prematurely age any wine. More and more people are opting for readily available, self-contained home wine-storage units that allow you to control temperature and humidity.

SERVING TEMPERATURE

White wines are best served chilled but not glacially cold—which, alas, is often their fate. Although warm white wines certainly do little for one's enjoyment, no bottle should be showing icicles! The ideal range is somewhere between 45 and 57 degrees Fahrenheit. A slightly warmer temperature, closer to 60 degrees, is actually better for showing off more complex, dry whites, especially Chardonnay, whereas rosés and light- to medium-bodied aromatic whites, such as Riesling and Pinot Gris, should be served somewhere between 45 and 50 degrees, dessert wines around 41 to 46 degrees, and Champagne and sparkling wines at about 50 degrees.

Refrigerate white or sparkling wines just before you are ready to enjoy them. Wines left sitting in cold storage for more than a few days will taste noticeably duller than wines that have been just chilled; this is especially true of sparkling wines. If necessary, pull the wine out of the fridge and let it come back to room temperature before chilling it down again.

Red wines present themselves best when served at a cool cellar temperature, not room temperature. Served warm, red wines show poorly, with the fruit understated and the tannins and alcohol screaming. In fact, slight chilling (to between 53 and 57 degrees) works wonders for red wines with high concentrations of fruit and lower levels of tannins—wines like Pinot Noir, fruit forward Merlot, some Sangioveses, and even a soft, juicy Cabernet Sauvignon. The ideal serving temperature varies with the weight and structure of the wine. If a full-bodied wine is served too cold, the tannins will accentuate the wine's bitterness, so more classic reds (like Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Syrah), ample in tannins, are best enjoyed between 56 and 65 degrees. Lighter- to medium-bodied wines should be served at the cooler end of the scale.

CHOOSING WINES FOR LONG-TERM STORAGE

There's a wine adage that states that thirty minutes in the glass is worth six months in the bottle. So if a wine continues to improve as it sits in your glass, chances are it's worth cellaring. If it tastes still better a few hours later, you can safely invest in several bottles and forget about them in your cellar for a few years.

A word about decanting, or the process of pouring wine from the bottle into a larger, carafe-like vessel. We decant wines for one of two primary reasons:

• To leave behind the sedimentary deposit that builds up in most full-bodied red wines after five to eight years. If you are decanting for this reason, do so in front of a light source, such as a candle or small flashlight. As you pour the wine from the bottle into the decanter or carafe, stop pouring when the sediment begins to be visible at the neck of the bottle.

• To aerate a young wine. This is the more frequent rationale for decanting red wines, and it can enhance your enjoyment of any young, full-flavored red (or even white) wine. In this case a rough decanting (no worries about sediment), just glugging it into a carafe, suffices.

If decanting makes sense for the wine you are serving, ensure you do it far enough ahead of time to enjoy its benefits, generally fifteen to thirty minutes prior to drinking.

GLASSWARE

The average person doesn't need and can't store ninety different types of glasses matched to each and every kind of wine. But the style of glassware does affect the enjoyment of wine, and, if you can, you should have a small assortment: white wine glasses, different glasses for older and younger reds, and smaller glasses for dessert wine. If you are truly pressed for space, choose one very good all-purpose glass: it should have a reasonably long stem, a bowl of about five to six fingers' height and tapering toward the rim (which should be sheer rather than beaded), and a capacity of eleven to fifteen ounces. If you can, select a ten- to fifteen-ounce all-purpose glass for whites and a high-quality glass with a capacity of fifteen to twenty-three ounces for reds. Champagne flutes are a great addition: choose glasses that are tall, with a slightly tapered sheer rim and a capacity of six to nine ounces. If you can add glasses for dessert wines, choose a smaller all-purpose glass with a tapered, sheer rim and a capacity of approximately eight ounces. Lead crystal is lovely, of course, but if that's too expensive or too fragile for your style, choose blown glass in preference to molded glass. Reputable and widely available, Riedel, Spiegelau, and Schott-Zwiesel glasses come in a range of styles.

THE 20/20 RULE

Always practice what my friend Leslie Sbrocco calls the 20/20 rule. Pull any young white wine that you intend to drink out of the fridge twenty minutes before you pop the cork, and pull the cork out of any young red wine at least twenty minutes before you intend to consume it. For older wines, wait until closer to serving time.

The condition of the glassware is also critical, as nothing spoils a wine more than a dirty glass or one coated with soap film. Glassware should be spotlessly clean; hand polishing with a clean, dry cloth adds a sparkle. (I am reminded of a fellow who once noted that all of his wines had a lemony aroma and discovered that his housekeeper had polished all his glassware with Lemon Pledge!)

Now you are equipped to enjoy a glass of wine and head to the stove!