Physical Description
Colors: red to dark burgundy
Tasting Notes
Flavors: unmami
Mouthfeel: Rich, Earthy
Food complements: Beef, Beef broth, Gorgonzola, Swiss type cheeses, Tomatoes, Pork, Duck, Chocolate
Beverage complements: Soda water, Fruit juices
Substitutes: Rose, Grape juice
Selecting and Buying
Choosing: Decide whether you want a dry, intense red wine, or a lighter, fruitier red wine. The more intense red wines include cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel and shiraz or syrah. Dry to semi-dry, full-bodied red wines include merlot, burgundy or pinot noir and blends like cabernet-merlot. Lighter, fruitier red wines include chianti, beaujolais-nouveau and varieties labeled as red table wine or "paisano."
Find bottles of red wine with vintages at least three years old. Red wines improve with age in the bottle and begin to reach maturity after three years. The major exception is beaujolais-nouveau and fruitier red table wines that are made to be consumed as soon as bottled. Exceptional vintages of red wine will mature earlier than average vintages, and can be very drinkable within two years of bottling. Try a younger bottle of your favorite variety occasionally, to scout for outstanding vintages.
Explore all the wine vendors in your area, including supermarkets and discount stores. Look for your favorite varieties in the oldest vintages. Try red wines in your favorite varieties from different regions, like Australia, Chile, South Africa and Argentina.
Buying: You can buy red wine basically at your nearest wine shop or at your local supermarkets.
Preparation and Use
Many red wine benefit from letting them breathe a bit before drink. Older vintages and some newer one benefit from decanting or using an aerator prior to drinking.
Conserving and Storing
Wine enthusiasts know that proper storage is crucial to the preservation of a fine red wine. The same principals that go for expensive wines usually suit frugal wines as well.
Learning how to store red wine takes a little effort. It helps to become familiar with different types of red wine in order to make decisions on how to store red wine properly.
Get to know red wines. Different varieties of reds require different preparation before serving. Some wines are best at room temperature while others should be served with a slight chill.
Take note of wines that should be chilled. Among those that should be chilled for about thirty minutes are: Beaujolais, valpolicella, chianti and pinot noir. These wines are typically young and have less texture.
Remember that it is better to keep red wine over-chilled rather than over heated. Store red wine in higher temperatures and the result is a soupy mess. The wine can always sit out for awhile to get closer to room temperature.
Storing Red Wines:
Store red wine in a cool, dark place. An underground basement is the ideal environment, hence wine cellars. Those who do not have basements do have other options to consider
Keep tabs on the temperature. Store red wine in an area that consistently stays between 55 and 65 degrees F. Overheating will make the wine age too quickly, ruining its composition.
Store red wine bottles on their sides. Ideally, the wine should touch the cork. This prevents the cork from drying out. This also prevents air from sneaking into the bottle. A moist cork is an indicator of a properly stored wine.
Consider preparing a closet to store red wines. This is ideal for homes that have no basements. The area should have some air circulation to prevent mold from growing. Special wine closets can be built for a nominal fee.
Consider renting storage for large collections of red wines. While this can be quite costly, it is often the safest approach to keeping very collectible wines in excellent condition.
Tips:
Sniffing wine corks is unnecessary.
A properly stored wine will have a cork that is moist to the touch.
Old wood can cause wine corks to rot.
Avoid putting red wine bottles in direct light.
Social/Political
Wine is a popular and important beverage that accompanies and enhances a wide range of European and Mediterranean-style cuisines, from the simple and traditional to the most sophisticated and complex. Wine is important in cuisine not just for its value as a beverage, but as a flavor agent, primarily in stocks and braising, since its acidity lends balance to rich savory or sweet dishes. Red, white, and sparkling wines are the most popular, and are known as light wines because they are only 10–14% alcohol-content by volume. Apéritif and dessert wines contain 14–20% alcohol, and are sometimes fortified to make them richer and sweeter.
Some wine labels suggest opening the bottle and letting the wine "breathe" for a couple of hours before serving, while others recommend drinking it immediately. Decanting—the act of pouring a wine into a special container just for breathing—is a controversial subject in wine. In addition to aeration, decanting with a filter allows one to remove bitter sediments that may have formed in the wine. Sediment is more common in older bottles but younger wines usually benefit more from aeration.
History: Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest known production of wine, made by fermenting grapes, took place in sites in Georgia and Iran, from as early as 6000 BC. These locations are all within the natural area of the European grapevine Vitis vinifera.
A 2003 report by archaeologists indicates a possibility that grapes were used together with rice to produce mixed fermented beverages in China in the early years of 7000 BC. Pottery jars from the Neolithic site of Jiahu, Henan were found to contain traces of tartaric acid and other organic compounds commonly found in wine. However, other fruits indigenous to the region, such as hawthorn, could not be ruled out. f these beverages, which seem to be the precursors of rice wine, included grapes rather than other fruits, these grapes were of any of the several dozen indigenous wild species of grape in China, rather than from Vitis vinifera, which were introduced into China some 6000 years later.
he oldest known evidence of wine production in Europe is dated to 4500 BC and comes from archaeological sites in Greece. The same sites also contain the world’s earliest evidence of crushed grapes.[16] Literary references to wine are abundant in Homer (9th century BC, but possibly composed even earlier), Alkman (7th century BC), and others. In Ancient Egypt, six of 36 wine amphoras were found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun bearing the name "Kha'y", a royal chief vintner. Five of these amphoras were designated as from the King's personal estate with the sixth listed as from the estate of the royal house of Aten.
Traces of wine have also been found in central Asian Xinjiang, dating from the second and first millennia BC.
In medieval Europe, the Roman Catholic Church was a staunch supporter of wine since it was necessary for the celebration of Mass. Monks in France made wine for years, storing it underground in caves to age. There is an old English recipe which survived in various forms until the nineteenth century for refining white wine using Bastard—bad or tainted bastardo wine.
