Wine 101 with UW Professor Michael Wagner

Summary

The speaker, a wine enthusiast without formal credentials, shares his extensive knowledge and passion for wine in an engaging talk designed for beginners. He covers the basics of wine tasting through the five senses, explains the difference between new and old world wines, and delves into varietals, wine labels, and the importance of terroir and vintage. With practical advice on serving temperatures, opening bottles, and food pairings, the talk aims to educate and inspire, emphasizing the subjective nature of wine enjoyment and the value of personal exploration.

Takeaways

• 🎙️ The speaker emphasizes that wine is an experience involving all five senses, not just a beverage.
• 🍷 Wine can range from sweet to dry, and understanding these distinctions is key to choosing a wine you enjoy.
• 📚 The speaker's knowledge comes from years of reading and traveling to wine regions, not formal credentials, showing that passion and experience are valuable educators.
• 🌍 Both 'New World' and 'Old World' wines have unique characteristics, with New World wines typically labeling the grape variety and Old World wines being region-specific.
• 🌾 'Terroir' affects the taste and quality of wine, influenced by the region's geology, geography, and climate.
• 🍇 Different grape varieties, such as Merlot, Zinfandel, and Pinot Noir, offer distinct flavors and are suited to different food pairings.
• 📈 The vintage or year a wine is made can significantly impact its taste due to weather conditions during that year.
• 🍽️ Wine pairing with food can enhance the flavors of both, with classic combinations like steak with Cabernet Sauvignon or oysters with Chablis.
• 🍾 Champagne is a specific type of sparkling wine that comes from the Champagne region of France, and other sparkling wines should not be confused with it.
• 💰 The speaker recommends Cameron Hughes wines for great value, as well as bringing your own bottle to a restaurant to save on the high markup of wines.
• 🛒 For wine preservation, tools like Coravin or wine pumps can help maintain the quality of an opened bottle for a longer period.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of the speaker's talk on wine?

The speaker aims to provide a basic wine course for beginners, sharing knowledge to help them make more informed decisions when buying wine and to enhance their appreciation of wine as an experience involving all five senses.

Why does the speaker emphasize that wine is not just a beverage but an experience?

The speaker emphasizes this to highlight that wine engages all five senses, which can shed light on how people describe wine, navigate wine descriptions, and understand the complexities of the wine world.

What is the difference between 'sweet' and 'dry' in the context of wine tasting?

In wine tasting, 'sweet' refers to wines that have a noticeable sugar content, while 'dry' wines are those without significant sweetness, indicating a lack of residual sugar.

Why is the term 'bouquet' or 'nose' used when discussing the smell of wine?

The terms 'bouquet' or 'nose' are used to describe the smell of a wine because the aroma is a significant aspect of wine appreciation and can indicate various elements such as fruit, flowers, yeast, and other characteristics present in the wine.

What is the significance of the 'mouthfeel' when discussing the touch aspect of wine?

Mouthfeel refers to the sensation of the wine in the mouth, such as its weight and texture. It's significant because it can range from light-bodied, similar to drinking water, to full-bodied, akin to the sensation of drinking cream.

What is the main difference between 'new world' and 'old world' wines in terms of labeling and naming conventions?

New world wines typically indicate the grape varietal on the label, making it easier for consumers to know what type of grape is used. In contrast, old world wines are named after the region where they are produced, and the label usually does not specify the grape varietal.

Why was the 'Judgment of Paris' in 1976 significant for the perception of wines globally?

The 'Judgment of Paris' was a blind tasting competition where California wines were pitted against French wines, traditionally considered the best. The California wines won, challenging the long-held belief about the superiority of French wines and shaking up the global wine hierarchy.

What are some examples of white wine varietals mentioned in the script, and how do they differ?

Examples of white wine varietals mentioned include Riesling, known for its sweetness and fruitiness; Sauvignon Blanc, characterized by its acidity; Chardonnay, versatile and can range from buttery to steely; and Pinot Grigio (or Gris), which is made from a red grape but produces a white wine.

How does the color of a white wine relate to its age and potential aging ability?

White wines typically become darker with age, often turning from a clear or light yellow to a deeper golden or brown hue. The ability to age and change color is related to the wine's composition and the葡萄品种, with some wines being more capable of aging than others.

What are some tips the speaker provides for buying wine, especially when it comes to value and quality?

The speaker suggests exploring different kinds of wines to discover personal preferences, using resources like the Wine Spectator app to understand vintages and regions, and considering less popular wines for better value. They also mention the advantage of buying wine from companies like Cameron Hughes, which offer high-quality wines at discounted prices.

Outlines

00:00

🎤 Introduction to Wine for Beginners

The speaker introduces themselves as a wine enthusiast without formal credentials, emphasizing their passion for wine and experience traveling to wine regions. They aim to provide an informative talk for beginners, focusing on demystifying the wine selection process. The speaker humorously recounts their journey of educating their Italian wife about wine, highlighting the importance of wine as an experience involving all senses, not just a beverage. They also mention the availability of the talk's recording and PDF slides for future reference.

05:02

🍷 The Fundamentals of Wine Tasting

This paragraph delves into the basics of wine tasting, starting with the concepts of sweetness and dryness, and the role of acidity in wines. The speaker reassures note-takers that the talk will be recorded and materials will be available, allowing them to focus on the experience. The discussion then moves to the importance of smell in wine appreciation, using terms like 'bouquet' and 'nose'. Examples of various aromas found in wines, such as fruit, flowers, yeast, and earth, are provided, with an emphasis on the sensory experience of wine tasting.

10:04

🌍 Exploring the New and Old Worlds of Wine

The speaker introduces the distinction between new and old world wines, explaining that new world wines, such as those from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and South America, typically indicate the grape variety on the label, making them easier for beginners to understand. In contrast, old world wines, from regions like France, Italy, and Spain, name their wines after the region and do not disclose the grape variety on the label. The speaker also touches on the historical significance of the judgment of Paris in 1976, which challenged the traditional belief that French wine was superior.

15:05

📜 Understanding Wine Labels and Vintages

This section focuses on the information found on wine labels, such as the producer, grape variety (in new world wines), vintage year, and alcohol content. The speaker contrasts labels from new and old world wines, using specific examples to illustrate the differences. They also discuss the importance of the vintage year, which can affect the taste and quality of the wine, and the alcohol strength, which can range from 9% to 16%.

20:06

🍇 A Spectrum of White Wine Varietals

The speaker presents a range of white wine varietals, explaining that not all white wines are the same and that they can vary greatly in taste and color. They introduce several popular white wine grapes, such as Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Grigio, describing their characteristics and the flavors they impart in wine. The speaker also discusses the process of making white wine, including the pressing of green grapes and the exceptions where red grapes are used.

25:08

🍷 Diving into Red Wine Varietals and Aging

This paragraph explores red wine varietals, emphasizing the importance of the grape skin in determining the color, flavor, and tannin content of the wine. The speaker provides examples of red wine grapes like Merlot, Zinfandel, and Pinot Noir, discussing their taste profiles and food pairings. The discussion also touches on the aging process of red wines, explaining how color and taste can change over time.

30:10

🇫🇷 A Journey Through French Wine Regions

The speaker takes the audience on a tour of French wine regions, highlighting the unique characteristics of wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, and the Loire Valley. They explain the significance of blends in Bordeaux wines and the use of specific grapes like Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc in white Bordeaux. The talk also touches on the high prices of prestigious wines like Petrus and Romanee-Conti and the unique production process of Sauternes, a sweet white wine.

35:12

🇮🇹 The Diverse Landscape of Italian Wine

This section focuses on Italian wine regions, starting with Tuscany and its reliance on the Sangiovese grape for red wines like Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. The speaker also mentions Piedmont, known for Nebbiolo-based wines like Barolo and Barbaresco, and Puglia, where the Primitivo grape produces a wine similar to Zinfandel. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of understanding regional grapes to navigate Italian wines.

40:13

🥂 Specialty Wines and Their Unique Processes

The speaker introduces specialty wines like champagne, port, sherry, and icewine, detailing their unique production processes. Champagne is produced through secondary fermentation, while port is fortified with brandy during production. Sherry is a strong dry wine, and icewine is made from frozen grapes. The talk also clarifies the legal definition of champagne and the importance of region-specific names for these wines.

45:14

🍇 Terroir, Vintages, and Serving Temperatures

This paragraph discusses the impact of terroir and vintages on wine, explaining how the same grape can produce different wines based on the region's geology, geography, and climate. The speaker provides examples from Bordeaux and Champagne to illustrate terroir's effect. They also explain the concept of vintages, which are influenced by the weather conditions of the year the wine was produced, and provide guidance on the appropriate serving temperatures for different types of wines.

50:17

🍾 Practical Tips for Wine Opening and Glassware

The speaker offers practical advice on opening various types of wine bottles, including champagne, new world wines with alternative closures, and traditional corks. They demonstrate different tools like waiter's corkscrews and ah-so openers. The talk also touches on the importance of glassware, explaining how different shapes can affect the wine's aroma and suggesting that while specialty glasses are available, a regular wine glass is sufficient for most situations.

55:17

🍽️ Food and Wine Pairing Essentials

This section provides insights into classic food and wine pairings, such as caviar with champagne, steak with Cabernet Sauvignon, and oysters with Chablis. The speaker also warns about the challenges of pairing wine with certain types of food, like blue cheese and spicy dishes, and emphasizes the importance of experimenting with different combinations to find personal preferences.

💡 Savvy Wine Buying and Storage Strategies

The speaker shares tips for buying wine, recommending Cameron Hughes wines for their quality and value. They suggest bringing your own bottle to restaurants to avoid high markups and exploring less popular wines for better value. The talk also covers wine storage, with advice on temperature ranges and the use of wine refrigerators. The speaker discusses the use of wine preservation systems like vacuum pumps and Coravin to maintain the quality of opened bottles.

📧 Closing Remarks and Contact Information

In the concluding paragraph, the speaker wraps up their talk on wine and invites the audience to reach out with any questions about wine via email. They provide their contact information in a memorable format and encourage the audience to explore more resources available at The Whole U, hinting at additional content including Italian recipes and cooking videos.

Keywords

💡Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented grapes or other fruits. It is central to the video's theme as the speaker discusses various aspects of wine, including tasting, smelling, and the experience it provides. The script mentions different types of wine, such as red, white, and sparkling, and how they relate to food pairings and personal preferences.

💡Tannins

Tannins are compounds found in red wine that contribute to its bitterness and astringency. They are a key concept in the video as the speaker explains how tannins can affect the mouthfeel of wine, making it feel dry and sometimes described as 'cotton in your mouth.' Tannins are particularly associated with red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon.

💡Terroir

Terroir refers to the environmental conditions, including soil, climate, and geography, that influence the characteristics of a wine. In the script, the concept of terroir is used to explain why wines made from the same grape can taste different based on where they are grown, emphasizing the importance of region in wine production.

💡Vintage

Vintage denotes the year in which the grapes for a wine were harvested. The term is important in the video as the speaker discusses how the weather and conditions of a particular year can affect the quality and taste of the wine, making some vintages more desirable than others.

💡Bouquet

Bouquet is the term used to describe the aroma of a wine. The speaker highlights the importance of the sense of smell in wine appreciation, noting that the bouquet can include a variety of scents such as fruit, flowers, and earth, which can provide clues to the wine's characteristics and quality.

💡New World vs. Old World

This concept refers to the distinction between wines produced in newer winemaking regions (e.g., United States, Australia) versus those from traditional regions (e.g., France, Italy). The video explains that New World wines typically label the grape variety, while Old World wines are labeled by region, reflecting different approaches to winemaking and labeling practices.

💡Varietals

Varietals are the specific types or varieties of grapes used to make wine. The script discusses several varietals, such as Merlot, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir, and how they contribute to the flavor profiles and characteristics of the wines, emphasizing the diversity of wines available.

💡Mouthfeel

Mouthfeel describes the physical sensation of a wine in the mouth, including attributes like body, weight, and texture. The speaker uses the term to contrast full-bodied wines, which feel like cream, with light-bodied wines, which feel like non-fat milk, illustrating the range of experiences wine can offer.

💡Aging

Aging refers to the process of storing wine for an extended period to allow it to develop and mature. The video mentions that not all wines are meant to be aged, and some may improve with time, changing in color and flavor. The concept is important for understanding wine's potential to evolve over time.

💡Food Pairing

Food pairing involves matching wines with specific foods to enhance the flavors of both. The script provides several examples of classic pairings, such as steak with Cabernet Sauvignon or oysters with Chablis, demonstrating how certain wines can complement and elevate culinary experiences.

💡Corkage Fee

A corkage fee is the charge a restaurant applies to customers who bring their own wine to be served with their meal. The speaker suggests that bringing your own bottle and paying this fee can be a cost-effective way to enjoy higher-quality wine at a restaurant, as it often includes a significant markup on the wine's retail price.

Highlights

The speaker has no official wine credentials but offers a beginner's perspective based on years of personal experience and education.

The talk is aimed at beginners, emphasizing the importance of personal taste in wine appreciation.

Wine is an experience involving all five senses, not just taste.

The distinction between 'sweet' and 'dry' wines, with 'dry' meaning not sweet.

Acidity in wine is compared to the taste of lemon juice or vinegar.

The importance of the 'nose' or 'bouquet' of a wine, referring to its smell.

A variety of smells can be identified in wine, such as fruit, flowers, yeast, earth, leather, wood, and chocolate.

The visual aspect of wine involves its color and clarity.

Mouthfeel in wines is compared to the fullness of cream versus nonfat milk.

Tannins in red wines are described as drying out the mouth, similar to the effect of strong tea.

The concept of 'new world' versus 'old world' wines, with different labeling practices.

The 1976 Judgment of Paris, which challenged the notion that French wine was inherently superior.

The significance of wine labels in identifying the producer, grape variety, vintage, and alcohol content.

The range of white wine colors from almost clear to brown, indicating different varietals and aging processes.

Popular white wine varietals such as Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Grigio/Gris, each with unique characteristics.

The recommendation to explore different wine varietals to discover personal preferences.

The process of making red wine involves crushing grapes and including the skin, which imparts color and flavor.

Red wine varietals like Merlot, Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon each offer distinct tastes and mouthfeels.

Transcripts

Um, so

You guys can hear me OK with this microphone? So I'd like to proceed

by saying I have no official credential in wine.

I have no master sommelier, any of that. But I have been reading about wine for

years, I've

been traveling to many of the wine regions in the world: California and Italy, France

I think I know some, so

this is intended for beginners

and hopefully you'll gain something from my talk

so I do want to say that

I'm not an expert but hopefully you will benefit

and over the past years I've been having some practice

educating my wife about wine. I remember one of our first dates

and I got excited "I'm dating an Italian." She was

born and bred near Rome and

I got a really nice bottle wine, I decanted it and

and I served it to her and she's all "I don't really like wine"

[laughter]

but, there's been a lot of progress since then.

So this is going to be a basic wine course.

For example some of you may have gone to a wine store in seen something like this

this might be a little bit intimidating to you. I know many people including my

wife have bought wines based on the

painting or the picture on the label so I want to provide more information to you

so you can make more informed decisions

and hopefully get a wine that you you enjoy a little bit more. So that's the point

of this talk.

So the first thing I want to point out

is that wine can be an experience

it's not just a beverage, it's going to be something that

involves all five senses. And when we think about it this way

it does shed a little bit a light into how people talk about wine,

reading wine descriptions, and maneuvering the wine world

a little bit more. So I'm going to start and go through the five senses.

So first off: taste.

We have five taste senses. I'm only going to talk about the four that most of you will know about.

The first one is sweet,

so basically a wine can be sweet. And if it's not sweet,

it's typically called dry. So whenever someone describes a dry wine

that means it's not sweet. And by the way, I notice a couple people taking notes.

Number one this talk is being

recorded so there will be a video posted later on

and there will also be PDFs of these slides

so pretty much everything that I'm saying on the slides will be available afterwards, so no

need to go crazy with the notes.

The second---

so sweet and dry, so dry is not sweet. The other aspect of

taste is acidic. So many wines are described as acidic

and this is like lemon juice, vinegar. And this is something I'm going to be talking about a little bit

later throughout the talk

the other two tastes, sour and bitter, don't really come up in too much in wine

but there are some examples that it will

but I really want to focus on the first two: the sweet,

or lack of sweetness of a wine, and the acidity of a wine. But beyond that,

the one that's more important

and the one that really gives the flavor to the wine is the smell.

And if you talk about wine especially more in the

maybe perhaps a little more pretentious approach to it, they usually call the smell of a wine

the "bouquet"

or the "nose" a wine. So whenever you read

the "nose" of a wine, that means its smell, or the "bouquet" of a wine, that means its smell.

But here where gets really interesting.

There's actually a whole slew of different possible smells you can

get from smelling a wine. Let me give a couple of examples.

So fruit, flowers, yeast, earth leather, wood, chocolate.

All these come about in wine. So for example,

fruit: this could be apples or this could be lemons,

oranges, and these are usually associated with white wines.

And the way you can experience this is, the next time you have a wine,

smell it but close your eyes. Close your eyes, smell the wine, and see what

comes to mind. Many times you would swear that you have an apple in front of you,

or a lemon in front of you.

Flowers, rose. These are typically associated with rosés

and many types of wine like that.

Yeast: you might not think this is a good aspect associated with wine but this is typical of many

sparkling wines and champagnes.

Earth: this also might be a weird one but this is typical of Pinot Noir

and it's not like you're smelling dirt, but like an earth essence

and it actually goes really well with the more mushroom-based dishes and

truffle-based dishes. And I'll talk about

pairings later on in this talk as well. You can experience

leather in old red wines and basically

almost like smelling like nice new leather and in a glass a wine.

And that's typical of the good wines that have aged a number of years.

Wood: many times you're going to smell like cedar an old red wines

or oak in a chardonnay, but again it's wood and this is what really gets

the different flavors, the different profiles of wine

and this is what is associated with the descriptions are sometimes written

on the back of a wine

or on a review of a wine.

Chocolate as well. This will arrive in

or come about in, say red wines and ports as well.

So, smell.

Third is sight, so

using your eyes is going to be very important for

enjoying wine as well. And this I'm going to talk about a little more later

but basically I'm going to refer to color of a wine

red verses white as well the clarity: is it almost transparent and see-through or is it very

opaque and cloudy? So this is going to be

different aspects of the color of wine.

Touch: so touch is associated with wine as well.

And this is typically called "mouthfeel" when you're talking about wine

and a couple of examples that come to mind is

descriptions that are full verses light-bodied ones

and this is analogous to drinking cream

verses nonfat milk. When you drink cream

it fills your mouth, feels heavy because of all the fat. Skim milk feels like you're almost drinking water.

It's a straight parallel to that in terms of wine.

Full body wines feel like a cream. Light-bodied wines

feel like non-fat milk. And finally,

oh I forgot about this.

Touch tannins: this is another descriptive term that's pretty important for red wines.

This allows wants to age but it's

an aspect that you either like or you hate

So tannins, you can describe it as it dries out your mouth. It's almost as if you put

cotton in your mouth, and it

feels like the moisture is leaving your mouth. It's also associated or described

in terms of really strong tea.

Once you swallow the tea, your mouth ends up feeling a little dry.

Those are tannins, and usually these are associated with the bigger red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon,

and some merlots. Now let's talk about how that's associated with food as well.

So that's the touch aspect of wine and

finally, does anyone have any idea how the the sound comes in?

Sound is associated with wine too.

Yeah, any ideas?

Clinking.

[laughter]

So wine uses all these senses.

Okay?

So another message I want to give you guys,

there is no best wine. Wine is really subjective,

so basically, I'm giving you tools to figure out what you like.

Just because I like a wine doesn't mean you like a wine.

My wife and I have very different flavors when it comes to wine

so there's not like an objective

evaluation of wine, so keep that in mind and hopefully you can find out

the wines that you like the best

after this talk. Okay? So,

I'm going to elaborate upon many of these throughout this talk.

The other aspect that is really important when it comes into wine

is something called new world verses old world.

So basically the wine world is split into new world and old world.

New world is easier.

Basically if you get a bottle wine from a new world producer, a new world country,

it's going to tell you what the varietal, what the grape is,

that the wine is made from, so varietal means grape.

So the new world is typically the United States,

predominately California, Washington, and Oregon. These are the three states that produce

probably the most wine in the US but they are also produced in New York

and I think up to ten other states, so it's all over the United States.

But, these are the big

the big players in the US.

Canada and Mexico also produce wine.

Canada surprisingly produces some really good wine which I'm going to talk about a little bit later.

Other countries that are classified as new world,

South America, Chile, and Argentina make really good wine.

Peru makes decent wine.

But Puru, if you look at it, and I know because my mom is from Peru so I've been there many times,

their best grapes are used to make Pisco, so Pisco Sour.

So you're not going to get phenomenal wines from Peru in my opinion.

But you will get phenomenal wines from Chile and Argentina.

Australia New Zealand also considered new world

and South Africa's consider new world, so if you get a wine from any of these countries,

it will say what the grape is that goes into making the wine,

or the combination of grapes.

So the new world will be a little bit easier to to deal with.

In contrast, the old world names its wine after the region in which it's made

So for example, and I'll talk about this in a second, Chianti.

Chianti is an Italian red wine

and Chianti is a region in Italy.

So if you see a bottle that says Chianti, it's made in the Chianti region.

But unless you know otherwise, you don't know what grape is going into that wine.

It will never say on the bottle.

There are some exceptions, but primarily it will not say on the bottle.

So when you're dealing with an old world wine, you have to know

what grapes are going into that region and then you can make your choice based on that.

So all the old world countries are going to be

France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Germany, primarily Europe.

As I said this is the harder portion of the wine world to maneuver.

But I'm going to be talking about France and Italy in a little bit of detail.

I don't have time for the rest, but just to give you an idea of how all this would be maneuvered.

So stereotypically, historically, French wine has been deemed the best,

and when my wife saw this item, she hit me.

[laughter]

She did.

So, this was actually proved wrong in 1976.

In 1976 there was something called the judgment of Paris,

and this was a blind tasting of both red and white wines

from California and from France.

So in particular it was Napa Valley versus Bordeaux and they picked

the five best producers in Napa and the five best producers in Bordeaux

and they had a blind taste testing in Paris.

Blind meaning they didn't know what the labels were.

And what happened was, California won.

The best red wine and the best white wine came from California.

Different wineries, but California was the winner.

And this put the the wine world on its head. Everyone was so surprised.

One judge was shamed--she was trying her best to get her judgments back.

She literally tried to invalidate her own votes.

But the winners, and there are wines that are still produced--you can go buy them.

The best red wine was the Cabernet from Stag's Leap Wine Cellars.

They're still doing really well, the wine is excellent if you're willing to pay

say, they're not cheap, maybe 40-50 bucks, it's phenomenal.

On the white side was a chardonnay from Chateau Montelena

and that's on the northern part of Napa Valley near Calistoga

but they're there, they're going strong-- excellent wines as well.

But basically, there is no best wine. You know when you have the wine experts

that always say French are the best, that was violated.

Alright.

So that's the difference between new and old world and for the remiander of the talk

I'm going to be talking about new world first, talking about the varietals

so you can maneuver new world more easily

then I'll talk about the old world.

And before I do that

I want to talk about labels a little bit.

So on the left is a label from the new world, on the right is a label from the old world.

So in the new world, this is a label from Napa Valley and Luna is the producer.

On the old world this is from Chianti, so Ruffino is going to be the producer.

So the label will always tell you what the producer is.

The new world will also tell you the grape.

So this Luna is making a wine from the red wine grape Sangiovese.

Chianti Classico is labeled here because that's where the wine is made

and you just have to know that's also made from Sangiovese.

So these two wines are made from the same grape

yet you'll never see the word Sangiovese on this label.

Another piece of information from a wine label is going to be the vintage, the year the wine was made.

So this one was 1994, this one was 2003.

I'll talk about vintages at the end of the talk.

The other thing that's relevant

kind of hard to see, but basically alcohol

percent by volume and I think this one was 15.6.

This is a strong red wine.

Here it's about 12 percent so it's a less alcoholic wine from the same grape.

But this is relevant if you want to get drunk or you don't.

[laughter]

Alcohol strength varies. It'll go from like nine percent up to 16 percent.

So it can vary a lot, so does pay to look at that and to make sure you know what you're getting.

So I think that's the most I wanted to say about the labels right now.

That's the most important information.

And again, the difference is, in the New World you know the grape,

and in the old world, you don't know what the grape is.

So now let's get into color clarity and then

I'll be talking about the varietals. I'm going to do white and then red.

These are all white wines, so asking for a white wine is a very vague statement.

So we can see that we can have wines that are almost transparent, almost clear like water

to almost brown. These are all white wines

from different varietals, from different grapes.

And I will give you a little information to show you like why the different colors come about

and what the different flavors are.

So in two slides or three slides, I will show you what grape goes into each of these wines.

But the point is, not all white wine is created equal.

So, I want to talk about white wine varietals of which there are hundreds.

I'm going to give you three or four.

So I'm going to give you some of the more popular ones, give short little descriptions

and then hopefully you can go off on your own and learn more about different types of white wines

because I don't want to do information. I'll give little examples and then you can go off on your own.

White wines are typically made from green grapes.

So this is like a grape that's the color green.

And the way the white wine more precisely is made is they'll press the grape

and they'll make the wine from the juice itself.

They basically add yeast which can convert the sugar in the grape juice to alcohol,

sugar disappears and then that becomes a wine.

There's also an exception.

So white wines are usually made from green grapes but not always.

I'll show you an exception of this, I'll give you two examples of exceptions.

So basically it's possible to make white wine from red grapes, but typically it's from the green grapes.

First example: Riesling

So this might not be the most popular varietal out there,

but the reason I mention it is that it's typically sweet, it's typically easy to drink

and it's a good starter wine.

So if there are any of you in here who have never really had wine before

I strongly suggest to start with the riesling

It's like slightly punched fruit juice.

And it's great with spicy food.

So spicy food I'll mention toward the end is actually pretty hard to pair with wines

but if you add sweetness to it, it becomes much easier to pair with.

So riesling actually goes really well with Indian food, Thai, Mexican food.

Whereas I pretty much would not match any other wine with it.

So sweet wines go with spicy foods.

Sauvignon Blanc is another type of white wine, another varietal.

This is one that is typically acidic

so it has more acidity than other types of wines

and that's good because it usually goes well with food

on as long as it's not spicy it typically goes pretty well.

And the acidity acts like lemon juice that you put on seafood.

The acidity brings out the flavor

So the acidity from the white wine helps you taste the food a little bit better.

So that's a good default if you're trying to match with food.

And then there's Chardonnay.

And Chardonnay, I'm sure you guys have heard of,

is probably one the most versatile white wines.

So it's hard to even describe what it is because it can be many different things.

So for example if you get a Chardonnay from California

typically they're described as buttery and oaky.

If you smell it, you smell wood because they're typically stored and aged in oak barrels

so the oak barrel imparts its flavor into the wine.

In contrast, the Chablis region from France makes Chardonnays

but they don't really store it in oak, they store it in stainless steel

so it doesn't have any of the butteriness, doesn't have any of the oakness

and it tastes completely different.

So there's huge variety.

And there's one last grape I want to mention: Pinot Grigio.

So I want to talk about Pinot Grigio versus Pinot Blanc.

So Pinot Blanc looks like this.

It's a green grape, it makes a white wine.

But Pinot Grigio is also known as Pinot Gris.

So grigio is Italian for grey, and gris is French for grey.

It's like the grey pinot.

It looks like this, it's kinda like a red grape.

They will make white wine from this red grape.

Basically press out all the grape juice, throw away the skins, and they make a white wine from that.

So even though you might be a familiar with Pinot Grigio

it's a pretty popular white wine from Italy,

it's actually made from a red grape.

So those are samples of white wine varietals

there's a lot more, but just to get you started

So let's go back here

Let's see how those varietals fit into this scale of colors.

So Pinot Grigio is typically pretty transparent.

Pretty low amount of color.

Sometimes, and I've seen them before, some Pinot Grigios look almost like water

and have mistaken it for water before so be careful with that.

When you go toward the right, the next one is going to be a Sauvignon Blanc.

Still pretty clear but you can tell that is has some yellowness of color to it.

Moving on, Viognier.

I didn't mention this, but this is going to be another grape that's

very common in France and they're starting to make it in California as well.

A little bit more color, a little bit more full-bodied.

So as you move from left to right,

they become more full bodied,

more toward the cream aspect than to the non-fat milk.

The next one is Chardonnay.

Chardonnay typically has the most color

because most of them are aged in oak, so the wood is going to impart some color into it.

The next one

I'm actually not going to give you a varietal.

But I'm simply going to call it an aged white wine.

So some wines are going to be capable of aging

and the ones that do, when they're white, typically become browner with age.

So typically white wines gain color as they become older.

That doesn't mean you should go grab a ten dollar bottle of Pinot and then save it for ten years.

[laughter]

Not all wines should be aged and I'll talk about that at the end.

And the last one is a special type of white wine

which I will define and talk about later, but Sherry.

Sherry is going to be a much darker colored white wine

it's almost like brown.

So with white wines,

different colors come from different varietals, different player profiles and

there's so much there

so the one point of advice I can give you right now is explore.

Try different kinds, see what you like, and go from there.

I'm still trying new varietals so

I like to find really random ones and taste it and see what it's like

and sometimes I like it and I go with it, and I'll give examples of that towards the end as well.

Okay

Red wine: I couldn't find a good graphic

but the point is the same.

So especially with this projector

it looks almost the same right?

It looks better on my screen but

if you do this on your own and you pour them in glasses, you'll see that

the colors are going to very

and in a couple slides I'll tell you a little bit about what colors are associated with which varietals.

But before I do, I want to talk about the red wine varietals

the grapes that go into making red wine.

So this is going to be a red wine grape

and as you can see it's almost like blue

but the way you make a red one is you're going to crush it just like you did for the white grapes

but you can keep the skin. That's the main difference.

So the skin, the color of the skin, is going to give the color to the wine.

If you look inside one of these grapes, it's actually like clear colored meat.

If you take away the skin you'll get a white wine

So it's the skin that gives the color to the red wine, and the different flavors, and the tannins.

A couple of examples: Merlot.

Merlot is probably the one that most of you know.

And this is going to be my recommendation for a starter wine on the red side.

It's typically fruity. If you smell a Merlot it might

smell like berries, sometimes strawberries,

raspberries, more wood type of berries

and typically they have unless you

really invest they don't have too many tannins so you're not going to get that

that dry feel in your mouth

and it's a good starter wine in my opinion on the red side.

Another example: Zinfandel. And there's a big difference between Zinfandel

and white Zinfandel. So it's the same grape. Zinfandel grapes look like this.

and you can make a red wine from it that's phenomenal

White Zinfandel is actually a rosé

oh I didn't say that so

Rosé wine comes from limited contact with the skin.

So you leave the skin in for the entire fermentation process you get a red wine

If you leave it in for a day you get a rosé wine. So if you do that

with the Zinfandel grape if you have limited contact with the skin you get white

Zinfandel which is a rosé

which is pretty simple very easy drinking but there's not much complexity

to it, there's not much to it

this is the best-selling wine in the US

but it's

very simple, I actually would not recommend if you actually want to

explore wine

[laughter]

If you leave the skins in you get red Zinfandel which is

excellent, its is really really really good. It's also the most alcoholic.

They really are, they can get up to 16 or 17 percent.

This is the one you really have to be careful with.

And they're typically described as jammy.

So if you have like apple jam boysenberry jam

It has that essence when you smell it in the glass. Very good with barbecue

Another example

Pinot Noir. So this is going to be the grape that was featured in the Sideways movie

If you haven't seen that, it's the wine that the guy was obsessed with

This is more of an acquired taste

the first time you try Pinot Noir you might not like it

But practice. The more you practice

I think the more you will learn to appreciate Pinot Noir

until you get to the point where it's actually really good

It does have earthy flavors and this is why it's a little put-offing to many people

when you smell it sometimes it's like almost like smile a little bit of

ground or the earth, but that means is really good with mushroom dishes,

truffle dishes, also pretty typical

typically good with salmon

so that violates

the conventional wisdom: white wine with fish, red wine with meat

it doesn't always have to be that way

salmon is a pretty full flavored fish

and with a light Pinot Noir it's actually really good. By the way

given this, my wife and I just

experimented truffle salt with salmon, very good

So try it

[laughter]

and the the Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio and the Pinot Blanc

that I mention on the previous slide a couple slides ago

that make white wine

these are actually natural mutations of the Pinot Noir grape

so this dark blue grape has had natural mutations in the past

to go into that reddish great and also to the green grape

but they all are from the same family so that's kind of interesting

ok finally Cabernet Sauvignon

this is probably the biggest red wine

this is the wine that I love and the wine that my wife hates

because it has a lot of tannins

a lot of the

the moisture is being sucked out of your mouth

depends on your taste but I love it with steak, very good with steak

okay so going back to this you can't really see the colors

but basically cabs

and merlots are pretty dark but the

as the cabs age they lose their color so it's kind of hard to see but

they become less red and more brown in that sense

and here's an example of Merlot

Zinfandel in my opinion are the darkest

sometimes you can pour a Zinfandel and it looks almost black in the glass

but you taste and and it's it's wonderful it's like a party in your mouth

I think Zinfandels are one of my favorites. And Pinot Noir

It's hard to tell but Pinot Noirs are usually the lightest the clearest of

the red wines

and as they get older they'll also get browner but also

it's a lighter brown. So the message here

red wine loses color with age

So those are varietals, examples of varietals, we did some of the white side and some on the

red side

now let me talk about the old world so the old world you're going to know the location

but you're going to have to learn the grapes and then you can use your knowledge that

you learn from the varietals

from the early part talk. So I'm going to first talk about France

these are all the wine regions of France

one country the old world and it has like 15 different wine regions

I'm not going to go through all of them of course but I'm going to give a couple of samples

one of the best in the world and you just have to know

that a Bordeaux red wine is going to be a blend of

Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec

those are the wines that go into Bordeaux by law.

So in the old world

the blends are going to specified by law.

so if they don't do that they can't call it a Bordeaux

Here's an example of a label from Bordeaux

and if you look carefully you can't even see Bordeaux anywhere on there

Pomerol is a sub-region of Bordeaux

so you'll find it in the Bordeaux section to the store but actually

doesn't even say Bordeaux on it

this is a pretty well-known Bordeaux called Petrus

and I point it out because I want to show you the

Bordeauxs can be expensive. I looked up the price for the 2010

Petrus... 3700 dollars

pricey

so careful

Bordeaux actually also makes white wines, dry white wines

and they're going to be made with the Semillon and the Sauvignon Blanc grape

so though that's the ones you have to know when you're buying a white

Bordeaux is made with those grapes

there's not too many of them but you might encounter them and they're good

but I mention this because it is a special type of white wine from

Bordeaux

that's a sweet white wine called Sauternes

so what is done to these grapes

is something called botrytis which is also known as noble rot

they will wait until the grapes rot on the vines

they break open a lot of the water evaporates and what's left

is has less water and the same amount of sugar

and they make the wine from that and that makes a phenomenal white wine

called Sauternes

But you're drinking something that is previously rotted

okay so let me do burgundy now so

burgundy there's a lot of subregions here as well

but typically I if you have a red burgundy

thats Pinot Noir almost always just going to be Pinot Noir so if you want a red burgundy, Pinot Noir

Thi is an example of a really famous red burgundy called Romanee-Conti

again it doesn't say burgundy anywhere on the the label

you just have to know that this is a sub-region of burgundy

Côte de Nuits actually

a 2010 bottle of this is more expensive than that

a lot more thirteen thousand dollars for 2010

so

it can get crazy

[laughter]

there's a lot of people that want it and that drives up the prices and honestly I don't think

it's going to be

better than a hundred dollar bottle or even a fifty dollar bottle for that matter

there's a lot of white wine in Burgundy too so think about burgundy as

being half red half white.

The white is predominately Chardonnay.

so if we have white Burgundy it's going to be a chardonnay. There's a lot of different styles

but you're gonna be getting a chardonnay and I'll give you one more example

Loire Valley this is the in the middle France along the

Loire river where all the castles are

a lot of sub-regions there but the one that comes to mind for me

is a region called Sancerre that makes wine from Sauvignon Blanc

white wine from Sauvignon Blanc and these are very very good

so this is the third wine I wanted to mention so if you did want to explore

another region in France

try a Sancerre

Let's do Italy

good on time. Same thing with Italy there's a bunch of sub-regions in Italy

so I think there's like maybe another fifteen here

and again if you want to know about all of these you are going to have to learn them

I'm just going to give you three examples so the first is Tuscany

Everyone knows Tuscan wine region but it actually pays that its predominantly red wine

and its predominately made from the Sangiovese grape

So if you get a Tuscan red wine chances are it's going to be Sangiovese

this is probably going to be somewhere in between like a Pinot Noir

and a merlot, a little on the lighter side. Typically

described using strawberries, cherries. Pretty good, and very good with food, a little acidity in there

First example is Chianti

Chianti is a region of

Tuscany that makes

red wine by law made with Sangiovese grape. This is an example of a Chianti

that you may have seen

in stores and restaurants that comes in a little straw basket

kind of cool as decoration, to taste

not that good, these can be like five dollars

but to cook with and as decoration they're good

but you want a chianti that is representative of the Sangiovese with the

strawberries and the cherries, you might want to invest in an actual regular bottle that's a little bit better

Chianti is also the wine that Hannibal Lecter had with the fava beans

same one

[laughter]

The two other regions in Tuscany that I want to mention that also make Sangiovese grapes

Brunello di Montalcino

Doesn't say Sangiovese anywhere on the bottle but that's made with Sangiovese

So it's the same types of wine as

as Chianti, perhaps a little bit higher quality. And also

Vino Nobile di Montipulciano, another region of Tuscany that makes wine from

the Sangiovese grape

not to be confused with Montipulciano di Abruzzo

which is made with the montipulciano grape

I made a mistake once in Italy because of this so I want to warn you

so you don't confuse the two. So old world becomes a little more complicated

personally I stick to a couple regions in every country and then

I learn those and I work with those and then I don't get

surprised unpleasantly by picking a random one

The other region of Italy that I want to mention is Piedmont

This is going to be primarily red wine

This is from the north west of Italy.

This is going to be red wine from a grape called Nebbiolo

You're never going to see Nebbiolo on the bottle

The bottle names are going to be Barolo and Barbaresco

very good wines made from the Nebbiolo grape

very pricey but if you see a

wine from Napa Valley with Nebbiolo on it, it probably won't be too expensive

and it might be similar to these

so that's a trick you can do to get

efficient in your wine purchasing learn the grapes of the expensive wines that you like

find that grape made elsewhere, there's a chance it'll be be pretty good

and finally I want to mention Puglia

This is like the heel of the boot, the Italian boot

this is where my wife's grandparents are from and there's one wine I want to mention from there

that you can find in stores: Primitivo

this is exactly Zinfandel, it's just called Primitivo in Italy

So if you really like red zinfandel

and the ones you like are too expensive

try a couple primitivos, you might find a good value there

so I do want to mention really quickly

specialty wines, the first of which

is champagne or sparkling wine

so basically this is

a wine that's fermented

and then they open up the bottle they add more sugar and the add more yeast

and the byproduct is going to be gas and this is why it becomes carbonated

so there's a secondary fermentation. And it can be made from white wine grapes

so this statement is about champagne it can be made from

only white wine grapes and that's typical called blanc-de-blanc

so white of white in French or it can be made from red wine grapes

and this is called blanc-de-noir so champagne sparkling wines are

white but you can make it from a red grape and typically it's Pinot Noir

so if you ever see a champagne with

blanc-de-noir white from black that is the

clear champagne made from a Pinot Noir grape, the red Pinot Noir grape

and this next point is a pet peeve of mine

Champagne comes from the Champagne region of France

Everything else is sparkling wine. This is by law

in France, this is by law in the European Union

this is by law in I think seventy countries around the world

except in the United States, but there is a new law in the United States that says

new producers can't call a product champagne

is only grandfathered producers that can call it champagne

and there's actually one example that they call it California champagne

costs five bucks not very good

so if you see champagne on a bottle

make sure comes from Champagne or else it's probably going to be a waste of your money

Another specialty wine: port

So port is, the process of making port

is you're fermenting the wine but before it's fermented completed

they add brandy

that's going to bring up the alcohol level, kill the yeast

and there's remaining sugar that's not converted into alcohol

and that is why it's going to result in a sweet, strong wine

and this actually came about historically

the story goes that

to transport wine from Portugal to England

they added brandy to preserve the wine so it lasted the trip

it didn't actually happen that way

they decided to add the port

to sell a new product in they noticed that 'oh by the way. it does happen to last the voyage as well'

but it wasn't because of preserving the wine to get to England

two types of port, there's Ruby and Tawny

so ruby is the red color, tawny is like a yellowish brownish color

and there's exceptions but basically

a ruby is going to be a young port a tawny is going to be an old port

that's been stored in an oak cask typically it has lost its color

and retains just like the

a little bit of the color of the wood

so as a rule of thumb, ruby is a young port and tawny is an old port

Sherry, this is another a specialty wine, it's also a fortified wine

but they add the fortification after fermentation is complete

so the sugar is already gone and they just make the wine stronger

so this is going to result in a strong dry wine

port is a strong sweet wine, sherry is a strong dry wine

and the last specialty wine is icewine

so this is a special type of wine made in Canada

and Germany where they leave the grapes on the vines

through winter and they freeze solid so in Canada

I think they wait until it is consistently 10 degrees below zero

and then they take off these frozen grapes crush them

most of the water comes out as ice and what's left is a very concentrated

a must or a grape juice that they make the wine with

so very sweet but very complex these are actually really really good

Actually we just bought one yesterday from Costco

Inniskillin made from a winery near Niagara Falls

so if you're interested I highly recommend that one

Ok so

Terrior and vintages

so we'll go through this quickly. Basically

a wine made from the same grape in different regions

can be very different it can be a different

they can be different qualities they can be expressed differently they can taste

completely different

and the reason is because of the terroir and the vintage

So terroir, it is basically, in essence, a place

and the typical

terms are the geology of the region and the

geography of the region and the climate of the region so

let me give an example of what I mean by this. So there's a sub-region of Bordeaux

called Graves which means gravel in French

and if you look at the vineyards, the vines are growing out of rocks

this means that the vines struggle to grow

and the grapes that they produce a very very small but concentrated

and that results in a very distinct wine from that region

so that's an example of geology of a region

another example if geology is in Champagne

the soil contains a lot of chalk and that influences the

vines that are grown there and that influences the flavor of the wines

another example, so those two were for geology

the last one is for geography and climate... Napa

so it's called Napa valley but it actually has a valley

this is why it's lower case and the Bay Area is associated with fog

a lot of that fog goes inland throughout the night

and the valley funnels that fog into the Napa valley

keeping the region relatively much cooler than the surrounding regions

that's why they make the wines in Napa Valley not in the Central Valley which

is roasting hot.

Vintages. So vintage is basically

wines are made every year and the vintage is the year with the wine is made

and that's influenced by the weather that they experience in that year

Napa's pretty... not too sensitive to the weather becuase it's pretty even but in France and Italy

the weather can change drastically

that's going to affect the quality of the wines

so for example 2007 was pretty good for Napa

rated 97 out of 100 whereas only 90 for Burgundy

so this is where it gets complicated you have all these different regions

and all these different years and they're going to be all different

so instead of memorizing anything, I strongly suggest using a

a Wine Spectator app it's on iPhone and Android

it's free and basically it's going to give you all the regions all the sub-regions

so this is a sub-region of Bordeaux

I mean Burgundy and it'll tell you what the rating is for that vintage

and this is basically a factor of

this is related to prices as well

it's a much easier way to know about vintages. Whenever I buy wines at the store

I whip out my app

and then I look up 'okay there are a couple of choices here, let me get this one'

and it's free so I think it's a nice resource

serving temperatures, I'll do this one really quickly

because there are a couple more things that I want to say afterwards

light white wines, rosés, champagne, sparkling wines, these are the wines

that you'll want to serve the coldest

this is 40 to 50 degrees

full-body whites like a chardonnay to light fruity red wines like a Pinot Noir, Sangioveses

little warmer 50 to 60 degrees and then when you go to the full body red wines

and ports

you want to serve those even warmer so 60 to 65 degrees

however if you're storing wine and it's like 75 degrees

it's probably not going to taste good whether it's red or white

one thing that we've done before, stick it in the freezer for a couple minutes

cool it down to the right temperature the wine is going to taste better

if you want speediness, an ice bucket

a bucket of ice filled with water is going to transfer the temperature the fastest

there's a chemical reason for this

but this is going be the fastest way to cool

a bottle much faster than a freezer because in freezer the temperature is

transferring over air

here it's transferring over a liquid this is going to be faster

okay this one's fun: opening a bottle

so champagne and sparkling wine needs no tools

so this is what it looks like and you have a little wire cage you need to

twist the cap

and that loosens the wire cage, you take off the wire cage, and if you're not careful

this can pop out and hit you in the eye

I've come close once. So basically once you take off the foil

and then the cage, put your hand on the top

and then twist the cork carefully, it's going to pop out on its own but you have your hand

to make sure it doesn't

shoot up and like pop your eye out

So you want to be careful with that because if you don't that can happen

Unless you want that to happen

[laughter]

As a quick aside,

there's actually another way to open a sparkling wine called sabering

that some fancy restaurants do, they'll

open it with a sword. They pay you a premium for that and then you lose half

the bottle

but if you have money to burn invite me to dinner

Other wines

typically from the New World have screw caps or will you just

screw it and it opens or core plugs

where it's basically a plug you can twist open it and plug it back in and it's pretty easy to open and close

but most wines have a cork that you need a tool to open

so here's examples

this one right here is my bread and butter this is waiter corkscrew

you basically screw it in and this acts as a lever and it makes it pretty easy to open a wine bottle

this is another simpler one

requires more effort so I actually have like a plastic version of this that I travel with

It's plastic so it doesn't set off a metal detector but I can always open a bottle of wine when I need to

this is pretty self-explanatory, you screw

and then as you screw the corkscrew into the cork these move up

and then you move down pretty easy to open

This is a rabbit. It's basically a clamping system, you clamp it around

the top of the bottle and then you push this lever down

the corkscrew goes into the cork, pull the lever up and then it's open

This one is the

I forget what it's called but basically you put it on top of the bottle

you press the button in and out, and it pulls out the cork pretty easily

this one is a piece of metal with two prongs on it

the way you use this is you have to

rock, basically stick that the two prongs on each side of the cork and you kind of rock it

back and forth

and it goes in and then you twist it and that'll take out the cork

and it's called an ah-so and the reason they call it an ah-so

is because once you figure out how to open it, you're like "ah, so that's how they do it"

[laughter]

So that's actually pretty fun to use

and these are going to be appropriate when you have an old cork that's falling apart

these two, I have no idea so I don't know

[laughter]

Glasses, so really quickly there's

a lot of business built around wine glasses

the shape of a wine glass linking with a varietal

so for example a Bordeaux or a Cabernet Sauvignon is going to be a big tall glass

some of the glasses are going to have wider mouths, some are going to have

more narrow mouths, so for example a more narrow mouth

is to concentrate the smell or the aroma

of a weak smelling wine so you can smell it a little bit better

and there's a whole science behind this so personally I think I have two white wines

two white wine glasses, two red wine glasses, champagne glasses

port, scotch

[laughter] a couple more

there's different ways but you don't need to go all out

just a regular wine glass will more than suffice and typically once you pour it

you want to swirl

number one it looks cool but number two it aerates the wine

it mixes it with oxygen. So oxygen is a wine's

friend and foe. In the beginning by mixing it with oxygen

this can bring out the flavors, make it taste a little better but too much oxygen

its going to oxidize. The wind is going to deteriorate after a couple days.

And I have a couple points on that in a slide or two

Okay I have three more slides

Food and wine, I'm going to mention a couple classic pairings

and they're classic in the sense that the

some other the whole is greater than the sum of the parts caviar with champagne

caviar with champagne

both are expensive but you can get

any type of fish roe, fish egg, with a sparkling wine you're going to get the same effect

steak with Cabernet Sauvignon

mentioned this at the beginning, love it.

Oysters with Chablis

so oysters are very briny, seafoody flavor

chablis is going to be a chardonnay but not an oaky one, very steely

it's almost like metallic when you drink it but together

they mellow out each other and they're very excellent together

another one, foie gras with Sauternes

foie gras is the

the liver of a fattened goose or duck

Sauternes is that sweet wine from Bordeaux

and together the sweetness

tempers the fattiness of the fois, of the liver, and it's actually really good together

lamb with merlot, dark chocolate with port

and perhaps a more surprising one is

stilton, which is a blue cheese, with port

This is a classic pair and if you haven't had this, I urge you to try it

a really pungent blue cheese with port

it works

Note on spicy food hard to pair in general

so I guess at the very beginning select the sweet wine

A warning: wine and cheese. Not all wine goes with all cheese

So wine and cheese parties you have to be careful

For example I think brie with Cabernet Sauvignon is really bad.

Again that's my opinion but

you might want to try the different pairings

Actually two nights ago

my wife and I went to a nice restaurant and they had a cheese course they paired

with a cider

so not a wine, they didn't try to pair them, so be careful with wine and cheese

okay five minutes, two slides

and here's some, I think some of my

most valuable advice for you for buying wine. There's this company called Cameron Hughes

which I'm gonna gush about I have no connection with

with them whatsoever do not own stock I just love them so the started in an

article in 2010 from the Wall Street Journal

so taking advantage of the wine glut

amid an oversupply Cameron Hughes by top wineries'

excess and resells it for bargain prices. So what's going on?

so you can buy one from Cameron Hughes

but you only know roughly where comes from so

you're going to know its vintage and you're going to know its varietal

but you're not going to know much else, so here's an example

So this is

a Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley

from 2012, that's all the information you have

the only identifier is the lot number, but what Cameron Hughes did

is they bought excess wine from a top wine producer

in Napa Valley, signed a huge non-disclosure agreement

and sold it at a steep steep discount so

the effect is you're going to pay less for a really high quality bottle of wine

using this I typically pay between ten and fifteen dollars

per bottle and the wines taste like thirty dollars and up

like I think they're excellent values literally ninety percent my wine

from over the last few years has come from Cameron Hughes

so I urge you try it, you can either buy it online

sometimes they're available at Costco but

for the best bang for your buck you're not going to beat Costco

I mean Cameron Hughes. Costco too.

Wine at restaurants. Restaurants regularly charge three times the retail price of a wine

It's kind of like a racket

What I suggest, especially for special occasion where you want a really nice bottle of wine

is bring your own bottle pay a corkage fee

corkage fee is the fee that you pay the restaurant to open the bottle

it's usually ten to twenty dollars

but overall you end up paying less because of this huge markup

and if you give the waiter a taste

they'll sometimes waive the corkage fee

[laughter]

try it, it's worked multiple times for us

and another thing to get good value for your buck

is buy less popular wines, stay away from Bordeauxs stay away from Burgundy

buy a petit verdot, this is a great varietal made in Napa

it's an auxiliary grape from Bordeaux but in and on itself its pretty good too

Malbec, same principle, they're made in Argentina also Napa Valley

pretty good, buy wines from New Zealand from Australia

less popular you're going to get a better value supply and demand

and one last slide

Storing and preserving wine

typically you want to store wines at 45 to 65 degrees, 55 is ideal

Historically a cellar, like a hole in the ground is goingbe the best

I think most houses here don't have cellars

so closets are fine. If you're living in Southern California it might get too

hot in your house so I would not advise that but here I think it's fine

if you have more expensive wine or you want to be careful

a wine refrigerator is good, we have one

I think we got it at like Best Buy or something they're not too expensive

you get it from like six bottles up to we have one like

30 bottles and then you can get huge ones with thousands of bottles

climate control

most wines don't need aging and so

you don't want to stick a wine in your wine refrigerator forever

unless you intend to age it for a certain period of time

and if you do want to age a wine if you do want to buy a wine to give to your

if you just had a baby and you want to give it a wine when he or she is 21 years old

you want to research it, you don't want to buy a random bottle and save it for 20 years

because they'll be vinegar

[laughter]

once opened, wines oxidize which means they

basically turn to vinegar, it's not instant

In my opinion the next day's going to be fine

three days later I don't like to drink it anymore

but when you have leftover wine you can cook with it

we do that all the time

but there's wine preservation systems you can use too

and these are going to be the two last bullet points and then I'm going to wrap

the first one are backing pumps which are these little guys right there

you stick it on top of an open bottle

you stick this plunger on top of an open bottle and this pump kind of pumps out the air

it removes the oxygen from the bottle and that's the

it preserves it. They work okay

I think I can get another day or two out a bottle but beyond that I i noticed

that it's not as good are so if you want a day or two

preservation this will work fine if you want to preserve a little longer

there's something else that my wife just gave me for my birthday which

I love, this is called a coravin

[laughter] Yeah I think it's awesome

I really do. So this was developed by

MIT educated doctor he's in pharmaceuticals and

basically this is a needle so what you do is

you take a bottle you clamp this thing on to it you push down the needle

through the cork and you can

here there's a canister of argon gas and you can exchange the wine

for the argon gas, one for one, then you take up the needle

and the cork reseals itself, I tested it. I turned the bottle upside down and nothing happened

So basically you can take a wine out of a bottle

without opening it and they have apparently it's a 100 percent success

rate

with professional Sommeliers that they can

they'll give them two glasses of wine, one from a new bottle one from a bottle that

used months ago

and the sommelier cannot tell the difference so if you want to preserve

more longer-term

this is gonna be the tool for you to use and

I love it, I use it almost every day

Well worth it I think

Okay so let me wrap it up and then if there's any questions

we can answer them then

He's a smart smart man so I'm going to follow in his footsteps

if anyone has questions about wine feel free to email me

my email is, the easiest way to remember it is mister wagner at u dub

That stands for Michael Robert but it's easy to remeber

And there's more cool stuff at The Whole U, so look at what stuff there is

and if you're into cooking there's actually Italian recipes from my wife as well as videos