a wine glass by its stem. Watch a well-trained bus boy or server at a restaurant setting a table or serving wine. The knowledgeable ones will always hold the glass by the stem as they set a table. Remember that one of the important steps in proper wine evaluation is "appearance." If you hold the wine glass by the bowl, rather than the stem, you will get fingerprints all over the glass. When tasting white wines, in addition to fingerprints, the warmth from your hands will unnecessarily warm up the properly chilled glass of wine.
Some women have complained that holding a wine glass by its stem feels unsafe or unstable. Extending your small finger to rest on or under the base will make it much more steady.
It is also acceptable to hold a wine glass by its base between your thumb and index finger (bottom of base resting on your index finger) if you are standing at a party for an extended period of time.
There have been recent wine glass developments by prominent glassmakers. They have brought forth wine glasses without stems. This is clearly an attempt to take advantage of the beer drinking society of America. Glasses without stems offer a more comfortable feel to those who are accustomed to drinking beer. It also offers a more stable base and makes quaffing wine more acceptable than sipping from a stemmed glass. Missing from this effort to appeal to the beer drinking society is the ultra thin rims of a quality wine glass. It may be a market fad but keep an eye on how these new drinking vessels affect future wine drinkers. I am clearly old school and prefer to drink my wine out of a stemmed glass with a paper-thin rim – the wine just tastes better.
Toasting
“It is better to hide ignorance, but it is hard to do this when we relax over wine.”
- Heraclitus (540 BC - 480 BC), On the Universe
When you are trying to get everyone’s attention at a dinner party, do not clang your silverware on the side of a glass or plate. Banging your wineglass with a knife is quite uncouth. A loud whistle doesn’t do it properly either.
The best way is to speak up. Stand up with your wine glass in hand and say “Ladies and gentlemen! May I have your attention, please!” Allow a few seconds for everyone to stop what they are doing and turn their attention to you. Then lift your glass by the stem in the direction of the person(s) you are toasting with a motion that is an outward and upward arc until you can just barely see the toasted person’s eyes across the top of your glass. (Don’t lift your glass as if you are pointing to the ceiling in the famous Statue of Liberty stance.) “Here’s to my best friend, Bill, and his fiancée, Jill. May they continue to share their joy.” Then pull the glass back towards your lips and take a sip.
Everyone in the group who is raising their glass by the stem to toast should lift their glass in a like manner in the direction of the toasted person (not towards the person making the toast). Then take a sip at the same time as the person offering the toast.
If you are the person being toasted, it is proper to raise your glass by the stem in a similar fashion to the person(s) offering the toast, but do not take a sip (you will be toasting yourself). Immediately follow up with your own toast to the toaster and/or your friends and then you take a sip. (See Appendix C for famous - and infamous – toasts.)
Wine Storage
“A waltz and a glass of wine invite an encore.”
- Johann Strauss
Wine has several enemies – light, heat, vibration and large variations in temperatures. Many times when you buy wine you may want to store it for a while before serving or consuming it. Recent research tells us that Americans who buy a bottle of wine plan to consume it within 48 hours. If you are lucky enough to have a wine cellar you have no problem.
Chances are your wine cellar temperature is automatically controlled to 55 degrees F and the humidity is maintained at about 75% to keep the corks from drying out. Most casual wine consumers will use their refrigerator to store wines, even reds. Do not store any wines in places that are room temperature (74 F) or higher. Wines do not keep well in warm or illuminated locations. Make sure to store them on their side so the natural cork stays wet. Wines closed with synthetic corks do not have to be maintained on their sides to keep the cork wet and don’t have to have controlled relative humidity. They still need protection from light and vibration.
If you only consume half the bottle, re-cork the wine. If you want to get fancy, you can seal the bottle with a vacuum sealer, which keeps the bottle airtight and acts in place of a cork. Put it in the refrigerator. On average, red and white wine will keep for 3 to 5 days.
A wine goes bad when it has been oxidized or some other unpleasant chemical reactions or biological activity take place following bottling. You can generally tell if it has gone bad if it has an unpleasant vinegar or moldy smell. If you are still not sure, go ahead and taste the wine, it will not make you sick, it may just taste unpleasant. If the wine has gone bad, discard it and open a new bottle.
Wine Etiquette in Non-Restaurant Venues
“Cherish good wines for they are the dream makers of the seeds of your goals.”
- Anonymous
Correct wine etiquette makes the tasting experience much more enjoyable. Like most interests, there is a set of protocols that most wine lovers follow. Good taste dictates that tasting at wineries, ordering wine at restaurants, and hosting a dinner party all require certain formalities. The following sections are guidelines for wine etiquette in non-restaurant venues.
…Wine shops/stores & dealing with wine labels
“Nothing more excellent or valuable than wine was ever granted by the Gods to man.”
- Plato
You have decided to buy a bottle or two of wine for dinner. Food always tastes better if complemented with a good bottle of wine. The task of selecting a bottle of wine for dinner can create one of life’s more anxious experiences. It is usually very confusing for a typical wine consumer to buy wines if they have no clue about what wine they want to buy. A good starting place is to understand how to read the label on a wine bottle. (See Appendix H for details.)
Understanding the information on a wine label can be confusing. There are several federal regulations governing the correct labeling of wines. American wineries always clearly mark their labels with a lot of information on the wine bottle label including:
•Brand name – usually the name of the vineyard where the grapes were grown and/or wine made
•Varietal designation – the names of the predominant grape used to make the wine. A varietal designation on the label requires an appellation of origin and means that at least 75% of the grapes used to make the wine are that variety.
•Appellation of origin – another name for the place in which the grapes were grown. It can be a country, state, county or geographic area called a viticultural area.
•Viticultural area – a defined grape-growing region with soil, history, and geographic features that set it apart from surrounding areas. A viticultural area appellation on the label means it must have 85% or more of the wine produced from grapes grown in the particular area.
•Vintage date – a vintage date on the label indicates that 95% or more of the wine is produced from
