Whats the difference between Old World and New World?
Whats the difference between Champagne and Sparkling Wine?
Why are there different wine glasses?
What's the difference between glass and crystal?
How to preserve wine
How to store Wine
How to choose a wine fridge
What does 'dry' REALLY mean?
Should I decant my wine?
Does wine get better with age?
How do I know if a wine will age well?
Whats the difference between Old World and New World?
You may have heard people in the wine world talk about Old World vs. New World. What does this mean exactly?
The wine making world is divided into 2 different camps. The Old World, and the New World. This areas are fairly easily defined, as they are quite literal. The Old World in the wine world includes countries such as France, Italy, Austria, Germany, etc. The New World includes such countries as Canada, Australia, United States, and New Zealand.
Wines from the old world are generally classified by which area they come from. For example, when people talk about Bordeaux wines and Burgundy wines, these are established winemaking areas, not grape varietals. In Bordeaux, the 2 main grapes grown are Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot, although all wines from Bordeaux are blends. In Burgundy for example, all red wines are made from the Pinot Noir grape.
Wines from the new world are classified by the grape varietal, not the geographic area. Wines made in the New World from the Pinot Noir grape, are simply called Pinot Noir, regardless of where they were grown or produced.
Old World type wines and New World type wines can be very different in taste as well. Where New World wines are stereotypically bold, fruit forward style wines, the Old World style is generally very complex, more subtle, richer flavours. Of course, this isn't always the case, but simply a general guide.
This may all seem complex, but with a little practice and research, will help you define the different types and styles of wine that you enjoy most.
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Whats the difference between Champagne and Sparkling Wine?
Sparking Wine and Champagne are both carbonated white wines, generally made from either the Chardonnay grape, or the Pinot Noir grape. These style wines are carbonated by undergoing a second fermentation process, in which the byproduct of fermentation, carbon dioxide, is held in the wine instead of being vented to the atmosphere. This can be done through different techniques such as re-fermenting in the bottle, or in a vat before bottling.
Champagne is simply a sparking wine that has been made in the Champagne region of France. Similar style wines include Prosecco from Italy, and Cava from Spain.
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Why are there different wine glasses?
People always wonder, why are there so many different types of wine glasses, and are they all needed?
One of the best ways to explain why there are different wine glasses, is to use the analogy of golf clubs. You could play an entire round of golf with just one club, and eventually you would finish, but it wouldn't be very enjoyable. Wine glasses are the same idea. You could drink all your wines out of the same glass, but for maximum pleasure, very different wines deserve very different glasses. True varietal specific glasses have been tested in many different shapes and forms by a panel of judges, often the finest winemakers themselves, to perfect the optimum shape to show their style of wine.
Do you need to have every different glass on the market? Probably not. But you may want to consider having a selection of glasses for your favourite styles of wine. We drink wine for the pleasure it brings through flavour, complexity, and social aspects. Why not enjoy it to its fullest potential?
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What's the difference between glass and crystal?
Although they may look the same to the average eye, there are some major differences between glass and crystal. First, lets define what glass and crystal are. Glass is a product that is made by heating silica sand to extreme temperatures until it molds together and is plyable. When the substance dries, it is what we know as glass. Crystal is made using a very similar (although much more difficult, hand labour intensive) process, but must contain a minimum of 24% lead.
When you view glass under a microscope, it is smooth like you would expect glass to be. When you view crystal under a microscope on the other hand, it is very rough, like sandpaper. What does this mean for a wine glass?
You may have seen people swirling their wine around in their glass before they smell/drink it. This isn't a nervous twitch, it is done to open up the aromas of the wine, and fill the bowl of the glass with all the smells and flavours you are about to enjoy. When you swirl wine in a regular glass, it will open up some of the wine, but not the same as crystal will. The rough sandpaper-like surface of the crystal glass opens up the aromas and flavours in the wine to their full potential, maximizing your wine enjoyment.
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How to preserve wine
A common question we get from our customers is how do you keep wine fresh after opening. There are a couple different techniques to help preserve wine, and save an already opened bottle for later. The enemy to preserving wine is air, so we must find a way to seperate oxygen from the surface of the wine.
Solution 1: Remove air from the bottle via vacuum.
Solution 2: Remove air from the bottle via displacement.
In the first solution, there are a number of products on the market that attach to the top of your opened wine bottle, and allow you to evacuate the air from the bottle, thus removing the oxygen from the surface of the wine.
In the second solution, there are also a number of products on the market that are added to the bottle once its opened, to displace the air. These work by adding a gas into the bottle that is heavier than air, forcing the air out of the bottle.
Either of these solutions can be used to help preserve your opened bottle of wine, and which works best for you is a matter of preference. You could of course also have another glass...
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How to Store Wine
Curious how to cellar your fine wines over the long term? Read through this How To: How to keep wine for the answers.
There are a few factors that affect the quality of your wine when stored over a long period of time. These include temperature, light, humidity, and vibration.
Ultraviolet rays in ambient light will degrade the quality of your wine when stored over the long term. This is one of the reasons that wine traditionally comes packaged in dark glass bottles. Storing your wine in a dark room will help ensure your wine ages gracefully.
Humidity can affect your wine in 2 different ways. If the humidity in your maturing cellar is too low, it can cause your wine to 'leech' through the corks, adding additional air into the wine bottle, and eventually spoiling the wine. If the humidity in your cellar becomes too high, it will promote mold on the corks and labels A cellar with suitable humidity levels will keep the corks tightly sealed in the bottles, without promoting mold. Wine bottles should be stored on their side laying down, to ensure the corks stay moist and tight in the bottles.
Constant vibration in your cellaring area from an appliance or another source can stir the wines, causing any sediment that falls to be suspended in the wine. Constant vibration should be avoided, and many commercial wine keepers have technology to damp vibration.
Temperature is the most important factor in properly storing wine over the long term. Overall ambient temperature is important, but of equal importance is a consistent temperature without fluctuations. Although extreme temperatures should be avoided, both warm and cold, temperature fluctuations from warm to cold should also be avoided, as they will rapidly degrade the quality of the wine.
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How to choose a wine fridge
Curious about purchasing a wine fridge? Let our How to: How to choose a wine cooler article help!
There are a few questions to ask yourself when exploring how to buy a wine refrigerator. The first question is how many bottles you would like to store. This will determine the size of wine keeper that you will be looking for. Most in-home wine keepers range from 2 bottle capacity to 500. If you aren't sure how many bottles you want to keep, consider how many bottles you have on hand now, and remember that once you own a wine fridge, you will probably add to that collection!
The second major question to ask yourself is if you want to store wine for long term, or if you move through it fairly quickly. If you do not foresee yourself keeping wine beyond 1 year, a smaller serving-type fridge may be suitable for you. If you are considering storing wine over a long term, to let your wines age and reach their full potential, you will need a fridge capable of doing this.
The main factors that affect long-term storage of wine are UV light, vibration, and humidity. These are all issues that need to be addressed if you plan on keeping wine in your cellaring area for more than 1 year.
The third question that you need to answer before selecting which wine keeper is going to best suit your needs, is where the unit will be located. Some wine keepers need to be in air-conditioned environments in the summer, to ensure that they can keep up with the warmer weather and higher humidity levels. Some other units also include heaters, to ensure that if the ambient temperature drops, your wine will still be selected.
Now that you have an idea of what is involved in selecting a wine cabinet, come into the Yonge Street Winery or the Humber Valley Winery and let us assist you in answering these questions, and selecting the correct unit for your cellaring future.
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What does 'dry' REALLY mean?
People often say that they like or dislike 'dry' wines, but what does this actually mean?
It may seem like a simple answer, but it leads to a very common misconception. The term 'dry' in wine refers to the amount of residual sugar left in the wine after the fermentation process is complete. The opposite of dry is "off-dry", which means the wine tastes sweet.
Often, wine drinkers will refer to the tastes that make your mouth pucker, or the feeling of having no moisture left in your mouth after drinking wine, as "dry".
These feelings are in fact caused by acidity in wine, or overbearing tannins, and have little relation to how much sugar is left in the wine.
For an extreme example of what an 'off-dry' wine tastes like, sample Port or Icewine. These wines are very sweet, even beyond off-dry, but are a great example of the opposite of dry.
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Should I decant my wine?
Decanting wine is often an easy way to improve the value of your wines and make them more enjoyable.
There are generally 2 reasons to decant a wine. The traditional reason is that aged bottles (usually 7+ years) may accumulate sediment over time in the bottom of the bottle, and decanting is a great way to get the wine into a serving vessel while leaving the sediment in the bottom of the bottle.
The second reason is that most red wines (and a few white wines, mainly heavily oaked Chardonnays) will improve in both flavour and bouquet with aeration. After being properly decanted, the tannins in red wines will generally soften, making them more aromatic, and allowing the more subtle flavours to come forward in the wine and smooth out the overall taste profile.
The simplest way to decant a wine is to pour it into a vessel large enough to contain the amount of wine you plan to consume. This should be done a minimum of 45 minutes before serving, but up to a few hours for very tannic wines (such as Barolo). Simply popping the cork and letting the bottle sit out will not provide enough surface area of wine to air to properly aerate the wine.
If you do not have the time necessary to properly decant a bottle, or if you simply want to decant 1 glass, a wine aerator is a great way to do this instantly.
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Does wine get better with age?
Many people think wine infinitely gets better with age, which unfortunately is not the case. Wine is like any organic object. It gets better to a certain point, and then starts to spoil until it eventually goes bad.
You may have heard people that have kept a wine too long say that it has "gone to vinegar"... This is actually extremely rare, and nearly impossible with most wines. After they have fermented and stabilized, it is very uncommon for a wine to re-ferment into vinegar. It is more likely that the wine has just oxidized and spoiled. For the wine to actually turn into vinegar, there must be a culture of Acetobacter bacteria introduced to convert the alcohol into Acetic acid.
All that being said, some wines DO get better with age!
Keep reading to find out which wines to cellar and which to drink now.
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How do I know if a wine will age well?
People commonly ask "Which wines will age well?", which isn't always an easy question to answer, but there are definitely some guidelines to help you choose.
First, reds will generally age better than whites. There are some exceptions to this rule, for example some heavily oaked Chardonnays will benefit well from aging. The majority of white wines are best enjoyed young though.
With reds, the #1 deciding factor of how well they will age is how 'firm' the tannins are currently. A red wine that is very tannic when young will most often benefit from some time in the cellar, to let those tannins soften, and the rest of the flavors to show themselves.
For an example of this type of wine, try a Barolo (made from the Nebbiolo grape).
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