When dining out, there are several rituals associated with
ordering a bottle of wine.

All of them are just that:
rituals. They are not rules. A few could even be perceived as pretty
silly.

Let’s take a look at these rituals, and whether
you’d be well advised to follow them…

Everything, it seems, goes in cycles, and so it is with the use of oak barrels in making wine.

Toward the end of the 20th century, wines lovingly referred to by their makers as “big oaky monsters” were all the rage. The more oak flavors one could impart into a wine – whether it was Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon – the better. Many vintners even began to age their bright and refreshing Sauvignon Blanc wines in oak barrels and labeled them “Fumé Blanc.”

The problem, some would assert, is that a good number of vintners overdid it. In a good number of cases, the aromas and flavors imparted by the oak overwhelmed the fruit, earth and other impressions of the wine…

Some of us invest a lot of money in our wine glasses.

Different sizes.

Different shapes.

Real crystal, as opposed to plastic.

Nothing is more disheartening than the sound of a favorite wine glass hitting a hard kitchen floor and shattering into a hundred pieces… unless it’s several glasses breaking at the same time…

You’ll be busy with spring cleaning soon enough. Meanwhile, take some time to organize your wine cellar (or closet or rack) so you won’t have to deal with it at the same time as everything else.

The more bottles you have, the more important it is to keep them organized for optimum enjoyment.

So what’s the best way to accomplish this goal? Obviously, it depends on the size of your collection. The bigger the stash, the greater the organization required. But for most of us, a simple two-area approach works…

Some critics are so over-the-top in the phraseology they use to describe wine that their reviews serve to stymie, rather than stimulate, wine enjoyment.

That said, even some of the most common descriptors for wine – fruity, sweet and dry – can be misunderstood.

Let’s begin with “fruity.” Often, when someone hears that word, there is an assumption that the wine in question will be sweet. After all, isn’t virtually all fruit sweet?

In actuality, a wine is said to be fruity when…