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…