Welcome to Entertwine.com! A site dedicated to the art (hardly) of selecting wine for your entertaining needs. We will briefly discuss the different varieties of wine; look at some of the worlds wine makers, and wine producing nations. We will continue with a stress free look at the pairing of wine with food, which for some people is a daunting task. Although we are more than comfortable selecting wine for ourselves, we all feel a bit overwhelmed when selecting for others; especially for large gatherings such as dinner parties. Here we will emphasize on keeping it simple, because it need not be so complicated.
Some important basic knowledge of wine is helpful, but not necessarily essential when selecting a wine. Ultimately taste, is the best and most effective way of choosing. None the less, here are some wine fundamentals.
Wine itself is made from the fermentation of unmodified grape juice. Their natural chemical make up allows them to ferment without the addition of acids, sugars or nutrients.
Wine is most often made from a variety of European grapes. These species are referred to as Vitis Vinifera.
Varietal refers to a wine made from a single grape variety; where as blended wines are made up of more than one grape.
Vintage refers to wine made from grapes grown in a specified year. Naturally there are years when vintages are better than others due to it weather conditions or other natural occurrences. A non-vintage wine is usually a blend of grapes from two or more years. This is a more common method of winemaking because it allows for a consistent style of wine, year after year.
In Europe, wines are usually named for both their grape variety and their region of production, where as non-European wines are normally named exclusively for their grape variety.
Storing your wine properly is important for its preservation, especially when long-term aging is a factor. Bottles need to be stored on their sides so as to keep the corks moist. Wine should be stored at a temperature of 50 F to 60 F degrees (10 C to 15 C).