Bubbling Champagne...

Ever wonder how the bubbles get into the Champagne bottle? Well, it is definitely not from the gas tank, of course.

When wine ferments, it produces carbon dioxide. When it ferments in a bottle, the gas is trapped. Popping the cork releases the pressure and causes the gas to come out of its dissolved state, creating and effervescing wine.

When you need to pop the Champagne cork, ensure that the bottle is cold; warm fizz can froth wildly when popped. Once it's open, you may want to enjoy as many of the bubbles as possible, so use a tall, skinny flute-shaped glass, rather than the wide saucer shape.

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Wines match making

– the right food, the right wine … perfect.

The flavours of different wines are very distinctive and some are considered to taste better with certain kinds of foods.

A wine with a very delicate flavour goes best with lightly flavoured foods rather than with strong flavours that overpower the wine, making it appear tasteless.

Likewise, if the wine is too strong in flavour for the food, the food tastes bland. Great chefs are considered masters of pairing wine with food so each enhances the flavour and aroma of the other.

Cabernet Sauvignon

Duck, spicy beef, pate, rabbit, roasts, spicy poultry, cheddar, blue cheese, sausage, kidneys

Pinot Noir

Braised chicken, cold duck, rabbit, roasted turkey, roasted beef, lamb, veal

Merlot

Braised chicken, cold duck, roasted turkey or beef, lamb, veal, stew, liver, venison, meat casseroles

Shiraz

Braised chicken, chilli, peppercorn steak, meat stew, barbecued meat, spicy meats, garlic casserole, ratatouille

Chardonnay

Seafood with butter sauce, pasta with cream sauce, veal, chicken, turkey, ham

Riesling

Mild cheeses, mussels, prawns, lobster, sashimi, ham, pork, tandoori chicken

Sauvignon Blanc

Oysters, grilled or poached salmon, seafood salad, irish stew, goats cheese and strongly flavoured cheese

Gewurztraminer

Spicy dishes, Thai or Chinese food, curry, smoked salmon, pork and sauerkraut, onion tart, spiced/peppered cheese

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Good wine vs Bad wine

A Good Wine Is:

1. Clean and clear. It should smell and taste fresh, yummy and enticing.


2. Concentrated. Whether it's light and delicate or rich and full-bodied, it should sit pleasingly on your tongue.


3. Complex. Good wine has more than one flavour, to keep you interested to the last drop.


4. Balanced. No one element – fruit, alcohol, acid, oak – should stick out. They should be in harmony.


5. Able to linger. The flavour haunts the back of your throat, urging you to have another sip.

A Bad Wine Is:

1. Dirty and bland. It smells unpleasant or boring.


2. Thin and dilute. It hardly registers on your tongue.


3. Simple. Bad wine has only one rather weak flavour.


4. Unbalanced. Bad wine is overly sharp, or woody, or has alcohol burn.


5. Short-lived. The taste disappears at the back of your throat and leaves you feeling short-changed.

*Tips: Once Opened, Wine Lasts …

1-2 DAYS for light white and red wines such as Riesling and pinot noir; sparkling and pink wines

3-4 DAYS for fuller-bodied reds and whites such as Shiraz and chardonnay; sweet white wines

1-2 WEEKS for pale dry sherry and vintage port

3 MONTHS for tawny port, Muscat, Tokay and sweet sherry. Read more ...

Red wine vs White wine

Wine serving temperature

For most beginners, we tend to drink our white wines too cold and our reds too warm. The best serving temperature for red wines is around 15°- 18°C (cool room temperature). As for white wines, temperature of around 8°– 12°C (moderately chilled) is best.

Serving a wine too cold suppresses its fruit flavour and exaggerates oak character and tannin. Serving it too warm exaggerates alcohol but softens tannin – the stuff that causes red wine to a have a puckering effect in the mouth.

White wines are usually served chilled because at warmer temperatures they quickly lose their volatile characters and become flat and tasteless. Blush wines are also served chilled like white wines.

Red wines, which usually contain more flavour and aroma components than white wines, are served at room temperature to release the aroma characters, and the wine smells and tastes better than it would if it were chilled.

“Good wine ruins the purse. Bad wine ruins the stomach”

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