What better time for a little wine and chocolate? While I don’t need an excuse to buy wine and chocolate, this is one holiday that it just makes sense to go all out and do something really nice for yourself and that someone special.

Here is a great webiste for you to check out:
10% off all Valentine’s Day gift baskets at Wine.com! Enter VDAY10 at checkout! Valid through 2/14/12!  When you get there and decide to buy, tell them The Wine Sleuth sent you!

I went to the doctor about three weeks ago, and I had to fill out an annual questionnaire about lifestyle, activity, hobbies, etc. I am sure you have filled out these before.

Several of the questions went like this: Do you drink? What kind of alcohol do you consume? How many glasses of wine? How many nights per week? More on the weekends than during the week? How long does a bottle of wine last? Red, White or Rose’? American or foreign? Etc, Etc.

I left it all blank. All of it depended on the week, what was happening in our life, lots of things. We usually have wine three or four nights a week. We have some on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at a minimum. Sometimes on Saturday we have wine or not. It depends on the meal and what is going on.

We have salmon every Wednesday night and usually have a glass of red with our meal. About ½ of the time, we will only have one glass and save the rest of the bottle. On Friday, we have salmon again and we usually finish off the rest of the red that we opened for Wednesday.

We usually have baked chicken on Sundays, and we usually have a glass, maybe two, of white with dinner. It just depends on the Sunday. We might have a small glass of Sauvignon Blanc on Sunday afternoon around 3:30 or 4:00. Then when we sit down for dinner at 6:00 we will usually finish off the bottle with a glass and a half with the meal. Some Sundays, it is just one glass.

During the week it’s a toss-up. We might have a glass on Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday or not. We don’t have a rigid schedule. And we don’t keep a chart of when we have it or when we don’t. Last Thursday we had a pitcher of margaritas, with chili and chips. Thursday was “one” of those days.

The correct answer to the question on the form was really, “None of your business!” I knew the purpose of the questions. But there are so many mixed reviews of what is the proper amount of alcohol to have, by age, by sex, by health conditions, etc. that I did not feel like filling it out. So I didn’t.

Does it really matter? I know two guys who see cardiologists who practice in the same office. One guy’s doctor tells him that he has no alcohol restrictions. The other guy’s doc, tells him “No alcohol!” Different docs, same office or practice, and they do not agree on what is best as a standard. The standard is, “It depends.”

So do I drink a lot of wine? I don’t think so. You are a grown up. You can decide for yourself if you drink a lot of wine or not.

Want to share tips, advice, and opinions? Why not leave a comment at the end of this article and let other readers know.

Until next time, let me know what is on your mind, and how you are doing, O.K.?

Jim Fortune
The Wine Sleuth

You can follow me on Twitter, by clicking here

Have you ever wondered how you could build a wine cellar in the basement?  And what if you don’t have a basement? What about insulation, lighting, humidity, and all of the other problems that a cellar brings?

I have mine in a spare room on the north side of my house. I maintain the temperature at 55 degrees all the time with the help of an air conditioner I have for the summer. It works out pretty well, considering it is sitting in my spare bedroom.

I just wish I had this book when I started to build my cellar. O.K. my cellar is not in the cellar, but you get the idea. This book will tell you where to build your cellar. This could be a insulated cupboard under the stairs, a spare closet, a temperature controlled wine cabinet or a fully constructed basement wine cellar. Find out what solution will work best for you.

My first wine cellar was in a crawl space. It was humid in the crawl space year round and it kept the corks from drying out and becoming brittle. The wine racks I bought were metal and held about 8 cases of wine per rack. I bought three racks, because they were cheaper if I bought three instead of one or two.

Check out this book to see if it will meet your wine cellar needs. You can either click the book above or you can Click Here! Your purchase is covered with a 60 day money back guarantee.  It would be worth giving it a try.

Want to share tips, advice, and opinions?  Why not comment on this article and let other readers know.

Until next time, let me know what is on your mind, and how you are doing, O.K.? 

Jim Fortune, The Wine Sleuth

When I was a younger, about the age you are right now, my wine glasses were 4 ounce jelly jars. I used to buy jams and jelly in these jars that had lids that you would need to pry off with a bottle opener. The jar had no decoration on the outer face and the glass was very clear. I was always very careful to gently pry the cover off so I could reuse the metal lid several times.

All of the table glasses we had when I was growing up, as a boy, were originally jam or jelly jars in the 8 or 12 ounce size. My mother used to get her “glasses” this way, so I guess it was just something I picked up. When I was single and got out on my own, I would see these jars at Safeway, and I decided that I would start my glass collection.

When I emptied the jam or jelly, I would wash out the jar and put it on the shelf in the kitchen. People would come over and ask where the glasses were for beer or water or whatever and when I told them, they would always look at the jelly jars and ask, “What are these?” “Those are the wine glasses”, I used to say.

It wasn’t until I went to Italy the first time back in 1999 that I saw the 4 ounce jars again sitting on the tables and being used for wine. They were called wine tumblers. Fancy that. I really like the Riedel tumblers, like these:

These are much better than my old jelly glasses. You know, I gradually broke all but two of the jelly jars and the company that sold them went out of business, so I needed to find a replacement. I turned to Riedel for special occasions. I also had a part time job in college at a restaurant supply store and they sold cheap wine glasses by the case. I got three cases. These lasted for a long time and when I was no longer in college and my collection was getting down, I was on the prowl for more wine glasses.

I went back to Riedel glasses since they seemed to be “the” wine glass to have. I only got six glasses since a case was over $100 and a little too rich for me at that time. (And still is.) These were very nice glasses but they also broke very easily. Pretty soon I was back out looking for wine glasses.

I went into Pier 1 and found a nice wine glass. It was sturdy, low to the table so it would not tip, and fairly thick. I bought 12 for about $1.50 each.

When I was the Wine Editor for Bella Online, I purchased two magnum Riedel glasses for $9.50 each. They have a nice bowl, a not too long stem and a solid base. We do all of our tasting and wine reviews using these two wine glasses.

I have had them for about four months now and so far so good. They are made of glass however. So they are a little more durable than the crystal Riedels I had earlier.

Get two or four glasses. Use them for sipping, tasting and testing. Get a cheap dozen at Pier 1 for everyday use and when friends come over to check out your cellar.

Want to share tips, advice, and opinions? Why not comment on this article and let other readers know.

Until next time, let me know what is on your mind, and how you are doing, O.K.?

While I am not one of them, there are many people who will say that they know everything there is to know about wines. Unfortunately unless you are a wine aficionado, a wine grower or an expert in wine tasting you will have a very limited idea of the many differences that are present in wines. This is alright as many of us just drink the various wines that we have without thinking any further. To help us learn more about wines we can take a small class I call Your First Wine Class – Wine 101.

This class will just touch on a few ideas in wines. To get more information I would suggest you visit wineries and ask questions from the winery tour guides, look for the information that you require on the internet, read some books on wine tasting and other wine subjects. A good first book, that is still in print is one by Jancis Robinson. You can get a copy at Barnes & Noble or any fine bookseller.

These are just introductions into the many differences that you will find as you sample different wines.

In Wine 101 the first thing that you will have to understand is that red wines have a different taste from white wines and you will need to taste both of these to learn the various differences. Once you have learned this fact you will need to purchase a few white wines and a few red wines so you can conduct your own Wine 101 tasting class.

If you have purchased wine in the past, and you always get the same brand, branch out and try something different. If you buy California, buy a few wines from Spain, Italy or Argentina. If, for example, you decide to buy from Argentina, get two reds and two whites.

The next step in the tasting of the wine is to pour some wine into a glass. Depending on the wine, you may need to let it breathe for 30 or 60 minutes. If you are unsure about this step, ask the wine merchant where you buy the wine about letting it breathe. Swirl the wine in the glass so that the wine and all of the substances in the wine have a chance to meld. You will need to hold the wine up to the light and see how long it takes for the leg of the wine to pour back into the bottom of the glass. The legs of the wine will tell you about the quality of the wine.

The next stage in Wine 101 is the nose. In other words, you need to smell the wine. Here you will need to first take a quick sniff. From this sniff you should try and identify the various flavors that may be present in the wine. Once you have decided what these flavors might be, you should swirl the wine once more so that everything is once again thoroughly mixed together.

You must be prepared to step into the next part of Wine 101. This is where you will take a small sip of the wine, hold it for a few minutes and savor all of the flavors. When these flavors are present in your mouth the wine should be allowed to slide into your waiting throat. Now savor the full taste of your glass of wine.

Jim Fortune – The Wine Sleuth

I never really gave much thought to a wine ranking system before.
This is because what I think is a good wine might be a terrible wine to someone else. But as time went on, I found that I had a nose for good wines and people often asked me, “What do you think of such-in-such wine.” Sure, I was flattered. But when I told people I thought such-in-such wine was pretty good and many agreed with me, I got to thinking, that maybe I should have some sort of ranking of the wines I tasted. This was also true when I told someone that a particular wine was not worth buying, and they bought it anyway. Some time later, they would remark that I was correct about the wine I said to avoid – that it was terrible.

I never got A’s on my report card until I went to college. High school was mostly C’s and D’s. And since I never got anything higher than a C in high school, I decided my ranking system would consist of only A’s.

I can give a wine five A’s. You’ll note under the title are the five A’s. I count Above Average as one A. Each A has the same rank or weight. A one A wine will most likely be Above Average. But I an not going to bother giving a wine one A; most will be a minimum of two A’s, and there will be many three A wines.