8 Things You Really Didn't Know
ABOUT WINE
I certainly didn't, and believe me: if anyone should know a lot about wine, it's me. Anyway. How did all this come about? We threw a party and asked Grapedistrict if they could supply some bottles of wine. They were happy to, but they wanted something in return.
The return favor was a wine tasting with readers in their shop on Amsterdam's Amstelveenseweg. Seems like a fine return favor to me.
We tasted nine types of wine (from rosé cava through light white to the heaviest red) and immediately got ‘wine lessons’ from Gijs, one of the founders.
1. The heavier and fuller the wine, the thicker you get from it
Yes sorry, that one came from me. I like my glass of white as thick and drippy as possible. Answer from Gijs the wine expert; the higher the alcohol percentage, the thicker you get from it.
2. You can also make white wine from red grapes
You can't make red wine from white grapes, but the other way around works just fine. You just need to remove the skin, but the inside is perfect for a bottle of white.
3. Champagne is actually very cheap
When you think about it, that's true. The champagne region is very small, so the grapes that grow there are incredibly expensive. Don't hold me to it, but you need at least fourteen euros worth of grapes before you can even start on that bottle. Moreover, the champagne yield is extremely low, which means there is very strict oversight on the vines, the quality of the grapes, and the fermentation process. When you think about it, it's a bargain.
4. Cava is a method of production
Champagne is the name of the region that is attributed to a product, cava is the name of the method of production. Cava is therefore made all over Spain.
5. Cava is also overly luxurious
If it really has to be chic and luxurious, I find it a bit poor to serve cava or prosecco. It feels like a cheaper version of champagne. Nonsense according to our fresh wine friends, there are also bottles of cava that cost hundreds of euros. Only cava has a small ‘image problem’ because everyone thinks that if it has to be luxurious, you need champagne.
6. We have a wrong idea of room temperature
We always say that red wine should be at room temperature, but that's wrong. In the past, when we didn't have central heating and were shivering in front of the stove, the room temperature for humans was less pleasant but perfect for the wine. Red wine thrives best at an ambient temperature of 17 degrees. So put the bottle in the utility room, hallway, or cellar to get it to the right temperature.
7. Different bottles of the same type should not be in one glass
I often find that we drink a certain wine and then order another bottle, and the waiter pours that bottle into the glass I was already drinking from.
I was always taught that this is not proper, but it also happens in really good restaurants. The guys from Grapedistrict had an answer. In principle, you can assume that bottles from the same house, from the same year, and from the same grape have had a similar ‘life’ and therefore taste the same. But...
The older the wine, the greater the chance that a separate process has started in the bottle. Moreover, the temperature of what you have in your glass and what is being poured in is not the same. So it's better to wait until your glass is empty before being refilled or to get a new glass.
8. You probably didn't know this either
If you order a second bottle of the same wine, you don't have to taste it yourself, but the waiter can do that for you. You find the wine tasty, it turns out. And he will now check if everything is ‘technically’ in order.
Those were my lessons in wine. One could actually get thirsty from it. Is it already time for drinks somewhere?
