Decanting in the Chronicle
The Chronicle has a reasonably useful article about decanting wine. The article correctly states that it's probably something that intimidates people, and goes on to describe a controversy that I didn't know was there: whether or not oxygen actually softens tannins.
The article has a couple of important omissions. They bill Ronn Wiegand as "the editor of Restaurant Wine" without also noting that he's one of the three people in the world to hold both a Master of Wine and a Master Sommelier. I would think those qualifications would carry more weight with readers than being the editor of a magazine most of them don't take. I also note that they only listed two of the reasons for decanting wine: removing sediment and aerating the liquid. Christie Dufault stumped a room full of wine professionals when she asked us to name a third reason. After we hemmed and hawed and looked around nervously, she reminded us of a purely aesthetic reason: Wine looks gorgeous when pooled in a decanter. Certainly Melissa and I like the look (though we don't decant all that often), and when we were in Germany, I commented to the server in our hotel's restaurant that I really enjoyed watching him decant: It's such a pleasure to see it done well.
- Wine And Roommates
Some of you veteran OWF readers may dimly remember that I write for other publications. Some of you may also remember that I occasionally write for this one. Ha ha. Yesterday, my article about managing roommates and wine tastes appeared in the San Francisco...
- The Art Of Decanting
A few years back, I took a one-day CIA class named State of the Art Professional Wine Service. Not all the lessons stuck: To this day I have a 10 percent chance of pulling out a cork with an Ah-So opener and a 90 percent chance of shoving it into the...
- Learning To Serve
When the Culinary Institute of America opened its Greystone campus, the school decided to offer a wine program in addition to the normal food classes. The campus is well positioned for a comprehensive program: it's in St. Helena in the Napa Valley,...
- Mastering Wine
The New York Times has an article (free registration required) about people studying for the Master of Wine exam. I occasionally harbor fantasies of going for this, and the article doesn't dissuade me, just gives me an idea of what I'm up against....
- Wine And Cheese
So I've been advocating white wine with most cheeses for a little while now, which goes against the normally accepted pairings. Melissa and I tried this after I saw a couple of good sources argue for it, and we've been pretty happy with our experiments....