Enjoying Wines

Wines Manager answers:

When in doubt get the beer out.

Wines Manager answers:

Pick up a nice cheap sauvignon blanc. It’s crisp and light. Unlike chardonnay which is too oaky and buttery for me now. Not unless you want your chicken dish to taste like you dipped it in a vat of butter! Hee. Other good light choices are pinot gris or pinot grigio.

Wines Manager answers:

My prime was in the 70′s. I did a lot of wine & cheese, fruit parties with people.. Often outside on patios, as I remember; but also in the Winter with music. More white in the Summer, red on Winter evenings. I don’t think I ever went to a restaurant for that. It doesn’t seem the fashion so much anymore where I now live (115,000 city in the Midwest). Where I am, cocktails or full dinner parties are more back, when someone wants to be more formal.. And BBQs/grilling (with beer) when someone wants to be more casual. My wine is more in a restaurant with a dinner now, and usually red. Haven’t done the fruit & cheese thing for a long time, and it used to be nice..
Especially when I lived in San Francisco..

Wines Manager answers:

A good French Chablis, it goes great with warm cheese. The cheese will coat your mouth and you need something a little tangy to break it. The only problem will be the wine will cost more the your grilled cheese sandwich….Enjoy!

Wines Manager answers:

Chiabatta
pumpernickel
brioche
tuscano white

p.s. Chiabattas come with ALL kinds of herbs mixed in them.. Try different ones with different cheeses

Wines Manager answers:

Go here: http://www.localwineevents.com/Chicago-Wine/

They have a list of events in and around Chicago. They sound like a blast. I use it to see if there are any around where I reside. Lol

Wines Manager answers:

To set up a wine tasting first pick as broad or specific a theme as you like. Beginning tasters might select several wines from a different varietal (grape type) to demonstrate the differences between them. Another option is to choose several wines made from a single varietal to show how a grape type can yield different-tasting wines depending on where the vineyards are located. More experienced tasters hold “vertical” tastings, where wines of a single vineyard or winery in a range of vintages are sampled to determine the best vintage years.
The number of wines served at a tasting varies, but eight to ten is typical. To avoid being influenced by perceptions based on label information, hide the identities of the wines by covering the bottles with foil or placing them in bags sealed with elastic bands or tape. Use numbers or letters for identification (a “blind” tasting). Also provide drinking water, bread or crackers, paper and writing utensils, and containers or “spit buckets” for spitting or dumping excess wine.

At an informal tasting, guests can sample the wines and discuss them one at a time. This saves on glasses and cleanup. Or, to compare the wines side-by-side, serve them in a “flight” (a group of wines for tasting), which requires each person be supplied with a glass for each wine tasted. To serve, pour a small portion–one to two ounces–into clean stemware. If there are both whites and reds to taste, serve the whites first. When everyone has finished tasting the flight, it’s time to discuss the wines. Don’t hesitate to express your opinions. Even inexperienced tasters can be uncannily accurate when it comes to wine.

Click on this Wine Tasting picture to learn how to get Wine Tasting Invitation Postcards

Scoring the wines or naming favorites will yield a group consensus on the best wines of the bunch. The results can be surprising, such as when the least expensive wine takes top honors.

Http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art33071.asp

http://www.expertrating.com/quizzes/Wine-Etiquette-Quiz.asp

http://www.drvino.com/winequiz2005.php

http://www.wineeducation.com/quiz/quizl/quizl.html

http://www.dewijnhoek.com/engdewijnhoek/spel2.html

Wines Manager answers:

The Tasting Room
1415 W Randolph St

http://www.thetastingroomchicago.com/main.html