Occasionally answer (points if correct):

The best conditions for wine storage and maturation

According to tradition, dark, damp and cold cellars are the best conditions for storing wine. The best place, but it is not easy to find such a space in modern city life. The island is said to be like spring all year round, but the temperature is too high to allow wine to grow slowly in the cool constant temperature. For wine lovers, in addition to drinking the wine they bought as soon as possible, installing an automatic-adjusting wine storage cabinet seems to be the only solution. Despite this, the following provides the best conditions for storing wine, so that those who are interested can cherish their love for wine.

Temperature

The ideal temperature in a wine cellar is about 11 degrees Celsius, but the most important thing is that the temperature needs to be constant and stable, because the thermal expansion and contraction caused by temperature changes are the most It is easy for the wine to seep out of the cork and accelerate the oxidation of the wine. Therefore, as long as a constant temperature of 5 to 20 degrees Celsius can be maintained, it is acceptable. However, a wine cellar that is too cold will cause the wine to grow slowly and require a longer wait. If it is too hot, the wine will mature too quickly and will be less rich and delicate. Generally, the temperature control effect of the underground wine cellar is the best, and the entrance is best set in the back of the sun to avoid affecting the temperature when entering and exiting.

Humidity

A humidity of about 70% is optimal for wine storage. If it is too wet, the cork and the wine label will easily rot. If it is too dry, the cork will lose its elasticity and cannot be tightened. Seal the bottle.

Lightness

It is best not to leave any light in the wine cellar, because light can easily cause the wine to deteriorate. In particular, fluorescent lamps and neon lights can easily cause the wine to undergo reduction changes, emitting a heavy and difficult-to-emit wine. The smell. Champagne and white wine are the most sensitive to light, so be especially careful.

Ventilation

Wine is like a sponge, often absorbing surrounding smells into the bottle. It is best to ventilate the wine cellar to prevent the musty smell from being too strong. In addition, avoid putting onions, garlic and other strong-flavored things together with wine. For those who are used to hiding wine in the refrigerator, it is best not to store it for too long to prevent the smell of the refrigerator from penetrating into the wine.

Vibration

Even though there is not much scientific basis, wine lovers generally believe that excessive vibration will affect the quality of wine. For example, wine after long-distance transportation must be aged for several days. The best proof is that time can stabilize its quality, so try to avoid moving the wine around or placing it in places with frequent vibrations, especially old wines.

Placement

The traditional way of placing wine is to place the wine flat so that the wine and cork are in contact to keep it moist. Because the dry and shrunken cork completely seals the bottle mouth, it is easy for the wine to oxidize. However, recent research has found that the air retained in the bottle is the main cause of the wine flowing out of the bottle due to thermal expansion and contraction. The traditional flat laying method will increase this effect. It is best to place the wine at a 45° angle so that the cork is in contact with the wine and the air in the bottle at the same time to avoid two dangers. However, this method is relatively inconvenient and has not been widely adopted.

Wine has a magical function. It is like a kind of magic water, which can make people fascinated, obsessed, and relaxed. A good wine, like a work of art, can cultivate people's sentiments and enrich their material and spiritual lives. Some people say that the lack of wine in life will make people's lives dull, like the lack of sunshine in the bright spring, and the lack of the moon on the fifteenth night.

The Art of Wine Tasting: Since a good wine is a work of art, to appreciate the work of art, you need to have a certain degree of artistic accomplishment. Wine tasting is the science that studies the artistic appreciation of wine. Because wine is for people to drink, to be intoxicated and to appreciate, sensory tasting of wine is an important means to identify the quality of wine.

Wine tasting is both a science and an art. It is undoubtedly necessary for all human beings to learn a little knowledge about wine tasting. For the majority of wine consumers, roughly learning some knowledge about wine tasting can improve their ability to appreciate wine and gain greater enjoyment and satisfaction in the process of drinking wine.

To fully enjoy the pleasure of wine, you should pay attention to the following points:

⒈ Suitable wine tasting environment

⒉ Choose the right wine Wine utensils

⒊ Correct wine serving

⒋ Accurate wine tasting

⒌ Excellent wine buying skills

⒍ Appropriate Wine storage

What needs to be added here is that drinking is a kind of enjoyment in life, so there is no need to be too particular about it. Paying attention to everything will only detract from the real pleasure of drinking. Our suggestion is actually very simple: we "taste wine for the sake of tasting wine". Although it is beneficial to know "how to pay attention", we must take all the rules seriously. It is not necessary to do so. The best way is to make a compromise: where we can pay attention, we will do our best; if there are no conditions, there is no need to delve into it. Therefore, the following is just a suggestion. Readers do not need to stick to the form, because drinking wine is actually a romantic enjoyment. If you care too much, the fun will be lost!

The world’s largest wine-producing country

If you ask which country is the world’s largest wine-producing country, I believe many people will rush to answer France.

Wrong! Don’t think that France has many kinds of beautiful wine products. Take wine as an example. The red wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy have the reputation of being the king of wines and the queen of wines respectively. In addition, champagne is especially the best in the world, and cognac and Armagnac. It is also highly praised by drinkers around the world, but France's fine wines are only due to the government's strict control, not its achievements in terms of production. Italy, which produces a lot and exports a lot, should be considered the champion.

The Italians, like other southern Europeans, are particularly fond of red wine. They still grow and produce a large amount of white wine. Almost all of the latter is exported, and red wine is also exported in large quantities. . Even France purchases a lot of barreled wine from Italy every year. As for its use, I don't mind. The production of France and Italy actually only accounts for half of the world's total wine production. However, Australia and California in the United States have spared no effort in wine production and have even lowered their proportion. Australia and California in the United States have spared no effort in the production of wine, and have even lowered their proportion. And amazing.

However, although Italy produces a lot of wine and brings in astonishing foreign exchange figures, it is not yet the world's largest wine-producing country. The real throne is actually Argentina. Argentina's wine seems to have no place in the world's wine world. This is not because it specializes in "bad wine" but is actually very good. On the contrary, the quality of Argentina's wine is just that the local people are too fond of alcohol and they cannot sell enough if they produce too much. The output cannot exceed that of Italy.

General rules for matching wine and food

Now that we are talking about drinking, we must talk about the matching of wine and food. I have my reasons for postponing this topic until now.

The reason is very simple: there are many words about "wine and food pairing", and some people even list many of the "rules" involved. However, there are also people who advocate "taking it as it comes" and even think that the most suitable wine to accompany food is It's the kind of wine you just "wanted to drink". So I thought it might be most appropriate for us to look at this issue with a certain attitude through the knowledge of wine.

First, let’s take a look at the generally accepted drinking rules.

Let’s look at this issue a little more carefully. Because there are always several different dishes in a meal (no matter Chinese or Western food), we have to open several bottles of different wines to match these different dishes.

I just came back from participating in the "Wine Week" in Siena, Italy, and had several wine-based meals that took three hours to finish. Such a meal may have multiple courses, and when each course is served, the wine waiter will open a bottle or two of different wines to accompany the dish. During a meal, the wine to accompany the meal is served first, followed by the wine before and after the meal. You may drink as many as ten or eight kinds of wine!

In Hong Kong, Petrus Restaurant has repeatedly held famous wine dinners, with the cost of a meal per customer reaching more than NT$20,000! Not to mention that 90% or more is the price of wine! This kind of banquet is better said to be a meal with wine than a meal with wine. However, no matter how expensive a bottle of wine is, there is always food that the wine should be paired with. For example: CH. Latour is served with red meat, and CH. d'Yquem is served with dessert or foie gras. There are always some "rules".

When it comes to matching fine wine with delicacies (or ordinary wine with rough dishes), we should not say which one is the "master". The purpose of using wine to accompany meals is, on the one hand, to increase enjoyment, and on the other hand, it is also necessary to Meals?quot;make food taste better. Drinking good wine "supplemented with delicious food" will greatly increase your enjoyment of wine tasting.

What are the rules to follow when opening multiple bottles of wine to accompany different dishes during a meal? Your enjoyment of wine tasting will also be greatly enhanced.

First, open the white wine first and then the red wine, which is also consistent with the rule of "fish first, meat later" when eating Western food.

Second, if you open two or more bottles of red wine, you should drink the new wine first and then the old wine. The older the wine, the later it will be drunk.

Third, if you open two or more bottles of liquor, you should drink the "dry" one first, and then the "sweet" one in sequence.

Fourth, generally speaking, red wine should be paired with red meat, and white wine should be paired with fish or white meat (such as chicken).

Fifth, even just "red wine with red meat" is also very particular.

If you are using two different bottles of red wine to accompany two different red meat dishes, then the red wine with a mellower body should be used to accompany the meat with a lighter flavor. For example, when eating "braised" or "stewed" meat, you should choose Burgundy red wine or a softer Bordeaux wine (such as St. Emilion or Pomerol). When eating game and meat with thick sauce, you should choose a red wine with sufficient body (boby) and richness, such as Rhone or mature Medoc, or Brunellodi Motalcino, the king of Italian red wines.

These are the so-called "rules". There are just as many rules as there are exceptions. Sometimes many of these exceptions make you feel that "all the rules are worse than no rules at all."

Exceptions are often caused by cooking methods. For example, braised chicken in white sauce may be served with Chardonny white wine, but the famous French dish Coq au Vin (braised chicken in red wine) should be paired with red wine, preferably the same red wine used to braise the chicken.

The reason is simple. The red wine sauce in this dish can make the chicken taste as rich as red meat.

The key is the sauce of a dish. There are many innovations in haute cuisine nowadays, even when cooking seafood, it is done with gravy or red wine sauce.

"How to pair wine with sauce" is a very important factor. This factor is no less important than the consideration of "red meat and white meat".

Poultry can be prepared with different sauces, and wine should be considered based on the sauce. Sometimes both red and white wine are suitable.

However, some sauces are the natural enemies of wine. For example, extremely spicy Sichuan food juice will numb your taste buds, and you won't be able to taste the real taste of fine wine.

Another example is when foreigners use tomatoes to make sauce. The acidity of tomatoes also wastes good wine in vain. When encountering this kind of strong sauce, we should only choose cheap wine to pair with it. From another perspective, if you want to drink good wine, it is not suitable to "match" this kind of food.

A suitable environment for wine tasting

An atmosphere

Neither the sunlight nor the lights should be too strong, and there should be no noise (including strong sounds and music). The air is fresh and the walls should be in light colors that create a relaxing atmosphere.

Wine tasting should be carried out when the stomach is relatively empty, the senses are sensitive, not busy, and the spirit and mood are good.

Choose two tablecloths

Whether it is red wine or white wine, it will have different colors depending on the place of origin and the age of the wine: white wine can be light green, light yellow or golden yellow. Red wine can be violet, purple (ruby red). In order to make their respective beautiful and pure colors appear, the choice of tablecloth is not random. Dark tablecloths will affect the perception of the color of the wine, so white or pink tablecloths are appropriate.

Three Wine Temperatures

Wine must be served at the temperature that best reflects its value. A temperature that is too low will suppress the aroma and flavor, and a temperature that is too high will cause the wine to lose its freshness. At the same time, the wine should be tasted at a relatively constant temperature; a wine temperature that is not likely to fatigue the senses should be selected.

Usually, the sensitive temperature of human tongue is 15~30℃, and the most sensitive temperature of taste is 21~31℃. Low temperature can paralyze the tongue; high temperature can give the tongue pain.

The relationship between the intensity of various flavors and temperature changes is not the same. Generally, the sweetness of sweet ingredients gradually increases from low temperature to 37°C, and gradually weakens above 37°C, but glycine still maintains a relatively constant sweetness when the temperature changes; sour ingredients range from 10 to 14°C. The degree of sourness expressed remains basically unchanged; the bitter and salty components weaken as the temperature increases.

Generally speaking, young wines should be served at a lower temperature than older wines.

Each type of wine has its ideal serving temperature. In principle, it is a generally accepted fact that white wine and red wine should be served chilled. If the temperature of red wine can be controlled appropriately, the flavor will be better. Under such circumstances, cold wine is dominant in Germany, forming a trend. Especially for red wine, the temperature at which people drink it is no longer the same temperature as before, especially to maintain its lightness and bright color. When drinking fresh, light liquor, its temperature will be cooler than when drinking stronger liquor.

To lower the temperature of wine, it is most convenient to put the entire bottle of wine into an ice bucket made of half ice and half water. After fifteen to twenty minutes, the temperature will drop from more than 20 degrees to below 10 degrees. , if you want the temperature to drop faster, you can sprinkle a large amount of coarse salt in the ice water. If you think the temperature is too low, take out the wine and place it next to the ice bucket.

In addition, we can also put the white wine in the lower layer of the refrigerator, where the temperature is about 4 degrees Celsius. Take the wine out before drinking, and the temperature will rise slightly. Then pour the wine into a cup, and the temperature will rise again. rise rapidly again.

For unsweet white sparkling wine, the drinking temperature is the coldest, but you still can’t feel your hands getting too cold when pouring the wine. The temperature should be about 5-6 degrees Celsius, otherwise the tongue will not be able to truly feel the temperature of the wine. As for the sweet sparkling wine, it is the same as red champagne when drinking, which is higher. Sparkling wine cannot be cooled with small ice cubes, as such a rapid cooling method will destroy the original flavor of the valuable wine. General refrigerator temperatures will not diminish the flavor of sparkling wine. In order to keep the wine bottle at ice temperature on the table, it is also a feasible method to put it into a champagne cooling bucket filled with small ice cubes.

In France, you also taste cold naturally sweet white wine, the temperature is about 5 degrees Celsius. The drinking temperature of liquor is also quite low, about 6 to 7 degrees Celsius for light liquor, and about 10 degrees for liquor with higher alcohol content. Good-quality liquor, which is of recent vintage and has good acidity, has the best drinking flavor when the temperature is 8 degrees. For wines with higher alcohol content, the most suitable drinking temperature is between 11 and 13 degrees depending on the vintage and grape type. The drinking temperature of sherry (10-12 degrees) is lower than that of port and Madeira (13-15 degrees). A low-vintage, light red wine, such as a fresh French bourguignon. For example, Ringer wine and Italian red wine are also drunk when they are colder and have a better flavor. Red wine with heavier alcohol content should be served at a slightly higher temperature, between 14 and 16 degrees Celsius, which is most suitable. German grain-selected and grain-selected dry wines can best spread their aroma when the temperature is between 14 and 18 degrees. The warmest wines to drink are mature and concentrated Burgundy wines, Bordeaux wines, and precious wines of the same vintage produced in other countries. However, one thing that needs to be noted is that when the wine is served, the temperature should not be too high, that is, the temperature of the wine should not be higher than 20 degrees at room temperature. When taking out red wine that has been refrigerated in the wine cellar, never place it next to a heating device to warm the wine.

Put the cold wine in a normal room for 2 to 3 hours to allow it to slowly warm up, which will better maintain its own flavor.

These [rules] may seem a bit complicated, but they are not. Simply remember that the drinking temperature of wine is directly proportional to its purity.

Also, can people objectively determine the temperature of wine? There are many kinds of thermometers on the market. After some practice, you will be able to measure the correct temperature.

Set cold wine on the table before drinking, or store the wine in a cooling bucket with ice. People will open the wine before tasting it. When drinking red wine, the bottle has usually been opened for nearly an hour, so that the characteristics of the wine can be brought out and the essence of the wine can be revealed.