© It'sGreg


One of the nice things about wine is the way it blends so well with the many different aspects of life. Sure, you can drink wine from crystal goblets while eating agneau à l'ail et romarin (a lamb dish with rosemary and garlic) off of fine Haviland porcelain. But you can also drink it while you watch March Madness on ESPN and eat chips and salsa...

I recently spent some time redoing the dining room of my home. It's a fine old house and the dining room is graced with French doors that look out onto a backyard that includes a small stream and a view of the nearby range of mountains. The room is trimmed with oak facings along the edges of the doors and it has a fairly ancient oak floor in the room - craftsmanship that did not include nails as far as I can tail. The floors where impressive, but had suffered over the years.

The task of wood floor refinishing was actually easier than I thought it would be. Everyday I dedicated an hour or so that room. Then I would open the French doors and sit on the deck with a glass of Chardonnay - and enjoy the sunset.

Tuscany is a beautiful place. Anyone who tells you different is either lying or French.

I love Chianti. The Chianti hills of Italy, between Florence and Siena, nurture some exquisite grapes that produce one of the best wines in the world, in my opinion. Chianti wines are made primarily with Sangiovese grapes, but juice from Canaiolo, Cabernet, Merlot and/or Syrah grapes can also be put into the mix, along with a small amount of white grape juice.

Chianti is a full bodied, slightly tannic, dry red table wine. The taste and bouquet of Chianti can vary. The wine varies from a ruby red to almost brown in color. Depending on the exact blends of juices put into the wine and what sort of cask it was aged it, the wine is often described as having flavors and aromas of blueberry, cherry, strawberry, orange peel, or plum mixed with cinnamon, clove, violets and/or thyme.

The Chianti wine growing region is about 65 square miles. You could tour it over the course of a weekend. Or you could live here. I can picture myself staying in a small hostel, roaming the towns looking for a small printing shop. Think if the beautiful colors and charm of small Tuscan villages as a backdrop. I do a little flyer printing and most handouts in Italian: Will tend grapes in exchange for wine...

Patience is a virtue, but not one of mine. I love my red wine, but sometimes I just don't want to wait for it to air out after I opened it. Why can't I drink it right now?!

Someone else must have had the same impatient thoughts as me, because now you can buy a spiffy little wine aerator to make your red wine instantly drinkable. An aerator is a little fist-sized device that you pour your wine through. It forces air bubbles into the wine, mixing and breathing it almost instantly. Your wine will open up all its aromas and flavors in a matter of seconds. (Some people claim aerators are even better than just letting your wine breathe naturally.)

Aerators started showing up in classy restaurants a few years ago. I first saw one at a churrascaria. After ordering a robust syrah our waiter demonstrated their new aerator. I even asked where I could buy one and he wrote down the brand and website.

A year or so later I visited the same restaurant, promptly ordered a bottle of wine, and waited for the aerator. None came. I asked this waiter why they didn't bright it out. He told me that they stopped using them only a month after they bought them. The diners complained that they ruined the experience. See, the aerator makes a peculiar sucking noise, like the last bit of water draining out of your bath tub. It's not loud and only lasts a second but fine-dining restaurants across the country stopped using the unique accessory.

So if you enjoy red wine and a silly noise won't ruin your evening, go out and get an aerator, they cost about $20 bucks.

© Pink Sherbet Photography


Valentine's Day has come and gone, but that doesn't mean the romance has to go out of your wine cellar. Here are a few subtly romantic wines that you can test out on a sweetie any time of year.

Raspberry Chocolate Port from D'Vine Winery - If you like something dark and sweet at the end of the evening this sensual port might fit your needs. A little heavy on taste and alcohol, you can enjoy this port alone or with chocolate.

7 Deadly Zins - Need some spice in your love life? Try this sinfully delicious zinfandel with the quirky name. This wine is a mix of seven "Lodi" Zinfandels. The peppery flavors are strong in this drink, but balanced by dark fruit.

St. Michelle Eroica Reisling (2007 recommended) - This cool reisling will make you sit up and take notice. If you're interested in something a little different, with a bright crisp taste to sip with someone you care about, give Eroica a try. (Plus, you gotta love the name.)

Champagne Dom Pérignon (2000 recommended) - An old standby, maybe, but still this romantic champagne might adds an extra note of exquisite to any special night. A little pricy perhaps, but worth every cent. Complex layers of fruit stand out in this champagne, particularly golden apple. Except a sharp and bright sensation when you sip it.

What wines swept you off your feet this Valentine's Day? Share your romantic secrets in the comments!

While you might think of wine as something you taste, the simple truth is that a wine's aroma has a great deal to do with our perception of how it tastes.

I found a piece recently by Stacy Slinkard that reminded of the importance of aroma (or bouquet) in the wine experience. While the tongue has a relatively limited repertoire of tastes (combinations of sweet, sour, acidic, and bitter), the nose detects a much larger array of identifable fragrances. And our brain tends to blend sensory input into perceptions we call experience.

Alot of things contribute to a wine's aroma.

In general, a wine's "aroma," or "nose," is the smell of the wine in the glass. The aroma can be floral, citrus, fruity, vegetal, earthy or any number of familiar scents depending on the grape varietal used, the winemaking process implemented and the wine's storage conditions.

If you're not paying attention toa wine's aroma, you're mising much of the experience.