Tag: Food & Drink

Knocking back a stiff drink at the end of a long day makes us kinder, happier, and better looking, but could it be good for our bodies too? When most cultures clink glasses, they say the equivalent of “to health!” It’s santé in France, salute in Italy, and salud in Spain. So why do Americans endlessly debate the health effects of alcohol? Perhaps it’s because we are an all-or-nothing society yet to learn the art of moderation. Or perhaps it’s because the minute one study reveals alcohol’s health benefits, another one tells us that it will be our downfall. It’s hard to make sense of it all, so here’s a look at the pros and cons of one of our favorite pastimes.

Good news first. Studies distilled, moderate drinkers are found up to 25 percent less likely to develop heart disease than nondrinkers. Alcohol has been documented to increase HDLs (“good” cholesterol), which prevent blood clots and reduce the risks of heart attack and stroke. Other studies show that moderate drinking keeps our aging brains sharp, decreasing the risk of vascular dementia (mental decline that develops because of clogged blood vessels to the brain).

Now the buzz kill. Just as our mothers and Dr. Oz always tell us, moderation is key. Most studies define moderate drinking as a drink (see Boozespeak 101) a day for women and up to two drinks a day for men (they often weigh more and possess more of the enzyme responsible for metabolizing alcohol). The type of alcohol doesn’t seem to matter. Beer, wine, moonshine—whatever your poison, the results remain consistent.

So why does red wine get all of the heart-healthy attention? Grape skins contain polyphenols, or natural plant components that provide color and flavor. Polyphenols are either flavonoids or non-flavonoids, and flavonoids are thought to have antioxidant effects. A flavonoid called resveratrol has been linked to protecting the lining of blood vessels, reducing bad cholesterol, preventing blood clots, and lowering the risk for diabetes and obesity. Most resveratrol research has been conducted on mice, though, and for a human to get the same dose used in the mice studies, she would have to drink over 60 liters of red wine every day. (I’m available for that study should it ever get approved.) Eating red or purple grapes (and drinking their nonfermented juices) may also work, but that’s not nearly as much fun. Resveratrol supplements are sold, but aren’t easily absorbed by the body, so you’d basically be paying for a pricey pee.

Finally, the bad news. Excessive drinking increases the risk of high blood pressure, high triglycerides, liver damage, obesity, certain cancers, depression, and accidents (from the vehicular to the embarrassing). And we don’t need to be told what it can do to a developing fetus.

Confused yet? There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to drinking for health—it depends on the person, his family history, and his proximity to a karaoke bar. Bottom line is that while no doctor will recommend that a nondrinker start drinking to reduce the risk of heart disease, she’ll say “down the hatch” to those of us who already enjoy a daily drink. Just don’t take this as your prescription to go on a bender.

Virginia grapes take on the Big Apple
On Monday, January 30, Jefferson Vineyards winemaker Andy Reagan pairs his wines with a seven-course, sold-out dinner cooked by Peter Chang in honor of the Chinese New Year at New York City’s James Beard House. “It is a tremendous honor to be invited to pour our wine alongside a world-renowned chef at a world-renowned venue,” said Reagan. “Pouring for 80 diners in a market like New York will bring great exposure to the Virginia wine industry.”

Since it’s likely to be many of the guests’ first time drinking Virginia wine (and certainly their first time drinking it with authentic Sichuan cuisine), pairings like Reserve Chardonnay 2007 with steamed cod with lotus leaf and Meritage 2008 with Chairman Mao’s favorite braised pork are bound to enlighten and delight.

Best in show
The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition awarded Barboursville Vineyards’ 2008 Cabernet Franc Reserve “Best In Class” this year over 97 other domestic entrants. Asked about the award, winemaker Luca Paschina said, “Again, a Virginia wine has reached world class recognition on its own merit, in a blind setting. It is a great time for people involved in our industry to be proud, celebrate, and yet not be surprised of the achievement.” Barboursville also took medals for its 2010 Viognier Reserve and its 2007 Octagon.

We all know from cleaning out the fridge after a vacation that wine’s ability to improve with age sets it apart from other consumable goods. But not all wine gets better with time. More than 90 percent of the wine produced is consumed within a year of bottling, and drinking many wines beyond a year or two often compromises the fruity flush of their youths.

So how do you know when to drink what? For that minority of age-worthy wines, ordinary chemistry dictates how long they should remain in your cellar before gracing the table. Over time, in the presence of a minute amount of oxygen (some enters during bottling and more continues to enter through the slightly porous cork), red wine’s tannins (the bitter tasting compounds found in the grapes’ seeds, skins, and stems) change from short-chain polymers to longer, thicker ones that come off less intense to the receptors in our mouth responsible for detecting tannin. In simpler terms, tannins mellow out with age. Pigmented compounds, called anthocyanins, also form thicker strands and, together with the tannins, become so heavy that they precipitate as sediment—the reason older red wines often need decanting.

As the tannins and anthocyanins ease up, the primary fruit aromas also recede, giving rise to more secondary and tertiary (non-fruit) aromas. For science geeks, this occurs from the oxidation of wine’s aldehydes (part alcohol and part organic acid) into esters, or the wine’s bouquet. Common examples of secondary and tertiary aromas that develop in aging wines include damp forest floor in Pinot Noir and saddle leather in Cabernet Sauvignon.

The ringmaster keeping everything in line is acidity. Wine meant for aging needs a lively streak of it—so much so that drinking it young would make your face twitch and contort. Without acidity, old wine tastes old and dusty. With it, even a 30-year-old bottle tastes fresh as a daisy.

Sweetness helps a wine stand the test of time too (just as it does in jam and other preserved fruits). Wines like Sauternes and late-harvest (see Winespeak 101) Riesling, for instance, have staying power, and when alcohol is added on top of sweetness (as in Port and Madeira), you’ve got a 50-plus-year shelf-life.

So which wines should you tuck away for a rainy day a decade from now? Wines containing a lot of fruit, acid, and tannin will age better than those with low or moderate amounts. Generally, these are more expensive wines ($30 and up) and are likely to include vintage-dated Champagne, Riesling, Loire Valley Chenin Blanc, high-end White Burgundy (Chardonnay), reds from Bordeaux (blends of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and cabernet franc), Burgundy (pinot noir), Nebbiolo-based wines (Barolo, Barbaresco, etc.), Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley, and syrah-based Rhône Valley wines like Hermitage. This is by no means an exhaustive list (there are a host of Spanish, Italian, and even Virginian wines that could all benefit from some extra aging), but it’s a quick guideline. Aging cheap wine, on the other hand, isn’t going to make it taste any better or more expensive. If an $8 bottle is undrinkably tannic and musty now, it’s not going to lose the tannins and acquire some fruit from sitting in your sock drawer for five years.

Perhaps more important than when to pop the cork is how you store your treasures in waiting. House your wine the way you might an adolescent—in a cool basement or underground lair, still, and on its side. Consistent temperatures matter more than cool temperatures, so just avoid any seasonal fluctuations of 25 degrees or more. And, just like you might with your teenager, give your cellared wine some time to air out once you open it. It’s not fair to expect that it’ll smell like roses the minute it awakens from a 10-year hibernation.

Serious collectors may buy a case of a particular wine and open one bottle every six months to a year to taste how it is developing and to avoid drinking it past its peak. There are plenty of apps out there for those needing to manage their cellars. There are even career cellar managers. It all seems a bit precious for those of us who consider aging wine the time it takes to get it home and into our glass, but catching a wine in that transcendent moment when its fruit, acid, and tannin are in perfect, harmonious balance is something worth attaining. Besides, who ever said aging is easy?

Another year and another vintage is in the cellars. Because 2011 is likely to be one vintage local wineries will want to forget (remember when it rained for 40 days and 40 nights?), I’ll usher in 2012 by celebrating all that’s in store this coming year in our busy little wine- and beer-producing corner of the world.

While the New Year may not necessarily bring a host of new wineries (though Moss Vineyards, the fifth stop along the northwestern Appellation Trail, and Grace Estates Winery at Mount Juliet are both slated to open this year), it will bring changes to two wineries recently purchased by well-known media moguls.

(File photo)

Over at Trump Winery, former owners-turned-managers Patricia Kluge and Bill Moses and head winemaker Gregory Brun are hard at work with Donald’s son, Eric, maintaining the 220 acres of vines and increasing distribution of the new label, which, to date, reaches 17 states. Changes planned for 2012 include a new sparkling wine facility, a new farm building for housing and maintaining vineyard farming equipment and tractors, and renovation of the old Carriage Museum for wedding or diplomatic events.

Up in Madison, wine lovers Jean and Steve Case of AOL fame purchased Sweely Estate after falling for Virginia wine and our burgeoning industry on a vacation to Charlottesville three years ago. Jean said, “As big supporters of Virginia wine, we are thrilled to join the local wine community and begin the next phase of the winery.” The tasting room is closed for the next several months for a remodel, but the offices are still open to anyone interested in hosting an event in the spring or summer. Case added, “We will also continue to sell wines from Sweely Estate until our reopening.” A name for the winery is still in the works, but the new owners have joked on more than one occasion that it isn’t likely to be Case Wines.

The 2011 fiscal year showed record sales of Virginia wine (more than 462,000 cases—that’s more than 5.5 million bottles!) and an 11 percent increase over the previous fiscal year. And, as the nation’s fifth largest wine producer (and seventh largest wine grape producer), Virginia deserves a competition that reflects growth and excellence.

At the close of the year, Governor Bob McDonnell announced a revamping of the Virginia Governor’s Cup wine competition. The competition will return to a single event (in recent years, the whites and reds were being judged and announced separately) with judging held this month by a team of compensated judges hand-picked by Jay Youmans, one of only 31 Masters of Wine in the U.S. Only wines made from 100 percent Virginia fruit (with a certified affidavit to prove it) will be eligible for entry. The winner will be announced at the Virginia Wine Expo in Richmond on February 23.

Blue Mountain Brewery in Nelson County just keeps getting bigger. After starting their own hop farm and expanding their dining, tasting, and special events facilities in 2011, they’ve earmarked this year as the opening for a new barrel house and organic brewery in Colleen, which will add another 50 jobs to a 5-year-old business that’s most certainly booming. The 10,000 square foot production facility will be where their certified organic, “specialty” beers will undergo natural refermentation and then be kegged or bottled. Another 40,000 to 60,000 square foot building in Colleen is also in the works, which, when up and running, will increase the brewery’s annual capacity to 50,000 barrels.

Beer Run, our favorite place for casual imbibing and picking up something for our fridges, has expanded its beer selection by 40 percent and opened a new 400 square foot retail room, doubling its space for retail wines. The new space has made room for more Belgian, German, British, and Asian beers while the American craft beer and ciders get to be front and center. Beer Run is hosting its Wednesday night beer tastings and Friday night wine tastings in the new room, and you’ll find more white, rosé, and sparkling wines chilling and ready to go, if you stop by.

With the opening of Wild Wolf Brewing Company in 2011 and the plans for James River Brewing Company to open in Scottsville this year, we’re thinking the beer industry is a fun, recession-proof place to be in 2012.

Prosecco is so consistently billed as an inexpensive alternative to Champagne that it’s selling like Miller High Life. Its current 220 million bottle production is expected to double within two years and grow to five times that size by 2035. The U.S. has quadrupled its consumption of the sparkler in the past decade.

But Prosecco’s promotion as a poor man’s Champagne means that its own charms are often overlooked. This simple bubbly that tastes of apple, pear, apricot, lemon curd, and hazelnuts is designed for everyday pleasure and, just like the Italians who make it, doesn’t take itself too seriously.

That’s not to say that there aren’t varying levels of quality, but they require a bit of explanation. Prosecco comes from the northwestern regions of Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia and was named for the late-ripening grape that makes it. After a shimmying of label laws in 2009, the grape’s become known by its historical name, glera. These recent laws also mandate that only Prosecco produced in the nine provinces around Treviso (the flat plain along the Piave River in the Veneto) falls under the Prosecco Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC). Anything produced elsewhere falls under Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) and must use the term Glera rather than Prosecco. They’re all perfectly drinkable, and with an under-$15 price tag, aren’t too rich to mix with peach purée (as in the Bellini) or even with pomegranate juice for a fun holiday sparkler.

Wines that come from Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, two towns in the foothills above Treviso, were upgraded to the highest government-regulated status (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita or DOCG), and they are decidedly richer and more complex. The towns have a rivalry, so labels will commonly specify one town or the other. Oversimplified, Prosecco from Conegliano is softer and creamier than the drier, crisper wine of Valdobbiadene.

The “grand cru” of Prosecco is a small 260-acre area called Cartizze. There, 140 growers occupy a 1,000′ slope of a large hill in the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene region producing the most aromatic and full-bodied Prosecco. Because of its limited production (at 2 million euros an acre, Cartizze rivals Montalcino in Tuscany as Italy’s most expensive vineyard land), this Prosecco fetches just over $30 a bottle, which, relative to Champagne, is peanuts.
But Prosecco isn’t Italy’s answer to Champagne. That would be the Chardonnay-based Franciacorta made in the Lombardy region. Even though a lot of producers are making brut (see Winespeak 101) Prosecco, most Italians agree that it’s best with a hint of sweetness—just enough to make it flirtatious, but not so much to make it crass.

Prosecco’s fermentation method also differs from Champagne’s. Prosecco usually gets its bubbles through the Charmat process, in which the wine goes through its secondary fermentation in pressurized tanks rather than in individual bottles, as it’s done in the méthode champenoise. The difference is as practical as it is technical. Prosecco is rarely vintage-dated, so wineries are able to process wine continuously through the year, rather than only once a year. Charmat also eliminates the time-consuming technique of riddling, or the process of consolidating the lees for removal by turning the bottles every two days for eight to 10 weeks. And, Prosecco’s shorter tank fermentation preserves the grape’s fresh fruitiness. Opt for the spumante (the fully-sparkling version) over the frizzante (semi-sparkling version). Frizzantes only undergo a partial secondary fermentation and may leave you wanting more fizz.

Some traditional Prosecco producers are returning to the “col fondo” fermentation that was the standard before the 1970s when the autoclave tanks were invented. Just as in the méthode champenoise, the lees (yeasts and sediment remaining from primary fermentation) are left in each individual bottle until secondary fermentation is complete. These wines show quite a lot more character with a salty and crunchy quality that isn’t at all unappealing.
Whether simple or serious, Prosecco is all about the aperitivo hour, or if you are in Venice, the ombretta (pick-me-up). Have a glass with salty ribbons of prosciutto, chunks of parmigiano, and herbed focaccia, and you won’t even wish it were Champagne.

Winespeak 101
Brut (n.): The French word which describes the amount of sugar per liter of sparkling wine (usually six to 12 grams) as opposed to extra dry (12-17 g/L) or dry (17-32 g/L).

Nothing takes the edge off the holiday crazies like a mug of something that warms you right down to your grinchy little toes. These winter warmers will light your fire and keep you aglow through all the gift-buying, package-sending, tree-trimming, Christmas-caroling, party-going, a-wassailing, stocking-stuffing, gift-wrapping, and relative-visiting that comes your way this season. Leave a mugful for Santa and then settle down for that well-deserved long winter’s nap.

Caution! A cup of this eggy holiday drink might cause you to, ahem, nog off. (File photo)

Boozy eggnog
Serves 24
1 quart milk
12 eggs
¼ tsp. salt
1½ cups sugar
1 cup bourbon
1 tbs. vanilla extract
½ tsp. freshly ground nutmeg, divided
1 quart whipping cream
Heat milk in a large saucepan over medium heat, but do not boil. Beat eggs, salt, and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until thick and pale. Gradually add the hot milk into the egg mixture in batches, stirring constantly. Stir over medium-low heat for 25 to 30 minutes or until milk mixture thickens and reaches 160° on an instant-read thermometer. Stir in bourbon, vanilla, and half of the nutmeg. Remove from heat, cool, cover, and chill for up to 48 hours. Beat whipping cream with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Fold whipped cream into milk mixture and sprinkle with remaining nutmeg before serving.

Hot buttered rum
Serves 12
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups light brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
Pinch ground cloves
Pinch salt
Bottle dark rum
Boiling water
In a bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Refrigerate until almost firm. Spoon about 2 tbs. of the butter mixture into 12 small mugs. Pour about 3 ounces of rum into each mug, top with boiling water, stir well, and serve immediately.

Chocolate Kiev
Serves 8
1 quart milk
1 cup hot cocoa mix
8 ounces vanilla vodka
6 ounces Amaretto
Heat milk in a large saucepan over medium heat, but do not boil. Add hot cocoa mix, stirring to dissolve. Stir in liquors and serve with marshmallows or topped with whipped cream.

Hot toddy
Serves 12
1 lemon, thinly sliced, plus more for garnish
1/2 cup sugar
1 quart water
2½ cups Scotch
Freshly grated nutmeg
Combine the lemon, sugar, and water in a saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves completely. Add the Scotch, reduce the heat to low, and serve warm with lemon slices and freshly grated nutmeg.

Irish coffee
Serves 8
8 cups freshly brewed hot coffee
½ cup brown sugar
12 ounces Irish whiskey
Heavy cream, slightly whipped
Dissolve sugar into hot coffee and stir in Irish whiskey. Pour into mugs and top each with a swath of the whipped cream by pouring it slowly over the back of a spoon.

Mulled wine
Serves 10
2 bottles dry red wine
4 ounces port or brandy
4 cinnamon sticks, plus more for garnish
Peels from 1 large orange
12 whole cloves, studded into orange peels
Combine all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Do not allow mixture to boil. Heat for 20 minutes, ladle into mugs, and garnish with cinnamon sticks.

Spiced and spiked cider
Serves 4
1 tsp. whole cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
2 whole star anise
Juice of 1 orange
1 quart apple cider
3/4 cup spiced rum
4 peels from an orange
Add the cloves, cinnamon sticks and star anise to a large saucepan over medium heat and lightly toast the spices in the pan for 1 minute. Add the orange juice and apple cider, and simmer (but do not boil) for 10 minutes. Lower the heat and add the rum. Ladle the cider into mugs and garnish with orange peels.

History in the drinking
The former owner and wine making team behind one of the Napa Valley’s cult-est Cabs, Screaming Eagle, have produced a wine to benefit the University of Virginia. A blend of 78 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 22 percent Merlot from the Napa Valley, ‘1819’ costs $55 ($65 if you want it in a special gift box) with 25 percent going to your choice of either Access
UVA’s scholarship program or the Rotunda Restoration Project. The vintage is 2009, which, assuming it boasts the brawn of most California Cabs, will be ready to drink in 2019—just in time to celebrate the bicentennial of the founding of UVA.

I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it every year: Just because someone loves wine doesn’t mean that she wants a wine gadget as a gift…or a cork doormat or a light-up wine bottle Christmas tree topper or a Rudolph bottle stopper, for that matter. The ideal gift for the wine lover is wine, but sometimes finding the right bottle for a connoisseur can be a daunting task. Here are some gift ideas bound to delight even the most jaded palate on your list.

For the foodie wine geek

Wine tastes so much better with food—especially if that food is prepared by Palladio’s Executive Chef Melissa Close Hart. Give your gift early and your beloved oenophile will feast on a five-course lunch at Barboursville Vineyards (with its wines to match) on Christmas Eve from 2-4pm. Call (540) 832-7848 to make your $65 per person reservations (price excludes wine, tax, and gratuity).

For the wine geek with lots of wine geek friends
Several board games that test wine lovers’ knowledge of grapes, regions, winemaking, history, food pairing, and blind tasting are on the market (Bouquet, Karafe, VitiVini, Wine-opoly, Winerd, and Wine Wars are just a few). Some involve drinking real wine while you play, but it’s still better to buy for someone with other wine-loving friends or else you’ll end up going glassy-eyed while recalling first growths.

For the Virginia wine geek
The Commonwealth boasts close to 200 vineyards and the majority of them offer a wine club membership that grants members discounts, early releases, and invitations to special events. Find out your recipient’s favorite area winery and sign him up there, or opt for more variety with a membership to the Virginia Wine of the Month Club. Choose one bottle a month for $15.95 or two bottles a month for $26.95 and it’ll be the gift that keeps on giving. If the wino on your list is also a Wahoo, there’s the UVA Alumni Wine Program, which offers five local selections each year based on alumni favorites tasted at Reunions Weekends.

For the well-read wine geek
Books about wine are a dime a dozen, but good ones are harder to come by. A few favorites? Jay McInerney, despite his pretenses and name-dropping, is undeniably entertaining in Bacchus & Me and A Hedonist in the Cellar, which compile his House & Garden columns. In The Widow Cliquot: The Story of the Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It, author Tilar J. Mazzeo spins a riveting tale. For budding wine writers, Inspiring Thirst: Vintage Selections from the Kermit Lynch Wine Brochure, serves up pages and pages of literary inspiration. For a reference tome, you can’t beat Jancis Robinson’s Oxford Companion to Wine. Those fascinated by the winemaking side of the industry will love The Vintner’s Apprentice by Eric Miller. On the fiction side, Vertical, a sequel by Sideways author Rex Pickett follows Jack and Miles on another wine-soaked journey.

And, instead of giving a subscription to a wine magazine as a gift (All those ads! All those scores!), consider a digital subscription to a newspaper with great weekly wine coverage (like The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal) or membership to an in-depth wine newsletter like Jancis Robinson’s “Purple Pages” or Stephen Tanzer’s “International Wine Cellar.”

For the sports-loving wine geek
Perhaps a bottle of former NBA player Yao Ming’s newly released Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon will fit the bill for the fellow (or lady) in your life who loves sports and wine equally. It’s selling for the Chinese equivalent of $289 and should be available stateside for who knows how much. Nevermind that it’s made with juice purchased on the bulk market. With the big man’s name on it, it’s still likely to be a slam dunk.

For the wayfaring wine geek
I’d rather eat glass than go on a cruise, but a river barge cruise around the wine-producing regions of Europe sounds very appealing. They’re small (four to 22 passengers), scenic, and involve more wine and cheese than they do shuffleboard and conga lines.

’Tis the season for dinner and holiday parties and the easiest way to arrive (apart from empty-handed) is bearing a bottle of wine. Seems like a perfectly straightforward gesture, but it comes with a host of etiquette questions that can stump even the most experienced partygoers. Opinions run the gamut, but here’s my strategy on the Ps and Qs of bringing wine to a party.

(File photo)

Unless your host doesn’t drink, wine is an appreciated gift. Sure, there are chocolates, olive oils, flowers, hand towels, smelly soaps, jams, and other acceptable gifts, but wine is one-size-fits-all. You don’t have to spend a lot—between $12 and $20 shows that you did more than grab a bottle off the sale end cap at Kroger. How much you splash out (as well as what you choose) depends on how well you know your host and how well your host knows wine.

Having said that, as someone who does know wine and entertains often, I hate when aguest shows up, apologizes for not knowing anything about wine, and then thrusts a bottle into my hands. It discounts his selection before I even get a chance to form an opinion. If you are a novice buying for a connoisseur, simply ask your retailer for a recommendation and then give credit where credit is due. If you are a collector, bring something from your cellar. If you’re somewhere in the middle, bring a bottle that you’ve enjoyed before or one that means something to you (i.e., a Michigan wine because you were born in Michigan).

A common question raised is whether to expect your host to open the bottle you bring. Emily Post’s etiquette guide advises that wine brought to a party is a gift and meant for the host to drink on his or her own at another time. Once the bottle leaves your hands, it is no longer yours. A gift, by definition, has no strings attached and the assumption is that the hosts have planned their wines in advance. You can put your hosts at ease by saying as you give them the bottle, “Here’s something for your cellar.” (Nevermind if that cellar is the fridge and the bottle gets opened by the end of the night once supplies have dwindled.)

On the other hand, if your host is a friend with whom you dine frequently (or with whom you share a love for trading wines), you may be inclined to call in advance and ask if you can contribute wines for the meal. In that scenario, you’ll ask what’s on the menu and arrive with the mutual expectation that your selections will be served with dinner.

The real quandary is when you bring a bottle of wine that you really want to drink because you know that your host will be serving swill. To some, wine is just an afterthought. You watch in horror as they root around in a cabinet above the stove and unearth a bottle of red that’s been cooking there for two years. They open it with a winged corkscrew, get half of the crumbled cork into the wine, and then pour to the brim of a thick-rimmed goblet that tastes of Cascade. Short of bringing your wine uncorked and in an ice bucket or already decanted (see Winespeak 101), there’s no guarantee that you’ll be saved from plonk. I’ve witnessed the tactless (marching straight into the host’s kitchen to fetch a glass and pour his own) and the tactful (suggesting that this Gigondas would go perfectly with the lamb chops) all in an effort to avoid the undrinkable, but it is, ultimately, up to the host.

It should go without saying that you ought never to retrieve your unopened wine at the end of the night and bring it home—or drink it in the car. Finally, when in doubt of what to bring? Go with bubbles—they’re as festive as you can get and if the bottle’s already chilled, it might just get popped.

Winespeak 101
Decant (v.): To pour a wine into another vessel in order to expose it to air and/or to separate it from its sediment.