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In this episode we’ll talk about how to store your wine, make fun of a woman who microwaves her wine, give you the skinny on wine clubs and learn about one of your new best friends, Pinot Noir.

Hi. My name is Mark Adams and welcome to “The Really Fun Wine Show”.
The show that entertains and educates you about wine

People do some crazy things when it comes to wine. I talked to a woman a while back at a wine class and we were talking about the temperature of wine. I asked her if she liked here reds at room temperature or slightly chilled? She responded in a matter of fact way…”I microwave my wine for 60 seconds”.

Huh?????

OK, I was waiting for the punch line that never came. The class fell silent. They had the same reaction I did. We were all perplexed. The lady went on to say she just likes her wine the same as her coffee, which is almost boiling hot. OK, to each their own. I finished the class but couldn’t get the comment out of my mind. As least it wasn’t an annoying song you can’t get out of your head.

I couldn’t resist. I didn’t want to miss out on anything so when I got home, I poured some wine in a mug and put it in the microwave for a minute. My expectations were extremely low. I let it cool slightly and took a sip. Well, you’ve heard me use the expression bitter beer face. Imagine the worst bitter beer face you’ve ever seen times about a gazillion. That’s what it tasted like.

Have you ever heard the term cooked wine? It means a wine has been exposed to heat for a prolonged period of time, spoiling the wine. The wine had lost its flavor and was extremely bitter. “Cooked Wine” simple breaks down the flavor molecules and just destroys the taste. This is what can happen if you don’t store your wine properly and your wine gets hot.

So OK, now that we know what not to do to our wine and how heat can spoil it, so how do we keep and store wine so ya don’t have to make the bitter beer face when you taste it?

Very simple and here’s what you do.

Take your wine out of the car as soon as you get home. The biggest enemy of wine is heat. Never leave your wine in the car for any prolonged period of time. Remember in the summer the temperature can be well over 100 degrees in your car.

Once you get your wine inside, keep it away from a window that gets direct sunlight.

Keep it away from the top of the refrigerator. It’s really hot up there and if left long enough, it will go bad. Use the wine store as your cellar!!

Try and find a cool dark place. Your basement would be ideal. If you don’t have a basement, the bottom of a pantry would be fine. Remember heat rises and the floor is always cooler than the rest of the room.

The shelf life for most modern wines is 2-3 years. Most wines today are meant to be consumed as soon as you purchase them. They won’t benefit from any additional ageing. Use the wine store as your cellar!!

Lastly, its best to store your bottles on their side. This keeps liquid on the bottom of the cork, which keeps the cork from drying out, shrinking and letting air get in your bottle and spoiling your wine.

Well, there you have it, taking care of your wine is actually pretty easy.

Now lets go to our question of the week

Latoya Hanson writes in:

Dear Mark:

I see a lot of different wine clubs out there. I would like to join one. What’s the difference between them?

Latoya, glad you asked. I imagine a lot of people will give wine clubs as presents this year so let’s dive in.

For those of you unfamiliar with wine clubs, they are simply different wines that are bundled together and shipped to you or to someone else as a gift on your behalf. Wine clubs can be from individual wineries or from companies that package wine from different wineries. You will receive you wine usually monthly or quarterly depending on the club and your preference.

One of the fun things about wine clubs is that in addition to having your wine arrive at your door in a nice package is that in many cases you get to choose the category of your wines. For instance there are California only clubs, red only clubs, certain variety only clubs and even clubs from wineries that support charitable causes. Latoya, there is probably a wine club available for about any variety or theme.

If you like to try different wines, a wine club is a wonderful way to go. If you don’t know what to give the wine lover on your list, I guarantee they’ll appreciate you for having wine show up at the door on a regular basis.

Once thing you could do that really stands out is consider our Create Your Own Wine Club here at Amber Crest Winery. We have designed a club that not only allows you to pick your wine, your quantities and frequency, but does something that I don’t think any other wine club is doing.

That’s design your own labels as well. How much fun would that be? Think how cool it would be to show off your signature series private reserve at your next dinner party or put your logo on the label and have regular shipments go to your customers? The possibilities are endless. If you would like to learn more about our custom wine club see the link on the screen or click the link below.

Latoya, I hope that helps. Wine clubs in any style are a great way to enjoy wine.

Do any of you belong to wine clubs? If so, let us know your experiences below in the comments section.

If you would like to hear more wine tips, follow us on twitter and facebook.

For reading her question on air, Latoya Hanson receives a $25 gift certificate to use toward custom labels wine at AmberCrestWinery.com If you would like to submit a question to be read on air, click the ask mark pages and type away.

Now lets go to our wine of the week.

Pinot Noir

Maybe the world’s most complex grape. Hummm. Big statement. What does that mean you wonder. Well let me explain.

Earlier we talked about pinot gris or grigio. Completely different grape. In this case, the word noir means black or dark. Think film noir, as in dark film. This grape is of course a red grape. But not too red. Remember all wine juice is clear. What makes a red wine red is that the skins are mixed in during fermentation and the pigments from the skins give the wine its dark color. In white wines the skins are discarded before fermentation and the juice remains clear or “white”.

Look at a glass of pinot. It’s not dark like a glass of cabernet. Why is that? Simple answer. The skins on a cabernet or most other red grapes are thicker and thus have more pigments to dye the juice. The pinot noir grape on the other hand has a very thin skin.

(It’s a sensitive grape. We have to be nice to it…)

With a think skin, less pigments, ultimately you get a wine that is not as dark. How about that for some serious wine knowledge????? But I digress.

Back on topic.

Another thing that a thin skin does is make this grape incredible hard to grow and even harder to make into wine. You simply don’t have as much room for error as you do with other reds. That’s one reason it usually costs more than other reds. But the upside is that when all the stars and moon align and you get most of the variables right, you have a wine that’s taste could make the biggest wine snobs drool.

When someone is talking about investment wines or wines that are traded on wine exchanges, many times they are talking about pinot noir.

Like other wines some pinots can be light or full, smoky or not, but always has delicate flavors. When done well the flavors jump right out of the glass and make your taste bus eternally grateful.

Pinot Noir is grown all over but primarily in the Burgundy region of France. When someone is describing a wine from this region, this is the variety that they are no doubt referring. Remember, in Europe they refer to the wine by region, not by variety.

Pinot also does well in California. The Russian River area of the Napa Valley is well known for their pinot noir.

So here’s the wine skinny on Pinot Noir:

*Thin skin gives the wine great color
*Delicate and subtle flavors
*Called burgundy in France
*A must try wine

Give Pinot Noir a try, you’ll be glad you did.

Now its time for the big finish

OK wine fans, that concludes our show for this week. Thanks for watching. Please remember to sign up for show updates and leave your comment in the comment section. Our next episode we’ll show you what wines to serve for the holidays, show you how to figure out how much you’ll need and talk about a special November wine beaujolais To see all of our past episodes go to Really Fun Wine Show.com So see ya next time. Same bat time, same bat channel.

Cheers!

Mark Adams