Basic Wine Information

Everyone needs basic wine information, regardless of how long they have been enjoying wine or how sensitive their pallet.

Enjoy a slideshow to learn wine basics.

Having knowledge on the health aspects of wine as well as serving and storing wine can affect which wine you decide to enjoy. The more types of wine you drink, the greater your chances of knowing what you do, and do not, like in a wine. By learning some basics about wine, you gain a larger frame of reference from which you can evaluate what you taste. You will also be better able to understand what wine works best with which type of food.

Wine tasting does not always have to include a group of people tasting a variety of wines. Wine tasting refers to taking the time to notice aspects of the wine being tasted. Whether you are tasting white wine or red wine, it involves deliberate thought about four key aspects of a glass of wine:

• Appearance or look – The color and how the wine looks when it is swirled in the glass
• Smell – Common smells are fruit, floral, grass, spice, wood and leather
• Taste – Common tastes are fruity, acidic and earthy
• Finish – The flavor of the wine after it has left your mouth

The basics of food tasting are very simple – match heavier foods with heavier wines and lighter foods with lighter wines. In an interview with LoveToKnow, Laurie Forster, author of The Sipping Point: A Crash Course in Wine, also recommended pairing the other aspects of the wine such as the sweetness. For example, she recommends pairing sweeter wines with sweeter desserts.

LoveToKnow's Easy Food Wine Pairing Chart is a great way to start your adventure in food pairing. This simple-to-use chart shows you which red or white wine will bring out the high notes of a particular appetizer, main course or dessert.

Many wine drinkers are concerned about the health aspects of wine drinking – is wine drinking "heart-healthy"? How many calories are in a glass of wine?

There are healthy aspects to wine drinking. The skins in red grapes contain resveratrol which helps reduce bad cholesterol and increases the good cholesterol in the body. There is also research which shows that antioxidants, such as those found in wine, may have a positive effect in cancer prevention. This is not to say that wine is a healthy drink; however, research certainly is starting to show that the properties of wine can have positive effects on the health of the body.

Yes, there are calories in wine. For example, red wine has about 100 calories in a four-ounce serving. Most wine glasses are significantly larger than four ounces, so it is not uncommon to have 200 or more calories in a glass of wine. Check the LoveToKnow wine calorie chart for the calorie contents of some of the most popular types of wines.

Opening a bottle of wine is easy with the right equipment. You don't need a fancy wine bottle opener. The key is to remove the cork without leaving any pieces in the bottle of wine.

The way you serve and store your wine affects the taste of the wine. The wrong glass shape, serving temperature or storage location of unopened wine bottles can turn a good bottle wine into just a so-so glass of wine. Unfortunately, the serving and storing methods can't turn a poor glass of wine into a great glass of wine!

Before you get out that old wine glass, you might want to first check out the LoveToKnow slideshow on types of wine glasses. You may find that your wine enjoyment increases by an investment in a wider mouth glass for red wine or a more narrow mouthed glass for white wine.

It may look great to store your unopened wine in a stylish rack on top of the fridge or in a fancy piece of furniture somewhere in your home; however, it does not provide the environment that a bottle of wine needs to maintain good quality.

Unless you drink your wine immediately upon your return from the wine store, you will need to store your wine. You don't need a wine cellar for great wine storage. You need:

• Coolness – around 55 degrees
• Darkness
• Stillness

Some wine lovers are lucky enough to have a dark, cool basement or other area that maintains a low temperature. Most wine lovers don't have that cool basement so they rely on a wine refrigerator to maintain the low temperature required for wine storage. Wine refrigerators come in many sizes – from counter top units that hold a few bottles to large free-standing units that can hold an entire wine collection.

Wine is an investment in good living. Whether you pay $10 or $100 for a bottle, you get the best value out of the wine if you have gathered a little basic wine information. The longer you drink wine, the more information you should gather. Drinking wine is an adventure – the more information you have, the more you will enjoy your adventure.

• Sonoma Winery Tours
• Interesting Facts About Wine
• How to Throw a Wine Tasting Party
• Definitions Of Wine Types
• Is Red Wine Good For You

• Dry Red Wine Types
• Red Wine Calories
• Wine Calories
• Wine Serving Temperatures
• Best Red Wine Under $15

• Wine for Dummies
• Category:Wine for Beginners
• Basic Wine Knowledge
• Free Wine Information
• Slideshow:Basic Wine Information