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WINE AND BREWDid You Know...White wines shouldbe served cool,but not icecold.If youlike your winecold, that’sfine, but trydrinking your favorite white wine a little less cold sometime,and you might just be surprised at the increasedflavor.White wine is great any time, which for most people means asa drink without food or with lighter foods. Whites tend to fallinto four broad categories:•Fresh, Unoaked Whites: crisp & light with nosweetness•Earthy Whites: dry, fuller-bodied; lots of earthycharacter•Aromatic Whites: intense aroma & flavor from their variousgrape variety; both off-dry and dry•Rich, Oaky Whites: mostly dry, full-bodied with lots of oakycharacterRed wine tends to be consumed as part of a meal more oftenthan as a drink on it’s own. Drinking red wine cold could be amistake…the tannins in the wine can taste very bitter. How doyou know the right temperature for reds? If the bottle feelscool to your hand, it’s just right.There are a wide range or red wines, just like whites.Here are four broad categories:•Soft, Fruity Reds: mostly light bodied with lots offruitiness and little tannin (from grape skins)•Mild Mannered Reds: medium bodied with subtleun-fruity flavors•Spicy Reds: flavorful, fruity wines with spicyaccents and some tannin•Powerful Reds: full-bodied and tannicIs it sweet or fruity? Beginning wine tastersoften confuse dry fruity wines for sweet ones.AWine is fruity when it has distinct aromasand tastes of fruit. You smell the fruitiness inyour nose, and in your mouth you“smell” it through your retro nasalpassage.Sweetness is more of a tactileimpression on your tongue. Ifyou’re not sure whether a wineis sweet or fruity, try holdingyour nose when you taste it. Ifthe wine is truly sweet, you’ll still beable to taste the sweetness in spite ofthe fact that you can’t smell the fruitiness.What is good wine? Quality wines come in all colors anddegrees of sweetness, dryness and in different flavors.Try different types of wines within your price range.When you find one you like and want to find othersimilar wines, visit the state store and look for familiesof flavors (fruity, earthy, spicy, herbal) that youenjoyed in the previous bottle and read thelabels and well as the little cards that are sometimesattached to the shelves. Check out theChairman’s Select section in the front of the statestore, they have descriptions of the wine along withrating from wine experts be sure and look for winesthat are on sale.Degrees of quality definitely exist among wines, but a wine’squality truly depends on the tastes of the person who is doingthe judging. Try a new and different variety of winetoday…you might just be surprised at what you discover.6 • September 2007