Other Helpful Tips

· Although everyone knows that red wines are better with red meats, they are also very good with thick, steak-like fish such as salmon and tuna. Rose are good with cold salads. Hearty, white wines are good with curry and other spicy Asian foods. We enjoy a full-bodied red with a fine selection of cheese.
· Doctor’s recommendations: 2 standard drinks for men, 1 for women per day with at least 2 alcohol-free days per week. (Yeah, we’ve all had more than that before…) Any more is officially classified as “binge drinking”!
· In case of hangovers, drink plenty of water and replace electrolytes orally with formulated drinks (See your friendly pharmacists…). Soluble vitamins, especially Bs and Cs have also worked well for us.
· There’s a common myth that if you drink urine alkalizing formulated drinks, you can pass the breathalyzer test. Wrong! It won’t dilute the blood alcohol level, nor will you wee it out in time!
· Often around the vineyards you will find rose bushes. This is because roses are more delicate and susceptible to infections. Hence, these are used as indicators to prevent the grapes from being affected by the environment. Sometimes when the roses are infected, the winemakers are forced to pick the grapes despite immaturity.
· Botrytis is a kind of bacteria intended to infect the grapes. They cause the grapes to shrivel and hence concentrating the sugar content to make a sweet dessert wine.
· In the rare occasion of not finishing the entire bottle (we do not understand such phenomena), here are some tips:
o Delicate wines, such as whites and rose, can usually keep about 2 days recorked and refrigerated.
o Rich wines, such as shiraz and cabernet sauvignon, can usually last 3-4 days recorked and left at room temperature. It may last longer if you refrigerate it.
o Fortified wines will keep weeks to months, provided that you seal them up well.
o If you cannot preserve the cork while taking it out, there are plastic stoppers purchasable at liquor stores. Some stoppers are provided with deoxygenating pumps that allow you to keep the wine for a few more days before it turns sour.
o Once a wine has gone sour, do not attempt to drink it anymore. Instead, use it for flavoring tomato-based pasta sauces or as wine vinegar in salad dressings.