A lesson in the art of wine.

Ah, the mighty grape. Societies have been growing, harvesting, crushing, fermenting, storing and drinking it for centuries. The more we know about what we're drinking, the more pleasurable it becomes to savor a fine bottle of wine.

Use Awinestore.com Wine 101 primer to help you select, store and enjoy your wine to the fullest. Consider it your complete wine information resource.

The Wine 101 Starters Kit

By far one of our best sellers, this makes a perfect gift for those who want to try several different wines. We hand select 12 different bottles of wine from around the world for this one-of-a-kind gift case. We typically include 3-4 bottles of white wines, with all the rest a variety of great red wines. You will receive a mix of Italian, Californian, French, Oregon and Washington wines all in the same case. These are all highly rated wines, with some famous labels and some smaller, boutique wines in the bunch. It's a great way to find what styles of wine strike your fancy. See more in our Wine Gift section.

Fine wine can be a complex subject if you let it, but the more we understand, the more the wonderful wines from around the globe can connect and collide on our palates and in our hearts. From grape varietals, to regions, appellations, individual wineries, labels, stemware, tasting, pairing and buying, wine is its own world, and a beautiful world it is. Take the time to learn a few of the basics to get a feel for what styles of wine appeal to you and why.
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Acidity: Describes a tart or sour taste in the mouth when total acidity of the wine is high. "Tart" and "twangy" are two descriptors for acidity.

Aftertaste: The taste or flavors that linger in the mouth after the wine is tasted, spit or swallowed. May be "harsh," "hot," "soft," "lingering," "short," "smooth," or nonexistent. See also 'Finish.'

Aroma: Usually refers to the particular smell of the grape variety, i.e., "appley," "raisiny," "fresh" or "tired."

Body: The weight of wine in your mouth; commonly expressed as full-bodied, medium-bodied or medium-weight, or light-bodied.

Bouquet: A tasting term used to describe the smell of the wine as it matures in the bottle.

Finish: The taste that remains in the mouth after swallowing. A long finish indicates a wine of good quality.

Legs: The viscous droplets that form and ease down the sides of the glass when the wine is swirled.

Length: The amount of time the sensations of taste and aroma persist after swallowing.

Mouthfeel: How a wine feels in the mouth and against the tongue.

Nose: See 'Aroma. '

Palate: The feel and taste of wine in the mouth.

Quaffer: A wine to drink (not sip).

"Character" Wine Definitions

Acrid: Describes a wine with overly pronounced acidity. This is often apparent in cheap red wines.

Assertive: Upfront, forward.

Attractive: A lighter style, fresh, easy to drink wine.

Balanced: Indicates that the fruit, acid, wood flavors are in the right proportion. A wine is well balanced when none of those characteristics dominates. Wine not in balance may be "acidic," "cloying," "flat" or "harsh."

Big: A wine that is full-bodied, rich and slightly alcoholic tasting.

Character: A wine with top-notch distinguishing qualities.

Crisp: Denotes a fresh, young wine with good acidity.

Cutting Edge: Stylistic, hip.

Closed: Describes wines that are concentrated and have character, but are shy in aroma or flavor.

Complete: A full-bodied wine rich in extracts with a pronounced finish.

Complex: Describes a wine that combines all flavor and taste components in almost miraculous harmony.

Delicate: Used to describe light- to medium-weight wines with good flavors.

Dense: Describes a wine that has concentrated aromas on the nose and palate, desirable in young wines.

Depth: Describes the complexity and concentration of flavors in a wine. Generally refers to a quality wine with subtle layers of flavor that go "deep." Opposite of 'Shallow.'
Developed: Refers to the maturity of a wine.

Elegant: Describes a wine of grace, balance and beauty.

Empty: Flavorless and uninteresting.

Fading: Describes a wine that is losing color, fruit or flavor, usually as a result of age.

Flabby: Lacking acidity on the palate.

Flat: Having low acidity; the next stage after flabby; or refers to a sparkling wine that has lost its bubbles.

Full-Bodied: Fills the mouth. Opposite of 'Thin-bodied.'

Graceful: Describes a wine that is subtly harmonious and pleasing.

Neutral: Describes a wine without outstanding characteristics, good or bad.

Pedestrian: Plain.

Potent: Describes a strong, intense, powerful wine.

Robust: Describes a full-bodied, intense and vigorous wine; possibly inflated.

Round: Describes a well-balanced wine in fruit, tannins and body.

Seductive: A wine that is appealing.

Short: Describes a wine that does not remain on the palate after swallowing.

Simple: Describes a wine with few characteristics that follow the initial impression. Not necessarily unfavorable; often describes an inexpensive, young wine.

Soft: Describes a wine with low acid/tannin, or alcohol content with little impact on the palate.

Supple: Describes a wine with well-balanced tannins and fruit characteristics.

Thin: Lacking body and depth.

"Taste" Wine Definitions

Barnyardy: Smell of farm animals. Negative.

Bite: A marked degree of acidity or tannin. An acid grip in the finish should be more like a zestful tang and is tolerable only in a rich, full-bodied wine.

Bitter: One of the four basic tastes. Considered a fault if the bitterness dominates the flavor or aftertaste. A trace in sweet wines may complement the flavors. In young red wines it can be a warning signal, as bitterness doesn't always dissipate with age. A fine, mature wine should not be bitter on the palate.

Buttery: It refers to both flavor and texture or mouthfeel.

Chewy: Describes rich, heavy, tannic wines that are full-bodied.

Corked: The wine tastes of cork, it is unpleasant to smell and taste, slightly musty.

Dirty: Covers any and all foul, rank, off-putting smells that can occur in a wine, including those caused by bad barrels or corks. A sign of poor winemaking.

Earthy: Describes a wine that tastes of soil, most common in red wines. Can be used both positively (pleasant, clean quality adding complexity to aroma and flavor) and negatively (barnyardy character bordering on dirtiness).

Flinty: Describe the aroma or taste of some white wines; like the odor of flint striking steel.

Fruity: Describes any quality referring to the body and richness of a wine, i.e., "appley," "berrylike" or "herbaceous." Usually implies a little extra sweetness.

Grapey: Describes simple flavors and aromas associated with fresh table grapes.

Green: Tasting of unripe fruit. Not necessarily a bad thing, especially in a Riesling.

Heady: Used to describe the smell of a wine high in alcohol. Herbaceous: The taste and smell of herbs.

Murky: Lacking brightness, turbid or swampy. Musty: Having a moldy smell.

Oaky: Describes the aroma and taste of oak.

Oxidized: Describes stale or "off" wines.

Peppery: Describes the taste of pepper in a wine; sharper than 'Spicy.'

Perfumed: Refers to a delicate bouquet.

Smoky: Describes a subtle wood-smoke aroma.

Spicy: Describes the presence of spice flavors such as anise, cinnamon, cloves, mint and pepper, often present in complex wines.

Sweet: One of the four basic tastes. Describes the presence of residual sugar and/or glycerin.

Tannin: Describes a dry sensation, with flavors of leather and tea.

Tart: Sharp-tasting because of acidity. See also 'Acidic.'

Toasty: Describe a hint of the wooden barrel. Usually associated with dry white wines.

Velvety: Having rich flavor and a silky texture.

Zesty: A wine that's invigorating

Temperature

Temperature is by far the more important of the two factors to watch. The "golden temperature" for wine is 55°F. Wine should normally be stored between 50-60°F, although a range of 45-65°F is considered acceptable and the most easily maintained by the normal collector. A lower, colder temperature causes the aging process to slow down, preventing the wine from aging properly. A higher, warmer temperature causes premature aging, although not in a "good" way.

If a wine is kept over 85°F for even a single month, irreparable damage is done to it. What hurts wine the most is temperature fluctuation. Even a steady storage at 65°F is better than storage that every day goes from 45°F - 65°F and back again. One of the effects of this gyration in temperature is that the cork is pulled in and out, and air has a better chance of getting in to the wine. Once that happens, you can kiss your aging goodbye. A good digital gauge makes this much easier to watch.

Note that cold temperature can be just as bad. Don't store a bottle of Champagne in your fridge, waiting for the perfect day to drink it. When that day arrives, the Champagne won't be much to celebrate. You can keep wine in the fridge for a day or two, but if it looks like you'll need longer before you're ready to open it, bring it back down to your cellar.

Humidity

The second factor to watch in your wine storage area is humidity. Humidity fluctuations aren't nearly as bad for wine as temperature. The prime reason to watch humidity is because a high humidity hurts the labels, which hurts the bottle's resale value. A low humidity dries out the cork, even if the bottle is properly stored on its side in order to keep the cork moist. This could let oxygen into the wine—a rare occurrence, but still something to be watched for.

So, in general, a medium-high (60%) humidity for cellar that stays dark is the best place to store wine. There are many firms that sell either modular components to rack the wine in, or even specialized contractors to custom-build your cellar complete with temperature and humidity controls.

Every wine has a different ideal length of aging to bring out its best flavors. (Consult our Aging Chart for recommended lengths.) This depends on the type of wine, the region the wine was made in, the technique used to make it, and the particular year the grapes were harvested in. As a general guideline, whites normally do not age for long, while reds age for 5-10 years. It all comes down to what you yourself enjoy best, but if you're starting out, aging charts help you see when a wine is typically best enjoyed.

Wine tasting is subjective in nature, but there are three general guidelines for judging a wine's character. The nuances of a wine's look, smell and taste will increase the pleasure you derive from each tasting.

Founded in 1995, A Wine Store is widely recognized as one of the finest online sources for great wine. We're proud of that distinction and attribute our reputation to our unique approach to selling wine.

The Look

You can tell a lot about a wine simply by studying its appearance. Pour the wine into a clear glass and hold it in front of a white background (a tablecloth or piece of paper works nicely) and examine the color. The color of wine varies tremendously, even within the same type of wine. For example, white wines are not actually white. They range from green to yellow to brown. More color in a white wine usually indicates more flavor and age, although a brown wine may have gone bad. Where, as time improves many red wines, it ruins many white wines. Red wines are not just red. They range from a pale red to a deep brown red, usually becoming lighter in color as they age.

Other considerations:
Rim color
You can guess the age of a red wine by observing its "rim." Tilt the glass slightly and look at the edge of the wine. A purple tint may indicate youth while orange to brown indicates maturity.

Swirling
Give your wine a good swirl before tasting. This serves many purposes, but visually it allows you to observe the body of the wine. Does the wine adhere to the sides of the glass, forming what are called "legs"? Good legs may indicate a thicker body and a higher alcohol content and/or sweetness level.

The Smell

When you swirl your wine, it also interacts with oxygen and releases molecules that allow you to smell the aroma. This is called the "bouquet" or "nose." To take in a wine's scent, put your nose near or even into the glass. Take a quick whiff, formulating an initial impression, and follow with a second deeper whiff. Or take only one deep whiff. Again, how you smell a wine is subjective. Either way, after you smell the wine, sit back and contemplate the aroma. Don't try to "taste" the wine yet, concentrate only on what you smell. It may be difficult to describe in words when you're a novice, but after trying many wines you will notice similarities and differences. Refer to our Terminology section for a list of commonly used terms to describe a wine's smell. Sometimes a certain smell will be very strong with underlying hints of other smells. Take your time. By labeling an aroma you will probably remember it better. Take notes to remind yourself if you like what you smell.

The Taste

The most important quality of a wine is how it balances sweetness and acidity. To get the full taste of a wine follow these three steps:
1. Initial taste (or first impression). Take a sip. Allow your taste buds to respond to the sensations of the wine.
2. Taste, or chew. Slosh the wine around, "chewing" it, and then draw in some air. Examine the body and texture of the wine. Is it light or rich? Smooth or harsh?
3. Aftertaste / Finish. Now swallow. Try to describe the taste that remains in your mouth after you have swallowed the wine. How long did the taste last? Was it pleasant?

After tasting the wine, take a moment to value its overall flavor and balance. Is the taste appropriate for that type of wine? If the wine is very dry, is it supposed to be? The more different wines you try, and the more attention you pay to each wine, the better you will become at ascertaining and describing each wine's characteristics. Our Terminology section offers a nice list of adjectives to help you describe what you're experiencing.

Decanting is one of the easiest steps you can take to appreciate the true character of wine. Simply put, decanting is the transfer of wine from the bottle to another container. Little understood and practiced by few, decanting, when done in a restaurant demonstrates to the patron a serious dedication to optimum wine service.

You may have noticed that when a bottle is nearly finished the wine seems to come into its own. The reason for this is simple. It takes time for a wine to react to contact with air. The swirling of wine in a glass hastens this action. This is why wineglasses should only be half-filled. It is also why larger wineglasses are preferred.

Having been cooped up in a bottle for any number of years, a wine, especially an older wine, needs an opportunity to open up, to bloom, before it can reveal its fullest flavor and bouquet. Decanting is an accelerated form of letting a wine "breath."

Strangely enough, young wines benefit greatly from decanting. The oxygen they contain has actually had little time to take effect. The air in the decanter achieves change rapidly. It means you get more of what you paid for and lets you enjoy literally twice as much bouquet and aroma from the wine.

Tips for Decanting

~ Pour in a slow, continuous and steady motion.

~ Decant only one bottle per decanter.

~ Do not store wine in a decanter.

Aging
This may be a situation that happens to you as you go into your local wine shop. You see a Cabernet and recognize the label as belonging to a winery everyone's talking about. You grab a bottle for your special dinner that night. At the table, you pop the cork, pour a glass, and promptly decide this is the most awful thing you've ever tasted. You find out the next day that the wine should have been "laid down" for 5-8 years before it reached its peak. How would you know?

Wine has a rare quality among all our foods and drinks, it can improve for years. Good wine can get better, but not all wine improves with age, and wines age at different rates.

Two Ways to Age Wine
There are two kinds of aging: in a wooden cask or other container, and in the bottle. The first is entirely the job of the winemaker, and the second may also be partly under the wine-maker's control. But bottle aging is more the job of the merchant or, increasingly, the final purchaser of the wine. Some wines need no aging and are ready to drink when sold. Others gain from a few months in bottle but they, and the first group, rapidly lose freshness if kept in the bottle too long.

Know When to Drink A Wine
It is just as important to know which wines to drink soon as it is to know which need to be kept. It is useful to know how a given wine has been matured if you want to establish the optimum time to drink it. For instance, some Spanish and Italian wines are matured for long periods in a cask and bottled when virtually ready to drink. Bottle-age adds little if anything to these wines for they are already mature when bottled. Wines such as vintage port are bottled after little cask aging and need long years in the bottle to mature. Others, such as red Bordeaux, spend up to two years in new oak casks, then must spend more years in bottle.

Aging Chart
The chart below can help you quickly identify good ranges of age for a type of wine. It's just a guideline, of course. Every winery has different methods, and low-quality wines of a type (say Pinot Noir) won't last nearly as long as high quality wines of the exact same type. Wines from good years last much longer than wines from poor years.

Also, keep in mind that part of what helps a wine age is the sulfites in it. Sulfites are natural preservatives found on all grapes. If you buy a low-sulfite wine, it will tend not to last for very long.

Given those factors, this chart will help give you a general impression about wine types. It should help you determine as you order wine from A Wine Store whether it's a wine you should drink tonight or ten years from now.

A Bit of History
When it was found that a good vintage could get better if kept, wine made the leap from an ephemeral beverage to something close to the sublime. Nearly since the dawn of winemaking, the newest wine has been considered the best. This meant that medieval wine merchants would hasten to sell the "old" stock when a vintage was approaching, for they knew that customers would prefer the fresh new wine.

Historically customers also took it for granted that wine would get worse if kept. Merchants had no idea why wine became vinegar, and did not suspect that poor winemaking, dirty storage casks and exposure of wine to the air would hasten its decline. The Romans, and many cultures since, have found that good wine tightly stoppered—be it in a pottery amphora, a well-made cask or a glass bottle—can get better, not worse, with age.

Roman vintages were prized at a century old. But it was not until the 18th century that wine began to be made deliberately, on a large scale, to be aged. Winemakers, in Bordeaux and elsewhere, began to exploit the quality of wine that allows it to gain in taste and subtlety if it is aged.

The Official 1855 Classification (Modern names are in parentheses)
First-Growths
Premiers Crus

Château Lafite Rothschild Pauillac
Château Latour Pauillac
Château Margaux Margaux
Château Haut-Brion Pessac, Graves (since 1986, Pessac-Leognan)

Second-Growths
Deuxiemes Crus

Château Mouton-Rothschild (became a first-growth in 1973) Pauillac
Château Rausan-Segla (Rauzan-Segla) Margaux
Château Rauzan-Gassies Margaux
Château Léoville Las Cases St.-Julien
Château Léoville Poyferré St.-Julien
Château Léoville Barton St.-Julien
Château Durfort-Vivens Margaux
Château Gruaud-Larose St.-Julien
Château Lascombes Margaux
Château Brane-Cantenac Cantenac-Margaux (Margaux)
Château Pichon-Longueville-Baron Pauillac
Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
(Pichon-Longueville-Lalande) Pauillac
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou St.-Julien
Château Cos-d'Estournel St.-Estèphe
Château Montrose St.-Estèphe

Third-Growths
Troisiemes Crus

Château Kirwan Cantenac-Margaux (Margaux)
Château d'Issan Cantenac-Margaux (Margaux)
Château Lagrange St.-Julien
Château Langoa Barton St.-Julien
Château Giscours Labarde-Margaux (Margaux)
Château Malescot-St.-Exupéry Margaux
Château Cantenac-Brown Cantenac-Margaux (Margaux)
Château Boyd-Cantenac Margaux
Château Palmer Cantenac-Margaux (Margaux)
Château La Lagune Ludon (Haut-Médoc)
Château Desmirail Margaux
Château Calon-Ségur St.-Estephe
Château Ferrière Margaux
Château Marquis-d'Alesme-Becker Margaux

Fourth-Growths
Quatriemes Crus

Château St.-Pierre St.-Julien
Château Talbot St.-Julien
Château Branaire-Ducru St.-Julien
Château Duhart-Milon Rothschild Pauillac
Château Pouget Cantenac-Margaux (Margaux)
Château La Tour Carnet St.-Laurent (Haut-Médoc)
Château Lafon-Rochet St.-Estèphe
Château Beychevelle St.-Julien
Château Prieuré-Lichine Cantenac-Margaux (Margaux)
Château Marquis de Terme Margaux

Fifth-Growths
Cinquiemes Crus

Château Pontet-Canet Pauillac
Château Batailley Pauillac
Château Haut-Batailley Pauillac
Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste Pauillac
Château Grand-Puy-Ducasse Pauillac
Château Lynch-Bages Pauillac
Château Lynch-Moussas Pauillac
Château Dauzac Labarde (Margaux)
Château Mouton-Baronne-Philippe (Château d'Armailhac after 1989) Pauillac
Château du Tertre Arsac (Margaux)
Château Haut-Bages-Libéral Pauillac
Château Pédesclaux Pauillac
Château Belgrave St.-Laurent (Haut-Médoc)
Château Camensac (Château de Camensac) St.-Laurent (Haut-Médoc)
Château Cos-Labory St.-Estèphe
Château Clerc-Milon Pauillac
Château Croizet-Bages Pauillac
Château Cantemerle Macau (Haut-Médoc)

Sauternes and Barsac: The Classification of 1855
(Modern names are in parentheses)

Great First-Growth
Grand Premier Cru

Château d'Yquem Sauternes

First-Growths
Premiers Crus

Château La Tour Blanche Bommes (Sauternes)
Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey Bommes (Sauternes)
Clos Haut-Peyraguey (Château Clos Haut-Peyraguey) Bommes (Sauternes)
Château de Rayne-Vigneau Bommes (Sauternes)
Château Suduiraut Preignac (Sauternes)
Château Coutet Barsac
Château Climens Barsac
Château Guiraud Sauternes
Château Rieussec Fargues (Sauternes)
Château Rabaud-Promis Bommes (Sauternes)
Château Sigalas-Rabaud Bommes (Sauternes)

Second-Growths
Deuxiemes Crus

Château Myrat (Château de Myrat) Barsac
Château Doisy-Daëne Barsac
Château Doisy-Dubroca Barsac
Château Doisy-Védrines Barsac
Château d'Arche Sauternes
Château Filhot Sauternes
Château Broustet Barsac
Château Nairac Barsac
Château Caillou Barsac
Château Suau Barsac
Château de Malle Preignac (Sauternes)
Château Romer (Château Romer du Hayot) Fargues (Sauternes)
Château Lamothe Sauternes

At some point you've probably crossed paths with a "big bottle" of wine. These behemoths are larger than the typical 750 ml. bottles and come with perplexing names. Can you say Nebuchadnezzar?

The wine bottle as we know it today is about three centuries old. It was only the development of the cork-stoppered, cylindrical glass bottle—which can be stacked on its side, keeping the cork airtight and wet—that permitted the development of age worthy wines that improve with cellaring.

The "fifth" bottle, originally one-fifth of a gallon, now rounded off metrically to 750 ml., was said to be a suitable ration for one man with dinner, back in the days when men were men (and most wine was much lower in alcoholic strength). One theory holds that this size was actually the largest that early glass-blowers could produce with one full breath.

But early on, for very special occasions, wineries would put up their product in impressive, oversize bottles. For reasons lost to history, most of these bottles were given the names of Biblical figures like the evil king Nebuchadnezzar and the long-lived Methuselah.

Trophy Wines

Wineries today produce a very limited amount of these large format sizes, as they require special bottling practices. This tends to make these "trophies" amongst collectors, due to their relative rarity.

One great benefit to the collector who stocks a cellar with these oversize bottles is that the wine will age much more slowly, due to the volume of wine versus the amount of oxidation that naturally occurs. Thus, your "trophy" will outlast all of the smaller bottles in your cellar.

Field Guide to Big Bottles

The naming conventions for big bottles vary somewhat among wine regions, with the two standards being Champagne and Bordeaux in France. Should you run into a big bottle, here's a field-guide to the larger sizes.

CHAMPAGNE Magnum: 1.5 liters (two bottles) Jeroboam: 3 liters (four bottles) Rehoboam: 4.5 liters (six bottles) Methuselah: 6 liters (eight bottles) Salmanazar: 9 liters (12 bottles) Balthazar: 12 liters (16 bottles) Nebuchadnezzar: 15 liters (20 bottles)

Even larger sizes are occasionally seen, although they are very rare:

Solomon: 20 liters (28 bottles) Primat: 27 liters (36 bottles)

BORDEAUX Magnum: 1.5 liters (two bottles) Marie-Jeanne: 2.25 liters (three bottles) Double Magnum: 3 liters (four bottles) Jeroboam: 4.5 liters (six bottles) * Impèriale: 6 liters (eight bottles)

*Because of recent U.S. regulations limiting larger bottles to even liter sizes, some modern red-wine "Jeroboams" are now 5 liters rather than the traditional 4.5.

Who's Behind the Names?

Jeroboam (Founder and first king of Israel, 931-910 BC)
Rehoboam, son of Solomon (King of Judah, 922-908 BC)
Methuselah (Biblical patriarch who lived to the age of 969)
Salmanazar (King of Assyria, 859-824 BC)
Balthazar (Regent of Babylon, son of Nabonide, 539 BC)
Nebuchadnezzar (King of Babylon, 605-562 BC)