I’ve been to a number of wine-tasting classes or events over the many years – and believe me, I have many years.  I’ve learned how the look at the wine, how to properly smell it, how to hold the glass, and how to swirl/gargle the wine in my mouth to detect the proper flavors.  All very nice.  But there are some things that they never tell you that you really should know.  Here are some of the things that they don’t tell you:
Item 1:  serving temperature.  If you’ve followed this website, you already know what this first “things that they never tell you” is, namely, the optimum serving temperature of the wine.  As you can see on the chart shown below, the optimum serving temperature of wines is very much determined by the type of wine.  The great myth is that white wines are served chilled and red wines at room temperature.  As a result, most people serve their white wines too cold and red wines too warm.  It always amazes me that most wineries do not keep their red wines at the proper temperature.  You’d think that they would want to have you taste their wine at the optimum conditions.  After all, they are trying to get you to buy the wine…

​Item 2:  wine aging.  They never tell you if the wine should be aged any more, or if it is ready to drink.  Sure, the winemaker really can’t say for certain that his wine needs two more years of aging – I don’t really expect that – but he can indicate that the wine needs some aging, or, perhaps of greater importance, how long you can age it before it needs to be drunk.  It is important to remember that for most wines there is an optimum age.  In other words, you can overage a wine.  And yes, white wines change with age as well as reds – reds get lighter, whites darker – and in many cases the whites improve with age.  My wife and I are red wine drinkers, so white wines generally sit for long times in our chiller.  We were pleasantly surprised when we opened up a bottle of Chuparosa Albarino that we had forgotten about for a couple of years.  It was marvelous!  Naturally, the next time we visited there they were out of Albarino.
Item 3:  wine storage.  A corollary to item 2 is how to store the wine.  At least one winery we visited stored their wine at too high a temperature – 74 F – and hence all of it was spoiled.  From what I have read, wine should be stored horizontally at a uniform 55 F (hence the name of the storage company I am associated with – Chateau 55).  Along this same line, I’ve been to two wineries where the wine spoiled in the tasting room (see item 1 above) due to high temperatures.  So, while wine should be good at room temperature for a year or so, just a short time at high temperature can ruin the wine.  OK, that means you need to drink your wine quickly in the summer if you keep your house at 78 F.  I highly recommend a wine chiller.  If you need to buy one, go for the cheaper models.  The expensive units have rigid shelves that are too close together to handle wider bottles.  Just one such bottle will cause you to lose an entire row.  The cheap units (see mine below) have flimsy shelves that can handle the larger bottles if you store them backward.

​Item 4:  orange or brown wine.  They never tell you what a wine looks like if it is spoiled, so I will.  It will have a brown or orange tinge.  If it really gone, it will also be cloudy, with lots of suspended particles.  As noted above, I have run across the orange tinge three times at wineries.  The suspended particle wine was served to me at a friend’s house.  I believe the problem is the rate at which the tannins react with oxygen.  If the tannins in the wine oxidize slowly at low temperatures the solids come out of solution, leaving behind a very smooth wine with great complexity.  If they oxidize quickly or at high temperatures, the solid remain in solution and the wine tastes awful.
Item 5:  other bad wines.  Of course, the wine can turn into vinegar.  This is not very likely as most wines contain sulfites that kill the bacteria that can convert the alcohol into acetic acid (vinegar), and in general the bacteria are not going to get into the wine after it is in the bottle.  Another thing to look for is the cork rotting.  This can occur, and if it does the wine will be bad.  Which of course leads to restaurant wine tasting, i.e., why the server gives you the cork.  I always look at the cork to make sure that it is wet with the wine – the wine has been stored on its side – and to make sure it is not rotted.  Which leads to the stopper issue….
Item 6:  stoppers.  I use the term stoppers rather than corks because some wines do not use cork stoppers.  Alternatives are rubber and screw tops.  Cork is the standard because it allows a small amount of air to leak into the wine, allowing the tannins to age gradually.  Other soft stoppers – rubber, composites (cork or otherwise), or compound units – also serve in the same capacity.  But a screw top does not.  So, looking at the cork can tell you a lot about how long a wine should be aged.  If it has a screw top, it is ready to drink.  Doc Ed looks at the corks from another perspective – how highly the winemaker regards his wine.  If he uses cheap corks it sort of indicates that he doesn’t have a high regard for his wine.  You can read more about corks in our about section.

​Item 7:  phases.  I find it somewhat surprising that I’ve been taught in wine tasting classes how to hold the glass, swirl the wine, properly look at the wine color and clarity, and see to it that the wine reaches everywhere in my mouth, but never about the three “phases” of wine tasting.  These are the attack, the mid-palate, and the finish.  The attack is when the wine first enters the mouth, the mid-palate the taste while it lingers in the mouth, and finish is what you taste after you swallow or spit out the wine.  Actually, I’m not sure about what you taste after you spit out the wine…. 
So there you have it, a summary of the things that you are seldom if ever told when in a wine tasting class.  So, the next time you are tasting wine at a winery, ask what temperature you should serve the wine at.  Ask if the wine needs aging, and how long it should be aged.  Ask to look at the cork.  Oh, and make sure the wine isn’t orange….

​During this lockdown our wine reserves are dwindling.  Not that we are drinking more wine (well, maybe a little more), but all of the wine we are drinking is coming from our reserves.  So how are you faring?  If you are running low, many of the wineries are open for on-line business. In fact, this is a great time to purchase wine directly from the wineries.  Almost all of them are offering great deals on their wine.  I’m taking advantage of the low prices -- right now I’m waiting on a delivery of wine from Vineyard Grant James – six bottles of red wine (Nebbiolo, Sangiovese and Zinfandel) at $25 per bottle with free delivery.  These are typically priced in the $40 range.  Of course, buying now is a good way to help keep your favorite boutique wineries afloat.
Now if you do take advantage of the low wine prices, you may need extra space to store the wine.  If you live in San Diego north of interstate 8 you might want to look into Chateau 55.  The special deal still works if you go through this website – first month free and 5% discount for the next 11 months.  You get a key and a fob to allow you to access your wine whenever you want without worrying about getting the virus.  More important, perhaps, is that you can have the wine delivered directly to their facility and put into your storage locker so you don’t even have to deal with a delivery man.
The wineries are doing other things as well as selling wine, such as virtual wine tasting events and even Zoom wine pickup parties for their club members.  Remember that some of the best balsamic vinegars and olive oils are available from the wineries.  Wineries that have both include Orfila (though they are out of their red balsamic vinegar, my personal favorite, and I am really bummed out), Ponte (very good but the sell out quickly), Robert Renzoni, and Principe di Tricasse.  Speaking of Principe di Tricasse, they make a Marsala wine.  My wife made an outstanding veal marsala last night using their wine.  Hatfield Creek might be a place to visit without running into other people.  They have a maze that you can try to navigate.
Horror of horrors!  I just got a message from Grant James that my wine won’t get here until tomorrow!  Oh, well, I guess I have enough to make through another day or twenty….
Anyway, please take care.  And remember, you don’t have to drive anywhere….

​On the last day of our journey we rode through strawberry fields that seemed to go on forever to reach our final winery of the trip:  Cambria.  Cambria Estate Vineyard and Winery, located in Santa Maria, is not a boutique winery.  It is not a small winery.  It is a very big winery.  The strawberry fields became vineyards that stretched as far as the eye could see.

​Doc Ed had visited Cambria on his recent trip up to Santa Barbara, and highly recommended it.  At the end of the long drive we found a relatively small tasting room.  A bit of a surprise – I would have expected a larger facility for such a large winery.  Anyway, one large table filled a good part of the room, which was good because we had a large group and brought lunch.  See pictures of the tasting room below.

​We were there for the wine, of course, and, as you can see in the tasting menu, the only red wine they make is Pinot Noir.  Note that three of the five are pure clones of Pinot Noir.  Now I must confess that I cheated.  Yes, you heard me right, I cheated.  You see, Doc Ed brought back some of their wine, and, well, I tasted their Clone 23 Pinot Noir a few days before the trip.  Well, more than tasted it – I guess “guzzled” fits better.  More about Clone 23 below, but first a little bit about clones.

​Vineyards don’t start by planting seeds – just takes too much time for them to grow and you don’t really know what you are getting.  Rather, they plant vines.  If all of the vines have the exact same DNA – they all came from the same plant (usually by grafting) – then they are said to be “clones” of the original plant.  You can probably see where this is heading.  If I grow the vines from seeds, they will all have different DNA.  Some will grow well, but not produce good wine.  Some will struggle, but produce very good wine.  Others will grow well and produce good wine.  It all depends on the growing conditions.  Anyway, the best vines are cloned, and, if the clones are particularly good, given a name or number and made available to other vineyards.
Getting back to Cambria, they had five Pinot Noirs on their tasting menu, three of which were pure clones.  The first two mixed clone offerings were good.  Then we hit the third Pinot Noir, Clone 4, an outstanding example of a more-or-less classic Pinot Noir.  Clone 2A proved to be pretty good, though I really liked Clone 4 better.  Then we went to Clone 23.
Pinot Noir is a light red wine.  Indeed, I was told by one expert that you can tell if a Pinot Noir offering is pure Pinot Noir by trying to see your thumb at the bottom of the glass.  If you can see your thumb, it is a pure Pinot Noir.  He never met Clone 23.  It is a dark red – no way you can see your thumb.  Whatever the case, Cambria’s Clone 23 is outstanding.  But wait, didn’t I know this before I arrived at their tasting room?  Well, not exactly.  You see, Doc Ed had the 2015 vintage.  We were tasting the 2016 vintage.  The 2016 vintage is a bit fruitier, maybe even darker.  Honestly cannot say which I like better.  Anyway, we bought bottles of Clone 4 and Clone 23 2016 vintages, and some Clone 23 2015 vintage for Doc Ed.  Oh, and some of our group tasted the whites – and loved them.
Wine club is a three-tiered system, requiring 12, 18, or 36 bottles per year in three shipments for 15%, 20%, or 25% discounts, respectively.  All memberships include free wine tasting for up to six people.  Members can customize their purchases.