[LONGER] AFW FAQ draft - latest version

Mark, excellent work (both writing and collating). I thought of one more Q to A, and realize that means I write it. Several references to good storage- maybe just a paragraph or two re what that entails? Will get on that after the sauces/herbs.

Hi Mark,

Someone posted to "forget Chateauneuf du Pape" but I can't agree; in spite of the tourist traps in town there are (as you know!) many fine places to visit. Anyway I've put together a list on what I'd suggest, to be edited and added to at will...

Some suggesti> 3g. The Rhone Valley?

In Chateauneuf du Pape, avoid the center of town but seek out:

Dom. Beaurenard (Red, CdR, QPR) Dom. Font de Michelle (Red, White) Bosquet des Papes (Red Tradition) Grand Tinel (Red, CdR, QPR) Dom. du Pegau (Red) Vieux Telegraphe (Red) Dom Roger Perrin (Red, CdR, QPR) La Nerthe (Red, White) Beaucastel (Red, White, good tour)

CdR Villages: Rasteau - La Soumade (expensive but still some deals and best vin doux naturel Rasteau) Rasteau - Didier Charavin Cairanne - Marcel Richaud Cairanne - Corinne Couturier (Rabasse Charavin) Beaumes de Venise - Domain Durban (VDN)

Gigondas/Vacqueyras: Clos des Cazeaux Montmirail Sang des Cailloux Raspail Ay

Want to go off the beaten track? Try a Syrah from Rieu Frais, Vins de Pays des Côteaux des Baronnies. You may never find a better value, anywhere. Shh!

-E

[]te: []

Oops forgot to add a rec from us also for Les Florets, very pleasant indeed.

-E

There is a typo in a URL is section 4. The URL

which takes you to GoDaddy should be .

I have added everything to the web page except part of Dale's. When I finish I will post the URL that has all of the revisions so those writing can check.

The page is already about 22 kb. The page of course contains more code than just the text. However if the page gets much longer, I may need to split it so those on slow dialup connections will not have to wait too long for loading. This can be done by linking to another page rather than the same page with the go buttons. Since I am on DSL with an about

5 Mbps download, I can not tell. Thus I will have to depend on someone with a slow dialup connection to report if and when the page takes too long to load. You need to check several times, because problems on the web can slow everything down to a crawl now and then.

Thanks for catching the typo. I agree about the size (which applies even more to postings to Usenet) and think that maybe we should split it up by major subtopic (i.e., the 8 questions that I currently list in TOC) and link to them via the TOC.

Many thanks for your efforts, Mark Lipton

The updated page is at

. Those writing new sections should check them for typos, etc. Dale's long section on matching is set up with buttons for sections of it, and it will thus be very easy to move to another page should the main page become too long. When one copies text so many times from posts, note pads, web pages, etc, often some white space is lost or added. So if the layout is not what was intended, let me know. Conversion of the other numbered topics to their own pages also will be little trouble if this becomes desirable.

I have to admit that is really useful when on a web site. Better visual vs a letter.

Nice job.

Can someone please knock off Paso Robles and Santa Barbara this weekend in time for my trip next week.

1. Are those expensive Riedel glasses worth the money?

Yes.

(and Reidel isn't the only brand worth considering - Spiegleau is another). They are not all that expensive - one can get very nice glasses for about ten dollars (US) a stem, although they do go up from there for those with the money. When you consider the total value of the wine that will be poured into these glasses over the course of a year or so, the price of the glass is very small indeed.

Scent (the "nose" of a wine) is easily as important as the other taste sensations. Red wines tend to have a fuller nose, and the larger globe style stemware is very effective in capturing the aromatic vapors the wine gives off so they can be enjoyed. One should fill the glass only part way, typically to the widest part of the globe, leaving a lot of space for the nose to gather (and a lot of room to swirl the glass, encouraging the release of these volitile elements). Although white wines will do well enough in a "red wine" glass, a narrower vessel helps show them off better. The same ideas apply however, fill the glass only partway, to leave room for the nose.

The thinness of the rim of these glasses is more pleasant to many than a thicker rimmed glass, and allows the sensations of the wine itself to dominate. Thin glass also does not affect the temperature of the wine as much as a thicker glass, although there is some controversy about how much this matters over the course of a meal, since the wine will be changing temperature anyway.

Champaigne and other sparkling wines should be served in a flute style glass. This keeps the effervescence from disspiating too soon. Coupe style glasses (the old classic with the shallow, wide bowl) are probably the worst thing to do to champaigne, because the bubbles will dissipate too quickly. Save the coupe glasses however; they make beautiful dessert vessels.

Beyond this, it is not necessary to get a different kind of glass for each style of wine; one can easily go overboard here. A simple globe style red wine glass is sufficient, though you may want another glass with a narrower bowl for white wines. Anybody who can appreciate the finer differences between all the other kinds of glasses probably doesn't need the faq in the first place!

Holding the wine glass by the stem keeps your hand from warming the wine up as you drink it, which is why most wine glasses are stemware. However, some places serve wine in non-stemware, notably the Healdsburg Bar & Grill in California

which uses them in their outdoor dining area, because non-stemware has a lower center of gravity and is more stable on tables that might rock or be bumped.

===

1. What is the best way to preserve an opened bottle of wine? How long will it last?

I'd edit the end of paragraph 3 thus:

Probably the best method is to rebottle the wine in a smaller bottle [...]. Be sure to label the bottle! If you have smaller bottles that have screwcap closures, they are even better for storing excess wine. Although it seems that one could put the bottle back in the cellar for another year, this may be optomistic. A winery bottling plant is ultra clean. They sanitze the bottle, and purge the oxygen from the bottle both before and after filling the bottle with wine. They also monitor the oxygen level continuously, and stop the plant if excess oxygen is detected. If you rebottle at home you are not likely to have these same conditions, so putting it back in the cellar to age some more is probably not reccomended.

Jose

The page at

has been modified so that Dale's long discussion of matching is on a single page. The wine/food matching button just links you to the match page rather than to the bottom of the same page. You should notice no difference unless you glance at the url you are on. One advantage is that if someone is only interested in wine/food matching they could bookmark a link to the match page rather than to the general FAQ page. An external style sheet now is being used for all of the pages to make any needed style changes for them easy and to avoid duplication of style code on every page.

R_ie_del.

Spieg_el_au.

Champ_a_gne.

Don't know whether a discussion is wished here, but it is my deep conviction that this assumption has been wrong for at least 150 years.

Very tall, straight, narrow flutes stem from the times where disgorgment for sparkling wines was unknown, until well into the 19th century. Flutes were tall and slim to get the deposit down in the glass as fast as possible.

From the point where disgorgment became common, there was absolutely no need to stick to flutes. A decent all-purpose wine glass is better in just about any aspect: nose, fragrancy and drinking is better from a decent wine glass than a flute.

This is the standard pro-flutes argument. May I ask those who stand behind it, whether they serve sparkling water in flutes? Shouldn't the sparkle - the *only* property of that type of drink - be preserved even more? So why sparkling wine in flutes, but not water?

*I* don't use flutes for sparkling wine anymore, and I am more than happy with my decision.

Anybody having tried side by side agrees with me.

Sorry if a response is undesired here, but I find this "dissenting opinon" worthwhile, and maybe it could be added to the FAQ (possibly in a better wording than mine).

M.

Michael Pronay wrote:

I am just putting the FAQs as developed by Mark Lipton on web pages in case anyone wants them in this format. The only changes I am making to Mark's content are technical ones to take advantage of some things you can do on web pages, but not on a text-only Usenet post. Thus I do not think it proper for me to add editorial comment at this time.

I will only note that many styles of Champagne glasses have been used in various places at various times. Baccarat does or has made at least

4 styles. One is the tulip shape which is not too different from many still wine glasses. It is a bit higher and curves in a bit at the rim. This is my personal choice. However they also make a "V" shaped flute which is apparently an older style, but for which there is still some demand. The "V" shape of this glass is wider than many of the more extreme "V" flutes. They also make the old fashioned saucer champagne glass which apparently was quite popular in some English speaking countries in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I do not much care for this shape, because it is too easy to spill wine from it. Then I have seen saucer Champagne glasses with very narrow hollow stems. These produce more bubbles for those who want this effect and do not mind the rapid loss of CO2. I detest such glasses, because such glasses are very difficult to clean and dry. You may have to use long pipe cleaners to clean the hollow stems. Then there are cylinder shaped champagne glasses that are very thin and tall and that may curve in or out at the top. I see no advantage of these, but some still use them. I have an antique Italian sparkling wine glass that is of the saucer type. However it has an octagonal cross section bowl rather than round. It has lumps of clear glass on each of the 8 sides and much fancy gold work. The stem has a very elaborate swirled pattern. I also have a very elaborate antique Champagne glass from the Venice area. It is a fairly tall flute with glass fish and swirls on the stem, gold flecks in the glass etc.

Some of the Bohemian Champagne glasses from the late 1800s also are very elaborate. At that time, a glass seemed to be used for a canvas to be decorated. Several colors of glass might be used with or without cutting. Much enamel often was used, including semi-transparent enamels. Of course a lot of gold decoration often was used. Moser made some of the most famous Bohemian glass from this era. However Riedel made famous Bohemian glass of this type at the time also. I do not know the connection between this old Riedel and current Riedel.

The most elaborate and expensive Champagne glass in current production on special order likely is one by Baccarat designed for the last Tsar of Russia. I have not priced them recently, but I seem to recall they sold for over $US 1000 each. They are layered with 3 colors of glass, which is heavily cut to show extremely complex patterns The stem and base are heavily decorated also. It likely takes very many hours to cut each glass.

They current Riedels (father Georg and son Maximilian) are direct descendants. Georg's father Claus Joseph fled Bohemia in the late

1940s and found a new home as refugee in Tyrol.

M.

Hear, hear! Absolutely agreed.

Cheers

Nils Gustaf

Yes, dissenting opinions are valued - that's how we learn. I'll have to try it.

Jose

Michael Pronay wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@pronay.com:

Well, I don't pay $40 a bottle for my sparkling water ;-)

Never the less you make as usual a very good point. good Champagne is first and foremost good wine with effervescence as a benefit. I will be trying your suggestion.

cwdjrxyz skrev i snipped-for-privacy@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com dette:

A very good initiative! Thank You for the effort.

regards Jan