De Primeur

Wines that are sold and drunk very young. The most famous of these is Beaujolais Nouveau, although dozens of French wines are allowed by law to be sold the year the grapes were harvested. Not to be confused with EN PRIMEUR.

You should rinse your glass with water between wines at a tasting.

Answer: False.

Although it may be tempting to rinse your glass with water between wines when you are at a wine tasting, doing so is actually counterproductive. Even a little leftover water in the glass will dilute a wine, making it taste unbalanced and discombobulated. If you think the next wine will be influenced by the previous wine, the best bet is to rinse your glass with a few drops of the wine to come. Interestingly, in Italy they don’t consider a washed glass prepared to even receive wine until they (as I like to think of the ritual) “baptize” it with rinse wine, a process known as avvinare i bicchieri (ah-vee-NAH-reh ee bee-kee-AIR-reh). There is one big exception to the “rinsing with wine” idea. If a wine is flawed, it’s best to abandon that glass altogether and proceed with a new, fresh glass for the next wine.

Old Vines

Treasured everywhere in the world, old vines are often described as “wise.” They don’t expend useless energy forming unnecessary leaves. They focus on producing just a few grape clusters and ripening them well, rather than… Continue reading

Get WineSpeed