Sobretable

In Sherry production, the term for the period of time a new wine spends before it goes into the solera. The sobretable is usually 6 to 8 months, but ooccassionally up to a year.

At a dinner party, the oldest wine should be served last.

Answer: False.

Many people serve an old wine last as the crowning moment to an extraordinary evening. But most wine pros would serve and old wine first. An older wine is, by nature, more fragile than a younger one and has more delicate, understated flavors. If you serve the old wine last, after a powerful young wine, chances are the old wine will taste weak and hollow. That would be a shame. So far from being the crescendo of an evening, an older wine should always be the sensational opening act.

“One of the interesting things about viticulture is that everybody needs each other. There’s great respect among vintners and winemakers. At this point in history, the wine industry is a unique culture.”

—Bill Harlan
Harlan Estate, Napa Valley

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