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From: [email protected] (Brad)
Newsgroups: rec.food.drink,alt.food.wine,rec.answers,alt.answers,news.answers
Subject: Wine (the beverage) FAQ, part1 of 10 [LONG]
Followup-To: rec.food.drink,alt.food.wine
Date: 30 Sep 2000 17:18:58 GMT
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Summary: A 10 part FAQ on the beverage wine with various asides
Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu rec.food.drink:47101 alt.food.wine:64079 rec.answers:61450 alt.answers:51500 news.answers:192797

Archive-name: drink/wine-faq/part1
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Copyright: (c) 1995-2000 Bradford S. Brown (Notices/Disclaimers in pt. 10)
Last-modified: 2000/06/01
U.S. WWW (HTML) Mirror: http://www.sbwines.com/usenet_winefaq [newest]
U.K. WWW (HTML) Mirror: http://www.bath.ac.uk/~su3ws/wine-faq/wine-faq.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------

                     INTERNET GUIDE TO WINE

                      FAQ for alt.food.wine
                              rec.food.drink

               (Frequently Asked Questions and More)

                             By

                      Brad and Dri Brown

------------------------------------------------------------------


Copyright 1995-2000 Bradford S. Brown

PLEASE READ THE COPYRIGHT INFORMATION AND DISCLAIMERS AT THE
END OF THIS GUIDE.

This version is date 26 July 1997, though it has been updated to
include more recent versions of Dean Tudor's List (see Appendix), up
through April, 2000.

To all who have sent me suggestions, please note many are not yet
contained in this version.  There's a lot more to come. Thanks for your
help.  If I have included your work and forgotten to give you credit,
please send me a note.

Posted updates occur approximately every four months or so.  This
is because there is a lot more involved in creating this document
beyond the sheer typing.  In order to create the Index and Table
of Contents in a way which is suitable for use on the Internet,
as opposed to being printed by page in a book, it must undergo
some homegrown programs which produce those items.  Also, the
HTML version gets created in the same way.  All of that isn't as
easy as I would like it to be (maybe someday when there is time).
Fortunately, at this point, a LOT of the "frequently asked
questions" are already in the FAQ and I'm working on the finer
details now.

The authors may currently be reached at [email protected]

A complete copy of this FAQ can be obtained by dropping us a
note or through the WWW at:

(US) http://www.sbwines.com/usenet_winefaq
(UK)  http://www.bath.ac.uk/~su3ws/wine-faq/wine-faq.html


---------------------------------------------------------------------------


Introduction


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

_
Drinking wine is an experience. To drink for the purposes of becoming
drunk is not what drinking wine as an experience is all about. Wine is
food. Just like the delight which comes from eating your most favorite
food, wine, as food can provide similar enchantment.

But drinking wine has somehow also entered into the realm of snobbery.
This is a shame for it can (and does) prevent many from getting in on the
enjoyment of this marvelous product of nature. For that reason, I have
undertaken to prepare this guide, not as a wine expert (which I am most
assuredly _not_), but as an average drinker of relatively good wine. My
aim here is to try and explain about wine in a way that is understandable
but, I hope, not forbidding. With this intent, I may offend some
sensibilities or make some outright mistakes. Remember, I am relying on a
little bit of knowledge, and everyone knows what happens with a little bit
of knowledge. If I'm wrong about the facts, please let me know. If I get
carried away and the tone gets too pompous, pretentious, or downright
haughty, also let me know. Some *have* let me know that they think this
thing I call a FAQ is a wee-bit, shall we say, "wordy.". Perhaps, but I'd
rather err on the side of length. As with anything else in this world, you
don't have to look at it!

To the correspondent who let me know that I clearly personally knew
nothing about wine and was merely copying the work of others, I think he
missed the point. First, except where stated, so far as I know, I have
copied nothing. Any new book or article contains the ideas of author,
especially if he or she comes to the subject with enthusiasm. While I am
no expert, I definely have some ideas about the subject, especially when
it comes to breaking down the mystery and mystique that some seem to want
to bring to the subject. Wine is food. People like to eat--and drink. If
you choose to drink wine, do it to enjoy, not to be part of a cult.
Second, this was and is still meant to be a FAQ for "Frequently Asked
Questions." To cut down on the repetition of questions and answers in
Usenet, we started this project. The Internet is a marvelous way of
sharing information. See us here as a repository of that information
(notice we don't necessarily say "knowledge" here).

Because of the sheer volume of information, I am not following the
question and answer FAQ format. A Table of Contents and a comprehensive
Index are provided instead. The choice of what to include was made up from
the questions I have had about wine, suggestions from others, and from
watching the Usenet groups on the subject. Suggestions, comments,
criticism and whatever are welcome. While this already seems like a book
to me, I've actually tried to cut down on the verbiage. It will probably
get even longer through time. The discussion about the University of Davis
(especially given the global reach of the internet) is a case in point.
However, this being in nature a FAQ, topics which generate repeated
questions or a great amount of replies deserve, in my humble opinion, more
attention. Electronic "paper" is relatively cheap. In any event, I have
take a great deal of time to try to make the index and table of contents
broad enough to let the reader find just about anything--quickly!

Living in Southern California means that I get to enjoy the huge diversity
of the West Coast of the United States at, perhaps, a somewhat reduced
cost. It also means that I can visit the wineries and winemakers that
produce these wines from time to time. That is good. Unfortunately it also
means that I have virtually no knowledge of the wonderful (and to me, much
more expensive) wines of Europe and most of the rest of the world. This
guide is a compilation of information, and can grow, through time, through
the assistance of the Internet Community. Please send me comments,
information, or anything else you think belongs here. I don't expect early
versions to be earthshaking, merely distributed worldwide. What all this
means is that if I have the chutzpah to prepare a wine guide as a relative
novice, newcomers to wine can realize that they need not be put off by the
sometimes arcane world of wine and can join it without fear!

Since the making, drinking and enjoyment of wine is a huge subject (and I
certainly don't know all the answers), I've been necessarily superficial
in my answers (though perhaps longer, than in many FAQS!). This can lead
to argument about the validity of what I have had to say. Since this isn't
meant to be an encyclopedia, some sort of brevity is important. As I've
said, I have received comments that say some of the portions are too long.
Many feel that specific great wines of the world have been overlooked.
This is true, not just because this--so far--isn't a book, but because I
have made a conscious decision to not go too far out on a limb in
incorporating information about things about which I truly know _nothing_
and can't adequately satisfy for myself that the information sent to me is
correct. They say that more information is published on the Internet in
one week than is set to paper in a year. They don't say how much of it
(including, of course, this FAQ) is correct. With this as with everything,
caveat emptor--"Let the buyer beware."

I stand in the position of chronicler first, wine enthusiast second. Why
do I say this? I received a somewhat unfriendly note telling me that it
was clear from the FAQ that I knew very little about wine and that I was
merely repeating the thoughts of others. My response was that everything I
wrote (unless I said otherwise) was made up by me, but very well may have
been a distillation of information from elsewhere. On a subject upon which
there has been written so much, it is almost foolhardy to think that one
can contribute anything new in what is merely a primer on a subject, but
my intent here was to at least give out some information in non-stuffy
way, with my own views on the subject. Furthermore, as several have
mentioned, this is a rather wordy document for a FAQ. Nevertheless, it
tries to remain true to the concept of a FAQ, that is, to answer
Frequently Asked Questions in the hopes that it won't be necessary for the
friendly folks in the world, especially those who chat amongst themselves
using Usenet, to keep repeating the same answers over and over and over
and.... To that end, I am quite happy to try to distill the thoughts of
others and repeat them here. Ere what's a FAQ for?

In any event, everyone is urged to buy a book or two on the subject and
read away. More importantly, drink away and have a good time.

_PLEASE NOTE_

This is a _work-in-progress_. Some, but not all, of the mistakes pointed
out to me have been incorporated in this version. I'm still working on
fixing the errors and will then move on to incorporating new sections that
have clearly been areas of discussion in the Usenet groups I have monitored

One final note on the drinking of wine vis-a-vis the information in this
Guide. What _you_ like is the best rule of thumb. The experiences of
others are a handy guide but these experiences often get shrouded in the
myths, mysteries and ritual. This is off-putting and shouldn't be. In some
parts of the world, wine is drunk daily as a part of the meal. There's no
big conundrum about what glass to serve it in or how long to age the wine
(since most is drunk young). In other parts of the world, the United
States, for example, wine often is a restaurant's marked-up profit center
and the "rituals" of wine are haggled over incessantly. Since this Guide
is somewhat of a rulebook by virtue of its existence, I would like to lay
to rest the idea that this is what I have in mind in creating it. Use this
Guide to get into wine, if that is your goal. After that, just have fun.

Special thanks to the people listed in the Acknowlegment section!

The most current copy of the FAQ is available in text format by e-mail
from us at [email protected]. The most current WWW copies are found at:

(U.S.)    http://www.sbwines.com/usenet_winefaq (newest)
(U.K.)   http://www.bath.ac.uk/~su3ws/wine-faq/wine-faq.html

We hope you get some use and enjoyment out of our project.

Cheers!

Bradford Brown
July , 1997


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


I would like to acknowledge those who have provided special assistance,
and please forgive me (and e-mail me) for anyone I have forgotten! A lot
of mail has been received and not all of it has been sifted through, yet.
So far, thanks to John Bailin, Mike Christensen, Peter Curran, Thomas
Hill, Mark Levesque, Jim Karegeannes, Sandra Kidd, Daniel Harris Lapin,
Jason Brandt Lewis (who was kind enough to send me an entire f.a.q. on
port--which hasn't been included yet--as well as detailed information used
in "Fine Print, U.S. Style", Gloria Mercado-Martin, Matthew Mitchell,
David Murphy, Marcelo Portnoy, Bill Rohwer, David Tan, John Thorngate, Roy
Wilkinson. Some asked not to have their names included, our anonymous
thanks are given. Some merely sent small notes with little additions,
others provided large amounts of material. All of it was necessary and
appreciated!

A very special thanks to Paul S. Winalski who clearly spent a great deal
of time pointing out and providing changes for a number of specific areas
of the FAQ. His knowledge of wine and willingness to consistently help out
the Internet community is appreciated and I thank him for myself and on
behalf of all those who have learned from him.

Also special thanks to Jarrett Paschel who first made the FAQ available on
the World Wide Web.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

FAQ HISTORY

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


Here's where we'll try to keep up with changes/additions to the FAQ.

*July 1997*

Various additions have been made.  Usenet ASCII version updated to
reflect WWW HTML version.


*November, 1996*

FAQ re-designed for the World Wide Web, including hyper-text links and
graphics. Some re-writes and corrections made. Many additions waiting in
the wings, so we wouldn't suggest re-reading the thing for a while if you
have already been through it!

_*Pre-History*_

FAQ written solely for Usenet and text archival purposes, starting in 1994.


Table of Contents
---------------------------------------------------------------------------


Introduction
Acknowledgements
FAQ History
Table of Contents

I.  What is Wine?

II.  How Wine is Made

     + Growing Grapes
       +   Phylloxera vastratrix
       +   University of California at Davis
     + Harvest
     + Initial Processing of the Grape Juice
     + Turning Juice into Alcohol
       +  Brettanomyces

     + From Fermentation to Bottle:  Malolactic, Filtering and Fining,
                                            Barrel Aging and Blending
     + Bottling Wine
III.  Aging Wine

IV.  Storing Wine

     + Cellar Software
V.  Drinking Wine

     + Temperature to Drink
     + Opening the Bottle
       + Corks & Capsules
       + Corkscrews
     + Dealing with the Open Bottle
       + A Light Touch
       + Smelling the Cork
       + Decanting
       + Letting the Wine Breathe
       + Getting the Label Off
     + Flaws
     + Describing Wine
     + The Ritualisitic Art of Wine in Restaurants and other Quibbles
     + Restaurant Pricing
     + Glassware
     + Storing Wine After It's Opened
VI.  Buying Wine

     + What Wine To Buy?
     + Where To Buy Wine
     + What is Wine Worth?"
     + "My Signficant Other Doesn't Like Red Wine"
VII.  Wines

     + Red Wine Grapes
     + White Wine Grapes
     + What's In A Name?
       + Meritage
       + The Fine Print, U.S. Style
     + Champagne
     + Port
     + Dessert Wines
       + Botrytis
       + Eiswein a.k.a. Icewine
       + Other Sweet Wines
VIII.  Wines Around the World

     + Argentina
IX.  Food and Wine

X.  Learning about Wine

     + Starting Out
     + Cyberbia
     + The Internet
     + Internet Resources
     + Miscellaneous Electronic Stuff
     + Printed Materials
       + Books
       + Mazagines and Newsletters
     + Miscellaneous
       + Courses on Wine
       + Wineries
       + Wine Tastings
       + Critics
XI.  Physiologic Notes on Wine

     + Allergic Reactions
     + Calories
     + Pregnancy
     + Wine as a Sleeping Aid
     + Lead in Wine
XII.  Touring the Wine Country

     + California
     + Canada
     + France
XIII.  Miscellany

     + Importing
     + Kosher Wine
     + Making Your Own Wine
     + Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster
     + Recipes
     + Shipping
Appendix A.  An HTML Wine Bookmark Page

Legals

Word List

The following represents a key word list for the Wine FAQ.  If you
have obtained the FAQ in parts, you should reassemble the parts and
then you may use your favorite software to search for the words as
they appear throughout the document.

If you have access to the WWW, the HTML version of the Wine FAQ
contains the following index with hypertext links to the appropriate
place in the FAQ where they appear.

Supported web site are located at:

 (U.S.) http://www.sbwines.com/usenet_winefaq
 (U.K.) http://www.bath.ac.uk/~su3ws/wine-faq/wine-faq.html




   4-ethylphenol
   75% Varietal Rule


   A.O.C.
   AVA
   Accessible
   Acetic bacteria
   Aging Wine
   "Aging" wine by shaking
   Ah-So
   Air Conditioners and Storing Wine
   Alcohol Content
   Allergic Reactions
   All-in-One Page
   alt.food.wine
   American oak
   Appellation
   Appellation d'Origine Controlee
   Approved Viticultural Areas
   Argentina
   Austere
   AxR #1


   Baby Icewine
   Bacteria
   Balance
   Balthazar
   Barbera
   Barrel Fermentation
   Beaujolais Nouveau
   Beerenauslese
   Bentonite
   Beverage Media
   Big
   Bleaching corks
   Blend
   Blind Tastings
   Blush
   Bookmark Page
   Books
   Bordeaux
   Bordeaux (Meritage)
   Botrytis cinerea
   Breathe
   Brandy (and Port)
   Brettanomyces
   Brettanomyces (as a flaw)
   Brix
   Buttery (fermenting wine)
   Buttery (desribing wine)


   Cabernet Franc
   Cabernet Sauvignon
   California and Touring
   Calories
   Canada
   Cap
   Capsules
   Carbon Dioxide (Champagne)
   Carbon Dioxide (Fermentation)
   Case
   Cellaring
   Cellars
   Central Coast of California
   Champagne (Champagne)
   Champagne (What is Wine?)
   Chardonnay
   Chateauneuf-du-Pape
   Chateau d'Yquem
   Chenin Blanc
   Chlorine
   Chocolate and Wine
   Cholesterol as affected by Wine
   Clarification
   Clay
   Closed
   Complex
   Corkage
   Corked
   Corks
   Corkage, fair
   Corkscrews
   Cotes du Rhone
   Courses on Wine
   Critics
   Crud in the bottle
   Cryoextraction


   Dean Tudor's Wines, Beers and Spirits of the Net
   Decanting
   Decanting Port
   Declared Year
   Dekkera
   Dessert Wines
   Deuxiemes Crus
   Disgorgement
   Distillation
   Distilled Liquor
   Double Magnum
   Dry
   Duck and Wine
   Dumb
   Duouro


   Egg whites
   Eiswein a.k.a. Icewine
   Electronic Stuff, Miscellaneous
   Enology


   FAQ Design
   Fermentation: What is Wine?
   Fermentation: Juice into Alcohol
   Fillette
   Filtering
   Fining
   Flabby
   Flaws
   Foil
   Food Combinations
   Food and Wine
   Fortified Wine (and Port)
   Fortified Wine (What is Wine?)
   France and Touring
   French Oak
   Freezing wine
   Fume Blanc


   Gamay
   Garnacha
   Gelatin
   Generic Wine
   Gewurtztraminer
   Glasses, storing
   Glasses, washing
   Glassware
   Gold Country of California
   Gopher
   Graft
   Grand Premier Cru
   Grapes
   Grape Skins and Color of Wine
   Grassy
   Grenache
   Grey Rot


   Half Bottle
   Hard
   Herbaceous
   Humidity and Storing Wine
   Hybrid


   Icewine a.k.a. Eiswein
   Imperial
   Importing
   International Standards Organization (ISO)
   Inert Gas
   Internet, The
   Internet Resources


   Jails, Wine
   Jeroboam


   Kosher Wine


   Labels, Removing from Bottle
   Lactic acid
   Laying Down
   Lead as a health hazard
   Lead Contamination from Foils
   Lead Poisoning
   Learning about Wine
   Lees
   Leverpull (tm)
   Light
   Light and Storing Wine
   Liqueur de Tirage
   Listservs
   Louse


   Madeira
   Madeirized
   Magazines and Newsletters
   Magnum
   Making Your Own Wine
   Malaga
   Malic acid
   Malolactic fermentation
   Marbles in the bottle
   Marsala
   Mature
   Marie-Jeanne
   Medical Notes
   Menodocino
   Mercaptan (and bottling)
   Mercaptan (as a flaw)
   Meritage
   Merlot
   Methode Champenoise
   Methuselah
   Microsoft Wine Guide
   Mold
   Mold (and Dessert Wine)
   Moldy Corks
   Muscatel
   Must


   Napa
   Nebbiolo
   Nebuchadnezzar
   Newsletters and Magazines
   Nigara Peninsula
   Nitrogen
   Noble Grapes
   Noble Rot
   Nose


   Odors and Storing Wine
   Okanagan Valley
   Oporto
   Opus One
   Oxidize
   Oxygen


   Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster
   Parker, Robert
   Paso Robles
   Petite Sirah
   Phylloxera vastratrix
   Pinot Noir
   Plastic Corks
   Pint
   Port
   Port (Dessert Wine)
   Porto
   Pregnancy
   Premier Cru
   Proprietary Wine


   Quinta
   Quinta do Noval


   rec.food.drink
   Recipes
   Refrigerators and Storing Wine
   Rehoboam
   Reidel
   Remuage
   Returning a flawed bottle
   Reserve
   Restaurant Pricing
   Riddling
   Riesling
   Room Temperature
   Rose
   Rot
   Ruby Port


   Saccharomyces
   Salmanazar
   Sauterne
   Sauternes (aging wine)
   Sauternes (Dessert Wine)
   Sauternes (grapes)
   Sauvignon Blanc
   Second fermentation
   Sediment in Champagne
   Sediment
   Sediment (and Port)
   Semillon
   Semi-Generic Wine
   Sherry (Dessert Wine)
   Shipping Wine
   Shiraz
   Signficant Others Who Don't Like Red Wine
   Single-Quinta Vintage Port
   Smelling the cork
   Sonoma
   Sparkling Wine (What is Wine?)
   Sparkling Wine (Champagne)
   Split
   Stainless steel
   Starting Out in Wine
   Still Wines
   Storing Wine
   Storing wine after the bottle is opened
   Sugar
   Sulfites
   Sulfites and allergies
   Sulfite "free" wines
   Sulfur
   Sulfur Dioxide
   Sweaty socks
   Sweet Wines of the Loire Valley
   Sweet Wines of the Valpolicella District
   Syrah


   Table Wine
   Tannins
   Tastings
   Tawny Port
   Temecula
   Temperature and Drinking Wine
   Temperature and Storing Wine
   Thin (and harvest)
   Thin (describing wine)
   Torrontes
   Touring the Wine Country
   Trichloranisol (TCA) 2,4,6
   Trockenbeerenauslese


   Unfiltered
   Universal Disenfectant
   University of California at Davis
   University of California at Davis: A Graduate's Opinion
   University of California at Davis: Brett
   University of California at Davis: Courses on Wine
   Unfiltered
   Usenet


   Vacu-Vin (tm)
   Varietals
   Varieties
   Varietal
   Varietal Wine
   Variety
   Vertical Tastings
   Vibration and Storing Wine
   Vinegar
   Vines
   Vins Delimites de Qualite
   Vins de pays
   Vins doux naturels
   Vins ordinaires
   Vintage
   Vintage Date
   Vintage Port
   Viticulture
   Vitis vinifera
   Volatile Acidity


   Weather
   White Port
   Wild yeast fermentation: Juice into Alcohol
   Wild Yeast Fermentation: UC Davis
   Wine and Spirit Education Trust Diploma
   Wine Cellars, Building Your Own
   Wineries and Learning about Wine
   Wineries On-Line
   Winery Tastings, Charging For
   Wines of the World CD-ROM
   Wives who don't like red wine
   Wood
   Wood Port
   World Wide Web


   Yahoo.com
   Yeast


   Zinfandel

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