Wine Storage Specialist:

We've all been there.  Its starts something like this: a hot night, a white dress, a bottle of great red.  And it ends with a big red stain and an unhappy guest.  But don't cry over spilled wine!  Here are a few tricks that will help you remove the stain and get your night back on track.  They are all...

Do you have aspirations to build a great wine collection but don't know where to start?  Have you collected a few bottles but are unsure about how to build what you have into a cohesive collection?  Here are some tips and hints to help  you out. The best way to start is to educate yourself.  Before you're ready to spend...

We know that wine has to be kept at a low temperature in order to age well.  It’s logical—we keep our perishable items cool so that they don’t spoil as quickly, and wine is, of course, a perishable item.  But what’s with the humidity thing?  Does wine really need to be kept at a certain level of humidity in order...

You love wine.  You spend a lot of time drinking it, thinking about it, and buying it.  You’d love to start a real collection rather than stashing the bottle haphazardly on a rack in your kitchen, but you live in a small loft apartment.  There’s hardly enough room for your stuff, let alone enough empty space for a wine cellar...

1. If the conditions aren’t right, the wine will rot.  There’s nothing worse than opening a bottle after years of storage, only to discover that instead of aging gracefully, it’s turned to vinegar.  Keep the temperature of your wine cellar, wine refrigerator, wine closet, or wine cabinet between 50 and 65 degrees F for red wine and 45 to 60...

I'm constantly on the lookout for wine events happening in San Diego, the home of Vintage Cellars.  But it's not always easy to find out everything that's going on, and I'm always disappointed when I find out I missed out on a great event.  So I was very happy when I recently ran across localwineevents.com, a website that does just what...

I love to drink champagne.  It doesn't have to be a special occasion, in fact, sometimes I'll make one up just to have an excuse to celebrate with the bubbly stuff.  Whether I'm toasting to a job well done or a job I didn't quite get done, champagne always puts a smile on my face.  But what doesn't make me...

Recently, a wine bar opened up in the Pacific Beach area of San Diego.  It's called Enoteca Adriano, and I've been eating there a lot because of the great pasta, intimate atmosphere, and of course, the great wine list.  One of my favorite wines they offer also happens to be the least expensive on the list--the 2006 De Canal Montepulciano...

Summer's here and that means grilling season.  When the summer days mean it's too stifling to cook over a hot stove, I loveto take the kitchen prep outside and cook as much as I can over the open flame.  Not only does it keep the house cool, grilling outside lets me enjoy the warm summer evenings, and offers the delicious...

I'm a big sucker for Spanish wines, and when I'm perusing a restaurant wine list, I often find myself flipping past the Pinot Noirs and Merlots in the hopes of finding a nice Tempranillo or Rioja.  Last night at JRDN Restaurant I tried a great Spanish red wine that I couldn't wait to share with you: the 2007 Atteca Old...

If you find yourself craving something sweet and fruity during these hot summer days, we've got the perfect suggestion for you: the Bellini.  The Bellini originated in Venice, Italy at Harry's Bar (which is still going strong and serving great Bellinis!).  The Bellini is a very simple cocktail that uses only two ingredients--sparkling wine and peach puree (making this the...

If you're looking for a great red wine at a reasonable price, try the 2008 Les Jamelles Pinot Noir.  This is a wine perfect with a light summer meal or to drink on its own--preferably outside with your toes in the grass, watching the setting sun. The first word that comes to mind when drinking this wine would have to...

It's the height of summer, and tomatoes are at their juicy, sweet best right now.  I've been eating them in salads, on burgers, and even by themselves.  As you know all too well if you grow your own tomatoes, the season for these beauties is a short one, and as you know if you've ever even tasted a home-grown tomato...

Here's a trendy new way to use red wine in the kitchen: boiling spaghetti in wine until it takes on a rich, deep fruity taste and a deep burgundy color.  This minimalistic dish gets so much flavor from the wine that it needs hardly any other ingredients. Besides being a dish that is both interesting and simple, this is a...

Here's an easy summer dessert perfect for wine lovers.  The best part?  No hot oven required! Although you might not normally think of drinking a wine with dessert (unless of course, we're talking about dessert wines), fruit and wine make a natural pairing.  They play off each other perfectly: the fruit really brings out the sweet, fruity flavors in the...

Here's a handy cheat sheet to help you remember what's essential to storing and aging your wine properly. 1.  Keep your wine storage area--whether cabinet, cellar, or refrigerator, cool.  Between 55 and 57° F is perfect.  This temperature lets some chemical reactions--the kind that improve the wine--happen, while keeping other harmful reactions at bay. 2.  Keep it humid--between 50 and 80% humidity. ...

For years, wine aficionados have counted on the ability to order wines that aren't available at their local stores.  Say you're on a wine tour of Italy, or you're spending a long weekend wine-tasting in a neighboring state.  Maybe you're even browsing the wines of other places late one night on your laptop.   You fall in love with a...

If you've ever searched for the perfect pairing for a porterhouse, we have the wine for you.  The Ravenswood 2007 Zinfandel just cries out to be imbibed with the buttery tenderness of a great porterhouse steak. This wine is dark ruby in color and has a nose of black cherry, violets and baking spices.  The taste is characterized by lots of concentrated...

At a wine tasting event last night, I struck up a conversation with some wine lovers about the increasingly popular trend of wacky wine names.  Winemakers of yesterday tended to try and convey tradition and elegance with their wine names, often by using the name of the winemaker or the area of production.  Think of the classic Dom Perignon, which...

Ok, ok, there are many reasons that you should never try to "saber" (as it's called) a champagne bottle.  Just off the top of my head: it's dangerous, it's sort of silly, and since it isn't easy, you'll most likely to get a carpetful of glass shards and spilled bubbly.  Yes, logic would dictate that we always use the tentative...