Pocket Vintages - wine vintage charts and wine information

Wine clubs and courses

Here are a few recommended clubs and courses to delve into if you are considering learning more about wine or building up your cellar:

Sunday Times Wine Club

One of the most established clubs.  Members enjoy discounts on exclusive wines, personal recommendations and a variety of wine tastings, dinners and days out.

The Wine Society

Offers a wine storage service, themed tasting weeks, free tasting evenings, exclusive bin-end offers, access to the vintage cellar room and collection discounts.

The Wine & Food Academy

Offering a good selection of wine tasting events, cookery courses and wine tours.  Especially good for corporate events.

The Wine & Spirits Trade Club

Established in 1962 but still only has 150 members.  Organises formal tastings and social events for its members.

The Wine Society Education Trust

This is the place to get your UK wine qualifications - offering a range of wine courses from beginner to Master of Wine - excellent tutors and great for beginners and experts alike.

Wine Discovery Club

One of the oldest wine merchants introduces the club 'If you have ever wanted to be a little more adventurous in your wine choices but have been put off by daunting names and unusual grape varieties, then the Wine Discovery Club is for you' - a good way to build up your cellar with expert advice, food and wine matching tips and budget plans.

Do you know how much you drink?

Alcohol limits -do you exceed them?

That the recommended weekly alcohol allowance for men is 21 units and for women is just 14 units?

You might know that, but did you know that a typical 75 cl bottle of wine actual contains 9 units?  Many people believe that since you get 6 glasses out of a bottle, that it is only 6 units, but that is not correct.

So drinking half a bottle of wine a day is the equivalent of 31.5 units of alcohol every week, more than twice the recommended allowance for women and way above the male allowance.

It gets worse.  These recommendations are based on a typical alcohol volume of just 12%.  Many New World wines are much higher than this and Old World wines are trending to the heavier than the lighter, since this is historically what the market is drinking.

I wonder whether we will now start to see a shift towards lower alcohol wines, such as some of those produced in Germany, since we all still love to drink so much.

Wine Gift - review of UK online wine gift resources

Wine gifts are one of the most popular online gift categories and there are hundreds of wine gift websites out there offering a variety of delights for the wine drinker.  Most wine gift sites focus on selling bottles of wine rather than accessories.  In this feature, I focus on a small number of sites offering good wine accessory gifts.

My favourite is The Wine Gift Centre

The website is very clear and simple to navigate,organised by product categories such as decanting, corklifting and chilling.
Each section has a great range of products and the pictures clearly show you what you are getting.
The corklifting section offers a range of simple and professional corkscrews from £3 to almost £100 making it easy to find the right gift.
My personal favourite is the decanting section, which has a large range of beautiful wine decanters in classic styles, as well as a few quirky ones - check out the Diamond Turn Decanter at £29.95 for something really interesting!
Postage and packaging is reasonable and they will deliver almost anywhere in the world.  One word of warning - the prices listed are ex VAT so expect to see a higher bill when you come to the checkout.
Overall, 9/10

Just as good:

Fine Wine Accessories - a lovely looking website with more than 20 wine accessory categories, so surely you will be able to find an appropriate wine gift on this website?
They have some very smart silver plate and pewter wine coasters and some beautiful champagne bowls.  If you're looking for a smart wedding gift then this website is a great resource.
One of their featured products is the Clef du Vin, which apparently ages wine in seconds.  You can read more about it here.
Checkout is simple enough, with a delivery charge starting at £5.95 for the UK and you need to contact them for prices to other parts of the globe.
Overall, 9/10

Best of the rest:

WineWare - more hardcore than the rest, and possibly focused more on trade business, nevertheless it has an impressive array of wine accessories that would make great gifts.
I especially liked the wine chilling products and the range of wine pourers.
The site is not too difficult to navigate, once you get past the manufacturer selection criteria.
Overall, 7/10

Say It With Wine - a site that allows you to create your own personal label and add it to one of about 10 different wines that is then sent to your wine gift recipient.  Not technically a wine accessory I know but some people like to know about these gimmicky ideas!
Overall, 5/10

Testing wine in a restaurant

One of the biggest problems one faces is sending back a dodgy bottle of wine in a restaurant. The posher the restaurant, the harder it seems to be, especially if there is a snotty nosed Sommelier hovering over you.

So you need to be confident and understand what it is you are supposed to be doing.

Presentation of the wine
First off, the waiter should show you the label to double check that it is indeed the wine you ordered off the menu.  Beware! Some restaurants will not bother to update their menus and thus a 2000 Medoc that you ordered (an excellent vintage according to PV) may be substituted for a 2001 (good but not as good).  Send it back if you are unhappy or choose something else!

Opening the wine
The waiter should then open the bottle in front of you.  That way, you know you're getting a fresh bottle and not the dregs of the last few departed tables, passed off as your quality bottle of vino.  If the waiter brings the bottle already opened then I would advise getting out of the restaurant, but by that point it is probably too late so you're stuck there.

Smelling the wine
Swirl the wine around the glass and take a deep sniff.  You will be able to tell that the wine is off from the smell alone.  The taste will merely confirm the matter.
If the wine is corked, then it will smell musty and dank, a bit like damp rolled up newspaper.  Some people report a 'foxy' or 'earthy' unpleasant smell.  Technically a 'corked' wine is one that has been spoilt by cork contaminated by "Trichloranisol" (otherwise known as TCA).  To you, the wine will probably just smell 'wrong'.

Tasting the wine
Confirm your suspicions with a tentative sip.  It is highly likely that the wine will taste like the wine you used to buy in your late teens and take to other peoples barbequeues.  In other words, 'very rough'.  Acid is probably the taste you'll be left with.  In this case, don't be afraid to return the bottle and request a new one - any decent restaurant will be more than happy to oblige.

There have been reports in the past that one in ten bottles of wine can be corked so don't be surprised if it happens to you!

Serving Wine

You can add a huge amount of pleasure by ensuring that the wine you have chosen is served correctly.  First thing to consider is temperature.  Whites, reds and regions all benefit from being served at different temperatures (although it is also a matter of taste).

We will shortly be adding a temperature chart, but in the meantime, the basic rule is chill down whites and serve reds at room temperature.

Some wines will benefit from being 'allowed to breathe'.  The more complex the wine, the longer you should allow it to breathe.  A couple of hours will usually do the trick.  Rough red wines often benefit from being left to breathe for a few hours longer (and you can also chill them down to reduce the impact of the tannins).

Decanting wine will also help maximise the flavours in the wine.  Older wines with sediment should always be decanted.  Pour steadily into your chosen decanter until you see the sediment reach the bottle neck and then leave the dregs of the wine in the bottle.  There is nothing worse than getting a mouth full of sediment!

Wine Storage

Wine likes to be kept in dark conditions, away from direct sunlight and not bothered.  Constant moving does not do the wine any good - it prefers to be left alone to mature in peace.  It doesn't really matter what temperature you keep the wine, so long it is not very hot or very cold.  Around 16 degrees centrigrade is fine.

It is generally preferable to store wine on its side, since this will stop the corks from drying out (which then let in the air).

And when you are ready to drink your lovely wine, let it stand upright for a couple of hours and then decant it.

Keeping a record of what wine you have purchased, when you purchased it and how much it is worth, will also help for good cellar organisation.  As your collection grows, it is easy to forget what you should be drinking and when. Keeping records helps!