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How to Order Wine at Restaurants

Your friends at a nice restaurant have given you the job of ordering the wine. Have no fear! By knowing some basic wine terminology, and using common sense, you'll make out like a champ.

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  • September 20, 2010
  • Wine

How to Order Wine at Restaurants

Your friends at a nice restaurant have given you the job of ordering the wine. Have no fear! By knowing some basic wine terminology, and using common sense, you'll make out like a champ.

5 Secrets to Ordering a Great Bottle of Wine Everytime!

Learning about wine should be simple, without attitude and above all else, lot of fun! Here are 5 secrets to ordering a great bottle of wine every time!

Take Control of the Wine List

Do you ever just feel completely overwhelmed when you're handed the wine list: especially for an important or special occasion? Most wine lists are written assuming the reader has a great knowledge of wine and geography and this can be very intimidating. But the good news is that understanding the three main ways wine lists are organized is the first step in helping you choose the perfect bottle of wine.

Perfect Wines for the Summer

Summertime, with its sweltering heat and heavy air, does something to a wine drinker's palate. Heavy, red wines tend to make us warm. Take a tour with us and review some of the livelier summer wines.

Great White Wines for Summer Defined

Summer is a great time for white wine. There are many different types of white wine for every occasion. Here are some of our favorites!

World's Top Ten Vintages

Wines are produced by allowing grapes to ferment. Vintage wines are prime quality wines that have a particular flavor owing to the process of making mother using grapes that were all grown in a particular year. Over the years this term has come to denote wine that is old and very valuable for its unique taste. You need to choose the right vintage for celebrating an important occasion to bring out the nature of the celebration. How do you choose vintage? You can choose them based on the brand names as wines from certain wine houses are of a finer quality than others and you can choose them according to the years of making. The older the wine is the better the taste and quality.

Light, Bright and Sparkling: How to Choose Your Next Bottle of Wine

With all the different brands, styles, and flavors, it's tough to know how to pick your next bottle of wine. Let this guide walk you through the process and give you great tips on how to choose your next bottle.

How to Pour the Perfect Glass of Wine

Would you like to pour the perfect glass of wine? Impress your friends and family with this easy to follow guide and you to can pour like a pro!

Five Simple Ways to Choose Wines

Wine is used as an accompaniment to food on several occasions. How do you choose the right type of wine? Here are some tips on this. Choosing wine really depends on the type of food that you are going to have. Another thing about wine is that when you take a particular type of wine or a wine from a particular region, the food of the people in that region goes with the wine from that region. So this is another point to keep in mind when selecting wine.

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, typically made of fermented grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients. Fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast produces wine. Yeast consumes the sugars found in the grapes and converts them into alcohol. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are used depending on the type of wine being produced.

Although other fruits such as apples and berries can also be fermented, the resultant wines are normally named after the fruit from which they are produced (for example, apple wine or elderberry wine) and are generically known as fruit wine or country wine (not to be confused with the French term vin de pays). Others, such as barley wine and rice wine (i.e., sake), are made from starch-based materials and resemble beer and spirit more than wine, while ginger wine is fortified with brandy. In these cases, the use of the term "wine" is a reference to the higher alcohol content, rather than production process. The commercial use of the English word "wine" (and its equivalent in other languages) is protected by law in many jurisdictions.

Wine has a rich history dating back to around 6000 BC and is thought to have originated in areas now within the borders of Georgia and Iran. Wine first appeared in Europe at about 4500 BC in the Balkans, and was very common in ancient Greece, Thrace and Rome. Wine has also played an important role in religion throughout history. The Greek god Dionysus and the Roman equivalent Bacchus represented wine, and the drink is also used in Catholic Eucharist ceremonies and the Jewish Kiddush.