Wine Appreciation

Wine and food are not just about nourishment or even flavor, but about how we live; about the memories we attach to a taste, and the quality of our lives as we live out the old memories and create new memories.

The purpose of wine is to enhance the flavors of food, removing food fats with its acid and revealing flavor layers hidden beneath. In turn the food changes the mouth chemistry so the next sip of wine is fresh to the palate. This symbiotic relationship works well as long as the correct wine is paired with the correct food, get it wrong and it just doesn't work, get it right and it's a wonderful experience.


Wine & Food Pairings

"In Europe we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also a great giver of happiness and well being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary." - Ernest Hemingway - and we agree with Ernest.


Wine & Cheese

Our Cheese Club provides a quarterly shipment of 12 ounces each of three “Village Cheeses” selected from small creameries around the world. The three cheeses in each shipment are paired with the three wines in our quarterly Wine Club shipment. Price is $45 / quarter plus $20 shipping, if applicable.


Recipes

Each quarter we develop recipes to pair with the "Surprise Me" wine shipments. These recipes have four requirements, namely,

  • Use few ingredients, all available at a local market.
  • Simple to cook, even in an apartment kitchen.
  • Take less than two hours to prepare and cook.
  • Must pair with the wine in your shipment.

Our recipes are available to wine club members, who can search for their favorites via name, food or wine on this website.


Aging & Storing Wines & Recognizing Flaws

In this section we provide advice on the following:

  • Aging wine, understanding the accumulation of changes in aroma, flavor and complexity as they age.
  • Wine storage, discusses how properly stored wines can maintain their quality and in some cases improve their taste dimensions over time.
  • Corks, how to plug a wine bottle effectively has been an issue for thousands of years.
  • Recognizing Wine Flaws. Wine lovers look for familiar, satisfying or comforting flavors in wines while winemakers often look for flaws.

Decanting, Serving and Tasting Wine

Decanting, tasting and serving wine are the last steps on the wine's journey from soil to glass. So many people have done so much work to grow, ferment, age and deliver this bottle of wine to you. You must now take the wine to its final step, to be enjoyed by you and your friends. This section provides some guidelines to help you get maximum pleasure from our wines.