Answering Your Most Common Wine Questions

Ep 28

Today’s episode is a fun one because I’m answering your most common wine questions! 

I recently posted a question sticker in my Instagram stories asking you to send me all of your wine related questions and boy did you deliver! It makes me really happy to answer your questions so I had so much fun with this! If you missed that question sticker on my Instagram stories I’ll be doing it again soon, so make sure you are following me here so you don’t miss it!

So, what are your most common wine questions? Well, in today’s episode I took the top 16 questions I received and we are going to dig into them to help you understand wine a little bit better.

Some of the questions include:

• I smell my wine before sipping but I don’t know why I do this. What exactly should I be smelling?
• How can I figure out what wine I like?
• Does red wine really have health benefits?

And the questions don’t stop there! 

Get ready to sip and learn because this episode is full of fascinating facts and tips that will elevate your wine game!

And don’t forget to head to https://www.corkandfizz.com/ scroll all the way to the bottom and join my mailing list where you will also receive my free shopping guide that has 15 of my favorite wines under $15.

Episode Highlights:

• Answering your most common wine questions
• What’s the best way to learn about wine and develop the ability to describe wine flavors?
• I smell my wine before sipping, but what am I supposed to be smelling?
• How can I determine what wine I like?
• How can I properly store wine at home?
• What are the basics of pairing food and wine together?
• Do I eat and then sip wine or do I sip wine and then eat?
• Are wine clubs a good investment?
• How long does wine last once it’s open?
• Are there health benefits from drinking red wine?
• Why are some wines specific to some regions?
• Why are some wines so much more expensive than others?
• What are some tips for planning a wine-focused vacation?
• What is a good bottle of wine to give as a gift?
• How do I navigate an extensive or unfamiliar wine list at a restaurant?
• Why does wine give me a headache
• Is wine vegan?

Related episodes

• Episode 1 -  My 4-Step Wine Tasting Method to Build Your Wine Confidence
• Episode 11 - Food & Wine Pairing 101: My Simple 2-Step Signature Process
• Episode 13 - 6 Expert Tips for Planning Your Next Wine Trip

Transcript

0:17

Okay. In today's episode, I'll be answering your top wine questions. I put a little question sticker on my Instagram stories. If you're not already following me, be sure to check it out at atkorkandfizz, And you delivered with some amazing wine questions. I will definitely be doing another one of these in the future, so if you, you know, more questions pop up as I'm answering these questions. Write them down. Send them to me. Find me on Instagram at corkandfizz, or you can email them to me directly, hayleyat Cork and fizz. I seriously love answering questions about wine, so you would just be making me so happy by sending me more questions to answer. Before we get into it, I wanna give a quick reminder. If you are not on my mailing list yet, I would love for you to join. When you join, you will get a free shopping guide that has 15 of my favorite wines under $15. You can head to corkandfizz.com, Scroll to the bottom, and there'll be a little section where you can join the mailing list. I send out a weekly newsletter. It's filled with wine tips, recommendations, special offers, and so much more. Also, being on my mailing list, it means you are the 1st people to find out about any new offers that I have coming up, and you get the best deals. Also, be sure to check out my virtual tasting club, The Court Crew. If you've enjoyed listening to this and you're like, how amazing would it be to drink wine with Hailey? Well, Come join The Corcoran, you can find out. We get together every month. We try new wines and learn from others in the wine world. We have some amazing winemakers coming in in the next coming months. So head to my website, cork and fizz.com/thecourtcrew, and you can use code wine 101 when you sign up to get your 1st month free. Now without further ado, let's get into these questions. So I have 16 questions I'm gonna try to get through during this episode. Let's see if we can do it. Question number 1. What is the best way to learn about wine and to develop the ability to Cribe wine flavors and aromas. So my first thing I'm gonna say, go check out the 1st episode of this podcast, my 4 step wine tasting process. Then once you know that, taste a ton of wine. When possible, try 2 wines side by side. That way, you can compare a little bit more, and it's a little easier to to kinda distinguish things and and pull different things out. Read about the wines before you taste them. You don't even need to go out and buy a book. Just go search on Google and, you know, and and if you're trying a, you know, Oregon pinot noir, Type in Oregon Pinot Noir, and one of the first few things that pop up will likely tell you a little bit about it. You're not looking for, like, what specific tasting notes you should beginning right because you could even look up the the producer of the wine. Right? And a lot of times, they'll say exactly what they think you should taste in the wine, but That's what they're tasting, and you might get something different, and that's fine. I think it's more fun to look it up look a bottle up because 1 well, for For one, you might not even know what grape is used in the wine, so, you know, you could look it up for that. Maybe you wanna know about, you know, where the grapes were grown, what winemaking practices they did. There's a lot you can do by simply just researching the wine that you are tasting. Next, if you're wanting to develop this ability to describe flavors and aromas, you need to develop an aroma dictionary. And the way to do this is that you just smell a lot of things and then you describe them. You become that weirdo at the grocery store who smells the, oranges, before you purchase them. Or farmers markets are a great place to do this as well. But, essentially, yeah, you're gonna start smelling things and paying attention to the smell. And not just spelling it, but then you need to describe it. This was something that I thought was so interesting. I think it was in the corkdork book that when she went and talked to these, experts on the nose, and they were teaching people who had lost their sense of smell to how to respell. And this is what they would have them do. They would smell. They actually made, like, little, like, concoctions of, like, aromas, so it's just like a liquid, kinda like, oh, what are those called? The the herbal elements or something like that. God. I that's probably not right. I can't think of it, but you get the idea. The aromatic the aromatherapy stuff. There we go. So you can use those too, but you could also just use, like, food and flowers and earth and and and whatnot. So when you smell something so let's say you're eating an apple. Before you take a bite, Smell the apple. Think about what that smell is. Try to put words to it. Can you describe it? Then when you take a bite of the apple after you swallow it, smell the apple now. What does it smell like? Is it, you know, fresh? Is it, woodsy? Is it Citrus y is it you know, you're gonna it's gonna be hard at first to come up with the words, but I think the more you do it, the the easier it'll be. And so the more you do this, the more you develop that aroma dictionary, so then later on, you recognize that smell when you smell it in wine. And, of course, shameless promotion here. If you are interested in learning how to taste wine, and describe wine flavors and aromas, Come join my court crew or take a private tasting, with me cork and fizz, or do both. That sounds fun. Okay. Next question. I smell my wine before sipping, but I don't know why. What am I supposed to be smelling? Great question. There's so many things that I think we do with wine because we think we're supposed to. Like, I'm supposed to swirl it. Right? Why do I swirl it? Or, like, After they you know, at a restaurant, when they open the bottle of wine and they leave the cork with you, it's like, I'm supposed to smell the cork. Right? Like, why? So this is specifically so they they're talking about smelling the wine before they sip it, which, yes, you definitely should. But what are you supposed to be smelling for? You are smelling for the flavor because here's the thing. Most of the flavor of wine and anything you eat or drink comes from your nose. So the way to test this, and, you know, I'm not totally crazy, next time you're drinking wine, plug your nose Just like this. Take a sip of the wine. Don't unplug your nose until you've swallowed the wine. Tastes pretty different. Right? It's the same reason why when you have a cold and your nose is all stuffed up that food usually doesn't taste as good, It's because you're not able to get the flavor which is coming from your nose, believe it or not. So when we are smelling wine before we're sipping, We're pulling out all of those aromas, and we're pulling out the flavor of the wine. Okay. Next question. How can I figure out what wines I like? So this one, again, very similar to the first question. Taste a lot of wines, and take a lot of notes. In my wine tasting process, I have 4 steps. So you look at the wine, You smell the wine. You taste the wine. But step number 4 is you think about the wine, and this is where I I always tell people to pay attention to and when you're thinking about the wine, you're thinking about, did you like it? Did you not like it? What was it that you liked or didn't like? Now the first very first that you do this with, it might not be obvious what you liked. Right? You might just be like, it was good. I don't know. What do you want me to tell you? But after you taste more and more wines and if you start to really pay attention and take notes and go through the wine tasting process with each of these, you'll start to notice some similarities. So with a really great story with this one I I think is really interesting is, my mom. She When she first started drinking wine, she primarily drinks sweet wines. She knew she liked sweet wines, drank a lot of Moscato. But as a lovely supporter of everything that I do, She has since joined the court crew tasting club and has also, gone out with me to Walla Walla and done some private tastings. Needless to say, she has needless to say, she has tried a lot of different wines since then. And what was interesting was always found it I always think it's such a fun thing to try to figure out what people like and don't like. And it was this mystery because we kept trying to figure out you know, didn't like red wines for a while because she didn't like the tannin. Right? We knew it was, like, that drying sensation, but soon that wasn't a problem. She she got used to it, and really enjoyed it. And and then it was something about because I thought, you know, going from sweet white wine, that maybe it'd be a good idea to get her into just, like, less Sweet. Just more fruity white wines. Some of them worked, but some of them didn't. And it was it took a little while for us to figure out. And then with red wines, I'm like, oh, well, the first we should introduce you to are, like, lower tannins. So I'd be like a pinot noir. Right? It's something lower tannin, but it wasn't her thing. And then she tried a Merlot, and she loved it. And so we had to kind of go back through the notes about each of the wines that she tasted and what stood out, and pretty soon we realized She doesn't like high acidic wines. All of those, you know, those white wines that might have been fruity, they also had a lot of acidity. And the sweetness the reason she liked the sweet wine is because it covered the acidity, and she likes a Merlot more than a Pinot Noir because it is less acidic. So, again, this might take time and be okay with that, but the more you take notes and the more you pay attention and and go through the 4 steps the wine tasting process when you are tasting wines and then, you know, pay attention to what you like and don't like, you'll start to be able to do that. Also, don't be afraid to ask for help. If it's not obvious, I love talking about wine, so feel free to reach out to me on Instagram. Email me, halie@korkandfizz, and talk to me. Tell me what you like, what you don't like. And just like I said, I think it's a really fun puzzle and a mystery to kind of Figure that out, so I'd love to help you as well. Next question. How can I properly store wine at home to ensure it ages well and doesn't go bad? So there are some things to avoid when you're storing wine. This is a good place to start. So things to avoid, you wanna avoid light, especially sunlight. You wanna avoid warm temperatures or more specifically, constantly fluctuating temperatures. Those are even worse than the the warm temperatures. The reason you don't like the warm temperature is that, if it gets warm, the I believe what happens is, like, the wine, Either I think the cork expands in the bottle or the wine expands. Something happens where the the cork expands. And then when it gets cooler again, the and then when it gets cooler again, the quark shrinks, And so then it's actually going to start letting in a bunch of oxygen. You can also if it gets too hot, like super hot, you can cook the wine, which then it loses a lot of its fruity flavor. And this is the same thing that happens if it has too much sunlight, the light damage. You so you wanna avoid light. You wanna avoid warm temperatures. You wanna avoid vibration. So this is like if anybody puts their wine on their fridge, on top of their fridge or anything like that. You wanna avoid that. You want like, You are looking for the, like, darkest, coolest, stablest area of your house to store your wine, and then you also wanna avoid total lack of humidity. This is why I tell people not to put their wine in their fridge if they want it to last longer than a a few weeks. The, If you ever, like, have left vegetables in your fridge for too long and they, you know, they dry out, that's what'll happen to the cork. And, again, if that Cork dries out and it starts to shrink, it lets in more oxygen, and your wine goes bad. So all this to say, please please please please please Do not store your wine in the kitchen unless it is in a wine fridge. Your kitchen is just such a terrible place for wine Because, one, it gets really hot when you're cooking and then it cools down when you're not. Lights are always on in there. The vibrations, if you have the it on top of your fridge, it's a terrible place for it to be. And, again, like, you don't want it in the fridge because of the lack of humidity. Your best bet for storing wine is a good quality wine fridge. Your next best bet is the darkest part of an unfinished basement. That's where I store. So I have a few wine fridges, but then I also store a lot of my wine in, the part of our basement that it's actually these, like, shelves were built in these wooden shelves were built into, like, the stone, concrete foundation. So especially anywhere you can find stone or concrete, right, that keeps in the cool, and also keeps it at a very constant temperature. That's where I store a lot of my wine as well, and they're in the closet so that there's no, sunlight, and I even put a, like, dark shade over the, window, so we wouldn't have to worry about that. Another option is the back of a closet, again, somewhere stable where it's gonna stay dark for the most part and kinda the cool it can stay as cool as you possibly can keep it. If those aren't really it doesn't feel like there's a lot of options or you have some wine that you really wanna be able to age and trust that it will age well, The other option is there are off-site storages. This is where you pay. It's kinda like having a storage locker, but for your wine. And so these, you can trust. They have they keep things at the right humidity. They keep everything at the right temperature. I have one that I basically put all the wine that I wanna and, like, forget about and then come back to in 10 years, and so we just pay a yearly fee for them. We got our own, Combination lock to put on our little locker, and you can just go in and out as you please. We have a little key code to go in, and then you can also actually those places can accept shipments of Wine if you're ever having, like, wine shipped and you don't know if you're gonna be at your house or not. Right? They always have to have somebody sign if for 21 plus. So it's another option. It is a little more costly, so you do have to pay for that every year, but it's very trustworthy. Okay. Next up, basics of wine and food pairing. Like, how can I get started if I know nothing? Well, it's a great place to start. Good job. You're already listening to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine podcast. You are in the right spot. Now if I try to answer this question, we'd have a very, very long episode. So instead, I'm gonna recommend you go check out episode 11, wine and food pairing 1 on 1, Wine and food pairing 101 for all my tips, but the very basic so I'll get you started with the first thing. What you wanna do is you wanna match the intensity of the food with the intensity of your wine. You never want 1 to overpower the other. Then don't be afraid to try new things. I am a believer that I don't think there exists 1 single perfect pairing for every dish, so just Be bold and and try something new. When you're doing wine and food pairing, your goal is essentially just to make harmony between the food and the wine. You want the Wine to slightly improve the food and the food to slightly improve the wine. You're just looking for them to, you know, counteract and balance each other very well. You can do that with a lot of wines, and you don't need to go for a perfect pairing. It works if you're just like, that's good. That's all that's all you need. That's what you need for wine and food pairing, so don't be afraid to to try different things. And and if it doesn't work, I mean, Does it really matter? You'll just eat the food and then have the wine later. Right? It's not the end of the world, so don't be afraid to try stuff. And then, again, go check out episode 11, Wine and food pairing 1 for a little more in-depth answer to how to get started on wine and food pairing. There was a follow-up question into this. Well, actually, it was somebody else's question, but it feels like a good follow-up into this. How to eat with wine? Do you eat then sip or sip then eat? My answer here, it doesn't matter which one you start with as long as you are paying attention to how the flavors change. So I always say you wanna do this in threes. That's what we do during my wine and food pairing classes. You wanna eat and sip in threes. So if you start with a sip of wine, Think about how the wine tastes, then have a bite of food, and go back to the wine, and think about how the flavor of the food changed the flavor of the wine. You can also do that the other way around. So have a bite of food, think about how the food tastes, then have a sip of wine, and go back to the food and figure out did it change the flavor of the food? The goal is essentially, like, if you're having, like, a meal, a great pairing is one where you can, you know, Have a sip, have a bite. Have a sip, have a bite. And it's just a very enjoyable experience kind of going back in between the 2. Alright. Next up, I think we're I think we're gonna have a flight, so we're we're making some good time. Next question. What are your thoughts on wine clubs? Which ones are worth joining? Are you in any wine clubs? Wine clubs are the best way to support your favorite wineries. It is guaranteed income for them, and so if you have some favorite ones out there, I highly recommend joining their winery or joining their wine club. You also get, a lot of perks joining a wine club. So first off, when you join a winery's wine club, you have amazing wine. Right? You you wanna do that because or you would join a winery's wine club because every wine of theirs just blows your mind. That to me is, like, the good the level to which I will join a wine club. Another good reason to to join, the wine club, wonderful people. Right? You love the people who make the wine. You wanna support them. This is their guaranteed income, and this is a way for them to continue to grow as a winery. And then the other one as I mentioned a little bit is the fun Perks and events. Oftentimes, wineries will save certain wines specifically for their wine clubs. They'll also have wine release parties and other wine club events, And they also can have discounts if you wanna purchase other wine outside of the club. One thing I also wanna say here because I feel like this isn't said a lot, But keep in mind, you don't have to be in the wine club forever. Right? This is one of those where, like, a lot of times I like to join a wine club, and and I enjoy it for a while, and and then maybe you wanna try something new. And as much as I would love to, you know, belong to 10, 20 wine clubs, that would be a lot of wine, and that that would also cost a lot of money. So it's okay to join the wine club for a little bit and then maybe realize that you wanna try something else out. Or you've gotten too much wine and, you know, you need to calm it down a little bit. So That's there's 1 style of wine club, which is it that is the the winery. So in terms of wineries that I am a wine club member of, I was I'm a wine club member of Final Girl and to Tomer. These are both in Santa Barbara. It was after a Santa Barbara trip. That's the thing too is I tend to join 1 club after I visit somewhere. I'm trying to think if there was There are a few more that I used to be, so we used to be members at Mathiason. They are in Napa Valley, and I wanna see another one. I've considered Lola. Lola is again out in Apple Valley, and they have just amazing wines. We love their Chenin Blanc. And then also I've been thinking about Delmas SGR Vineyard, with Brooke Delmas. She was a previous guest, thinking about joining their wine club as well. So, again, I kind of like I I go in between I believe those are the only 2 that I'm currently so final girl and Tetomer, in terms of wineries that I am a wine club member of. Now there are also other styles of wine clubs, and these are more collections. And I really enjoy these because it allows you to do a like, try a variety of wine and have it sent to your door. So these are put together by either just like Simply a wine club or wine shops will do these as well. So Crunchy Red Fruit by Jackson Robau is 1. Really enjoy that. Cascadia Wine Merchants is a new one that's on the scene, and I joined recently. They have Pacific Northwest and Canadian wine, which It is so hard to get Canadian wine in the US, so I'm really excited to try this one out. Cote wine club. I was part of this one for a little while, and, again, this was just became one where I was like, It's too much you know, the cost of it just doesn't balance for me, but I still highly recommend it. It's Cote, c o t e. And this is one, I believe they're based out of New York. I hope I'm not getting this wrong. But they're connected to a very popular restaurant, and it's 2, sommeliers that put this together, and they do a tasting every month, which is really great as well. These are, like, kind of your higher quality, but slightly unique wines. And then another great one that I've also been a member of in the past is called The Grand Tour, and this is done by Verve, which is a again, I believe it's a bottle shop out of New York. And And they always have a theme, and it's like they travel to different areas around the they travel to different wine regions around the world, and you get to try wines from each of those so I think that's a really cool way to try new wines. Now there are other styles of wine clubs out there. I tend to avoid the more generic ones, The ones like, Wink, Wall Street Journal, Bright Cellars. If they work for you, that's great. I just think you can get higher quality, more reliable wines for not that much more money, and then you can also support, you know, a a small business or a local winery instead of of these larger ones, which when you look up the wine, sometimes aren't the highest quality wines. I've also tried naked wines. Mixed reviews, but it's also been a while. So they could be great. Naked Wines, when I first joined, it had I love the idea behind it. It was, like, Making wine costs a lot of money. There's a lot of start up money that is necessary for making wines. The idea was when you became a Naked Wine member, also sounds so funny when I keep saying naked on this podcast, but naked wine. You would essentially be, like, helping fund these winemakers who are trying to get their thing started. And so, you know, your money would go into a pool, and then I think you would get to pick out a certain amount of wine, every quarter or something like that. And I I just thought it was a really cool idea and a great way to support people who are starting out. I've had some good wine, not so good wine from there. So mixed reviews, but, again, it has been a while, so I'm I'm not gonna say one way or another, but feel free to check it out and and see what it's like. Okay. Next question. How long does wine last once opened? I have in my notes here, it says more than one day with, like, lots of exclamation marks after it, so I think I really wanted to get that across. More than one day. If you open a bottle of wine and as long as you put a closure on it, aka the cork back on or Any sort of thing over it and put it in the fridge, it will last longer than a day. Generally speaking, I give it 3 to 5 days. The reason it goes bad after 3 to 5 days is oxygen. It's caused by bacteria that turn ethanol into acetic acid. This process is called oxidation, and it what makes your wine taste sour and vinegary. So you know a wine has started to go bad if it's starting to lose its fruity flavor. It's overly acidic or sour, where all you can really taste is the alcohol in it. Those are kind of the 3 that, At least for me, when I go, yep, probably time to dump this. All right, next question. Are there any Health benefits to drinking red wine. So here's the thing, there are antioxidants. I'm not going to say that that isn't true. There are some antioxidants in red wine that could be good for you. However, This is the big butt that's coming in. Keep in mind that wine is a drink with alcohol, and in general, alcohol is not healthy. So my personal opinion, I wouldn't drink wine for health benefits. It's good for the soul. It treats my soul All the time when I drink it, but that's you know, I don't drink it for any health benefits. I I love it. And, honestly, you do have to take it seriously, with the fact that it is alcohol and I think also being very understanding to those that don't choose to to drink it either because they just don't wanna drink alcohol. Maybe they're they had you know, they're they're recovering, or they just don't want to, and and that's fine. So I think just being aware that Wine is an alcoholic drink. Sometimes it's, what's the word where it's, like, made to seem, like, glorified a little bit above other forms of alcohol, like hard liquor beer, but in the end, it is still alcohol. I love the stories behind it. I will always love wine, but I'm always careful with it too Because, yeah, alcohol is a poison, and some people, do have addictions. And just keep that in mind when you're when you're enjoying your wine. So to answer your question, Not really. They're antioxidants, but it doesn't make up for the fact that it is is indeed alcohol. Next question, why are some wines specific to regions? Great question. Predominantly in Europe, Regions or wine regions have specific rules about what can be grown in the region. And the reason they do that and so they have rules. For example, one of these is Bordeaux. There's a French region, called Bordeaux, and they can only grow certain grapes. And then they also have to pass a lot of these other, steps and qualifications in order to be labeled a Bordeaux. But they do that because they have this belief of what's called terroir, and this basically translates to sense of place. And it's the idea that the terroir, that the grapes were grown, is the most important aspect of the wine. So where they're grown, the geography of that region, the climate of that region. I'm trying to think. There's another piece to it as well, but, Basically, that sense of place, everything about the place where the grapes were grown is the most important aspect about it, not what variety it is. So that's why they don't call in Bordeaux, they make a lot of Cabernet Sauvignon. So they don't call their wine a Cabernet Sauvignon because they know it's going to taste very different than a Cabernet Sauvignon grown somewhere else in the world. So they wanna be specific, and they believe it's like the Bordeaux is what's important. That place of Bordeaux is what makes that wine unique, and that's the thing you should keep an eye on. So that is why some wines are specific to the regions. And then there's rules out there that, like, you can't call anything else a Bordeaux, if it doesn't come from that place, basically, to kind of protect that word and so that you know you can always expect a certain amount of quality from a Bordeaux wine, or at least you know what to expect from a Bordeaux, Same with all the other regions. Okay. Oh, man. How many we got left here? We got I think we have 6 left, so we're we're we're moving good here. Okay. Why are some wines so much more expensive than others? This is a good question. I've asked this question so many times. Remember, I love asking why questions. So anything with a why, I'm like, oh, yeah. So there's a lot of things that go into the cost of wine. Some of these things include the cost of the grapes, if you're just purchasing the grapes from vineyards, or the cost of the land to upkeep the land and harvest the grapes. Does gossiping come out? The winery's name, that is something that comes into comes into play. Is it famous, Well known, or is it just starting out? Winemaking, so oak barrels. If you're gonna use, you know, new oak barrels every year, it's gonna cost you a lot of money. Special reserve bottling, these are ones where they have the best grapes. So if that wine used the special reserve wine or the special reserve grapes, it'd be a little more expensive. And then how many hours were spent blending and and figuring out that right blend and how much of an expert? Is it somebody with, You know, 20 years experience? Is it somebody who's just starting out? The region can go into play. So what is the going cost of wine in that region? And then, also, aging. Are you buying the bottle that's been aged already 3 years before you even had to buy it? That took up space in the winery and then also just made it a higher commodity. So there are lots of different aspects that go into it. Yes. Some of it is, like, is it a well known wine or not. Right? There is some marketing that plays into that, but a lot of it comes down to the cost. So this was a question I asked I remember I went into, a local wine shop here, and I asked them why is it that Washington wine is so much more expensive than, like, French wine a lot of the times for, like, you're just, like, equal quality across the board. And one of the major reasons for that is in France, the people who are making the wine own their vineyards, and they've owned them in their family for generations. Whereas in Washington, the cost of land out here is very expensive, and it's a newer, Wine world is newer in Washington, so a lot of these people have to go out and either buy the land or buy the grapes from the land, in which case it is Quite expensive. So that is a big factor in the expensive wines. Okay. Next up, I'm interested in wine travel and visiting wineries. Can you provide tips for planning a wine focused vacation? Oh, absolutely. I love that. So, again, this topic could last a whole episode. In fact, I've done an episode all about this. So, check out episode 13 linked in the show notes, tips for planning wine travel. And if you're listening to this about When it comes out of or before April 2023, be sure to check be sure to check if I have any spots open for my Walla Walla wine retreat. Love for you to join me. I'll do all the wine planning for you so you don't have to worry about it, and you just get to enjoy the trip. But if you want tips for planning your own wine vacation, Go check out episode 13. I have a bunch in there. You're also welcome to reach out to me, directly, and I'm happy to help you plan. Next up, what's a good wine choice to give as a gift in general? Oh, This is a hard question because everyone has different tastes. So my go to answer for this, I think the best wine to give as a gift, if you know nothing about the person's wine taste, is your favorite wine or a wine with a story behind it, especially if it's between you and the other person that you're giving it to. So maybe you're a realtor, and someone bought a house in Washington state. Like, Choosing your favorite Washington wine would be a choosing your favorite Washington wine would be a great gift to give them because you're shouting out the area that They're new too. Right? Washington local, but it's also your favorite, so you can tell a little story behind it. Right? Or, if you're giving somebody a, like a birthday gift to a friend, and, you know, you're thinking about a bottle of 1, but you have no idea what they like, share your favorite bottle because you're Essentially sharing a part of yourself in that, and you can explain to them, you know, I love this, and I wanted you to try it. You could also do one where, like, if you've visited a winery with that person grab a bottle from that winery. It's a great way to start it out. The other recommendation I have here is A sparkling wine, though this one's a little there's a little caveat there because I know there are some people out there that just don't like sparkling. So hopefully you don't run into those people. And, If anything, most people can use it in a mimosa. So, but sparkling wine is good for a celebration. So, you know, especially like a birthday, an announcement, a, you know, a New Year's, any of those things, sparkling wine could be a a good option there. Next, how do I navigate a wine list at a restaurant, especially if it's extensive or unfamiliar to me? 1st tip, don't be afraid to ask for help. A lot of times in these restaurants, if they have an extensive wine list, they have somebody there who knows how to walk you through it. And this person is called the sommelier. And don't worry. It is not their job to get you to spend a lot of money on wine. It is their job to help you understand the wine list and Find a wine that you will enjoy. So when you're out to eat and if there is a sommelier that you can ask, about the wine menu, Ask to have the sommelier come over, and then simply tell them what styles of wine you like, what you're looking for. Maybe tell them what you plan on eating for dinner, And then give them your price point, and they will help you find a good wine to to match your meal. Now If you're somewhere where there is not a sommelier to walk you through the wine menu, some other tips is to first figure out how the list is organized. It's usually organized either by region, so you'll see, like, the French wines and then the Italian wines and the US wines. Sometimes it's, organized by grape variety, so you'll see, you know, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon. Just understanding that can help, then once you know that, you can find something that you're familiar with and look around that wine. Because, generally, if you like a Chardonnay, You could look in the Chardonnay section and find maybe a different Chardonnay to try. Or if you like a French burgundy and you end up in the France, section, you might be able to find something that's Similar, you like the styles of French wine. And then lastly, look at it as just being willing to try something new. I think a lot of times with wine, we always wanna go to what's familiar to us and, like, what we know versus, like, if you're at a new restaurant, you're probably there to Try some new food, and and you're okay with that. And you might see something on the menu, and you don't know every single ingredient in that dish, but you're like, yeah. I'll try it. Have that same attitude towards wine, and you might find something you enjoy. Next up, this is a very popular question. I'm not gonna go too in-depth into it, but I totally understand this question. Why does wine give me a headache? So the 2 main reasons, and you're not gonna like me for this, is it's alcoholic. It's alcohol. So if you drink Too much wine and do not drink enough water, you're going to dehydrate, and that is going to give you a headache. The other reason is that a lot of wines contain histamine. If you ever notice that you get any allergy symptoms afterwards, or, like, you know, like, that stuffy kind of headache where your head feels Full. It could be histamine. So I'm not a doctor by any means, but I have read out there that, you know, taking antihistamine before drinking. And if that helps you, could be the reason. Again, not a doctor, so please don't take that as medical advice. It is not almost always or almost never, I should say. It's almost never the sulfites in the wine. The sulfites the only time that would be the case is if you have a sulfur dioxide or sulfite allergy, and then in which case, you also wouldn't eat very many dried fruits. You wouldn't eat frozen French fries. Well, precooked after, obviously. Right? But, trying to think of some other things. Any of the fruit in the grocery section that is not organic, you would not be eating any of that stuff because those all contain sulfites as well. You might also be getting a headache from the sugar. So if you, a lot of wines like your mass produced wines that you find at the grocery store will have some amount of sugar mostly because they're kind of trying to match the taste of your typical American who, I am guilty of this, loves sugar. So they put a little bit of sugar in the wine to kinda help match your taste. So if you notice that, you know, grocery store wine tends to hit you harder than, let's say, like, a nice bottle at a restaurant or one that you purchased at a local wine shop. It might just be the added sugar in the wine as well. Alright. We've made it to our last question. And, again, if there are more questions that have come up as I've been talking about this or you wanna have your wine Questions answered, send them to me, haley@korknfizz.com, or find me on Instagram atkorknfizz and send them my way. Okay. Last question. I heard of vegan wine recently. Isn't all wine vegan? That's such a great question. Not not exactly, unfortunately. I know. You're like, it's made with grapes. How is it not vegan? What are you talking about? There is a process in the winemaking process called fining, and fining involves stirring an absorbent substance called a coagulant yeah, we're getting fancy into the wine when it lies in a barrel or a tank for the purpose of adhering to and removing certain undesirable molecules. This is done to clarify and stabilize the wine before bottling since most consumers prefer a wine that is not cloudy or excessively tannic. So, some of the substances that they use to find the wine, this coagulant. Some of these substances that they use to find the wine are derived from animal byproducts. So, egg whites, casein, which is a milk protein, gelatin, which is typically derived from skin, tendon, and muscle of animals, and isenglass, which is the air bladders from fish. I know. Sounds crazy. Right? So if these substances were used to find the wine, technically, it's not quite vegan. Now there are options to find the wine that are not animal byproduct. So one of the common ones is bentonite, a type of clay, and activated Parkour. So how do you ensure that the wine is vegan? 1, you can check the label. More wineries are getting better about labeling their wine as vegan if it is 1. You could also look for an unfined, like, unfined, unfiltered. Sorry. Unfined, unfiltered wine. A lot of natural wines are unfined and unfiltered and are likely vegan. The other thing is just ask. Find a local wine shop where you can trust the people, who sell the wine or go to your local winery and ask them if the wine is vegan. Man. Okay. That was fun. Thank you for sending in those questions. I enjoyed answering them so much, and I hope to do this again in a part 2 with even more questions. If you love this episode as much as I did, I would so appreciate if you could Take a quick second to rate it and leave a review, and if you know a wine lover in your life that would enjoy it, please share it with them. It would mean the world to me. Now a few episodes ago, I gave you a sneak peek into my Court Crew virtual tasting club. You loved it, so I'm doing it again in next week's episode, and this one is extra special. We were lucky enough to have one of the Top leading wine professionals. The author of The Wine Bible, Karen MacNeil, join us for a q and a. In this conversation, Karen shares about her life and gives some of the best advice that I've ever heard for those wanting to learn more about wine, so you won't want to miss this. Thanks again for listening. And as a thank you, I'd like to share my free shopping guide, 15 wines under $15. Simply head to my website, corkandfizz.com, scroll down to the bottom, and join my mailing list.