10 Common Misconceptions About Wine

Cheese and meat = red wine; Fish = white wine

Have you always been told that’s how food-and-wine pairings work? In reality, many cheeses don’t pair well at all with red wine, whose tannins can sometimes create a very unpleasant metallic aftertaste… Most cheeses should actually be…

This is surely the most dangerous myth! NEVER put a bottle of Champagne in the freezer before serving it. The reason is simple: there’s nothing worse for wine than sudden temperature changes. You must avoid at all costs subjecting a bottle to drastic temperature fluctuations before opening it. If your Champagne isn’t chilled enough, it’s better to put it in the refrigerator for an hour or two before serving (but please, not the freezer!). As for flutes, despite their aesthetic appeal, they aren’t suitable for fully appreciating the aromas of this type of wine. They don’t facilitate the release of aromas and limit the surface area of contact between the wine and the air too much. To properly enjoy Champagne, we simply recommend “tulip-shaped” wine glasses, which are better suited than flutes or coupe glasses (which are more commonly used for cocktails).

Your annoying uncle has surely already uttered this phrase during a never-ending Sunday family lunch, between the appetizer and the main course, as he pours himself another glass of Côtes-du-Rhône for the seventh time. Unfortunately for him, that’s not always true. It’s perfectly fine to switch back to a white wine after drinking a red (during the cheese course, for example; see common misconception #1). It’s all a matter of balance, the sweetness of the wines, and especially the tannins: you simply need to serve the most tannic wines after the lightest and driest ones, and finish with the sweetest.

As you might expect, this somewhat naive idea is wrong (only 99% of the time!). Rosé wine is generally produced—just like red wine—by macerating the grape skins (which contain the red pigments) with the pressed juice. The only difference between rosé and red is that the maceration is stopped much earlier to make rosé: the wine has barely begun to take on its red color, so it is “rosé.” QED.

P.S.: The remaining 1% is found exclusively in Champagne, where rosé Champagne is sometimes made by blending white and red wines directly (though this is quite rare).

You poor thing! You’re going to overwhelm your taste buds! No exaggeration—after a Sauternes, a Jurançon, or any other sweet wine with intense aromas and a long finish, you’ll likely find it hard to appreciate the next wine, especially if it’s a delicate white or a light red. And with all that sugar, you risk losing your appetite for the rest of the meal… So quickly put away that Sauternes you planned to serve with the foie gras as an appetizer, and bring it out again after dessert, for example!

As strange as it may seem, the best time to taste wine is in the morning—and on an empty stomach, if possible! At that time of day, your nose and palate are neutral, your senses are alert, and hunger makes you particularly sensitive to smells. However, if you’re tasting wine in the morning on an empty stomach, don’t forget to spit it out! The tasting will be all the more effective and enjoyable.

Of course, this isn’t always true. While there are excellent, very old wines that have aged well and improved with time, this isn’t the case for all wines. Some wines are meant to be stored and opened years later (these are called “age-worthy wines,” such as the great red Bordeaux, for example), but others are meant to be enjoyed while they’re still young ( Beaujolais, to name just one). Wines in this second category won’t be any better after 10 years in the cellar; in fact, they may have lost their brilliance if you wait too long to open them!

Again, be careful not to generalize. The real problem with rosé wine is that there are far more bad bottles than good ones. But some wineries produce truly great rosés (in Provence or Roussillon, for example), which can sometimes be very complex, age-worthy, interesting, and delicious wines. Not all rosés are meant to be mixed with grapefruit juice and drowned in ice on the beach… (and thank goodness for that!).

Have you ever refused to buy a bottle of wine (often imported) just because it had a screw cap instead of a traditional cork, thinking it “looks less high-quality” and doubting the wine’s quality? WRONG! In most New World wine-producing countries (Australia, New Zealand, the United States, South Africa), screw caps are used far more widely than our European corks, for two reasons:

– Cultural reasons: Since these countries are relatively new to wine production, they are not accustomed to using cork and prefer to facilitate the export of their bottles (screw caps allow the wine to be transported safely).

– Practical reason: cork comes mainly from Europe (Portugal, Spain), and is therefore not widely available in all these countries. However, there are also some truly great wines from these countries that use this rather unique type of cork.

No way! And that’s exactly what makes this wonderful product so appealing! In every region, you can sometimes stumble upon real gems—small batches from unknown wineries that are IN-CRO-DI-BLE (and often at a great price). On the flip side, price isn’t always a guarantee of quality; sometimes you’ll find wines that are way too expensive compared to what they’re worth in terms of taste (thanks to brand image and reputation…). So head to a wine shop and try to unearth THAT rare gem that will delight both your palate and your wallet!