www.wineanswers.com (in our Links page)

The best way to learn what you like is by tasting wines, so attending wine tasting events will help. Wine taste is personal, not right wrong, and changes over time. If all else fails, call our staff who will ask you about your preferences, white or red, sweet or dry, light or full bodied etc and roughly how much you want to spend; the will be happy to make some recommendations. If you build up a set of tasting notes, you can refer to then when ordering wine at a later date.

In the late '80's medical research demonstrated that despite a diet that included some foods thought not to be healthy, the French enjoyed better health(lower cholesterol, less heart disease and other) in many regards than other countries. This was shown to be related to the good health benefits of moderate wine drinking, and red wine in particular.

Varietals refer to the type of grape. The seven most famous grape types are: white - chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and riesling; red - pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and syrah or shiraz. The varietals produce quite differnet wines, and there are wide variations within the thousands of sub-types of varietals. Learn what you like and enjoy how the tastes evolve over time. Also interesting is that there are many more types of varietals in the much older wine cultures of Italy, Greece and Spain, about which most of us in French and Englist worlds know very little!

Definitely not. While it is true that more expensive wines tend to be better, wine is a matter of personal taste. You will always be able to find good wines at various price levels. To get a truly great wine, you will most likely have to pay more.

We recommend that you buy by the case(to get discounts) from a vineyard, club or merchant that you trust. It is well worth keeping records of what you like, and noting defferences in wines that you buy. Remember, wine taste is personal, so you and others will often prefer different wines. Over the long term you will find many wines to enjoy at all price ranges if you buy carefully.

During the wine making process, the red skins of red wine are left in contact with the juice during fermentation before pressing for a much longer time than are white wines. This leads to the colors of the skin being transferred to the wine.

Some people are sensitive to the histamines found in the skin of grapes. Red wine will affect a histamine sensitive person more than white since red wine spends more time in contact with grape skins.

Organic wines are produced from grapes grown by organic methods(without the use of artificial fertilizers and other artificial sprays) and without the use of chemicals in the winemaking process.

The price of a wine depends on the land price where the grapes are grown. winemaking methods, vintage, brand appeal and supply & demand, amongst other factors. Higher land cost locations, such as Napa or France, will lead to higher wine prices. Handmade wines, using traditional techniques tend to be more expensive than large bulk operations. Newer wines are less expensive than older, though wine futures can lead to great values, or loss if the vintage doesn't age well. Some brands are simply more popular and command higher prices, that sometimes are worth it and sometimes not. And finally, when there is an increasing supply of production, prices tend to drop worldwide.

Stelvins are screw caps. Experts estimate that 1-2% of all wine spoils due to cork failure. Screw caps are thought by some to be the answer for the future. There is still a big debate about this, which includes some consumers' preference for cork, conflicting data about spoilage rates, and more.

Generally reds taste better after being left open to the air for an hour or more. When decanted to a wine decanter with good airation (oxygenation), the effect is best.

The basic requirements for storing wine are darkness and steady temperature. Avoid sunlight. Rising and falling temperatures causes the cork to "breathe", and will spoil the wine (turn it to vinegar) over time. Best temperatures are l3-18 dec C or 55 to 65 deg F. But most of us in HK drink wine rather quickly, in which case you can be confident that wine is a rather robust product.

Tannins are complex chemical compounds that come from the grapes (skins, stems, seeds) and the wood in which the wine is aged. Managing tannins in wine is a key part of the skill of winemaking. Tannins taste bitter and dry, and leave the inside of the cheeks silky and the upper lip dry. With aging red wine tannins combine with pigments and precipitate out, causing the to taste smoother and better, and creating sediment.