All the facts about aging wine in wood barrels can get confusing. I easily tire of wine “experts” (read: snobs) telling me about a wine and what sort of wood it’s been aged in. What I really want to know is how it tastes! After years of reading yawn-inducing facts about French & American oaks, I’ve come up with a few simple tricks to easily decode what this all means. The use of wood started a cajillion years ago when ancient...

If you want to be a real baller, don’t drink a sparkling wine that a rapper recommends. New Year’s Eve is somewhat synonymous with Champagne, especially for wine lovers like you and me. However, for most of us, this year has been pretty tough on the pocketbook, and while we want to have a great time celebrating, we’d like to start 2011 with a little cash still left to our name. Tonight at a fancy grocery store, I saw a “special”...

The entertaining season is upon us! For most of us, the thought of gathering our favorite people together for an evening of fun is both exciting and daunting. However, hosting a party doesn’t need to be such hard work. If you are looking for an easy and fantastic party idea, why not throw a wine tasting party? A tasting event is one of the best ways to enjoy great company and taste some great wines in the process. Plus, having an activity...

Have you ever tasted a wine that you had absolutely no familiarity with? I distinctly remember one instance when I first tasted Tempranillo a few years back. I had no idea what type of wine it was, and therefore had no expectations when I took a sip. I had so much trouble placing it, that I forgot to pay attention to how it tasted. Although experimenting with new wines is fun, with so many different grapes and varietal names it can be a...

The top question I hear from my friends is how to know what wine to pair with food. I was invited to a dinner at a friend’s house tonight and I was caught in the typical dilemma. How many questions can I ask about what she’s cooking for the meal without sounding rude? Accepting an invite to a dinner shouldn’t be cause for a game of twenty questions. In my mind, three questions will do it. Here’s what I typically focus on: 1) What...

One of the most often asked questions I hear is “how do I taste wine?” Though the preferred method is generally through ones’ mouth, there is a lot of mystery about the “right” way to taste wine. At Real Good Wine, we aren’t overly concerned with doing things right when it comes to wine. That said, you won’t have very much fun drinking wine with a group of friends or collegues if you don’t feel confident. To make it simple,...