12 Myths About Wine Busted by a Sommelier

Becoming a wine sommelier takes years of training, and it is no simple feat. Luckily, we do not expect you to be a sommelier. We are here to help break the misconception around a few common myths about wine. We will be discussing questions such as Does white wine need to be chilled? Is it wrong to chill red wine? How long is my wine supposed to breathe? Does it matter what food I pair my wine with? Does the number of years a bottle was aged determine its worth? Are corked wines better than those with screw on caps?, and many more. After reading this article, you are sure to be ready to confidently talk about wine at your next outing.

_____

Wine is a difficult scene to break into. Like coffee, spouting of too much information on the subject can make you sound like a snob — especially if said information is technically false. With that in mind, we called upon Food & Wine Magazine’s 2014 “Sommelier of the Year,” Patrick Cappiello, to dispel the biggest wine myths out there and clear up any lingering misconceptions — so you won’t sound like a chump at your next twee dinner party.

Credit: alachuawomansclub.com

1. White wine should be served ice cold

Wrong. In fact, no wine should be served ice cold… or lukewarm for that matter. As Cappiello puts it, you should keep basic chemistry in mind when you drink wine. “The colder a wine, the more restrained and tightened the molecules will be. When it’s warmer, it’ll be more aromatic.” A good temperature for white wine is about 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  Red wine should be served at room temperature

One huge misconception is that red wine cannot be refrigerated under the penalty of lashing. However, Cappiello tells us that serving red wine at room temperature can accelerate the aging process and make it taste unfavorable. So feel free to throw that bad boy in the fridge, no one’s gonna get mad.

Read more here.