Wine has been enjoyed through the ages of time by so many people around the world. However, there are so many different myths about wine whether it is the way it’s packaged to the foods you should eat with it.
1. All wines are better with age.
If you keep a bottle of wine in your pantry thinking it will be better if you save it for several years, you may ruin a perfectly good bottle of wine. There is a majority of wine to drink within the first year or two. Actually about 90% of wines are made to drink right away.
2. Always serve red wine with meat and white wine with fish.
While it’s true that red wine typically tastes good with meat and white wine is lovely to pair with fish, there is a wide variety of foods and meats that work well with these types of wine. Tuna or even salmon go excellent with some red wines. White wine that is fruity or distinguished could pair nicely with a slab of beef. So you really need to have a better understanding of food pairings before making wide assumptions.
3. Expensive wines always taste better.
This may be true of a lot of wine. But a lot more goes into the price such as the location, quantities, exclusiveness, celebrity ratings and a whole slew of other reasons. If you don’t believe me, go to your local liquor store and see which wines are flying off of the shelf.
4. The bigger the wine better the wine will taste.
It is true the bigger the bottle the more you have to drink. However, this is just ridiculous to think the bigger the wine, the better the taste. There are plenty of wine that come in big bottles that taste terrible. The size of the bottle doesn’t make wine taste any better.
5. Aged-worthy wines are always sealed with a cork.
There are amazing wines that have aged beautifully with a screw top cap. Some age better than some that are corked. Don’t let the old myth that ‘corked wine is more prestigious’ stop you from trying some wines that are not corked. You may miss out on some screw top wines.
6. Boxed wine is inferior and cheap.
While boxed wine may be inexpensive, it does not mean all boxed wines are bad. Box wine is portable, convenient and many of them taste really good. So don’t judge a wine by it’s box.
7. Small, private wineries make the most prestigious and noteworthy wine.
While there are many small and private wineries that make exceptional wines, don’t rule out wines from big corporations. Big corporations have a lot of money and people working for them to perfect the taste of the wine. If you let yourself be this close-minded about wine makers, you will miss out on some truly wonderful varietals and blended wines.
8. Blended wines are not as good as wines made with one type of grape.
It is very true that many wines with only one type of grape in them can be labelled as authentic and prestigious. However, there are several wineries who do blend their grapes and pass the wine off to even the most professional wine tasters as varietal, or single grape wines. Labels can fool you. Not only that, there are so many delicious types of blended wines. You can’t just assume all blended wines can’t get amazing ratings.
9. Red wine should be served at room temperature while white wine should ice cold.
Red wine at room temperature can speed up the aging process and ruin the taste of the wine while no wine, including white wine should really be served ice cold. Ice cold wine can change the chemistry of the wine and change the taste. So there you go. You should keep your wine at the recommended temperature that you would store it at.
10. You should always let your wine breathe before drinking.
For some wines this may be quite true but not all wines need to breathe. Not only that, just uncorking a wine bottle will not give a bottle of wine enough are to breathe. The best way to aerate wine is by putting it into a decanter.
Billie Raucci, Contributor
