PLONK in DETAILS!!!
Click here to see what the DETAILS Magazine Blog: The Daily Details has to say about Plonk Wine Merchants!
Plonk Blog
How to Pair Wine with Spicy Asian Cuisines
Do you typically defer to beer when eating Sushi, Thai, Indian, Vietnamese or Korean food? Wine can actually pair amazingly well with spicy Asian food, you just need to know which varieties and wine styles to look for that will help temper the heat of these spicy cuisines and will complement the sweetness that you often find in Asian foods. Check out my new video for the Menuism Blog for expert tips on how to find the perfect pairings for spicy and exotic Asian cuisines!
How to Choose Wines From a Wine List
Do you get overwhelmed by massive wine lists? Need help choosing wines when you go out to restaurants or wine bars? Watch my video on the Menuism Blog for tips on how to navigate wine lists like a pro!
Where Does a Wine's Structure Come From?
I was tasting through some very elegant and interesting California wines yesterday and found myself deep in discussion about what gives a wine its structure. Think of structure as a wine’s frame or backbone-the architecture that holds all of a wine’s components together. This is a somewhat esoteric topic, but in my eyes, structure in wine is almost always derived from two main components: acid and tannins.
Acidity gives wine its shape, making it piercing, taut, and linear, if the acidity is high, or flabby, blousy, and broad if the acidity is lower. Tannins on the other hand, contribute to a wine’s structure in more of a textural sense. Wines that are high in tannin will give the impression of dryness, causing that velvety friction on your gums and on the insides of your cheeks. Wines that are low in tannins, on the other hand, will appear soft and round in the mouth-again a nod to texture.
The best wines out there strike the perfect balance between acid structure and tannin structure, which together contribute to a wine’s overall mouthfeel.
Watch this video below to see a perfect example of a wine that demonstrates what I mean by acid structure.
And watch this video below to see tannin structure in action.
Detecting Wine Flaws
How do you know if your wine has gone bad? Wondering how to tell if your wine is corked? Check out my recent video for the Menuism Blog which provides a quick rundown on the most common wine flaws!
PLONK in Daily Candy!
Click here to check out PLONK’s springtime guide to great wines under $25 in Daily Candy!
How to Taste Wine Like a Pro
If you’re someone who takes a sip of wine and swallows it down immediately, no smelling or slurping at all, then check out this quick primer on how to taste wine like a pro, which I put together for the Menuism Blog! You’ll be amazed at what you’ve been missing all this time!
Cultivating Your Personal Wine Style
Do you gravitate towards savory or sweet wines? Tannic or soft? Mineral or fruit-driven?
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check out my Squidoo lens for quick tips on how to figure out which wines strike your fancy, and which completely turn you off. Once you’ve figured out where you sit on the wine style spectrum, you’ll find the wine purchasing process infinitely easier.
Click here to start learning how to cultivate your personal wine style!
Tasting Table Gets Plonked!
Click here to view Tasting Table’s recent feature on Plonk Wine Merchants!
Spotting Insane Values on Restaurant Wine Lists
One of the questions I get asked most frequently is how to choose a good, affordable wine from an endlessly long wine list. There are all sorts of ridiculous myths out there that propose solutions to this quandary. My favorite is: choose the second least expensive wine from the list.
Take my advice and do not follow this suggestion as it will leave you thirsty and terribly underwhelmed. Instead, check out an article I wrote recently for The Wine Cellar Insider on how to navigate restaurant wine lists to spot insane values.
Three little tips to keep in mind:
- Choose wines from overlooked regions
- Skip over familiar grape varieties
- Ask the sommelier what he/she would order
Check out my article here!
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