Wine Basics for Your Home

Thanks to the continued love affair  with wines, savvy consumers are making sure  to have the proper accoutrements to optimize the wine drinking experience. Storing and chilling are critical junctures in wine consumption, and if not handled correctly, you may not only diminish the taste — you could lose your investment.

Keep wine out of dark, damp or musty spaces — like your basement! The singular modular wine rack from Pottery Barn ($12.00) is perfect for storing wine. These  iron wine racks are the ultimate in space-saving simplicity. Simply secure one to the wall and hook multiples below to create a chain-like vertical rack.

Fill your rack with a  collection of Sterling Vineyards varietal like the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, or the Shiraz from the Sterling Vintner’s Collection.

Typically, white wines and roses are to be chilled, while heartier reds are best consumed at room temperature. But when there’s no time to chill a wine the conventional way in a bucket or in the fridge, wine chillers work like a charm. They can cool wines down to the desired temp in a matter of minutes without compromising the wine. Try a Blossom Hill Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio or White Zinfadel in the chiller and taste how refreshing and crisp the outcome is.

Stainless steel chiller available at Target ($29.99). 

Note: Don’t assume a wine with a twist off cap, aka Stelvin closure, is a cheap  wine. Twist off caps are fast becoming the winemakers preferred method for the bottling process, as they practically eliminate the problem of mold-contaminated wine corks. 

Chill a bottle of bubbly or serve ice for cocktails in  dapper topper ice buckets. These stylish ice buckets turn a cocktail party into a special affair. Try it out with a very special opaque pale champagne like Moët & Chandon or  Dom Perignon. to make any occasion extraordinary. –roz edward