Impress the Guests on a Small Budget

Sometimes you are serving wine and you really want to impress your guests, but you don't want to spend much money in doing so. Here are a few hints.

  • Buy Kirkland wines (Costco's house brand) or recommended wines at Trader Joe's (not 2 or 3 Buck Chuck)
  • Serve your red wines somewhat chilled. They will taste better, particularly the more tannic red wines. Cooling them down will both serve to make the tanniss more palatable to people who don't particularly like tannins and will calm the acidity. You say that you don't have a good way to cool your wines properly. Here is something most anyone can do. Take your bottle of red wine and wrap it in a wet paper towel. Leave it in the refrigerator, not the freezer, for about 10-12 minutes. Remove the wine from the refirgerator and throw out the paper towel. Voila.
  • Serve foods that go with the wines. You've read enough about that here in the last nearly 10 months. Tannic reds -- fatty and salty. Acidic vegetables -- Sauvignon Blanc will work fine. Buttery food -- Chardonnay. Raw vegetables, particularly for people who like some sweetness -- Moscato. Pasta -- Sangioverse unless it's in a creamy sauce. Pasta Alfredo -- go Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio. See how easy that is..
  • Serve your wine in decent glasses. The wine actually does taste better because it is properly directed to your palate. Both Target and TJMaxx/Marshall's have their own line of Riedel glasses and they are not at all expensive and frequently on sale.
  • Do not recork the bottle after you uncork unless you are putting it away for safe keeping. If it's only for a little while (that evening), the air will do the wine good, particularly red wine.
  • When you have a choice, choose the better vintages. It will make a difference. You can find a vintage guide on the free part of Wine Spectator's website. 
  • Save some of the wine for me.
Sorry for the throwaway topic today. I've been busy all day, but felt the need to get something on paper so to speak.

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