The Wine Channel Blog @ www.thewinechannel.net

I was going to write about the virtues of owning a wine refrigerator, especially if you don’t have a wine cellar to store your wine. But as I was looking in mine, I started to take an inventory as to what I was storing. I like all wines but I am partial to Reds and by the looks of things I’ve gone a little overboard in my storage particulars. Now I have some Silver Oak, Cakebread, Le Millepertuis Crozes Hermitage and Owen Roe but my white wines were limited to Josef Ehmoser Bruner Veltliner Hohenberg and Epiphany. I checked my dining room wine rack and found bottles of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc and in my kitchen refrigerator I found a bottle of Riesling and Rose. The majority of wine in my wine refrigerator is Cabernet Sauvignon followed by Syrah, Zinfandel and Pinot Noir and Bordeaux with a Cuvee sneaking in there. I drank the Grenache last night. By the looks of things, I have a good array of wines to choose from for whatever the occasion or food pairing however, the white wine in the kitchen refrigerator is being stored too cold. Now I realize that the wine on my dining room rack and in my kitchen refrigerator is being consumed faster than the wine in my wine refrigerator but I’m going to go out and get a few bottles of exceptional Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and White Burgundy to top off my whites. And I think I’ll pick up a few bottles of Malbec and Carmenere since winter is coming and I’ll be cooking more stews and chili. Oh and I can’t forget to get a couple of bottles of Beaujolais; a great wine to have just about any time. 

How about your wine collection? Is it time to do an inventory and add more whites or reds? Be adventurous and try some new wines that you haven’t tasted before. You may be very surprised to find that you found a new favorite. I was sitting in a restaurant with a friend of mine and I ordered a bottle of Grenache. He preferred Chianti to almost anything else but after a couple sips of the Grenache he looked at me and said, “I can’t believe it, I’m a Grenache man.” Now he’s stepping out and expanding his palate by trying every wine that he hasn’t tasted yet. Everybody has a certain varital, a certain winery or winemaker that becomes their favorite. Join in on the exploration and enjoy the adventure of tasting different types of wine. And if you absolutely don’t like it, use it to cook with by adding it to your drippings for exciting gravy or add it to a sauce for a unique and new flavor. Have a blast and keep on discovering - it will keep you young.