Here’s a great craft idea:
Find an old picture frame and save your wine corks. Just glue them to the glass with a hot glue gun, and voila…you have your very own cork board! A beautiful new addition to your home.
The Naked Palate
Mmm…Wine!
Category Archives: How-To
Pasta Sauce Recipe
I made my very first lasagna completely from scratch a couple of weeks ago! What was one the main ingredients in the sauce, you ask?? WINE, WINE, and WINE. Not only did it provide a great flavour, it gave the sauce a lot more depth and colour as well. Take a look-see:
- Drizzle of olive oil
- 4 celery sticks, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 garlic gloves, grated finely
- 1 sprig of rosemary
- 1200g ground turkey breast
- 2/3 a bottle of red wine (I used a Copper Moon Moonlight Harvest Shiraz)
- a cup of chicken stock
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Chili flakes to taste
First, I cooked the celery, onion and carrots together in the oil for a while and then added the garlic and rosemary. Once they were all nice and warm and cozy, I added the turkey and cooked until almost all the pink was gone. Add the wine (Whatever you decide to do with the remaining 1/3 bottle is up to you 
) and cook until it reduces down, almost an hour. Lastly, add the tomatoes, stock and spices and cook for about two hours.
This is a nice, slow cooked sauce that is very forgiving and deliciously tasty. Give it a try and incorporate it into your lasagna or serve it alone on a bed of pasta with a nice bottle of red!
A Nice Temperature
Wine is all about the presentation. It makes a big difference depending on what glass you use, what food you’re pairing with and at what temperature your wine is served, among other things.
The temperature makes more of a difference than I knew to admit. In my mind, it’s white wine equals cold and red wine equals room temperature. But, like all things wine, it’s not that simple. Here’s a good reminder for all of us “don’t-quite-know-it-alls”:
- Sparkling Wines: 6-11˚ C (42-52˚)
- White Wines: 7-10˚ C (45-50˚F)
- Blush Wines: 7-13˚ C (45-55˚F)
- Red Wines: 10-18˚ C (50-65˚F)
So, it looks like I was on the right track when I said that white wines should be served colder than reds, but it can be frustrating figuring out when you’ve reached the correct temperature. Once you’ve found it, though, you’ve opened that wine up to the best it can possibly be and where the optimal flavours and aromas are highlighted.
Apparently a wine fridge is the way to go, but who the heck has one of those? (*cough* my parents *cough* ) You can just use your regular refrigerator by remembering that a bottle of wine typically cools 2˚C (4˚F) every 10 minutes that it’s in there, and opposite for when you take it out. And enjoy!
Note: I found this great device for testing the temperature of your wine. Check it out on Amazon.
Wine Tasting 101
I think it’s time I nailed my technique for tasting wine. It really does make a difference when you have the proper form and you know what you’re looking for. Fortunately, I learned quite a while ago although I didn’t
appreciate it then as much as I do now.
Now, don’t be jealous, but I was taught how to taste wine in Bordeaux in the summer of 2009. I went on a road trip around France with my parents for about a month. Please note: I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS. We were all ready to kill each other at the end of the trip. You do not want to be trapped in a car with your parents for three weeks straight. We had a lot of issues. No offense mom and dad but, I think there’s a reason we have not gone on a road trip together since.
We were with my best friend’s family as well, who had their own car, and I think it was even worse for them. I don’t know if they even talked civilly to each other for at least a week once they got home.
Hopefully, we’ve all learned from that trip even though there were some deep scars left behind.
Moving on…I can’t remember what winery we were at because we went to so many (woe is me), but it was in the Bordeaux region that the wine makers taught us the proper technique. I remember it so well, too, because my best friend and I were making fun of our parents as it was happening. They were taking it soo seriously and we were getting a kick out of it because our parents are lame.
Anyway, here’s what I learned (with a little extra help from my dad):
- LOOK
- Hold your glass up to eye level and tilt it up to a light source so that you can look into the wine. Hopefully, you can see through it, showing the clarity of the wine, its colour, and when you level the glass back down, the residual wine on the side of the glass. When you see the wine draining back down the side of the glass, its “legs” are exposed (Ooh, scandalous!). The legs of the wine give you a clear idea of the alcohol content. The more legs, the higher the alcohol content.
- SMELL
- Now, stick your nose as far into your glass as possible. Not only will you look really cool, you’ll also be able to smell the wine much better. What are the scents that you notice right away? Does anything hit you right off the bat, or are the smells more subtle? To narrow it down, try using your wine aroma wheel.
- Next, hold the stem of your glass and swirl your wine around. This allows air to enter the wine and opens up the bouquet.
- SMELL (AGAIN)
- Now that air has been introduced into your wine glass, it should open the scents you previously experienced. They should be a bit stronger and easier to pinpoint. Use your wine wheel again, maybe you’ll smell something completely different.
- TASTE
- And last, but not least, you actually get to taste the wine! Take a small sip, hold it on your tongue, and suck air slowly through your mouth and over your tongue. See what flavours you’re tasting and compare them to the ones you sensed while smelling the wines. (Side note: my dad always chokes when he does this and starts coughing like a maniac. Don’t let it happen to you
)
Using these simple steps should make tastings wine a whole lot easier and more educational. Pretty soon you’ll be exciting your palate as much as I have been!
