Gus Clemens on Wine explores and explains the world of wine in simple, humorous, fun posts

This is the weekly columnWine is an agricultural product. Hardly an earth-shattering revelation. But consider its scope. Not just wine vines, as essential as they may be, but in many cases—trees.Wine and wood have a marriage dating back millions of years. Wine vines are tree climbers, a relationship accelerated after the astroid-Armageddon when 75% of all plant and animals specie

This is the weekly columnSome facts and trivia to lighten your mood as we prepare for the horrors of “fall back” when the government gives back the imaginary hour it stole from us on the second Sunday in March.• Do heavier glass bottles indicate higher quality wine?Glass weight does not affect wine quality. But there has long been a marketing illusion that better wines come i

This is the weekly columnHalloween is next week, but if you are giving wine advice it’s best to give your audience some time to act on it.First, I know of no decent pairing of wine with treacly sweet trick-or-treat candy. With somewhat less sugary candy, you can go with light, sweet wines. Wine must be at least as sweet as the candy.If the treat is dark chocolate, you have real o

This is the weekly columnOctober begins the 17th year of this wine column. Reflections.• Quality wine is made by grape farmers in a vineyard, not by lab coats in a winery. When this column started, I could enjoy mass production wines manipulated by oak and tartaric acid and Mega Red. As years and tasting passed, my palate grew to more appreciate wines truer to place and variety.

This is the weekly columnScare headlines: “Drinking any alcohol is a cancer risk.” Well, okay, the question is how much of a risk?In this discussion, remember the adage popularized by Mark Twain: “Three types of lies. Lies. Damn lies. And statistics.” Stories about cancer risk with alcohol often can be taken with a grain of salt.No question alcohol can put you at a greater

This is the weekly columnIf you go into almost any wine shop, liquor store, or supermarket wine section in the United States—and now in most places in the world—you will find wine bottles arranged and named by the variety of grape used to make the wine.When the bottle contains a predominant percentage of a single grape variety (generally 75% in the U.S., 85% in Europe) it can b

This is the weekly columnWinemakers: To oak or not to oak, that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take up oak to craft your wine to shake the spheres of ordinary.Oak and wine were made for each other. The wood and how it is treated introduces flavors compounds and textures. Oak barrels allow slow oxygenat

This is the weekly columnWhat makes a great wine? There is a hard and fast answer: “great wine comes from great vineyards.”What makes a great vineyard?• Terroir. This is big net answer because the French term includes soil composition, climate, topography, even the culture and experience of the vineyard-winery workers.• Soil. Different grape varieties thrive in different ty

This is the weekly columnWine is your friend, especially when sipped with friends during a convivial meal. You are obliged to protect it from its enemies.Classic factors that negatively impact wine quality:• Oxygen. Exposure to oxygen can be wine’s valued friend or its mortal enemy. The key is moderation. Readers know of my advocacy of decanting—exposing wine from a freshly o

This is the weekly columnWine snobbery is a detestable trait. But you can be a “good” wine snob. Here’s how.• Respect the preferences of others. Never be condescending or judgmental. Basically, don’t be a jerk. Good advice for many situations.• Be a life-long wine learner. Wine knowledge is vast and ever-evolving. Anyone who claims to know everything about wine just pro