Being in the wine business, I occasionally run across the most bizarre and funny tips from consultants and clients. This week, I’ve collected some of my favorite tips – just in time for spring break (and we all know I’ll be popping some corks with the kids home all week and my leg up in a cast).
Tip #1: Store Your Wine in a Mason Jar
You read that correctly! Every fancy wine store wants to sell gagets for leftover wine, but what can you do if you don’t have one of those fancy schmancy wine toys?
Use a mason jar! I read this in a Wine Spectator article (see? They don’t just make a nice pile on my end table, sometimes I read them) and I’ve tested it out: it works great!
There are three excellent reasons to store your leftover wine in a mason jar:
- Exposure to air will seriously degrade your leftover wine. A mason jar keeps it airtight.
- Warm temperatures will also degrade your leftover wine, ie., leaving it on the counter during the spring and summer months is sure to make it taste not-so-great. You can pop the jar right in the fridge to store.
- A mason jar can also be a serving container! Kids driving you nuts and you need some vino? Pull your mason jar out of the fridge, unscrew the top, and voila – you’ve got yourself the antidote. Not that I have ever tried that……..
Tip #2: Use Wine Glass Writers
Look, if all goes well at your cocktail party, no one is going to remember who had the glass with the heart charm and who had the glass with the peace sign charm. Right!?
Wine glass writers are my favorite solution to the old, “which glass is mine?” conundrum: just write your name right on the glass! They’re also handy for writing on the bottles. Here are four stellar examples of when to write on wine bottles:
- When you’re giving someone a special bottle of wine and you’ve forgotten to buy a card (eep!). Write your own “message on the bottle”
- When you’re saving a bottle of wine a special occasion, you can write the date on it to remind yourself.
- To keep yourself from opening a suuuuuuper expensive bottle of wine after you’ve had one too many (my go-to phrase is, “DO NOT OPEN, BIOTCH!”)
- When a friend or client gifts you a bottle of wine but you’re not ready to open it, write their name on the bottle. You’ll look like the most thoughtful gift recipient when you zip off a text message to thank them again when you crack the bottle open a few month’s later. Send a pic of you drinking it, they will smile from ear to ear!
Wine writers also work on ceramic, so if you’re serving cheese you can easily label it.
Tip #3: Freeze Your White Wine
Let me just start by saying that I’m not here to judge. When you walk into my tasting, it’s a safe zone: I don’t care how you like your wine. If you like it bone cold – like my mom does – I’m not going to tell you it’s wrong.
In the summer, I love to take my mom’s favorite rose and freeze it in a tray of ice cubes. Then when she complains that the wine isn’t cold enough she can water down her wine with wine instead of water. The result? She’s more fun, I have more fun, and everyone’s happier.
Sidenote: I tend to freeze my leftover white wine in a Ziplock baggie so I can use it later for cooking. Or, if I have a big party with multiple unfinished bottles of red, I’ll put them together and make a mulled wine.
Bonus Tip: Make Airplane Wine Taste Great!
Traveling with kids? Or not traveling with kids but sitting next to a screaming kid? Or worse, sitting next to a chronic cougher/sneezer on a crowded plane in the middle of winter? Then you’ll love this tip!
Make your red airplane wine taste great by pouring out just a bit from the bottle, closing it up again and shaking it like crazy. It will quickly aerate and improve the flavor like whoa.
You may judge me for this one… but I’ll bet you try it next time you’re stuffed in coach next to Mr. Hasn’t Showered for Two Weeks. My favorite North Carolina Senior Director Debra Gomes taught me that one!
That’s it! If you want to get more insider secrets into the WineShop at Home world, there’s an easy way: join my team and become a consultant! The perks are great, we drink loads of wine and make money and friends in the meantime. Click HERE to connect.