Dorothy J. Gaiter - Wine for Every Day and Every Occasion: Red, White, and Bubbly to Celebrate the Joy of Living

Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher

Red, White, and
Bubbly to Celebrate
the Joy of Living

Wine-Tasting Parties
The Nouveau Thing

Thanksgiving
How to Hail a Good Cab

Christmas
The Greatest Gifts

New Years Eve
The Perfect Champagne, at Any Price

Newborns
Babys First Bottle

Valentines Day
Bring in da Funk

Open That Bottle Night
Loss, Renewal, and the Gift of the Grape

The Oscars (and Emmys)
Take Our Quiz: Blood and Wine?

Wine-Tasting Groups
Your Neighbors Are Doing It

Passover
Sweet Wines, Sweet Memoriesand a New Day

Restaurants
Indian, Chinese, and Hooters

Weddings
It Worked Because of the Wine

Anniversaries
Celebrating Your Own Special Vintage

The Fourth of July
Perfect Summer Wines (Even, Shhhh, Chilled Reds)

Vacations
Trains, Planes, Shipsand Disney World

Visiting American Wineries
Should You Rinse the Glass?

Touring Foreign Wine Regions
The Universal Language of Wine

Wine Shopping
How to Have Funor at Least Survive It

Football
Real Men Do Drink Wine

Saving the Memories
Why Germans Are Unlike Australians

101 Things Worth Knowing
All in Twenty Words or Less

W hats the most memorable wine you have ever had? If youre like most people, your answer isnt something like Ah, yes. It was the 59 Latour. It had marvelous hints of brambles and a finish like a blushing nymph. Nope, if youre like most people, the most memorable bottle of wine you ever drank was that simple white wine at the taverna while you were on vacation in Greece or the rustic red you shared in Tuscany or the Champagne on your wedding day or even that carafe of cheap red you sipped on your first date at that little Italian joint on the corner with the red-and-white
checked tablecloths. Sharing with friends, remembering, and making life a celebrationthats what wine is really all about. Thats what this book is about, too.

When our daughter Media was born in 1989, she was five weeks premature, so the doctor immediately placed her in an incubator in a bright white room. There she was, all by herself, right in the middle of the room, with lights shining on her. We think wine, which isnt nearly as precious as Media, is too often presented the same way: as something sitting on a pedestal in the middle of a room, alone, in a vacuum. Its sad that this image of wine, as a thing apart, has become prevalent in the United States, because thats not how wine was meant to be enjoyedand, indeed, is not the way to enjoy wine. We couldnt wait to spring Media from that lonely, sterile room, to hold her close, coo at her, and introduce her to her adoring grandparents. Wine, too, should be brought down to eye level, passed around to people you care about, and enjoyed.

We have been drinking, studying, andmostlyenjoying wine almost since the day we met and fell in love, June 4, 1973. We were both twenty-one at the time, starting work on the same day at the Miami Herald. For more than a quarter-century, we were prominent hard news journalistsDottie was a reporter, editor, and editorial writer at the Miami Herald, the Miami News, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal ; John was a reporter and editor at the Miami Herald, Newsweek, and the Wall Street Journal. During all that time, wine was our refuge, our private passion. We tried wines from all over the world, and, whenever we could, we traveled to try wines at the source. What always attracted us, however, was not the wine itself but the total experience of having the wine, the memories associated with it. Truth is, we really did have the 59 Latour, and it really was remarkable, one of the greatest wines weve ever tasted, but what we remember best about it was that we shared it with Johns brother Jim, the first time he visited us in New York. We remember what the wine tasted like, but we also remember sitting around the dining room table laughing so hard as Jim told more and more outrageous stories about Johns boyhood while the wine slowly disappeared.

Wine is such an important part of our life and our memories that, early on, we began to save labels (see Saving the Memories) and keep notes. We remember occasions, restaurant meals, and holidays by the wines we drank. We look at the old labels, and we might recall what the wine tasted like, but we most certainly recall what we were doing when we drank it, what was going on in our lives. To us, thats what wine is all about. To this day, were bored when people want to discuss with us whether the 2004 vintage in Bordeaux will match the 2002, but if you want to tell us about a great Chardonnay you shared with the winemaker while visiting wineries, were all ears.

We became wine writers by accident. In 1998, John was page one editor of the Wall Street Journal and Dottie was the Journal s news editor in charge of urban-affairs coverage. A friend of ours, Joanne Lipman, was named editor of the new section of the Journal called Weekend Journal and asked if wed be interested in writing a column about wine in our spare time. We figured wed do her a favor, so we agreed. Heck, how long could a column about wine take? Well, it ate up our lives. From the first column, Tastings was enormously popular. We began receiving hundreds of letters from readers. Wine stores across the country reported that they sold out of our recommendations within hours of the columns publication. All day we worked at our real jobs; all night, every night, we worked on the column, conducting our own blind tastings. Of course, this did not amuse Media or her younger sister, Zo. Plus, we were getting fried.

By early 2000 we couldnt take it anymore. We went to our boss, Paul Steiger, the managing editor, a terrific journalist and an even better person. We told him we simply couldnt do both jobs anymore. He paused for a moment, leaned back, and finally said, Well, which job would you rather do? It took us about, oh, a nanosecond to tell him wed like to do the column full time, and he said we could. Its a good thing, because the columns popularity has only grown since then. We now appear on television and radio, make speeches, and write books in addition to the column. Andthis is our favorite part of the jobwe get letters. Lots and lots of letters. Over the years we have received, and we have personally answered, more than twenty-five thousand letters and e-mails from readers. These letters have given us a unique perspective on what people really want to know about wine.

What we have learned is that people simply want to enjoy wine, especially as part of celebrations and holidays. What wine should I lay down for my newborn? What wine is best with Thanksgiving turkey? What wine do I give my wine-loving friend for Christmas? What wine do I serve at a wedding? Readers also want to know how to have more fun with wine: How do I hold a wine tasting? How do I get the most from a visit to wine country?

We try to answer all of these questions and many more. The book is arranged somewhat chronologically, so that it is a kind of month-by-month guide to making life fuller with wine, both enriching rituals and creating new ones. In many chapters we also have listed a number of specific wines you might look for when celebrating a certain occasion. We do this a little reluctantly because we believe you should always try something new. There are new wines on the shelves all the time, from new vintages, new regions, new winemakers. New is fun; different is fun; and no one, including us, can tell you what you will like. One thing weve learned as wine writers is that people want some specific guidance, especially when it comes to important occasions. So we have tried to answer that call with lists of specific wines. In every case these are wines that have been our favorites in blind tastings or are wines that we have found consistent year after year in our real life. Our advice is impartial. We accept no free wine, dont meet privately with winemakers when they visit New York, and do not attend any event that is not open to the public. We buy all of our wines from retail shelves. We believe the wines speak for themselves.