Amuse Bouche Blog

If you have ever found yourself completely confused by the different shapes and sizes of wine glasses, you are not alone. Here are a few helpful hints on how to choose the correct vessel for your wine of choice, preferably a Fotinos Brothers wine.
Wine glasses generally consist of three parts, the bowl, the stem, and the foot. There are stemless wine glasses; however, the stem's purpose is to keep your hand from raising the temperature of the wine. You want the stem sturdy enough to swirl the wine without it snapping. The foot of the glass keeps it from tipping over. The foot needs to be wide enough to support the size of the bowl. Since Fotinos Brothers Winery is in the business of making fine red wines, like our 2006 Carneros Pinot Noir, let's start there.
Red Wine Glasses
Red wine glasses should be between ten and sixteen ounces. They should taper inward at the top to focus the aroma. This shape helps bring the wine to room temperature, breathe, and open up. However, if too much air gets to the wine it can loose some of its more complex aromas and nuances.
Glasses for Pinot Noirs have larger bowls and narrower openings than those for Cabernet Sauvignons and Merlots. The size and shape of the opening affects where the wine hits your tongue first. You want to direct a Pinot Noir toward the tip of your tongue where the taste buds for sweetness are located. You want to direct a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Merlot to the back of your mouth where the taste buds for bitterness are located. This allows you to experience their fuller flavors.
White Wine Glasses
White wine glasses should be eight to fourteen ounces in size. They are narrower and more tulip-shaped than red wine glasses. This shape helps retain the cooler temperature of the wine by reducing the surface space.
Sparkling Wines, and Champagnes
These bubbly liquids should be served in flutes that are tall (around 8 1/2 inches) and narrow. This shape allows the liquid to stay cooler and retain its carbonation better. You may have seen saucer-shaped, flat champagne glasses. These glasses were designed and made in England around 1663. Contrary to common folklore, they were not modeled on Marie Antoinette's breasts, as she was not even born until 1755. They were, however, replaced with the more common shape when it was discovered that the shallow-bowled glass let off the carbonic acid in the wine more quickly.
Just as taste and smell have an affect on your appreciation of the wine, so does sight. Transparent glass is preferred so you can fully observe and enjoy the color and clarity of the wine.
If you have neither the space in your cupboards nor the money for a variety of glasses go with one the size and shape of ISO‘s (the International Organization for Standardization). The standard wine tasting glass for all wine judging and competitions is also suitable for either red or white wine. It is made of transparent, colorless glass with a lead content of up to 9%. Its dimensions are just less than six inches (155 mm) tall, with a two inch (5 cm) tall stem and a four inch (100 mm) tall bowl. It is about two and a half inches (65 mm) at its widest diameter and two inches (46 mm) across the rim.
Cleaning
Regardless of which glasses you choose, don’t use dish detergent to clean them. You heard me. Dish detergent often leaves an invisible film. Wine mixed with this residual soap affects the taste and smell of the wine. You should wash your own glasses in the hottest water possible, rinse them in cold water, and then wipe them dry with a soft lintless cloth.

Napa is nearing the end of the rainy season, which is typically November until March. On days when it is not raining, it is habitually misty with a layer of tule fog. The rain replenishes the moisture load in the soil, which is necessary to help bring new buds and blossoms in the spring.

The vineyard looks rather barren right now, as the vines are naked of leaves and in a state of dormancy. We just finished dormant pruning. This is the annual winter removal of shoots. Pruning is necessary for the vines to produce fewer but larger bunches of grapes. It also helps "mold" the shape of the vines.
This process has to take place at just the right time because if water gets into fresh prune "wounds" the vines can become susceptible to moisture-induced infections such as eutypa.
Our crew is hand-selected and highly experienced. We removed all the "two-season" old canes that gave rise to last season's fruit bearing shoots. If you were in this area, you may have seen the heaps of canes piled in between the rows. These are disked into the ground or given to friends for basket and wreath making.
This is also the time of year for land preparation, weed control and for repairing or setting up new trellising systems.
Unlike most deciduous trees, the vine does not dash into growth in early spring. It stays dormant until the daily mean temperature reaches 50 degrees F. Shoot elongation, diameter increase of the older parts of the vine, and development of the flower parts are possible because of the reserves of food and water stored in the vine while it is dormant. Just because you do not see anything happening on the outside does not mean a lot is not going on inside. Life processes occur in the vine while it is dormant. The levels of substances like starch, sugars, and amino acids in the canes and other woody tissues are higher during dormancy. The higher level of sugar protects the vines against lower winter temperatures. After bud break in the spring, these levels decrease rapidly until August or September.