Wine MythBusters

We investigate the truth behind some common misconceptions about wine.

Inquisitive minds want to know, so we asked some local wine experts three of our most festering questions. Go online to springfieldgo.com for a bonus question.

Myth 1: Wine starts turning to vinegar a day after popping the cork.

Your small get-together has run out of spirits. It’s cold outside. It’s late. The last thing you want to do is head to the liquor store. You spy that almost-full bottle of wine from last week. To drink, or not to drink? That is the question.

Matt Bekebrede, owner of Vino 100, was quick to point out his recommended time frame for bottles of wine. “Your higher end, more full-bodied red wines, will actually improve as they open up. But three days is about your max as far as obtaining good quality from the wine,” he warned.

Myth 2: Older is better.

The earlier the vintage (vintage = literally the year wine was produced), the more rare, and thus, the more expensive. But as the experts will tell you, wine, as with men, doesn’t always get better with age.

There are wines that age, and wines that do not age, Mike Jalili, owner of Flame, Bijan’s and Touch, explains. “There are some wines that will only last a few years. Other wines may last a hundred years.” Jalili explains a Bordeaux (a full-bodied red) won’t be good at only a few years old, you need to wait 10 to 12 years, whereas a Pinot Noir is only good for three to five years.

The bottom line? Don’t feel like you’re getting gypped when your bottle of wine is only a 2004 vintage. It’s likely you’re getting what you need. And if you have doubts, ask the vendor.

Myth 3: You have to drink the suggested wine pairing with your entrée at a restaurant.

For novice wine drinkers, it would be a shame to make a blaring faux pas by ordering the wrong wine with your surf and turf. Is it really that big of a deal?

Pat Duran, owner of Metropolitan Grill, says you will see no suggested wine pairings on his menu. “Wine pairings are a thing of the ’90s,” he says. “People know what they like, and that’s what they should drink.”

Bekebrede adds that one way to pair a wine with your food is to go “body to body.” Sounds scintillating, right? Light bodied food needs light bodied wine, and vice versa.

The easiest way to understand light- to full-bodied: it’s like skim milk to whole milk. The more thin-bodied (“skim”) wines feel thinner in your mouth, while the fuller bodied wines feel thicker in your mouth, and with reds they’re darker in color.

Myth 4: All reds are dry and all whites are sweet.

Okay, so maybe we're underestimating you here. But seriously, how many people do you know who only drink white wine, because they think reds are too 'strong, dry, bitter' etc? The bottom line is there are many reds with fruity, sweet flavors that will appease even the most snobbish white wino.

One question to ask yourself when tasting a wine and calling it “sweet” or “unsweet” is to ask yourself, when we use the term sweet, are we talking fruity or sugary sweet? “Whites have residual sugar left over. But you can have extremely dry white wines,” Bekebrede said. Dry can be a hard thing to understand.

Basically, dry means the lack of sugar. The dryer the wine, the less residual sugar left in the wine. Who knew something so good could get so technical?