Reason Number "Nth" Why My Wife Is Awesome Sauce!

I present to you, Exhibit A:

That, good people, is my very own 18-bottle dual temperature wine refrigerator! My wife got it from Wine Enthusiast as my birthday gift this year, and I have to say I'm positively ecstatic! It's a pretty nifty upgrade from the traditional wooden storage rack I had shelved away above the kitchen cabinets:

It solves a nagging worry I've had ever since I started getting into wine drinking a year ago -- which is: How do I keep my wine from going bad when it's being stored in such a blistering hot and sunny environment as my cooking corner? This is a problem because some of my bottles--namely, the most expensive ones that still need a few more years to properly age--need to be stored long-term. With fluctuations in seasonal temps around here, not to mention the furnace heat from my range top, oven, George Foreman grill, and rice steamer combined, it's a veritable battle field for wine bottles.

Hence why this wine fridge is one of the more thoughtful and useful gifts I've received in a long while. First off, it stores 18 bottles -- which is 6 more than the capacity of my old rack. Secondly, the fridge is divided into two zones with their own dedicated temp controls via the touch-screen interface on the door. The top half chills in the range of 54 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit, which is ideal for storing reds. While the bottom zone chills from 46 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit, and is ideal for storing whites.

Right now, I have the top zone at 60 and the bottom one at 48. It took roughly 16 hours for the fridge to cool down from the room temp of 86 degrees to my specified levels, but now that its been optimized my wine is kept in a nice constantly chilled and dark environment 24/7 and all year round. The fridge also uses very little electricity and is super silent to boot!

As you can see, I already stocked it almost to capacity with all my favorite wines. Now, mind you, I don't actually drink this all at once. I usually have half a glass of red with dinner, which means one bottle lasts me one whole week. The whites and the more expensive reds are kept in reserve for special occasions, since sweet whites like Riesling or Zinfandel are the only wines my wife seems to enjoy. Those or a nice, subtle Rose. The reds are mostly imported French varietals, with a few hearty southern Italian reds thrown in for good measure. I almost never drink Californian wines. For some odd reason, I just haven't acclimated to them yet, although I know I should. As for the whites -- those come from all over Europe: Italy, Germany, Poland -- and even Romania!

I'm not a wine expert, or even connoisseur. You can call me a wine beginner, in fact. But I think this fridge is a step in the right direction. I just opened up one of the newly chilled bottles--a Palazzo della Torre 'Veronese' from Allegrini--and allowed it to warm up gradually to room temperature. The bouquet, from what my amateur nose could detect, was more alive and fragrant than the same bottle I opened up a few weeks back, and which had been roasting atop my cabinets all summer long.

Yeah, I think I can get used to this new arrangement.

Yay for the wine fridge! And YAY! to my awesome wife!

Look What Bad Habit I Picked Up While In France

Yup, that's right. I'm a certified WHINO now! Har, har!

No, but seriously, I've never been much of a wine drinker. Like with beer, the taste is just something I've never acquired. But unlike beer and hard liquor, wine is at least smoother going down.

However, while we were in Paris, I had a glass of red wine (or two, or three) with EVERY evening meal. Because, hey, when in Rome . . .

Anyway, at the airport on the way home, I stopped in the duty-free shop and purchased two bottles of Bordeaux. But once I got home and realized just how much I was missing France, I decided to honor the country by partaking of some of its home-grown libations right away. Wow, and what a treat that was!

Now I'm hooked. Well, okay, not hooked. I don't want to come across like an alkie. But I have to say it's really not so bad. I went to a wine store and purchased several different bottles and varieties, mostly from France. And mostly from the Bordeaux region, at that. I threw in a few Napa Valley Merlots and Pinots for variety, but mostly stuck with the French stuff as much as possible.

Funny, before our trip I would have sworn by Italian wine only, even though I know next to nothing about wines. I just figured if I ever did drink the stuff, I would prefer the Italian variety. This may still be the case as I've yet to really explore the offerings from that country. For now, though, I'm focusing on French grapes. Eventually I figure I'll move on to those on the other side of the Alps. Probably whenever we decide to tour Italy, I'd imagine.

Anyway, as you can see from the picture, I've amassed quite a good beginner's collection. The whites and roses are on the bottom row, the moderate-priced reds are in the middle . . . and the expensive stuff is on the top. I probably won't touch the top row except on special occasions. For now, I'm drinking only one glass of red a night with dinner. Lisa hates wines, but she can somewhat tolerate a good rose or Pinot Gris on occasion, so that's what I got her.

So far I'm liking it. Along with the wine rack, I purchased a device that preserves open bottles of wine by vacuuming the air out through the use of specialized re-corkers provided (see the picture below).

You simply insert the rubber plunger into the mouth of the bottle, then take the WineSaver and stick it into the small nozzle at the top of the plunger. Press the button and it sucks the air right out! Haha . . . the simple things that amuse me! :) This device preserves an open bottle of wine for 2 - 3 weeks. Should come in handy, I think.

I'm going to try to educate myself along the way and develop a palate for this stuff if at all possible.

We shall see!