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Last-minute Love Measures Great Wines and Gifts Wine Team Picks Tannin Salon Valentine's Day Special from Proflowers.com Instant V-Day Dining Reservations Last-minute Love Measures There is still time to order gifts from the wine.com Valentine Shop. Just check our shipping deadlines to make sure your selection will arrive on time. We might be encouraging desperate behavior, but isn't that what love is all about? To learn more about each item listed below, simply click on its name. _____________________________________________________________________ Great Wines and Gifts Virtual Vineyards Duet, $25.00 Double your pleasure with a California Chardonnay and a supple red Argentine Malbec. 1997 Ch. Haut-Milon Pauillac, Bordeaux, France, $29.95 California ripeness in a Bordeaux package. C'est bon! French Cheeses Book, $16.00 The definitive guide to French cheeses. 1995 Renaissance Vineyard & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, Sierra Foothills, California, $18.00 Distinctive, with firm tannins and layers of flavors. 1997 Clos du Bois Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley Reserve, Alexander Valley, California, $19.95 A testament to the Clos du Bois winemaking team's expertise. 1999 Dr. F. Weins-Prum Riesling Estate, Mosel, Germany, $12.00 File under "D" for delightful, delectable, and delicious. _____________________________________________________________________ Wine Team Picks: Peter Marks on Tuesday Night Wines Why Tuesday? Because if you save your most precious bottles for weekends, come Monday you're either slurping leftovers or still recovering - but by Tuesday you're ready for something quick and easy, such as: 1999 Gerard Gelin Beaujolais Domaine des Nugues, Burgundy, France, $12.00 1998 Dom. Allimant-Laugner Muscat, Alsace, France, $14.00 1999 Tuatara Bay Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand, $11.49 1999 Dom. de l'Ameillaud Cotes du Rhone, Southern Rhone, France, $9.95 1997 Danzante Sangiovese delle Marche, Italy, $8.95 _____________________________________________________________________ Tannin Salon One of the most ubiquitous words in wine reviews is "tannin." Wine writers never seem to tire of references to "round" tannins, "ripe" tannins, "smooth tannins," "tough" tannins, "gentle" tannins, and "supple" tannins. It begins to seem that, if you don't understand tannin, you don't understand wine (especially red wine). So just what the hell is a tannin? Tannins are organic compounds in plants, trees, roots, and bark - or, in the case of wine, skins, seeds, and stems. Tastewise, tannin doesn't impart a flavor but a texture. In concentrated quantities it sticks to the inside of your mouth, where it creates a puckering sensation - a sensory effect that senior wine.com merchant Tim Gaiser likens to that of overbrewed tea. "Tannin is astringent," Gaiser explains. "If a wine has too much of it, it's out of balance. But tannin isn't a bad thing. It's a necessary component for wine to have structure and aging potential." In other words, the more tannin a wine has, the better it will age? Not necessarily. "If a wine has a lot of tannin that isn't balanced by adequate fruit and acidity, it won't age well," says Gaiser. "Eventually the fruit will fade, leaving nothing but tannin. Balance is the key." Winemakers and vineyard managers can control tannin in several ways. "Ripeness of grapes dramatically affects the level and quality of tannins," says Gaiser. "Wines made from grapes that aren't fully ripe often have green, stemmy, hard tannins. Ripe tannins are finer and rounder tasting." In other words: supple. Given a suitable climate, ripeness (and its corollary, flavor development) results from such factors as low vineyard yields and long growing seasons, which allow extended hang-time for the fruit. Tannin quality also depends on the amount of time that a winemaker leaves fermenting grape juice ("must") in contact with the skins - a process referred to as maceration. "One of the main reasons California Cabernets have gotten so much better in the last 10 years is that longer maceration times have been used," Gaiser says. "What's improved more than anything is texture, which speaks specifically to tannin management." In Bordeaux and California Cabernet, maceration times commonly last three weeks or longer, a period that enables tannins to grow rounder and gentler. Tannin isn't usually associated with white wines because they don't undergo maceration; they're pressed off the skins right away. (Almost all red grape varieties contain clear juice, so the color of red wine is attributable solely to extended skin contact.) But some white wines do gain tannin from the new oak barrels in which they're aged. "A lot of oaky Chardonnays are just as tannic as red wines," Gaiser points out. "People don't usually take that into account, which is why Chardonnay can be so difficult to pair with food." Click here to try our Studies in Contract Sampler: Tannin in Red Wine _____________________________________________________________________ Valentine's Day Special from Proflowers.com What makes Proflowers.com the No. 1 rated online florist, according to BizRate, Money.com, and the Forrester PowerRankings? Their flowers are shipped to you (or your loved one) directly from growers, so they don't spend the usual 7-10 days in transit. All bouquets are guaranteed fresh for seven days - and what's more, the absence of middlemen enables Proflowers.com to offer a dazzling selection of blossoms at 30-50 percent off retail. Choose, for example, from 20 different varieties of roses, starting at $39.95 per dozen. Finally, as a wine.com subscriber, you'll receive a free glass vase (a $9.95 value) with any fresh-cut flower purchase. To take advantage of this offer, click here. _____________________________________________________________________ Instant V-Day Dining Reservations Valentine's Day is the busiest restaurant day of the year. If your honey won't settle for a burger and fries, you can still avoid spending hours on the phone trying to secure a last-minute reservation. OpenTable offers free online restaurant reservations at great restaurants nationwide. Simply visit www.opentable.com, input your city, preferred cuisine, and price range. In seconds, OpenTable tells you exactly what's available in your area and confirms your reservation. For Valentine's Day, wine.com subscribers can take advantage of a special offer. Register before February 14 and you'll automatically earn 500 OpenTable Points, good toward Dining Cheques redeemable at all OpenTable restaurants. Just click here and enter the promo code "valentinewine" when you register. _____________________________________________________________________ TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS NEWSLETTER, go to: http://wine1.m0.net/m/u/vin/vv.asp?e=jdasovic%40enron.com
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