Ever been to a winery and absolutely love a perticular wine, buy a bottle to take home, onlyto find that when you pull the cork, it isn't the wine you remember?

A lot of factors here. Everything from your mood, things you may have eaten before or during, the wine you just tasted before, how much wine you've been tasting (was someone feelin' good when they made a purchase?)

One factor we're going to talk about now is the temperature of the wine. When you taste it at the winery, they're serving at the preferred temp. Are you doing the same when you're home?

Glasses and temperature play a big roll in this. First the glass - while its up for debate - the best glass to use are wine glasses tappered at the top. This is becase when you swirl it to release the aromas of the wine, the tappered shaped keeps the aromas concentrated in the glass. Aromas play an important part of taste. Sure you can enjoy out of any highball glass but don't expect to enjoy the aromas as much.

Next is temperature. Are you leaving wines in a closet then opening the cork on your reds? Are you pulling whites straight from the fridge? Kudos on effort but let's make a tweak here.

Whites should be served at around 50F; reds slightly warmer at around 60-65F. Note that wines pulled from the fridge are a bit too cold and reds off the floor during a summer day is going to be too warm.

The answer is simple. When you grab the next white from the fridge, either let it sit on the counter for about 10-15 minutes or go ahead and pour yourself a glass and let that site for about 8-10 minutes. Reds do the same but reversed - pop those bad boys IN the fridge to chill them down slightly. If you think it doesn't matter, just try them side by side to see the differences!