2 Guys Uncorked – Wine Reviews & Wine Blog - Making Wine Fun and Easy

When reviewing wines for 2 Guys Uncorked, I usually come home from work, pop the designated bottle for that night, grab a nice thin-rimmed glass and fill it up. I make sure it’s a big glass of wine because: 1)I am thirsty, and 2)I want to see how the wine changes when it gets warmer and is exposed to air. A glass of wine can change a lot over 30 minutes and I want to be thorough in my review.

This week Ted and I reviewed Pinot Grigios from Italy. My usual review method left me unimpressed… until I came home one hot night, grabbed the bottle from the fridge and took a big swig out of the bottle. Now I get it. Italian Pinot Grigio should be drunk like water: cold and gulped.

Pinot Grigio is not complex, but it’s refreshing. It’s not elegant, but it’s clean and simple. Each bottle that I tried tasted slightly metallic. Like mineral water right from the spigot of a natural spring like Saratoga or Calistoga. There’s also some tart lemony and straw flavors. All of these bottles came from the Veneto region of Italy, where Venice is located. It’s coastal and cool there, so the wines tend to be lighter, and the food is more seafood oriented, which calls for white wine.

So here’s my advice. Check out the 5-day forecast. If it looks like it’s going to top 90 degrees, then run down to Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods and pick up a couple bottles of Italian Pinot Grigio. When the sun is beating down on you, get some friends together and chug.

If you aren’t drinking red wine right now, stop reading and fill up a glass. Take a sip. Congratulations!! Recent studies show that if you drink red wine you will live longer, be healthier and look thinner.

Wow. This 20-year study, performed by Dr. Leonard Guarente of M.I.T., and recently confirmed by Dr. Richard Weindruch of the University of Wisconsin – Madison, shows that Resveratrol, a chemical compound in red wine, peanuts and green tea, can do so pretty fantastic stuff for humans.

Sure… this isn’t the first study to find fantastic health benefits in wine. And I am sure that next week, I will read an article about the grievous dangers of alcohol abuse. This has been an ongoing debate for decades. I’m no scientist, but I see it this way: French people eat lots of butter and drink red wine. They are thin and healthy. People from Wisconsin eat lots of butter and drink beer. They are not. These scientists might be on to something.

But before you fill up a glass, make sure that it’s red wine. Resveratrol comes from the skins of grapes, so you will find it in higher concentrations in red wine which is fermented with the skins.

Eat, drink and be merry (and thin and healthy and old). Your welcome.

As the days heat up, the pools open, and summer travel picks up, you’re going to find yourself in a situation sooner or later where a tasty drink will be a necessity. And what better drink to bring than wine! This week we look at Pinot Grigio, which will serve you very well in all of the above scenarios.

About Pinot Grigio

With the unofficial start of summer only 2 weeks away, Memorial Day weekend looks to be filled with BBQs, boating, and of course our favorite: wine. This time around though, don’t be “that guy” that brings the red wine and spills it on himself while boating. Follow these tips to keep your sophisticated wine appeal on the boat:

First off, let’s get the pronunciation down: Vee-ohn-yay

Viognier is not for everyone. This grape has a bundle of strong flavors that most people find strange. If picked at the right time, you get apricots, alcohol and spice. Sometimes its even a little oily on the tongue. It will smell like fragrant white flowers (think Gardenias). If picked at the wrong time, it sucks… a lot. I have poured more than one bottle of Viognier down the drain.

Syrah from California is turning heads recently. Bored and broke from unwhelming $25 Napa Cabernets, people have found a red that’s bold, rich and almost always tasty… and cheap! Given all these great qualities, if you are a red drinker, how can you say no?

Rich, deep and cheap. Australian shiraz is a killer deal. The Aussies grabbed some syrah from Europe, renamed it shiraz and planted it throughout hundreds of thousands of acres in South East Australia. The result: powerful, consistently tasty, affordable wine! Ted and I love it because that’s what 2 Guys Uncorked is all about.

This week we will review 3 well-priced Australian shirazes. At worst, they were tasty. At best, they were impressive.

Last week, Jon and I brought you 3 typical Chardonnays and our reviews of the ones we liked. This week, we step outside the norm and identify 3 unique Chardonnays with aromas and tastes that put a spin on this classic wine.

• Fish Eye 2006 Chardonnay – Well priced

This week, 2 Guys Uncorked is getting unconventional. Forget the usual swirling and sniffing, Ted and I are going to mix things up, literally, with wine cocktails.

Wine does not need to be drunk alone. If you have a bottle of wine (sparkling or still) sitting in the fridge, grab some mixers and turn it into a tasty batch of cocktails. Here are six of our favorites:

Chardonnay, it’s one of the most widely planted grapes and surely one of the best known ones. Knowing Chardonnay is key to a solid foundation in wine and a great place to start. In this two part series, Jon and I examine 6 Chardonnays—three of which are classic examples of what a typical Chardonnay can taste like and three which take Chardonnay in different directions, giving this wine a nice spin.