The practice of spitting out wine has always been a curiosity. How can you truly taste something if you don’t swallow it? After all, the lower back of the tonque must contribute something to the flavor. And why would you want to spit it out if it tastes good?

It was at a Moore Brothers tasting event where for the first time I observed, first-hand, people using a spittoon. The ritual prior to spitting consisted of swirling the wine in the glass, sticking the nose into it, taking wine into the mouth, swishing it around, and […]

1.) Drink wine out of good glasses.
2.) Never fill them more than a third of the way.
Which doesn’t mean you need to buy expensive crystal, or even “ISO” or Riedel “Gourmet” tasting glasses. Believe it or not, I’d rather drink Robert Ampeau’s incredible Volnay-Santenots 1976 out of a cheap, eight-ounce Libbey’s “Citation” all-purpose clunker with the patented safety lip, than out of the beautiful hand-cut red wine goblet from the traditional Waterford “Lismore” collection.

The Libbeys glass is a better glass than the Waterford […]