VUE

the upper echelon of special occasion wines which you'll usually want to sit around for a while before you pop them open. ese are usually corked bottles, but the price of the wine will usually give you a better idea rather than what kind of closure it is under. Nine times out of ten, the price is a good guide as to which wines are going to want some time or not." C O S T, Q U A L I T Y, A N D B R A N D I N G : "Unfortunately, there are a lot of nefarious parts of the wine industry. ere are people who will put a really cool label on the bottle and charge a lot of money, but the wine is not good or meant to age either – it's just really good marketing. It might not be the store that is marking up the bottle, but it could be coming from the winery that way. You'll have brands that charge a lot of money based on what they can get for the brand as opposed to how good the wine is. Although the price is a better indicator of quality than closure, asking questions at your wine store or your sommelier is a good move. Especially in markets like New York and New Jersey, where you have a really good community of wine stores and sommeliers – we are certainly there to help. By all means, feel free to ask if something is really worth the price." T H E D E A L W I T H B O X E D W I N E : "Somehow, I haven't found a ridiculously good boxed wine but that would be my dream – to wow someone with boxed wine. ere have been some wines from Spain in boxes that have at least been decent, but I haven't found the ringer. I wish someone would do it. For wines in a box, you don't have that oxygen issue and the wine stays good for as long as you need it to. As an actual serving vessel its really sound. Within the box, you have a bladder which holds the wine and there is no air bubble like you'd have at the top of a wine bottle. As you hit that little spout at the bottom the only thing that is pushing that wine out is atmospheric pressure. As soon as you stop V U E N J . C O M 106 DINING

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