The temperature, in this case, masks the alcohol (which can be overpowering on subpar chardonnays). This is a testament to the quality of the fruit being used. Quality fruit can stand up to high alcohol levels (Carinval of Love is a good example of that), subpar fruit unfortunately falls short in many cases.

Decanting
 

When the big kids bring their wines to an OZ trade tasting, they usually pour the wine into one decanter, then dump it back and forth a half a dozen times, then dump it back into the bottle. go on to the next bottle.

in Montalcino in restaurants, they have a decanter that allows the wine to swirl down the sides of the decanter when poured.

in DC, one restaurant had half price wine monday nights. there were usually a couple of wines that the cost price(to be tripled) was determined by dividing the case price by 12. wines that came 6 to the box were of considerable value. these guys did not have a decanter. we brought our own. they had an excellent selection of CA cabs. paul hobbs, fisher,peter michael.

went to a tasting dinner of 10-20 yo bordeaux. they brought out the decanters, and rinsed them with an old Lagrange.

Holding a Wine Glass
 

How does one hold a wine glass. i see lots of beer bottle holding in movies, but not much wine glass holding.

by the stem? with or without extended pinkie?
by the base? i understood that Moselle glasses had a green base so one would not show finger prints? sure is a lot easier to swirl the wine in the glass by holding the stem.

by the bowl? one hand or two? thought by the bowl was forbidden, then Reidel came out with stemless. only after training from Yoda, can one not grab the bowl on that baby.

i usually grab the bowl on my restaurant served whites to get them warm enough to clear the ice from around the edges.

In all honesty, my wine usually doesn't sit long enough in the glass for it to really matter how I hold it. I'm really bad about that, if I want it to last so I can taste it over time, I will have to pour out two glasses and not touch one.

Many people feel holding it by the bowl warms up the contents too much and that you should only hold it by the stem.

I hold it by the stem, sans extended pinkie. Feels natural to me. If I'm holding a white that's overchilled, I'll hold it by the bowl to warm it gently for a few minutes.

I'm really worried about holding my wine glass correctly. not just how FT'ers hold theirs. i do not want waiters snikkering behind my back because i've grabbed the wrong handle on my wine glass. is there a robert parker of crystal?

this is sort of like do i put out my lead crystal, or is that poisonous? i use titanium chrystal most of the time, as most of my drinking partners are spastic drunks, and lead crystal is very soft glass. is this a real mistake?

i recall in my youth frequently drinking taittinger comtes de champagne blanc de blanc out of a plastic dog bowl as it was the only drinking container on the boat. held it with 2 hands, by the way.

:D^

That gave me a good chuckle!

Yum, but I hope you chilled the bowl first.