In The Press
From The New York Post:
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 January 15 2003 - Cynthia Kilian
They call her "The Wine Diva," but as Christine Ansbacher prepares to open a bottle of Champagne, she looks more like the Bubbly Samurai.
In her elegant Upper East Side apartment, Ansbacher wields a saber to swiftly slice the top off a bottle the way Napoleon's cavalry officers did on the battlefield, shooting the cork way across the room. "Don't try this at home," she cautions.
But the wine expert, who shares her advice at lectures and tastings for individuals, charities and corporations, has many other tricks she wishes we would try.
Want to make a $10 bottle of wine taste like a $30 bottle? Ready to branch out from Chardonnay? How about saying goodbye to red wine headaches? The Wine Diva knows - and she's intent on instructing with a healthy dose of theatrics.
Actors come to her events dressed as historical wine connoisseurs, and she sprinkles her lectures with quotes from Thomas Jefferson ("Good wine is a daily necessity") and Ben Franklin ("Wine should be a laugh, not a lecture").
As for her own witticisms: "A meal without wine is called breakfast."
Her program shares 35 "secrets" designed to demystify the nectar of the grape. Among them are these seven tips:
1. To make that $10 bottle taste more expensive, remember TAG: Temperature, Aerate, Glassware.
"Temperature is the most important and yet the most overlooked aspect of wine service," Ansbacher says. That's why those in the know always feel a bottle when a waiter presents it in a restaurant.
Most red wines are served at room temperature (about 70 to75 degrees) when they should be cellar temperature (60 to 65 degrees), as they were in drafty chateaux of yore. Warmer temperatures exaggerate the alcohol which makes a red wine taste hot, heavy and possibly unbalanced; and warmth can also decrease flavor and aroma. If a red doesn't feel slightly cool, ask the waiter to give it a quick dip in (believe it or not) an ice bucket.
On the other hand, white wine straight from the fridge is so cold it's "numb." Let it sit on the table for five minutes to warm up and bring out the aromatic nuances.
2. Puckering up is not a good thing when it's from a red wine that's young and very tannic and astringent, a mouth feel Christine calls "harris tweed."
Smooth it out by aerating it: Pour the bottle into a larger container with lots of splash room - a decanter or pitcher - exposing it to the most air and breaking down the tannins. Just one pour equals 30 minutes of letting the wine sit and "breathe" in a wine glass.
3. Hefty goblets may look pretty, but this is a case where thin is in. Plain, delicate crystal is best because it allows more rapid evaporation of a wine's aromas up to your nose, and more rapid evaporation of the alcohol on the surface making the wine taste more balanced (not hot and heavy). The egg shape is also optimal for swirling and captures the aromas that waft upwards at the rim directing them to our nose which is where we "taste" most of the wine's flavors. Remember, our taste buds can only detect sweet, sour, bitter and salt.
4. To avoid ordering both a white and a red when the table is ordering a mix of foods, a good all-purpose "bridge" wine is a light- to medium-bodied, fruity red with moderate tannins and subtle oak.
Some of her suggestions are: Australian Shiraz; Italian Barbera; French Loire Valley wines (made from the Cabernet Franc grape) called Chinon and St. Nicholas de Bourgueil; lighter styles of West Coast pinot noir and red Burgundy; Italian or Chilean Merlot; Spanish Rioja (not Riserva); Italian Chianti (not Classico); and a French Beaujolais called Fleurie, which was served at Madonna's wedding.
5. Unfinished wine is best stored in a smaller bottle so less oxygen (the enemy for storing) gets to it. Save a half-bottle of wine for this, or recycle a metal screw-top small water bottle or stoppered beer bottle. She also recommends an inexpensive gadget called a Vacu-Vin, which sucks out the air and comes with a rubber stopper.
6. As for that nasty red wine headache, it's not caused by sulfites, Ansbacher says. "White wines have more sulphur added to them than red wines. Think about it -when you cut open an apple and a strawberry which turns brown faster? The apple of course. So winemakers add more sulphur to white wines to protect them from turning brown and losing aromas and flavors…which is referred to as oxidation."
Ansbacher says there are four factors that can affect whether or not you get a "red wine" headache: (1) how much food is in your stomach, (2) how much sleep you got the night before, (3) how much water you have consumed during the evening and (4) most important, are histamines naturally occurring on grape skins which many people are allergic to.
The cure? Take an over-the-counter antihistamine several hours before drinking red wine.
7. "Our niece loves this Greek tough guy who looks like Frankie Avalon" may sound wacky - but it just might help you remember three quality Italian whites that are very affordable ($10 to $15 at retail), rather than that old standby, Pinot Grigio.
Those words should trigger Arneis (ahr NACE-just remember "Our niece"), Greco di Tufo (GREK koh dee TOOF oh-remember "Greek tough guy"), and Fiano di Avellino (fee AH noh dee ah vehl EE noh-think "Frankie Avalon"). So if you're in a wine store or an Italian restaurant, and forget the name of Arneis, for example, just tell the clerk or waiter there's an Italian white wine you really like, can't remember the name, but sounds something like '"our niece." The person helping you will almost certainly recognize the name of the wine.
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