Local Resources

Cooking Classes

Pensacola Cooks is a cooking education company offering a variety of culinary experiences for adults, children, families, and food entrepreneurs. They are rooted in authenticity, collaboration, integrity, joy, and respect as they lead by example in their educational programs and services.

Visit their website: https://pensacolacooks.com/

Wine Glass Rentals

Need some quality crystal universal 16-ounce thin rim wine glasses for an upscale event? Fork and Cork only utilizes their 150 plus count stash but once or twice a month and has them available for rent in 25 count cases. Contact Bob for available dates and pricing at bob@pitabob.com.

General Resources

Buying Wine

Start with a reputable wine shop that stores their wines out of direct sunlight and heat, and where the facility and the bottles are clean. The Staff should be knowledgeable about the wines they are offering. The wine should be organized for easy reference. Typical layouts include:

  • Traditionally, by Geographical Source: American, French, Italian, Spanish, South American, etc.
  • Some display their wines by the type of grape, or varietal.
  • More recently, wines are sorted “progressively”, from lighter white wines to heavier white wines; lighter reds to heavier reds; and perhaps a section for Rose’s, or pink wines, and even perhaps a section for sparkling wines, aerated, like champagnes.
  • Grocery stores occasionally market wines alongside the foods that they might pair well with.

But buy from those that know wines, those that enjoy wines themselves. Rely on the Staff for guidance. Share with them wines you find you do like. Tell them your budget or price range for this purchase. Tell them why you are buying this wine: for a seafood dinner for four, for an afternoon chicken salad picnic for two, quaffing among friends around a conversation fire pit or a pairing with a good steak. Start with your local wine shop.

To find a specific wine, you could use an online tool such as www.Wine-Searcher.com

Wine-Related Books

  • Love by the Glass:  Tasting Notes from a Marriage, by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, Random House
  • Window of the World Complete Wine Course, by Kevin Zraly, Sterling Publishing
  • Drink Progressively, by Hadley & TJ Douglas, Spring House Press

Wine Apps & Websites

Wine Bottle Size Reference

Name
Split
Half-bottle
Standard
Magnum
Jeroboam
Rehoboam
Methuselah, Imperial
Salmanazar
Balthazar
Nebuchadnessar
Paramount
Liter Capacity
.1875
.375
.75
1.5
3
4.5
6
9
12
15
27
# STD bottles
.25
.50
1
2
4
6
8
12
16
20
36
# 5 oz pours
1.69
3.34
5.07
10.14
20.29
30.43
40.58
60.87
81.15
101.44
182.60

Wine Rules: Blend, Estate and Vintage Explained

In California, along with a lot of other wine areas of the world who began to copy some of the ways California operates its wine rules, you could be buying a Cabernet Sauvignon but have two to maybe four more grape varieties in it. Yet the wine maker doesn’t have to put it on the label, or it will be listed in small print on the back. As long as the wine has at least 75% of that grape, it can be called that. So your “California Cab” could be 75% cabernet sauvignon and 25% anything else! To be classified as an “Estate” wine, which usually comes in at a much higher price, the main grape must be at least 90%. Then the top of the top, a Vintage. To be classified as a Vintage, with regards to the grape varieties, the main grape must be at least 95% or more. Know what you drink!

Labeling rules differ by country. More on that later.