How to Choose the Perfect Wine for Any Occasion

Wine expert and enthusiast Stephen Iwerebon provides a basic guide for choosing the right wine for any special occasion from birthday celebrations, weddings, date night, impressing the in-laws and beyond.

Many individuals consider themselves casual wine drinkers and can select wines they like to go with dinner or a glass or two of in the evening. Buying wine for oneself isn't so stressful but having to pick out a wine for a special occasion or for someone else can be a bit overwhelming. 

Throughout his college years and career Stephen Iwerebon has had the opportunity to travel to many parts of the globe. During his travels, he has spent ample time sampling different wines and learning about their different flavor profiles and categories. This experience has allowed him to gain insights on which wines work best for specific occasions and for specific individuals. Check out some of his tips and advice below for choosing the perfect wine for any occasion. 

Date night or first date

The best wine to impress your date is, Pouilly Fume. If one wants a dry taste and the other wants a taste on the light side the Fleurie is a red wine with a light fruit flavor for both of you.

Meeting the parents or impressing your in-laws

Here some wines that are sure to win them over:

• Champagne or Prosecco – champagne mixed with orange is a great Mimosa for brunch. Prosecco mixed with orange and cranberry juice makes a Holiday drink called Poinsettia.
• The Italian white wine Cutizzi is a favorite for Stephen Iwerebon. It is made from Greco di Tufo Grapes and is rich with a full bodied flavor. This wine is best served with grilled fish, roast pork with vegetables, or a pizza made of seafood.
• Rhone wines are best served in the winter months. The reason being is it’s a sun filled, fruity red wine. You can eat just about anything with this wine. Rhone complements steak very well.

Summer Wedding

Most likely a white wine will be served at a summer wedding. Keep in mind Champagne is a great drink to serve for the toast. If the menu for the day has fish and seafood you might want to have a Rosé wine.

If the wedding is in the fall or winter than its best to serve a red wine, though it is always a great idea to have both to please the preferences of all the guests.

Giving Wine as a Gift

Stephen Iwerebon would have to suggest the Magnum bottles as a great size for a gift. You might choice to give your friend a bottle filled with a sparkling wine to lighten the mood of the party and most guest will enjoy the bubbly taste. If the magnum bottle is not to your liking you can pick a standard-sized bottle for gift giving after the party. Also a good bottle of Bordeaux Grand Cru wine from 2005 makes for a great gift for a collector.

The Wine for Every Occasion

Stephen Iwerebon's recommendation is a bottle of Barolo straight from Italy. Some of the best foods to have with this bottle is wild duck, quail, grilled steak, sweetbreads, truffles, risotto cheese and more.

All of these wines can be bought online or likely in your local supermarket or liquor store. Stephen Iwerebon encourages wine enthusiasts to step out of their comfort zone and try different wines they wouldn't normally buy. This is the best way to develop a taste and understand which wines pair up with different occasions. 

Top Wines to Try This Winter

Best Wines for Cold Winter Months

Most people have a change in preferences for wine with the change in seasons. In summer usually crisp wines are preferred and in winter it is the heartier reds. 

Of course everyone will have their own personal preference but usually this is the base to pick a wine for the winter or any other season.

The winter wines are full bodied reds and they also pair well with the heartier dishes preferred in the cold winter month. As a home chef, Stephen Iwerebon loves experimenting with different pairings. Some of the sparkling wines are also consumed in the cold season.

Here are some of the top winter wines recommended by wine enthusiast Stephen Iwerebon.

• Syrah

• Zinfandel

• Cabernet sauvignon

• Malbec

• Sparkling wine

• Oaked chardonnay

• Bordeaux blend

These are the wines that are used at home and also when entertaining the guests. With winter comes the holiday season and a lot of entertaining needs to be done. So you need to stock up your wine as a good host and serve the best of wines to the guests.

Usually people go directly to the wineries to taste and then buy the wines to stock up for the year or season. There are different wine holidays each year. These are the best times to buy the best of wines and some special kinds of wines too. For your winter stock you can shop for your wine during the national zinfandel day that falls on November 19.

To get the best of wines you need to be a good wine taster. You should know the technique how to taste and tell the difference between an average wine and a great wine. Also you can tell the amount of alcohol content in the wine using this tasting. You just have to follow the three S’s: the swirl, sniff and sip.

Then you need to store the wine carefully so that it retains its aroma and taste. After taking so much effort to taste and buy wine from some of the best wineries you do not want all the wine to go waste for want of some good storing facilities and methods. Wine is best stored in a dark room at 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Also the bottles are kept on their sides to preserve your wine the best. You can also keep the bottles pointed downwards so that the cork does not dry up preventing the air from making an entry into the bottle.

Making wine is an art and best left to the connoisseurs. There are several steps in its making and each of them have to be followed without any error creeping in so that the best of the wines are made and the taste of the wines do not change. Also it will be good for you to know these enthusiasts so that you can get the best of wines from these experts.

Learn more about Stephen Iwerebon's love for wine and other adventures on About.me

Stephen Iwerebon - Guide to Port Wine

A Beginners Guide to Port Wine

Wine enthusiast Stephen Iwerebon will take you through the basics of everything you need to know about delicious Port wine.

What is Port wine? Port wine is one of the words most notable fortified wines.  Here are some basic facts on this traditional wine:

Port Wine is defined as a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, though it also comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties.

This wine came to be popular throughout history.  It is named after the city Oporto where the wine was taken to port and loaded onto ships for England. The English fighting with the French in the 17th century boycotted French wine and started to import from Portugal. The fragile wine became fortified when a bit of brandy was added to it to help shelf life as it made its voyage to the England. The introduction of brandy added to the higher alcohol content and added sweetness and stopped the fermentation process. It was a huge success in England and has since spread worldwide.

While traveling, Stephen Iwerebon has had the opportunity to sample a variety of Port wines, admiring their different styles and flavors.

There are several different types of Port. Port is used to describe the region and the fortified wine. The main ports are red but there is also a white variety as well. Many ports are still stomped or treaded in Agares (large stone or cement tanks). After treading, the grapes are left seeds stems and all to ferment for several days until the alcohol level reaches 7 percent. The brandy is then added and it is aged in oak casks for about 18 months.  There are several styles based on aging. The main 2 are wood and bottle aged. Wood aged ports are ready to drink young. Bottle aged may sit for a decade or more before reaching their peak.

Types of Port Wine

Ruby Port is a very popular port aged for about 3 years.  The name refers to the color the wine has out of the bottle.  At this stage the wine is intense and fruity with flavors reminiscent of cherry, blackberry and blackcurrant, a favorite for Stephen Iwerebon.

Tawny Port is another type, which age for longer periods in oak casks. These include the sumptuous 10, 20, 30 and 40 year old Tawny Ports. The nuttiness and aromas of butterscotch and oak wood intensify the longer they spend in the cask. Stephen Iwerebon enjoys this type of wine after a meal, as a dessert wine.

White Port is made from the white Port grapes, which are aged for two to three years in large vats and can be sweeter or drier in style.

Bottled Ports are Vintage Ports. These have been conditioned or aged in the bottle after being aged for 2 years the vat. These bottles continue to grow in complex flavor as they age but are fine to drink young. The Vintage Ports represent the best grapes of that season and are among the most long-lasting of all wines.

Crusted Ports are not a single year like Vintage but are bottles without filtering the sediment leaves a crust in the bottle as it ages. These types of ports should be decanted to remove sediment and allow the wine to breathe.

Port wines pairs well with cheese and the young Ruby is often served with chocolate of used as a reduction for steak. The White Port is often served as a aperitif to start the meal off.

Pick up a bottle and some of your favorite cheese and enjoy a wonderful evening with friends, exploring this decedent rich wine.