In This Email:
Last-minute Love Measures 
Great Wines and Gifts 
Wine Team Picks 
Tannin Salon 
Valentine's Day Special from Proflowers.com 
Instant V-Day Dining Reservations 


Last-minute Love Measures

There is still time to order gifts from the wine.com Valentine Shop. 
Just check our shipping deadlines to make sure your selection will 
arrive on time. We might be encouraging desperate behavior, but 
isn't that what love is all about? 

To learn more about each item listed below, simply click on its name.
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Great Wines and Gifts

Virtual Vineyards Duet, $25.00
Double your pleasure with a California Chardonnay and a supple red 
Argentine Malbec. 

1997 Ch. Haut-Milon Pauillac, Bordeaux, France, $29.95
California ripeness in a Bordeaux package. C'est bon! 

French Cheeses Book, $16.00
The definitive guide to French cheeses. 

1995 Renaissance Vineyard & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, Sierra 
Foothills, California, $18.00
Distinctive, with firm tannins and layers of flavors. 

1997 Clos du Bois Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley Reserve, 
Alexander Valley, California, $19.95 
A testament to the Clos du Bois winemaking team's expertise. 

1999 Dr. F. Weins-Prum Riesling Estate, Mosel, Germany, $12.00
File under "D" for delightful, delectable, and delicious. 

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Wine Team Picks: Peter Marks on Tuesday Night Wines

Why Tuesday? Because if you save your most precious bottles for 
weekends, come Monday you're either slurping leftovers or still 
recovering - but by Tuesday you're ready for something quick and 
easy, such as: 

1999 Gerard Gelin Beaujolais Domaine des Nugues, Burgundy, 
France, $12.00

1998 Dom. Allimant-Laugner Muscat, Alsace, France, $14.00

1999 Tuatara Bay Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand, $11.49

1999 Dom. de l'Ameillaud Cotes du Rhone, Southern Rhone, 
France, $9.95

1997 Danzante Sangiovese delle Marche, Italy, $8.95

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Tannin Salon

One of the most ubiquitous words in wine reviews is "tannin." Wine 
writers never seem to tire of references to "round" tannins, "ripe" 
tannins, "smooth tannins," "tough" tannins, "gentle" tannins, and 
"supple" tannins. It begins to seem that, if you don't understand 
tannin, you don't understand wine (especially red wine). So just what 
the hell is a tannin? 

Tannins are organic compounds in plants, trees, roots, and bark - or, 
in the case of wine, skins, seeds, and stems. Tastewise, tannin 
doesn't impart a flavor but a texture. In concentrated quantities it 
sticks to the inside of your mouth, where it creates a puckering 
sensation - a sensory effect that senior wine.com merchant Tim Gaiser 
likens to that of overbrewed tea. 

"Tannin is astringent," Gaiser explains. "If a wine has too much of 
it, it's out of balance. But tannin isn't a bad thing. It's a 
necessary component for wine to have structure and aging potential." 

In other words, the more tannin a wine has, the better it will age? 
Not necessarily. "If a wine has a lot of tannin that isn't balanced 
by adequate fruit and acidity, it won't age well," says Gaiser. 
"Eventually the fruit will fade, leaving nothing but tannin. Balance 
is the key." 

Winemakers and vineyard managers can control tannin in several ways. 
"Ripeness of grapes dramatically affects the level and quality of 
tannins," says Gaiser. "Wines made from grapes that aren't fully ripe 
often have green, stemmy, hard tannins. Ripe tannins are finer and 
rounder tasting." 

In other words: supple. Given a suitable climate, ripeness (and its 
corollary, flavor development) results from such factors as low 
vineyard yields and long growing seasons, which allow extended 
hang-time for the fruit. 

Tannin quality also depends on the amount of time that a winemaker 
leaves fermenting grape juice ("must") in contact with the skins - a 
process referred to as maceration. 

"One of the main reasons California Cabernets have gotten so much 
better in the last 10 years is that longer maceration times have been 
used," Gaiser says. "What's improved more than anything is texture, 
which speaks specifically to tannin management." In Bordeaux and 
California Cabernet, maceration times commonly last three weeks or 
longer, a period that enables tannins to grow rounder and gentler. 

Tannin isn't usually associated with white wines because they don't 
undergo maceration; they're pressed off the skins right away. (Almost 
all red grape varieties contain clear juice, so the color of red wine 
is attributable solely to extended skin contact.) But some white 
wines do gain tannin from the new oak barrels in which they're aged. 

"A lot of oaky Chardonnays are just as tannic as red wines," Gaiser 
points out. "People don't usually take that into account, which is 
why Chardonnay can be so difficult to pair with food." 


Click here to try our Studies in Contract Sampler: Tannin in Red Wine 

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Valentine's Day Special from Proflowers.com

What makes Proflowers.com the No. 1 rated online florist, according 
to BizRate, Money.com, and the Forrester PowerRankings? Their flowers 
are shipped to you (or your loved one) directly from growers, so they 
don't spend the usual 7-10 days in transit. All bouquets are 
guaranteed fresh for seven days - and what's more, the absence of 
middlemen enables Proflowers.com to offer a dazzling selection of 
blossoms at 30-50 percent off retail. Choose, for example, from 20 
different varieties of roses, starting at $39.95 per dozen. Finally, 
as a wine.com subscriber, you'll receive a free glass vase (a $9.95 
value) with any fresh-cut flower purchase. 

To take advantage of this offer, click here. 

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Instant V-Day Dining Reservations
Valentine's Day is the busiest restaurant day of the year. If your 
honey won't settle for a burger and fries, you can still avoid 
spending hours on the phone trying to secure a 
last-minute reservation. 

OpenTable offers free online restaurant reservations at great 
restaurants nationwide. Simply visit www.opentable.com, input your 
city, preferred cuisine, and price range. In seconds, OpenTable tells 
you exactly what's available in your area and confirms 
your reservation. 

For Valentine's Day, wine.com subscribers can take advantage of a 
special offer. Register before February 14 and you'll automatically 
earn 500 OpenTable Points, good toward Dining Cheques redeemable at 
all OpenTable restaurants. Just click here and enter the promo code 
"valentinewine" when you register. 

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