Calling all wine connoisseurs on a budget. AKA: every college student out there. I know I love my wine (a bottle a night) (what? who said that?), but I’m also drawn to getting the cheapest $3 wine I can find. The flavor never matches up to my parents wine and I’m always left a little unsatisfied, although I never leave a bottle empty. This new ~science~ behind adding salt to your glass of red wine will make two buck chuck taste like your parents drink.
The Technique
According to Bloomberg’s Nathan Myhrvold, adding a pinch of salt to your red wine will smooth out and balance the flavors. Oh, and change your life. Chefs add salt to their food to change and enhance the flavors, and this same basic logic works for wine. Any sweet wine of your choice can be transformed into a smooth, savory option with a pinch of salt. And less of a hangover because I know those sweet wines really get me with the headaches.
The Story
Nathan Myhrvold discovered this while having dinner with a California winemaker, Gina Gallo, who wished her Cabernet Sauvignon would be more savory and less sweet. A classic wish. Myhrvold added a pinch of salt to the wine and everyone was immediately impressed. The sweet wine was immediately more smooth and much more savory – the perfect taste of a decadent wine. I’m sure winemaker Gina Gallo wasn’t drinking cheap wine and she was still unsatisfied with her unsavory flavors. So, for the rest of us, this technique should work wonders.
Why Believe It?
You might be saying, “why trust this random man that works for Bloomberg?” Believe me, I thought the same. But, if you can offer a technique to a California winemaker and make her whole party shook, then he deserves to be believed.
Nathan Myhrvold also recommends aerating wine in a blender to make your cheap wine taste like classy sh*t. We already tried this one out and loved it, so I can’t wait to try out adding a simple pinch of salt. Quick, get to the store and get the classic two buck chuck from Trader Joe’s and add that pinch of salt and maybe try out this new gadget to prevent wine-stained teeth. Your mind will be blown.