Wine

Time to put on airs Even the best wines need it I had the gang over for a tasting last week. The wine was some light summery white stuff that you'll read about here in a week or two. It was pretty easy to decode - simple fruit flavors and crisp acidity. Lots of fun but not very challenging. When we were done tasting, I felt I owed them something, some wine that was worthy of their efforts, that told them how much I care. So I pulled something from the cellar, a bottle that had gotten some very nice reviews in the wine press.

Yeah, but is it wine? I'm enjoying a glass of Bordeaux with my friend the chef. Actually, enjoying is too frivolous a word. He is silent, eyes closed, leaning back in his chair, lower lip pulled in, head tilted slightly back to heaven. I am gaping off into the distance while the flavors bounce around from my tongue to my brain. The wine has layers and layers of taste and aroma. Deep and rich, it goes on forever. My wife walks by. She has seen this tableau before, so she doesn't bother to check either of us for a pulse.

There are few miracle gadgets in the food world that actually work, but Vinturi's clever wine aerator is a notable exception. Just pour the wine through the stylish lucite funnel, listen to the gurgle as tiny holes infuse the vino with a speed-breathing equivalent of an hour in a decanter, and sip. The results can be startlingly clear - especially in a more rustic bottle, where the rough edges seem to be polished down, the fruit aromas become more...

Most of these lower-alcohol wines from four Philadelphia restaurants are also available retail. Percentages reflect the alcohol content. Prices are per bottle. Meritage , 500 S. 20th St., 215-985-1922 2005 Montinore Riesling, Oregon, 12%, $36; also at selected state wine stores, $10.99. 2005 Orvieto Antinore "Campogrande," Italy, 11.5%, $34. 2004 Château Bonnet (Bordeaux), France, 12%, $45; at selected state wine stores, $12.99. 707 , 707 Chestnut St., 215-922-7770 2006 Rudi Wiest Riesling, Germany, 10%, $47.50; at selected state wine stores by special order, $11.69.

Don't you wish your grandfather made wine in the basement? Wouldn't you like to have the kind of close-knit neighborhood where people dropped by with a plate of lasagna, or you knew the person who baked your bread - and the one who made your wine? Fortunately, for all of the part-time, wannabe Italians, there's a chance to get in on the fun and the food of an urban, Italian-American neighborhood. It's called the Vendemmia - "Italy in the Park" - and this year marks the festival's 6th annual celebration of the grape harvest in South Philly.

There was a time, maybe 30 or 40 years ago, before the wine revival was in full swing, when a few brave souls sampled beyond the edges of the ordinary. Hard as it is to believe now, cream sherry was one of the exotic and daring drinks of the late '60s. (If you dig out an old copy of Gourmet magazine, you may see a half-page ad for one of the brands.) The drink, as I remember it, had a concentrated nutty flavor, a thick texture and a musky, raisiny finish. Unfortunately, it was also a little too sweet.

I came across three eccentric, delicious red wines in the last few weeks, wines that had some quirky characteristic that made them stand out from the crowd of low- to-medium priced wines. What they had in common was that they each seemed to call out for meat from the grill, some slab of beef or chop of lamb to ground their high-flying flavors. Now I have to admit a prejudice. I love my grill. I have nurtured its flavor and my technique for years. I would cook my kid's oatmeal on it if I could figure out how. I do make Thanksgiving's turkey on it. I have three different kinds of wood for smoking and a little homemade censer for smoking herbs.

With the high price of gas taking a chunk out of budgets these days, entertaining at home rather than at a restaurant may ease the strain. An impromptu appetizer-wine party is a good way to gather friends, add a little spice to life and have some fun. It's incredibly easy to pull off if you enlist some help from the array of quality products now available at supermarkets and specialty stores. You don't have to make everything yourself - or feel stress or guilt about serving ready-made items.

We're in the middle of the outdoor eating season. Bags of smelly briquets are being toted home, gas grills are popping on with a roar and picnic baskets are being packed all across the Delaware Valley. If you're hosting one of these meals or attending one as a gracious guest, you may be wondering what wines to offer or bring. Even those of us whose idea of outdoor dining is a table at the Four Seasons next to the window are finding ourselves more and more likely to open a bottle of wine for outdoor drinking.

Dolcetto. What an unfortunate name. It sounds like "dolce," which means "sweet" in Italian, and we live in one of those rare ages when sweet is suspect - at least in the wine glass. Worse yet, it calls to mind the classic movie "La Dolce Vita," a celebration of decadence that now seems quaint and old-fashioned. So bottles of Dolcetto - the most obviously delectable wine of Italy's Piedmont - languish on the shelves, price deflated by lack of demand. While they wait for buyers, the lira is losing value and Italian goods are becoming cheaper in American stores.

Bringing the fresh taste and eco-friendliness of wines on draft to Pennsylvania has been a doggedly thirsty quest for Terry Berch McNally from London Grill and William Reed of Johnny Brenda's. They recruited Reed's local state rep, Michael O'Brien, to help change state laws last summer to allow it. But nothing happens quickly in Pennsylvania when it comes to wine. Though in-state wines have been allowed on draft for some time, it took until Feb. 1 for the PLCB to finally permit out-of-state wine keg sales.

It is well known that the French did not invent wine - no more than the Colombians invented coffee or the Italians discovered tomatoes - but they elevated it to a high art. Now, after analyzing residue from a hunk of ancient limestone, a University of Pennsylvania scientist said Monday that he had found the earliest chemical evidence of le vin français . The 2,400-year-old stone, apparently a pressing platform with a spout fashioned on...

The "sour beast" was rising. When I'd first tasted it in the preliminary round of this year's Brew-vitational, the Inquirer's annual competition for local beers, my eyes almost crossed from the intense tartness of its barrel-fermented red fruit. But by the finals round, once we'd winnowed the 39 beers entered in the "new" beer category down to 10 top contenders, my taste buds had snapped to attention and tuned in to the proper frequency. And this sour ale aged in wine and whiskey barrels for a year-and-a-half with wild yeast and raspberries was suddenly an irresistible beam of bright fruit light.

Faux Pho . . . 3 Netta's Chicken and Rice . . . 2 Peach and Yellow Tomato Pie . . . 2 Village Whiskey Veggie Burger . . . 4 Vintage Wine Bar Veggie Burger . . . 4

Marcus Hook Mayor James "Jay" Schiliro was ordered held over for trial Tuesday on charges that he fired a gun inside his house while holding a 20-year-old friend hostage. At a preliminary hearing before District Judge Nicholas Lippincott, Nicholas Dorsam, 20, of Chichester, testified that he and Schiliro had a "good friendship" but that on a February night, the mayor ordered a police car to bring him to his house, then compelled him to drink wine and would not let him leave. Schiliro is to be tried on charges that include recklessly endangering another person, false imprisonment, and furnishing alcohol to someone under 21. Dorsam, a former neighbor, said he received a text message from Schiliro while at a friend's house indicating the mayor had been drinking and wanted to talk.

* There's a good reason to head out of town this weekend - the Berks County Wine Trail's anniversary celebration, this year with a "Grape to Plate" theme. Eight wineries will participate noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. It's mostly free, too. Details at berkscountywinetrail.com. * Take the pain out of waiting for the train as The Porch at 30th Street Station and Bridgewater's Pub host a Beer Garden, 3-8 p.m. Thursday and Friday. With swingin' sounds by Evan Cory Levin & Co., 6 to 8 p.m. * It's first-birthday time for Rex 1516 (1516 South St., 267-319-1366, rex1516.com )

"I DON'T like beer. " You wouldn't believe how many times I have heard that. There are some people who just won't drink beer. At bars and restaurants, at tutored tastings, at casual backyard barbecues, I'll offer a stranger a bottle and you'd think I was spreading the plague. Here - I promise, it won't kill you. "No, I hate beer. " Dude, if you don't wanna drink, fine. You've got some personal or moral issues with alcohol, that's cool. I'm not going to force it down your throat.

NEW YORK - When most people get a bad bottle of wine, they send it back. When billionaire collector William Koch concluded the vintage wines he bought at auction were fakes, he made a federal case of it. Koch bought what he thought were French wines from the Bordeaux and Burgundy regions, some dating to Napoleonic times and the Belle Epoque, he alleged in a 2007 complaint filed in federal court in New York. He claimed that Eric Greenberg, founder and chairman emeritus of Scient Corp., who had consigned the wines, defrauded him. Koch - brother of the conservative political financiers Charles and David Koch - first alleged that 36 bottles he bought at New York-based Zachys Wine & Liquor in 2004 and 2005 for about $500,000 were counterfeit.

B UZZ: What's the deal with Japanese wine, Marnie? Is it any good? Why do they drink it in little cups? Marnie: You probably mean saké, Buzz, which is often called "rice wine. " It's a Japanese specialty and, yes, the quality can be excellent. Buzz: Rice? I don't get it. Apple wine, raspberry wine, I get. Those are fruits like grapes. How do you make wine out of rice? Marnie: Saké is not a real wine, in the sense of being fermented from fresh fruit. Technically, it is its own distinct category within the larger family of fermented alcoholic drinks that includes wine, beer and cider but excludes stronger distilled spirits.

  JILL WEBER, 41, and her husband, Evan Malone, 42, of Fitler Square, are co-owners of Jet Wine Bar and the restaurant Rex1516, both on South Street near 15th. The former opened in November 2010 and the latter in March 2012. When Weber is not overseeing the wine bar, she spends much of her time on overseas archaeological digs. We spoke with Weber.     Q: Tell me about your archaeological background. A: I've worked mostly in Turkey and Syria. I'm an animal-bones specialist, so I go from site to site and analyze animal bones that are found.