Good wine: Tips for customizing your wine experience

For some folks, wine presents more obstacles than enjoyment: it's too heavy or too tart, for instance; they can't finish a whole bottle, and what should become of the bottle when it's empty?

To these un-wined I say, if the wine is too heavy, add water; too tart, add sweetening. “You can do that?!” is the startled reaction. You betcha, I reply, and more besides to make your wine experience exactly as you want it to be.

Sweeten it: Wine cocktails were created by regions with less-than-toothsome wines and added sweetening. The famous kir, for instance, is a tart French white with cassis (black currant liqueur). Start with unoaked wine and experiment with your favorite juice or liqueur.

Tart it up: If your wine seems too sweet, serve it with a sweeter dish. A relatively sweet Riesling, for instance, will taste simply refreshing when served with a fruit or honeyed sauce on ham, turkey or duck.

Heat it up: Glogg or mulled wine makes a soothing libation during our frigid winters. Pre-made brands are easy, but so are recipes. Use unoaked red or white and heat just to simmer or you'll boil away the fun! (My favorite sommelier admits to microwaving wine for his winter warmer.)

Freeze it: Freeze leftover wine for later use in recipes. When warm weather arrives, wine ice cubes chill wine punch and cocktails without dilution. Be certain to remove wine from the bottle; expanding liquid will crack the strongest glass.

Cook with it: This “Good Wine” column regularly advocates splashing wine into everything from soup to nuts.

Clean with it: A spritz of white wine is the traditional antidote to red wine stains. Apply as soon as possible and use a light, unoaked white, such as Pinot Grigio or sparkling wine with its “scrubbing bubbles.”

Cellar it: Although, I don't advise it. Most wine should be enjoyed within a year. Don't wait; open that special bottle tonight.

Return it: If a wine is unenjoyable or has been incorrectly described, most shops and restaurants will accept the return. Once.

Decorate with it: Empty bottles make unique window treatments, whether lined on a shelf or suspended, casting prisms of light throughout a room. Well-washed corks make coasters for glasses or hot pots, as well as interesting cork boards.

Recycle it: Cork trivets don't match everyone's d̩cor, so Willamette Valley Vineyards has partnered with Cork Reharvest to recycle cork Рa natural, renewable and biodegradable material. For locations, visit CorkReharvest.org. Or, drop your corks at any Whole Foods Market.

Certainly, great wine deserves the respect and ritual that we grant to all great art and crafts.

But every wine lover – from the snooty wine geek to the gnarly field hand – agrees on one thing. The most important thing about your day-to-day wine is to drink it and enjoy it!

• Write to Mary Ross at food@dailyherald.com.

Ross' choice

Sauvignon Blanc

Spy Valley

2009

Marlborough, New Zealand

• Suggested retail and availability: $17.99 in wine, liquor and specialty shops (distributed by Wine Cru, Bensenville)

Layer upon layer of flavor, like climbing a stairway of complexity, each step clearly defined and building in appeal. Aging on the lees (spent yeast cells) integrates New Zealand's famed (in other wines, infamous) acidity throughout. Generous flavors of passion fruit, mineral and sweet pea add to this dynamic cocktail and make this a luscious complement to rich seafood, poultry and white meats, especially prepared with herbs, olive oil or Asian seasonings.