Stir some fizzy fabulousness into your cocktails.

A LITTLE BUBBLY. Also known as the champagne of Italy, prosecco is dry, lemony, and bubbly. Crafted from Prosecco grapes grown in the northern region of Italy, this light wine is perfect served as an aperitivi ( pre-dinner drink), or paired with appetizers such as seafood, Italian cheeses, salads, and light pasta dishes. Or, combine it with peach juice to make Venice's most famous cocktail, the Bellini.
There are two types of prosecco: frizzante, a lightly sparkling version, and spumante, the fully sparkling version. Both are light-bodied, crisp wines that are generally dry.

BETTER THAN CHAMPAGNE? A popular, and cheaper, alternative to champagne, prosecco is made differently from the classic method made famous in the Champagne district of France. The sparkling wine is made by the Charmat method, a tank method requiring less aging, as opposed to champagne's longer, bottle fermentation method. The result preserves the freshness and flavor of the grapes in prosecco.

A SOCIAL MIXER. Prosecco cocktails are colorful, easy to make, and a delightful social hour drink. Try mixing the sparkling wine with fruit juices like pomegranate, blood orange, pineapple, or cranberry. When making the cocktail, pour the prosecco slowly over the other ingredients to avoid an overflow. Stirring is not usually necessary, but if needed, stir slowly and gently. Serve in a champagne flute, and for best results, serve immediately.

Warm up the soul with a perfect steamy glass of mulled wine.

THE GREAT COVER-UP. During the Renaissance period, wine would spoil rather quickly due to poor bottling techniques. To both delay spoilage and make spoiled wine taste better, spices were added. Most young wines were bottled in early autumn, so mulling wine was often necessary by the holiday
season before the wine started to rot. Now we drink it because it tastes good!

SPICE, HEAT, SIP, REPEAT. The delicious addition of spice and heat to a mug of cider or glass of red wine can create the perfect cheer. To make the festive drink clear and not cloudy, bundle only whole spices in a tea ball or cheesecloth. Any combination of cinnamon sticks, cloves, lemon peel, orange zest, ginger, raisins, cardamom seeds, and/or peppercorns will add a cozy flavor. Remember that the flavor of mulled wine is limited only by your imagination! Let steep in a pot with a fruity red wine or cider until the flavors have melded and the mixture is nice and hot. For an added kick, splash some brandy in the pot. Add sugar if needed. Make it fancy with a cinnamon stick and orange slice for garnish. Serve immediately.

Whether you serve it with dessert or make it the dessert, try a glass of port.

AN ADDED KICK. Port is a fortified wine that is made by adding brandy during fermentation. Adding the spirit halts the fermentation process. The result is both sweet and high in alcohol content, making it perfect for an after-dinner drink. True port must come from Oporto, Portugal. 

RUBY VS TAWNY. Ports fall into two broad categories: ruby and tawny. Ruby ports age in bottles; tawnies age in casks and are exposed to a small amount of oxygen. Ruby is generally less expensive because tawnies age much longer.

A perfect summer wine with a touch of fizz and low alcohol content.

PERFECTION. Vinho Verdes are typically a white wine, although they do come in red. These wines are meant to be drunk within a year of bottling. The wine is considered lightly sparkling; the slight fizz mixed with the citrusy, grassy taste is both refreshing and marvelous on a warm, late-summer evening. Grab a bottle for your next picnic—it will hit the spot, and it’s cheap, too!

A great wine with grilled meats.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND. Malbec is a purple grape variety used in making red wine. The dark grapes contain robust tannins. It's one of the six grapes used for the red Bordeaux-style blend. Argentina, where Malbec is the major red varietal, is quickly building a reputation for the wine.

PERFECT FOR SUMMER. Somewhere between a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Merlot, this robust, fruitful wine features flavor notes that include blackberry, mocha, cherry, and raspberry. These
flavors pair with grilled meat nicely, so try a bottle during your next cookout.

Try something new this summer with this fruity, full-bodied wine.

A CROWD PLEASER. When entertaining a crowd of people this summer, you probably will serve a chilled white wine. If you’re worried that your choice will leave all the red wine drinkers in your group thirsty, pick out a good Viognier. Like most reds are, this white variety is dry and has a very full body. The difference: The dryness doesn’t come from tannins, and the fruit notes are pear and melon rather than cherry and strawberry jam. 

AGED FOR FLAVOR. How a wine is aged affects its overall flavor and its bouquet notes, which are any aromas that don’t come from the grapes. Even if the wines you’re looking at are the same variety, the barrels in which they were aged will cause taste differences. Wine aged in stainless-steel barrels will have the familiar bright, clean, acidic taste. Viognier aged in oak barrels will have a creamier flavor, such as vanilla or butter.

A cool, refreshing breeze comes to mind when you think of spring. The same should happen when
drinking wine.

TRY A RIESLING. A good, light wine for the season is white Riesling.  Made from grapes originally grown in Germany, this variety is fruity and floral, which makes it perfect to sip as everything around you starts to bloom.

KEEP IT FRESH. Find a white Riesling that has especially prominent peach and apricot characteristics to match the fresh, clean tone of a picnic or wedding shower.  Sweet Rieslings may have too much body for a light spring day. Serve chilled.

The shape of the wineglass is almost as important as the wine itself.

WHITE WINES. The traditional choice is a tulip-shape stemmed glass. To prevent oxidation for light, fresh white wines, the surface area is smaller than that of glasses for red wine. It’s proper to hold a glass for white wine at the stem. The best glasses feel steady in the hand, whether they are full or empty. 

RED WINES. This glass has a wider bowl with an inward-tapering lip designed to keep the aromas and vapors in the glass. Properly hold the glass by palming the bowl.

SPARKLING WINE. Use a tall flute to serve sparkling wines. The small surface area helps the bubbles form and makes them last. The skinny shape accentuates the bubbles’ ascent. An inward-tapering lip isn’t necessary because there is so much vapor. Hold the flute by the stem as you would a glass for white wine.

Stick to the reds to maximize wine’s good-for-you potential.

RED INSTEAD. The good news: Both reds and whites help prevent heart disease, but red does have an advantage. It’s the way red wine is made that makes it more healthful. Red wines get their color from using more grape skins and seeds than the process used to make whites does. Polyphenols, which help inhibit plaque buildup in the arteries, are derived from these skins and seeds. Therefore, whites don’t have as much polyphenol benefit as reds do.

MODERATION IS KEY. Studies have found that heavy drinkers have an elevated risk of heart disease, while moderate drinkers (at most two five-ounce glasses each day) have a lower risk than nondrinkers.

Pass the bubbly for a festive drink perfect for the holidays.

DRY VS SWEET. Depending on your preference, sparkling wines are labeled from sweetest to bone dry: doux, demi-sec, sec, extra sec, and brut. 

PARTY PAIRING. Toasting with Champagne is fun, but it also tastes great with salty appetizers such as olives, smoked salmon, or a handful of cashews. Try serving Champagne with shrimp dishes or spicy Indian food. One beautiful pairing is Champagne and a light dessert. Always serve cold in tall glasses to preserve the bubbles.