Candlelight, flowers, music and dancing ... the perfect setting for a night out on the town with that special someone. As you stare dreamily into his eyes and think the night couldn't get any better, he pops the question. No - not the marriage question - instead he asks you if you'd like to drink some wine to go with your meal. Ahhh ... what a perfect way to cap off the evening.
Forget the microbrews, or breaking open a six-pack of Molson Ice. If you really want to impress a date these days, you can find a high-quality (not cheap) bottle of wine for under $10 at Village Corner (601 S. Forest Ave.) or at the Merchant of Vino (2789 Plymouth Rd).
Both stores sell thousands of different labels of wines from 16 different countries, stretching from the vineyards of Romania to the foothills of Italy. And of course, they also supply a variety of wines produced in Napa Valley, Calif.
"If we don't carry a certain type of wine, chances are good that it's not available," said Rod Johnson, a wine buyer at Village Corner.
With an overwhelming amount of wines to choose from, it can be hard for a new wine drinker to select the perfect wine to accompany her meal. But a wine can accompany and spice up almost any meal, from a Chef Boyardee spaghetti dinner, to a four-course meal at the West End Grill.
But how do you test a good wine?
Johnson said the best indicator of a good wine is its character or flavor. The easiest way to test this is to smell the wine, he said.
"If it's a red wine and if it's kind of brown, then that's a bad sign," Johnson said.
Joe McInnes, a spokesperson for Decanter Imports, a wine import company, said acidity and age are important factors for a good wine. But he said not all good wines have to be expensive.
If you're on a tight budget, hop on over to Village Corner, where you can find great bottles of white or red wines for under $10. Break open a bottle of 1995 Napa Ridge Chardonnay, or 1995 Chateau Ste. Michelle, both white wines for only $5 to $7 a bottle.
"If you know what you're doing and ask the right questions, you can do quite well," Johnson said. "Price is not totally indicative of quality."
But if you really want to splurge, one of the best wines for a lobster dinner is the 1995 Chardonnay from the Red Shoulder Ranch of the Napa Valley. You can sample its rich, full-bodied, citrus taste for a mere $25 a bottle.
Or if you're in the mood for a meal of lamb, try a bottle of 1991 Reserva, imported from the vineyards in Spain, for about $12 a bottle. Its soft, yet fruity taste is soft on the palate, but blends well with foods, Vince Friend said, a spokesperson for the wine.
The 1995 Merlot, a red wine, is recommended to accompany a meal of duck, pork or veal.
Many Ann Arbor restaurants also offer a wide variety of wines to complement a nice seafood or Italian dinner.
Traveling to wine tastings across the country, members of wine tasting teams test different varieties of wine from around the world to bring to Ann Arbor.
"We try to seek out wines people can't usually get at the store," Martin Raye said, manager of Sweet Lorraine's restaurant. "We try to target everyone (with our wine selection)."
Raye said Sweet Lorraine's offers 45 wines by the glass and 120 wines by the bottle, but the most popular wines among students are Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc.
At the Palio restaurant on Main Street, customers can choose from about 20 different wines, ranging from $4.95 to $5.95 a glass. "One of the most popular wines," said Jon Gould, general manager of Palio, "is the red Chianti Classical reserve, or the white Pino Grigio."
McInnes said the most popular wines," said Jon Gould, general manager of Palio, "is the red Chianti Classical reserve, or the white Pino Grigio."
McInnes said the most popular wines this year are of the 1993 vintage.
"The older the wine, the better it could be," McInnes said. "But some wines you wouldn't want to age."
Producing a good wine takes more than just stomping on grapes as demonstrated by Lucille Ball in an episode of "I Love Lucy." The process of wine-making obviously begins with the grapes. But the quantity of grapes is crucial to the concentration of the wine and eventually the price as well.
"The fewer grapes you have, the more concentrated the wine will be," McInnes said.
McInnes said the price of wine would also increase if a small amount of grapes were grown because of the difference between the short supply of grapes and the demand for the wine.
After the grapes are picked, the stomping can begin. The color of the wine is determined by the skin color of the grapes. Red wines can produce white wine, after the skin is removed. Also, white wines can be made from dark berries.
As the grapes are crushed, the yeast from outside the grapes mixes with sugars from inside the grapes. The liquid produced from the stomping process is the wine that sits on the shelves of Village Corner or in the restaurants of Ann Arbor.
Some vineyards choose to age their wine in wooden cellars so that the wine can get tannens.
Tannens, McInnes said, are what accentuates the taste of the wine and gives it the extra "zest," that makes you click your tongue or snap your fingers.
But you don't have to travel to Napa Valley to sample the wines from the vineyard, instead, there are some vineyards sitting in our backyard.
The Chateau Grand Traverse near Traverse City produces a variety of wines, as do Fenn Valley and St. Julian, both located near St. Joseph.
So if you're sitting at home on a Friday night eating a lasagna with your closest friends, or you're out on a special date, spruce up the night by breaking open a bottle of Chardonnay or Sauvignon.
JOE WESTRATE/Daily
Connoisseurs sample the product at a wine tasting in Dearborn Tuesday afternoon.