OCStandard has moved over to our new and wonderful site. You can find Orange County wine bars by visiting www.OCWineGuide.com this will take you directly to the wine portion of OCStandard...Thank You

	Back
	OC Wine Guide Welcome to the OC Wine Guide at OCStandard. A guide to Wine Bars and Wine tasting in Orange County.  Wine Recipes For great wine drinks with a twist at home try a Glamour Girl Wine Martini or a Something Blue Wine Cocktail. Check out these great wine recipes GO     Monthly Wine Tasting Party Wine Club members & non-members. FIRST FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH Come and enjoy our wines with snacks, breads, crackers & cheeses, etc. Cost: Members - $10/ person Non-members - $30/ person Drop in, no reservation required. Time: 6-9 pm. Live music. 20 wines to taste. Laguna Canyon Winery 2133 Laguna Canyon Road Laguna Beach, Ca Phone: (949) 715-9463 LagunaCanyonWinery.com   How to Properly  Store Wine to maintain taste and quality  Wine 101 If you're new to the world of wine, you've probably come across a few terms you did'nt know. We created a list to help when you are out and about in OC, wine tasting. Here are some of the basics: Acidity Sometimes called the sour factor, acidity refers to the tartness that is a result of the citric, malic, or lactic acid of the grapes. The acidity also acts as a preservative. Appellation A geographic region where a wine's grapes are grown and made into wine. Aroma The smell of the wine, especially during the first year, as opposed to the bouquet which develops later during the aging and fermenting process. The aroma can be fruity, smoky, floral, etc. Decant Aerating the wine by pouring it into another decanter. This also removes any sediment from the wine. Fining Fining refers to the filtration process in wine making. Wine goes through a clarification and filtration process in order to remove unwanted material. Sommelier Sommelier is a wine expert. Sommeliers have extensive training and maintain wine collections at fine restaurants. Sommeliers will help you pair your meal with the perfect wine. Terroir The characteristics of a particular growing region--it's soil, water, and climate that determine the quality of the grapes and resulting wine. You could say terroir is the micro climate the varietals grow in, and each vineyard owner tries to improve the ecosystem. Varietal A type of wine. A wine takes its name from the grape it was made from. As an example Zinfandel and Riesling are varietals. Viticulture The agricultural science of growing grapes for the purpose of making wine.       Orange County Restaurants Search by Cuisine American Cuisine Bakeries Bars and Grills Breweries California Cuisine Chinese Coffee Shops Continental Dinner Theater Fine Dining French Cuisine Greek Cuisine Hamburgers Indian Cuisine Italian Cuisine Japanese Cuisine Meal Assembly Mexican Cuisine Pizza Pubs Sandwiches Seafood Steak House Sushi Thai Cuisine Vegetarian Cuisine		Wine Bars and Wine Tasting Guide for Orange County   Amazing Grapes 29911 Aventura, Suites D & E Rancho Santa Margarita Phone: (949)888-WINE Website: www.amazinggrapeswinestore.com Hours: Monday 10 am-8 pm, Tuesday-Saturday 10 am-9 pm, Sunday noon-6 pm   Bacchus' Secret Cellar 6735 Quail Hill Pkwy Irvine, Ca 92603 Phone: (949)502-4600 Website: www.bacchussecretcellar.com Hours: Monday - Thursday 11am-10pm, Friday-Saturday 11am-11pm, Sun 11 am-8 pm About: Bacchus’ Secret Cellar is an upscale Wine Shoppe & Wine Bar offering over 600 labels from around the world. Wines are complimented by gourmet appetizers offered on a limited menu. Live music is scheduled every Friday night Brix 16635 Pacific Coast Highway Sunset Beach Phone: (866) 375-2749 Website: www.brix4wine.com Hours: Sunday-Tuesday 3 pm-8 pm, Wednesday -Thursday 3-10pm, Friday -Saturday 2-10pm From The Vine 23874 Aliso Creek Road Laguna Niguel Phone: (949)448-8814 Website: www.fromthevinewb.com Hours: Tuesday-Friday 11:30 am-8 pm, Saturday noon- 8 pm, Sunday noon- 6 pm Get Uncorked 22342 El Paseo Suite A Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 Phone: (949) 589-1156 Website: www.getuncorked.com Hours: Tuesday -Thursday 12pm -9pm, Friday - Saturday noon - 10pm, Sunday noon - 6pm About: Uncorked specializes in limited production wines from the cream of smaller wineries throughout the world.  It is our pleasure to bring you a selection of excellent wines at great values that you won’t find everywhere! The Wine bar is designed to offer you a comfortable atmosphere of contemporary music, DVD concerts, Cheese plates and great times!     Great Legs Wine 2901 West Coast Highway, Suite 100 Newport Beach Phone: (949)515-VINO Website: www.greatlegswine.com Hours: Tuesday-Wednesday Noon - 7pm, Thursday-Friday Noon-9 pm, Saturday noon-8 pm, Sunday noon-5pm Hamilton Oaks Vineyard 31111 Hamilton Trail Trabuco Canyon, CA Phone: (949) 459-6913 The Laguna Canyon Winery  2133 Laguna Canyon Road Laguna Beach, Ca Phone: (949) 715-9463 Website: www.lagunacanyonwinery.com Hours: Tuesday -Thursday 12pm -9pm, Friday - Saturday noon-10pm, Sunday noon- 6pm  About: Bring your friends and taste some incredible wines right in the heart of Laguna Canyon. Many wine events to choose from visit website or call for more information La Maison Gourmet 27772 Vista del Lago, Suite B-15 Mission Viejo Phone: (949)916-4810 Website: www.lamaisongourmet.net Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 10am-7pm, Friday 10am-8 pm, Saturday 10am-7 pm, Sunday 11am-5pm Napa Valley Wine Bar 31781 Camino Capistrano San Juan Capistrano Phone: (949)493-6272 Website: www.napavalleywinebar.com Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 6pm- 10 pm, Friday 4pm-11pm, Saturday 2 pm-11 pm, Sunday 2pm - 9pm Newport Beach Vineyards and Winery 20362 Birch Street Newport Beach, CA Phone: (949) 645-2200 Purple Feet 24582 Del Prado Avenue, Suite A Dana Point Phone: (949)388-FEET Website: www.purplefeetwines.com Hours: Monday 3pm - 10pm, Tuesday - Saturday noon-10 pm Salt Creek Wine Company 30100 Town Center Drive, B-2 Laguna Niguel, Ca Phone: (949)249-WINE Website: www.saltcreekwine.com Hours: Tuesday-Wednesday 10am -7pm, Thursday-Saturday 10am- 9 pm, Sunday noon - 6pm Symposium Wine Bar 2963 Michelson Dr., Suite B Irvine, Ca Phone: (949)863-6929 Website: www.symposiumwinebar.com Hours: Monday-Saturday 6pm - 2am Tannins Wine Bar 27211 Ortega Highway San Juan Capistrano Phone: (949)218-3560 Website: www.tanninsrestaurant.com Uncorked Wine Boutique 22342 El Paseo, Suite A  Rancho Santa Margarita Phone: (949)589-1156 Website: www.getuncorked.com Hours: Tuesday-Thursday noon-9pm, Friday-Saturday noon-10pm, Sunday noon- 6pm Vine Wine Country Cuisine 211 N. El Camino Real San Clemente, Ca Phone: (949)361-3079 Website: www.vinesanclemente.com Hours: Tuesday - Friday 5:30pm-10pm, Saturday 5pm-10pm The Wine Artist 21064 Bake Parkway, Suite 100  Lake Forest Phone: (949)297-3656 Website: www.thewineartist.com Hours: Tuesday-Friday 11am-7 pm, Saturday-Sunday noon-5pm Wine Gallery 2411 East Coast Highway, Suite 250 Corona del Mar Phone: (949)675-3410 Website: www.cdmwinegallery.com Hours: Monday- Saturday 11am-8pm, Sunday noon- 6 pm Wine Styles - Costa Mesa 270 E. 17th Street, Suite 14 Costa Mesa, Ca Phone: (949)631-6627 Wine Styles - Irvine 2646 Dupont Drive, Suite C-20 Irvine, Ca Phone: (949) 474-7393 Wine Styles - Lake Forest 23632-B El Toro Road Lake Forest, Ca Website: Phone: (949)470-9463 Website: www.winestyles.net             How to Properly  Store Wine to maintain taste and quality Year after year, wine consumption has become more and more popular all over the world. With more and more money going into wine, the wine and its history will always remain a question. With this in hand, a lot of people often wonder how they can keep and store their wines to maintain a fine taste. Which ever way you store your wine is very important. If you store it right it can produce euphoria, if you store it wrong it can cause depression. When you open a bottle of wine that has been adequately stored, it can be tasteful in fact, while opening a bottle of poorly stored wine it can be quite a shame. A lot of times drinking wine that has been poorly stored might taste like vinegar some say. To store wine properly you will need to meet some standards, such as humidity, temperature, lighting, the angle of the bottle while it is stored, and the vibration of the bottle on the rack. The temperature of the area you are storing is very important as well, where you should keep it around 50 degrees at all times, this way, the lower the temperature the better off the aging process. If there are any up and downs in the aging process be sure to restore it properly. As long as the temperature doesn’t go too high your wine should be fine. The proper percentage of humidity should be around 70%, even though it is perfectly accepted to be 10% under the 70% level. If you have too high of a humidity temperature, the labels can easily rot and mold up, which can greatly affect the wine’s value. On the other side of the coin if the humidity gets to low, around 50%, the cork will most likely shrink brining air into the wine, which will ruin it to no time at all. The angle as that which wine is stored is very important as well. If the wine stays in contact with the cork the cork will not dry out. If the wine does not stay in contact with the cork air could most easily get into the wine and ruin it within days, this is why you see wine racks that are at somewhat of a horizontal angle. You should also keep the wine out of most light as possible, as light can ruin any type of wine. Light causes the wine to age prematurely, making it in your best way to store in a dark space. To prevent damage to the wine from the sediment, you should also store wine in a place free of the vibration. If you were to store wine in places free of vibration, it will give the sediment in the bottle time to settle. Vibrations are never ever a good thing for wine, as the sediment becomes unsettle the wine will mix up causing it to taste horrible. Storing wine in a dark vibrationless place will cause the wine to age maturely and it will taste to its supreme when finally opened. After you had stored wine for a long time and its aged right it could probably be worth some sort of money as well as being very tasty.  Back to the Top

Wine Recipes Back

Something Blue Ingredients: 2 oz Hpnotiq 2 oz white wine 1 oz ginger ale Prepare: Add all ingredients in a champagne flute and mix. This is great for Wedding Toasts      Glamour Girl Wine Martini Ingredients: 3 oz Folonari Pink Pinot Grigio 1 oz Peach Schnapps splash of cranberry juice maraschino cherry for garnish Prepare: Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Place a cherry in the drink for a garnish.       Wine Citrus Spritzer Ingredients: 2 (1/4-inch) slices lemon 2 (1/4-inch) slices lime Ice cubes 4 ounces Pinot Grigio or other white wine 2 ounces lemon lime flavored seltzer water Prepare: In a large stem glass arrange slices of lemon and lime between ice cubes to fill the glass. Pour 4 ounces of white wine, 1/2 cup, and 2 ounces of sparkling lemon lime seltzer water, 1/4 cup, down over fruit and ice. Stir and serve.     Pina Vina Ingredients: 3 oz medium white wine 1/2 oz lemon juice 3 oz pineapple chunks 1/2 cup ice Prepare: Blend in a blender until smooth. Pour and garnish with a pineapple chunk and a slice of lemon.