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Shane's Bistro Blog

Get ready to take flight!

This is a question that I am asked all the time in the bistro: "What the heck is a wine flight?" When people hear the term wine flight, I'm sure many of them immediately think of the sense of euphoria they get after consuming one too many glasses!

I have spent an unusual amount of time fruitlessly searching the internet to find out where the term actually came from. But don't worry, I'm still going to explain what we at Red Newt call a wine flight. Our wine flights consist of three 2.5 oz pours of wine served over a card, which gives the name and vintage of the wine. We group these wines in flights for various reasons. In our vertical flights, three vintages of the same variety of wine and producer are tasted side by side. This is a great way to understand the effects of changes in climate from year to year have on a region's wines. In a Red Newt horizontal flight, the wines are all from the same vintage, and are the same variety, but are from different wineries. This is an easy way to compare the style of one Winemaker to another. We also create flights of wines that are of similar styles, such as our Dry White Flight, which currently consists of a stainless steel fermented Chardonnay, a Viognier, and a Sauvignon Blanc. The purpose of this type of flight is to allow people to try a wine that they may have never had the chance to try in the past, without the fear of being "stuck" with a whole glass of it. We also offer a "Create Your Own" flight which allows you to choose any three wines available on our flight list. So the next time you're in a restaurant and someone offers you a wine flight, you'll know they're not just trying to get you tossed! 'Till next time!

Live well, eat well, and drink great wine!

Shane