By Megan Ma
 Special to the Town Crier Uncorked Wines in Saratoga offers an elegant but relaxed ambience. Wine tasting classes with a relaxed atmosphere are scheduled throughout the week in the gallery showroom. |
Picking out wine for a dinner party or for your own pleasure can be an intimidating affair. Unless you know exactly what you want, wading through aisles of bottles can get frustrating and may often culminate in blind guessing. Ask a wine connoisseur what’s good and the novice is often confronted with strange questions.
Would you like a woodsy or oaky aroma? Do you prefer a crisp or full-bodied cabernet? Stuttering or cluelessness is embarrassing.
Uncorked, a wine and liquor store and tasting gallery in Saratoga, aims to break down the confusion and offer friendly advice. The atmosphere, said owner Patrick Rupert, is intended to be relaxed and unpretentious.
“We’re living in a society where people want personal service. They don’t just want to be another number in Costco,” said Rupert. While Rupert insists he is no expert, he calls himself “wine savvy.”
“We try to familiarize ourselves with (our customers’) tasting habits and point them in certain directions,” Rupert said.
Most of us are not well versed in wine lingo, added Rupert. But if you know what you like, he said, the staff can easily introduce you to something new.
Uncorked schedules relaxed wine classes Tuesdays through Sundays. Some nights offer random pickings from a variety of California wines. Sometimes the store hosts wines from all over the world. It’s a fun, social time, said Rupert, and the staff try not to overload their guests with too much information.
The store has become a Peninsula favorite with some customers making the drive from San Francisco for wine tasting and specialty wines. Uncorked’s selection of 180 port wines are also popular.
What are Rupert’s personal favorites? For about $19, he recommends the Cabernet Sauvignon Adelaida from a Paso Robles vineyard that “has a soft blend of flavors and pairs well with different meals.”
He also enjoys the William Harrison Cabernet from the Rutherford District of Napa Valley, $38, which has “nice cocoa flavors and a green olive finish.”
The shop carries award-winning Monticello wines from Napa, owned by the Corley family of Los Altos.
Uncorked is located at 14500 Big Basin Way #A in Saratoga. For more information or to sign up for a wine tasting class, call (408) 741-9000 or visit www.uncorked-wines.com.
