Readers’ questions range from silly to sublime

As we continue to thaw out from all the winter weather, here are a few recent questions I’ve gotten from readers like you.

I keep seeing a viral social media trend of people using a milk frother to make their wine taste better. Is that real, or is it just a viral gimmick?

File this under “partial truth.” In essence, the milk frother is just aerating the wine — letting oxygen come into contact with even more wine particles — and it’s true that aerating does generally make wine taste better. It’s the same principle as decanting wine or using any of the other aeration tools on the market. Should you actually use a milk frother? I wouldn’t. The aeration is done so violently by the frother that you run the risk of damaging the protein chains in the wine itself. It’s fine to do this on your $9 bottle from the grocery store. If you have a nicer bottle and you’d like it to open up more, try pouring it back and forth between the bottle and a decanter or do what I do: pop the cork before you leave for work in the morning and just leave it sitting open on the counter.

Why am I seeing so many social media memes about the Josh Cellars?

I have no idea. If you’ve managed to avoid the sea of memes centered around this established California producer, you’re missing out on some great jokes. The winery found itself at the “main character” of X, nee Twitter, in mid-January, and the laughs haven’t stopped since. Is this truly the result of an online accident, or is this the first instance of the typically stodgy wine industry nailing online marketing? The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but as someone who generally feels all press is good press, I think it’s great.

Help me! What are white wine drinkers supposed to drink when it’s too cold for our go-to pinot grigio and sauvignon blancs?

The simple answer here is chardonnay, but if you’re not already drinking it, this column is unlikely to change your mind (though the National Chardonnay Day column in May might!). Typically, when someone says it’s “too cold” to drink white wine, what they’re really saying is that they want a white with a little more body and heft (… again, oaked chardonnay …). If you want to stick with pinot grigio, find a bottle from the French region of Alsace. You’ll recognize it by the tall, conical bottle and by the fact that pinot grigio is spelled as “pinot gris.” For something altogether unfamiliar, look to wines from France’s Rhone Valley. They are almost always blends that center around the grapes viognier, roussanne, marsanne, and grenache blanc. Gruner veltliner from Austria is another wine that could fit the bill.

As always, you can see what I’m drinking on Instagram @sethebarlow and send your wine questions and quibbles to