When I learned last year that the Contemporary Resort’s new restaurant, The Wave, opened with one of the only (if not the only) wine programs in the country offering all screw-top wines, I couldn’t wait to explore.

The Bar at Disney's The Wave Restaurant

Choosing The Wine for The Wave
The choice to make the screw-top wine list was instituted in part as way to avoid “cork taint,” which is a chemical compound called TCA. With it, mold, chlorine, and other organic compounds can combine to produce a musty smell and flavor to the wine, which has been a particular problem with corked wines. (One interesting twist is that, while The Wave promotes a menu and spirit based on sustainable and environmentally-friendly dining, the screw-cap might not be the best environmental choice.)

Wines at the Wave

A second twist to the wine list is that it is focused on wines from the Southern Hemisphere — bottles from Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, etc. This creates a fun contradiction to the Northern Hemisphere-focused wine list of the California Grill upstairs in the Contemporary Resort.

The Wave Wine Cellar

Another Wave Wine Fact: Keeping It Fresh
So you can bet that, as soon as I took a seat at the bar, I started asking questions! I even got a demonstration as the answer to one of my questions: How do they keep all of those wines fresh when they’re serving by the glass?

The bartender was willing to share the secret with me: vacuum-sealing! While this isn’t a new technology to keep wines fresh, it was new to me, and I was duly impressed.

Wave Wine Stoppers

Simply put in this little rubber cork, then suck out the air with the vacuum pump. Brilliant. The best part is, you can snag a wine vacuum sealer for yourself from shops like sharper image.

Vacuum Sealing Wine at the Wave

Relaxing at The Wave
I’ll be putting up my full review of The Wave soon, but I highly recommend heading over to the restaurant’s lounge and sampling some Southern Hemisphere favorites that you haven’t tried before. The cool, comfortable atmosphere and knowledgeable cast members make it a fun spot to unwind after a long day in the parks.

FYI, if you need a suggestion, John Blazon, master sommelier and manager of wine sales and standards for Disney, has said that the Veramonte Reserva Chardonnay from Casablanca Valley, Chile, is a top seller.

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