This is a series of articles on enjoying wine for beginners. If you are new to wine or wish to join the millions of wine-lovers all over the world, here's the place to start!
In order to really enjoy wine, you must first learn to taste wine. Tasting wine is not that difficult to learn but it takes a lot of years of wine tasting to be really good at it.
If you have been to a wine tasting session, you might have noticed the more experienced wine tasters going through a ritual of sniffing, swirling and sometimes spitting out the wine. Well, every step is intended to give the taster the maximum information about the wine.
When you are using your nose and your taste buds to taste the wine, you must try to concentrate on the effect of the wine on your senses. Always try to recall and compare the smell and taste of the wine to something you know. Does the smell remind you of fruitcake or of a vegetable? Does the wine taste like syrup or does it sparkle? All these information gives you a mental picture which adds to your wine tasting experience.
The first step in wine tasting is the nose. When tasting wine don’t fill your glass more than a third full. This will make swirling the wine easier and provide space for the aromas to collect. Swirl the wine and take a big sniff and try to recollect what the smell reminds of.
Hold up the glass to look at the colour of the wine. The colour of the wine is usually indicative of the maturity of the wine. The older the reds, more brick red it becomes. The older the white, the more golden-brown it becomes. Darker coloured wines is usually indicative of a country of origin with a warmer climate.
It is a good idea to take notes so that you can come back to the information at some other time.
In the next issue, we’ll explore the four basic flavours of wine: the fruit, the acidity, the alcohol and the sweetness.
Interesting Facts
Q: Why is it that wine should not be stored standing up?
A: Dry corks may shrink and allow air to come into the bottle. This can be prevented by ensuring the wine touches cork when you are storing the wine bottle. However more and more wine makers are resorting to plastic corks. Where plastic corks are used, it is quite all right to store wine standing up.
Try This
Guess whether this statement is correct: Wine gets better with age. The longer you keep it the better it becomes.
Other Related Links:
Enjoying Wine - Part 1
