Thursday, January 8, 2009

Wine Choice: How to Cater to Good Taste

By Tony Hampton

Wine tasting is not as hard as you think. You don't need to be an expert and can even begin without any recognized training. As far as etiquette is concerned, the ladies are normally served before the gentlemen. Be prepared to be given bottle water served at room temperature at your wine tasting party. You might find this strange but the water is used to clean your palate out equipped for the next taste of wine. Make sure that the water you are given is not too cold as this can shock the palate and ruin the taste of your next drink.

Holding the wine glass by the stem and not the bowl in the palm of your hand is very important when it comes to wine tasting. One thing that individuals don't realize is that the palm of your hand is warm and this can warm up the wine therefore changing the taste.

Tasting the wine doesn't just involve putting the wine in your mouth and roll it around your tongue a couple of times before spitting or swallowing.

Looking at the colour is the first thing you should do when wine tasting. Make sure the glass you have been given is clean and easy to see through otherwise you can't see the true color of the wine. To be able to see the wine and its true color clearly you should use a white background, some people use a white table cloth. White wines are not always pure white, sometimes they are a shade of green, yellow and even brown. For red wines, you will observe that it also has different shades of red, the lighter the color of the red wine is, the older it is.

Try doing a rim test and look at the color of the wine, this can give you some indication as to the age or flavor. Just tilt the glass and look at the wine, if it is purplish in color, it indicates that the wine is young, if it is brownish, it means that it is an older wine.

Testing the scent is the next step and this is done by swirling the wine around the glass to mix in the air and then breath fully through the nose after placing the glass just above your top lip. The wine could have been in the bottle for a little as six months to many years so by swirling the wine you will be releasing the flavors. It's like cooking at home where you stir the food in order for you to blend the flavor.

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment