Tips For Throwing A Perfect Wine Tasting Party

If you enjoy wine and your friends enjoy wine, a casual wine tasting can be a great way to enjoy wine together and test each other’s palates. You can hold blind tastings if you really want to test your skills and the skills of your friends, or you can just get together and try out the different types of wines that you and your friends enjoy.

Many formal wine tastings do not allow you to swallow the wine. The tasting is simply to get the taste, smell the bouquet and enjoy the overall experience of the wine. At your casual tasting you can feel free to allow your guests to drink the wine, but there may be sobriety issues if you do this. It is also important to realize that you may not get the full flavor and effect of the wine as you get deeper into the tastings.

Either way that you perform your tasting you will want to have clean glasses for each person and each bottle. You will also need a clean white tablecloth. The white tablecloth will allow you to get a good view of the wine. The tablecloth allows you to see the wine’s body and any sediment that may be in the glass from an aged wine. Candlelight will also allow you to see the wine clearly and any sediment that may be in the bottle or decanter. Clean glasses are extremely important, as any residue in the glass will cause your wine to have an impure taste.

To help keep the event easy, ask your guests to bring a bottle of their favorite wine. You may also need them to bring their own glasses if you do not have enough. You will also need some crackers or bread to help cleanse the palate as well as room temperature water. Cold water will shock your taste buds.

You will want to decant your red wines. If you cannot decant them all at once, you may want to pour a small amount in each glass and allow them to breathe a bit. The more air contact the wine has, the better they will taste. You may also choose to explore the difference that decanting makes. Taste the wine at ten and fifteen minute intervals. White and blush wine should be chilled slightly before serving.

When you taste your wines, it is a good idea to have a paper and pencil available so that your guests can take notes and rank their wines. You will also want to start with lighter and simpler wines and then move on to the drier and heavier wines. You will not taste your white wines as well as if you drink the heavier and dry wines first. If you must reuse a glass, swirl some water around in it and dry it with a clean cloth so that the water does not dilute the wine.

Begin by looking at the wine and observing its clarity and color. A wine is judged on its color, aroma and taste. Hold the wine up to a light and note the color of the wine. The wine should also appear to be clear and cloudy. Next, tip the glass slightly and swirl it gently. The wine flows around the glass and if the wine clings and dribbles down the side in “legs” or stripes, this mean that the wine is a medium bodied wine. If the wine forms a sheet, it is a full-bodied wine.

Next, tip the glass and swirl the wine around while holding it a little bit away from your nose. This helps to increase the amount of scent that is available for your nose to smell. Inhale the wine deeply and then move it away, this will keep you from becoming overwhelmed by the aroma. You may be able to smell fruit, yeast, grass, or earth in the wine.

The last step is to taste the wine. Take a small sip and push it up in front of your mouth and then inhale through your teeth. Slosh the wine around in your mouth and cover your tongue with it. You are going to want to taste the predominant tastes at first and then the secondary tastes that appear. Is the wine’s taste complex? Does it have a wood-taste?

Take a moment between wines to rinse your mouth and take a bite of unsalted crackers or bread. This will help to clear the taste from the previous wines. If you hold a blind tasting, place the bottles in brown bags or remove the labels. Have your guests make notes and guess what the varietals and brands are.

Wine tastings don’t have to be formal affairs. They can be very casual and you can have a lot of fun with it. There are even wine tasting kits that you can buy to supply you with the necessary bags, tags and other wine information that you may need.

Wine Tasting – Part 1

What Do Wine Tasters Look For When Assessing Wines?

Wine tasting is an overall sensory evaluation of the wine being tasted. Tasters evaluate the aroma, the look, the taste, and feel inside the mouth. Experienced wine tasters can detect the maturity, quality, as well as faults that it might have as well as aromas and colors. This evaluation is often done in three steps; look, smell and taste.

What Are They Looking For When They Look At The Wine?

The taster, in visually examining the wine, looks for clarity as well as integration, expressiveness, complexity, connectedness and varietal character. It is preferable to against a white background, to better judge the color of the wine. The wine’s color is a good indicator if the wine is aged in wood or metal barrels. The color also gives the taster clues as to which variety of grape is used in the wine.

Most wines are red or white, however there are also variations within those colors as well. In white wines, the colors range from a green color to a yellow then to a brown color. The colors of red wines can range from a pale red to a deep brown red. While most white wines don’t necessarily improve with age, many red wines do. When a taster tilts a glass of red wine, they are looking for the “rim” color at the edge of the wine. A purple tint to the edge, indicates a young wine. An orange to brown color signifies a more mature wine. A wine taster will also swirl the wine, in order to observe the body of the wine. When they refer to a wine having “good legs”, that can mean a higher sweetness level, alcohol content or thicker body.

What Is The Wine’s Bouquet?

After visually evaluating the wine, tasters then evaluate the wine’s aroma, which is also known as the bouquet or nose. To do this, the wine taster will swirl the glass which releases molecules that enable them to smell the aroma. Some wine tasters take two whiffs; one quick one to formulate an initial impression and a second deeper whiff of the wine. Other tasters take only one deep whiff. The aroma is then contemplated for awhile before the wine is actually tasted. An experienced wine taster can pick out several different smells in that glass of wine even if there is one very strong aroma with other underlying ones. Tasters also remember aromas by naming them as well.

How Is Taste Evaluated?

Tasters take a small amount of wine and move it over their entire tongues so that all taste buds come in contact with it. Some also take a sip of wine, and while holding it on the tounge, inhale through the mouth. The aim is to allow the aroma of the wine to enter the nasal passageway at the back of your throat which will increase the experience of the wine. Both the body and the texture of the wine are examined and can be judged as smooth or harsh, or light or rich. Tasters also judge the aftertaste by how long the taste last and how pleasant the taste is.

Do People Get Drunk At A Wine Tasting? If Not, How Do They Stay Sober?

Wine tasting events provide guests with food and water, which slow the release of alcohol into the bloodstream. They also provide spittoons just in case water is not provided, as well as serving very small amounts of wine for each tasting. So the risk of getting drunk is lowered considerably.

Wine Tasting – Part 2

Wine Tasting Component I: Look

The first step you have to undertake in wine tasting is visual.

1. Fill up the glass up to 1/3 of its volume; never fill it more than half;

2. Hold the glass by the stem. Initially you may find this too pretentious but there are good reasons for it:

а) by doing it this way you can actually observe the wine in it;

b) this will keep your fingerprints off the bowl;

c) the heat from your palm will not change the temperature of the wine.

There’s a good saying by one of the greatest French wine lovers, Emil Painot: Offer someone a glass of wine and you can immediately tell whether he/she is a connoisseur by the way they hold the glass.” Even though you may not think of yourself as a connoisseur, you could still learn how to hold the wine glass.

3. Focus on the color intensity and the transparency of the liquid.

a) the color of the wine, and more specifically its nuances, are best observed on a white background.

b) the wine’s intensity is best judged by holding the glass without slanting it and looking at the liquid from above;

4. Next comes the swirling of the glass. This can also seem too pretentious or even dangerous if you have a full glass or a white top. But this movement is important since it prepares you for the next step in wine tasting – the Taste. The easiest way to swirl the glass is to place it on a table or other even surface, and to swirl your hand while holding the glass by the stem. Swirl hard and have the wine almost touch the rim of the glass. Then stop. The wine leaves tiny traces with irregular shapes on the inside of the glass. Some “experts” then read them with as much zeal as coffee-tellers. The truth is however, that they are just an indicator for the quality of the wine – the more alcohol a wine has, the more wine traces it forms.

What does the color of the wine tell us? The wine’s color tells us many things about its character. First, the color shows the grape variety. Let’s take two popular varieties as examples – cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir. Cabernet’s grapes are smaller, with a thicker and darker skin than those of pinot noir. As a result, the color of wines made from cabernet sauvignon is usually described as violet to dark while the color of wines made from pinot noir is associated with ruby.

Second, the color is influenced by the climatic conditions. A hot summer and dry fall result in ripe grapes, with a dark, intense color. A cold summer and rainy fall will produce undeveloped grapes with a lighter color.

Third, wine-making practices also have an influence on the color of wine. For red wine, the grapes are fermented with the skin. Since the coloring agents are in the grape skin, and not in the juice, the longer the process of maceration, i.e. the longer the skin stays with the juice, the darker the wine color will be.

Fourth, the process of wine aging also has an influence on the color of wine. The young red wines are rich in coloring agents and that makes their color denser and fuller. In the course of time chemical reactions take place in the bottle and a sediment is formed at the bottom. The wine’s color gets lighter and is often described as brick or amber.

Let’s go through an example: you pour yourself a glass of red wine and after carefully observing it, you notice a full granite color, good density, and not so good transparency. What conclusions can you draw?

Well, you can safely say that the wine is:

- from cabernet sauvignon grapes;

- from a Southern region;

- relatively young;

- from a good yield;

- that the wine-maker has gone for a good long maceration.

If you know the wine, compare what you know with what you see: maybe the wine has a very full color and the yield has been bad – this speaks of a good wine-making technique; or maybe the wine is too pale for its age – this speaks for undeveloped grape or poor wine-making technique.

Wine Tasting Component II: Smell

The second wine tasting component is smelling and inhaling the wine’s aroma. Concentrate as much as you can and smell the wine, swirl the glass, and smell once again. The stronger the aromas, the stronger the impression. Most of the wines, especially the more delicate and the older ones develop their aromas only after “being walked around” the glass. There is no consensus as to the exact technique of whiffing. Some say do two or three quick whiffs, others prefer one single deep whiff.

The goal of whiffing is to inhale the aroma as deeply as possible so that it gets into contact with our sensory nerve and hence, with the part of the brain that is responsible for registering, storing, and deciphering sensations. The spot where that takes place is extremely sensitive: a cold or an allergy might completely block even the most intense aromas. With enough practice and concentration, you’ll learn how to extract the maximum from different aromas and how to interpret them.

The vivid connoisseurs love to concoct different aromas. “Dark chocolate!” says one. “No, that’s more like pepper,” claims another. “Tea leaves, tobacco, and mushrooms,” adds third. Are they joking??

Probably we don’t quite realize it but nowadays we are exposed to so many different smells that we find it difficult to find words to describe all the complex aromas that a glass of wine can offer.

Like color, a wine’s aroma can tell us a lot about its character, origin, and its history. Since our sense of taste is limited to only 4 categories (sweet, sour, bitter, and salt), the wine’s aroma is the most informative part of our sensory experience. So take your time, sit back and contemplate the aroma! Like the perfume of a loved one or the smell of freshly baked bread, a wine’s aroma can evoke memories of times and places that we cherish.

Wine Tasting Component III: Taste

This is the best part of wine-tasting. You might be enchanted by wine’s sparkling color or mesmerized by its aroma but it’s actually drinking the wine that the whole thing is about. Maybe you are thinking that drinking is the easiest part – after all we start drinking from a glass from a very young age and we keep practicing for a lifetime. However, there’s a real difference between just swallowing liquid and conscious tasting. Here, just like in all good things in life, the difference is in the right technique. The appropriate technique can make sure we get the best out of the whole experience.

1. Still under the influence of the aromas you’ve inhaled in step II, take a sip of the wine. Don’t make it too big or too small. You need just enough to walk the wine in your mouth and not have to swallow it just yet. Let wine uncover its secrets. For reference, you may keep good wine in your mouth for 10 – 15 seconds, sometimes even more.

2. Walk the wine very well in your mouth, ensuring it touches each part of it. This is important because our tongue, palate, the inside of the mouth and our throat each detect different aspects of the wine.

For many years, it was believed that the tongue has different areas each of which is sensitive to a particular taste – sweet for the tip of the tongue, sour for the sides, bitter for the back and salty for the whole tongue. Today we know that all the tastes can be felt with the whole tongue, only there’s a “blind” spot in the middle of it which is not sensitive to any taste. Another important step in wine tasting is being able to tell one’s impressions of the wine. “Astringent”, “elegant”, “fruity”, “flat”, “young” are only a few words of the wine vocabulary you’ll need to amass.

Wine Tasting Fundraiser

Looking for tips on organizing a wine-tasting fundraiser? Here are some ideas on organizing your fundraising event in order to maximize your proceeds.

Obviously, a wine-tasting event needs wine experts, so begin by seeking suitable merchant partnerships based not only on expertise, but also access to the best wines. After all, you have to be able to provide numerous bottles of expensive wine and there’s no sense in paying anything near retail price.

Partner with a wine merchant or distributor who can not only help with supplying wine and expert advice, but can also help sell advance tickets to your event.

Organization Tips
Getting plenty of advance publicity is a must. Take the time to put together a press release and get the word out to local media outlets such as tv and radio stations.

Be sure to offer tickets through not only your organization, but also through participating merchants and other groups who support your cause.

It never hurts to have another nonprofit group plugging your fundraising event to their supporters as well. Strike an agreement to do the same thing for their fundraiser.

You will need a suitable place for your wine tasting fundraiser such as a reception hall or scenic outdoor setting. Arrange tables in a layout to suit the space and leave plenty of room for access to each table.

Experts can describe each tasting while wearing a lapel microphone and visiting each table. Use volunteers to bring a bottle of each vintage to all the tables prior to their discussion and have them handle the pouring.

To add a festive flair, consider providing live music with a string quartet or jazz group.

Profit Tips
There are many additional ways to raise funds at your wine tasting. One is to conduct both silent auctions and live auctions for rare wines and wine-related merchandise.

Run your silent auctions from an easy to reach spot such as the check-in table and always do a last call for bids. With live auctions of expensive wines, consider using a professional auctioneer in order to maximize bid prices.

Talk to your merchant partners about ways where both of you can profit such as offering gift certificates to their stores or special case buys on recommended wines.

Look for tie-ins with other merchants who offer related products such as wine glasses, gourmet food items, or travel trips to wine country.

For really large events, provide valet parking services and raise a few extra dollars.

Additional Event Fundraising
Auctions are an additional way to maximize revenue at your wine tasting event. You can offer bottles of fine wines via silent auction or conduct a live auction.

Raffle tickets are another great way to raise additional funds. They are a great way to offering an inexpensive chance at winning an expensive prize. Sometimes, you can even raise more money buy raffling off an item than by auctioning it to the highest bidder.

With a good-sized crowd, raffle off multiple items. You can use the approach where one fairly pricey ticket gives you a shot at multiple prizes. With a high-priced single raffle ticket being sold, you draw from the same pool for multiple winners.

Another approach is to keep the ticket price low and encourage people to buy multiple tickets. This way, the chance that an individual ticket will win is much lower, but people will often spend a greater amount on the lower-priced tickets.

And of course, a raffle allows you to sell tickets to people who can’t make the event but would still like to participate in the fun.

Closing Tips
For a successful wine tasting, be sure to allow yourself enough lead time to successfully publicize and organize your fundraiser event. Get the maximum possible turnout by making tickets available at a discount for advance purchases and at a higher price at the door.

If your location is not well-known, be sure to provide directions on flyers wherever tickets are sold. Print a contact number on the tickets for any last-minute questions.

Do everything you can to make the night memorable. Decorate your location appropriately, provide live music and dancing, use a dedicated announcer, and serve plenty of unusual wines to compare.

Using a local media personality as a host is another great way to ensure a large turnout. It’s best to route such requests through the program director of their employer.

Good luck with your wine tasting fundraiser!

Wine Accessories – Champagne Accessories – Wine Tasting Accessories – Hotel & Bar Accessories

Welcome to Fine Wine Accessories in UK providing excellent and unusual wine accessories, Hotel and bar accessories, Hotel & Bar equipments and Wineaccessory gifts.

All Wine accessories have its special features. For wine cooling, we have wine coolers, wine buckets, ice buckets, Wine Sceptre, Champagne Bowl, and very unusual wine Cool Bags. Rapid Ice Wine Cooler and rapid ice champagne cooler are also offered. Also we have Slimline Wine Cooler with cabinet which can be used in kitchen to store your wine bottles. Sometime we need to wait for hours for our red wine to reach the correct temperature, so for this we have introduce Wine Warmer Therm au Rouge. This is unique energizing gel gently warms up your wine in a controlled and sophisticated way.

We also wine tasting accessories such as wine tasting glasses, Clef du Vin, Blind Tasting Cover, I.S.O Tasting Glass, Spiegelau glasses, Spittoon Bucket for all wine tasting from Club to Trade. An essential wine measures and spirit measure in stainless Steel with govt stamped are also supplied.

We have huge wine decanters stock which gradually keeps changing everyday. Captain decanter, Ship Decanter, claret jug, hogget decanter, wine decanting cradle, decanting cradle in brass, and silver plate are main decanters preferred by wine accessories customers. Most attractive and useful decanting funnels and aerators are also offered. For outdoor trips we have good selection of hip flasks, Pewter hip flasks round and rectangular, Hip Flask – Leather Captive, and Pewter Hip Flask Funnel. Be different and order a Wine Tastevin such as Burgundian Tastevin or a Plain Wine Tasting Bowl Serpent Handle Tastevin or even a Pewter Quaiches. We also offer the Vacu Vin Wine Saver, Wine Preservers and Wine Breathers which is necessary for keeping your opened bottles fresh.

Other mostly commonly used wine accessories are wine glasses, champagne glasses, Champagne flutes, wine cellar accessories, wine cellar book, wine cellar Hygrometers, and wine cellar thermometers, Champagne Accessories, Cocktail Accessories. Then we have wine pourers, bottle pourers and drip rings, wine bottle stoppers, wine bottle coasters, wine table mats, wine openers.

All range of Corkscrews from simple to exotic such as lazyfish corkscrew, Bar- Mounted Corkscrew, Screwpull Corkscrew, electric corkscrew, winemaster corkscrew, air pump corkscrew, laguiole corkscrew, Wall-mounted Corkscrew and many more in corkscrew is offered by Fine wine Accessories in UK.

For excellent wine Pourers, we have Wine pouring baskets, wine pouring cradles, Universel’ Pouring Arc, Chrome Plated Pouring Arc, Silver Plate Wine Pouring Basket, and Pewter Wine Pouring Cradle.

Whether you are looking for wine accessory for yourself or wine accessory gifts for birthday presents, wedding present, or Christmas presents, Fine wine accessories offer different kind of wine accessory for different budget.

Visit our miscellaneous gifts category for unusual wine presents such as key rings, salt and pepper mills and grape scissors, tastevins, Laguiole corkscrews in presentation boxes, key ring sized hip flasks, crystal decanters, decanting cradles, wine cooler bags, wine picnic baskets, and wine savers etc. Classic champagne sabres are an ideal presents for men and wine lovers.

Hurry up wine lovers, browse and order your wine accessory today either by online or by visiting our shop or by phone.

Understanding the Basics of Wine Tasting

The wine taster’s ritual of peering into a glass, swirling it around and sniffing suspiciously at it, before taking a mouthful only to spit it out again looks highly mysterious and technical. However, as you try more and more wines, your awareness of flavors and your personal preferences will develop. It is however a sequence of events that can enhance the enjoyment of good wine. Once learned, they become almost second nature to even the novice taster.

Wines Appearance
Pour your wine into a wine glass so that it is about 40% full, you will need room for swirling. Have a good look at the wine. Is it clear, opaque, or cloudy? Does it contain sediments or other solid matter? Tilt the glass away from you at a 45-degree angle against a white background so you can enjoy the range of colors in the wine from the center to the rim.
Wine changes color with age. Whites are at its palest state during their youth, gradually adding stronger color. Red wine, on the other hand, has more vivid color in its youth, slowly fading to brick red.

Smell the Wine
Give your glass a vigorous swirl to help release the aromas. Swirling takes a bit of practice. This technique can be learned by leaving the wine glass on the table, holding it by the stem, and rotating it in small circles. The object is to get the wine to move up to around 70% of sides of the glass.

Stick your nose right into the glass and inhale steadily and gently, as if you were smelling a flower. These vital seconds of inhalation will reveal all kinds of familiar and unfamiliar smells. Try to detect the smell of fruity or floral notes. Decide what they remind you of if possible. Note the presence of spices, such as pepper, cinnamon, vanilla, tea or possibly nuts. Finally, note the presence of other aromas, such as cedar, oak, moist earth, herbs, chocolate, tobacco, toast, or smoke. Always interpret them in terms that mean something to you.

Remember, it’s your nose that counts here. It does not matter if someone else interprets the smell differently, that is part of the pleasure of wine.

Taste
At last, it is time to drink the wine. The following components that make up the flavor of the wine can be detected by rolling wine around in your mouth and concentrating on what comes to mind as you taste.

Sweetness
This the fruit flavor tasted at the front of the tongue. This comes from the wine’s fruit flavors as well as any fermented grape sugars left in the wine. If there is no perceived sweetness, a wine is dry.

Acidity
This gives wine freshness and zest. When balanced, it makes for a fresh, crisp, enjoyable wine. On the other end of the spectrum, acidity can lend a negative, vinegary taste to the wine.

Tannin
Comes from the stems and skins of the grape. It has a woody taste, similar to flavor released when biting a grape seed. Tannin can be mouth puckering, but it normally mellows with age.

Alcohol
In low concentrations, alcohol portrays itself as somewhat sweet, and in high concentrations, it shows as a warm, pervasive sensation at the back of the mouth.

Fruitiness
The intensity and flavor depends on the grape variety, growing conditions, and wine making techniques.

Balance
For a good wine, there should be a balance of the above flavor components. If any one of the components is overpowering, the experience of drinking the wine can be tainted. This can sometimes mean that the wine is young and will become more balanced with age.

About the Author

Nerello Glasure [Fashion Artist of Zany Wearables: http://www.zanygiftware.com and a Publishing Member of the Wine Resource: http://www.winedefinitions.com.]

4 Easy Steps to Wine Tasting

Legend has it that Cleopatra once promised Marc Anthony she would “drink the value of a province” in one cup of wine, after which she drank an expensive pearl with a cup of wine. Marilyn Monroe is rumored to have bathed in a bathtub of champagne. The lure of wine is cross-cultural and going strong. Enjoying wine, once surrounded by pomp and circumstance, is now something that many of us do on a daily basis to enjoy food, friends, and family. There is no reason each experience shouldn’t be as exceptional as taking a bath in Champagne. Knowing a few simple tips about tasting wine can enhance your wine experience by leaps and bounds and easily transition you from a wine lover to a wine expert.

STEP 1 – LOOKING

Fill the glass about one-third full, never more than half-full. Pick it up by the stem. This may feel awkward at first, but there are good reasons: Holding the glass by its bowl hides the liquid from view; fingerprints blur its color; the heat of your hand alters the wine’s temperature. Wine experts can usually tell right away how much a person knows about wine by looking at the way they hold their glass.

Focus on the hue, intensity and clarity of the wine color. The true color, or hue, of the wine is best judged by tilting the glass and looking at the wine through the rim, to see the variation from the deepest part of the liquid to its edges. Intensity can best be gauged looking straight down through the wine from above. Clarity-whether the wine is brilliant, or cloudy with particles-is most evident when light is shining sideways through the glass.

STEP 2 – SWIRLING

Next comes the swirling. This too can feel unnatural, even dangerous if your glass it too full and your carpet or clothing is new. But besides stirring up the full range of colors, it lets the wine breathe a little and releases some of the aroma for examination. The easiest way to swirl is to rest the base of the glass on a table, hold the stem between thumb and forefinger, and gently rotate the wrist. Right-handers will find a counter-clockwise motion easiest, left-handers the reverse.

Move the glass until the wine is dancing, climbing nearly to the rim. Then stop. As the liquid settles back into the bottom of the glass, a transparent film will appear on the inside of the bowl, known as the wine’s “tears” or “legs.” You will often hear people pondering about the legs or showing them off, “Hey look at the legs on this wine!”, but in truth they’re simply an indication of the amount of alcohol in the wine: the more alcohol, the more tears or legs.

STEP 3 – SMELLING

When you stop swirling, and the legs are falling, it’s time to take the next step: smelling. Swirling the wine vaporizes it, and the thin sheet of liquid on the sides of the glass evaporates rapidly; the result is an intensification of the aromas. I’m sure you’ve seen wine snobs do this and you have laughed at them, but stick your nose right into the bowl and inhale.

There’s no consensus about the proper sniffing technique. Some advocate two or three quick inhalations; others prefer one deep, sharp sniff. I’ve seen tasters close one nostril, sniff, then close the other and sniff again. It really doesn’t matter how you do it as long as you get a good sniff in. With practice, and keen attention, you’ll learn how to maximize your perception of aromas, and then how to decipher them.

The world of smell is vast and bewildering. First of all, our olfactory equipment is incredibly sensitive; we can distinguish aromas in quantities so small that laboratory equipment can scarcely measure them. Second, our analytic capacity is extraordinary; estimates of the number of different smells humans can identify range up to 10,000!

As with color, wine’s aromas offer insights into character, origin and history. Because our actual sense of taste is limited to four simple categories (the well-known sweet, sour, bitter and salt), aroma is the most revealing aspect of our examination. But don’t simply sniff for clues. Revel in the sensation. Scientists say smells have direct access to the brain, connecting immediately to memory and emotion. Like a lover’s perfume, or the scent of cookies from childhood, wine’s aromas can evoke a specific place and time with uncanny power.

STEP 4 – TASTING

With the aromas still reverberating through your senses, put the glass to your lips and take some liquid in. How much? You need to have enough volume to work it all around your tasting apparatus, but not so much that you’re forced to swallow right away.

Because you don’t want to swallow, not just yet. It takes time and effort to force the wine to divulge its secrets. I keep a pleasant wine in my mouth for 10 to 15 seconds, sometimes more.

Roll the wine all around your mouth, bringing it into contact with every part, because each decodes a different aspect of the liquid. Wine provokes sensations, too: The astringency of tannins is most perceptible on the inner cheeks; the heat of the alcohol burns in the back of the throat.

First, as you hold the wine in your mouth, purse your lips and inhale gently through them. This creates a bubbling noise children find immensely amusing. It also accelerates vaporization, intensifying the aromas. Second, chew the wine vigorously, sloshing it around in your mouth, to draw every last nuance of flavor from the wine.

Don’t forget the finish. After you swallow, exhale gently and slowly through both your nose and mouth. The retro-nasal passage, which connects the throat and the nose, is another avenue for aromas, which can linger long after the wine is finally swallowed. You’ll find that the better the wine, the more complex, profound and long-lasting these residual aromas can be. With great wines, sensitive tasters and minimal distractions, the finish can last a minute or more. It’s a moment of meditation and communion that no other beverage can create.

Identifying Your Favourite Types Of Wine – The Basic Principles Of Wine Tasting

There are more types of wine than we can count and how on earth are we to choose one when faced with a huge bank of bottles. Educating yourself in the wines you like is quite easy if you just make a few notes following a set pattern so that you can compare the wines you have drunk to find the ones you like best. Tasting wine is as much an art as a science and there is no right and no wrong way to do it. There is only one thing that matters – do you like that type of wine? I use a few basic pointers to help me remember the wines, for me there are four principal elements to tasting a wine, appearance, aroma, taste and overall impression.

Appearance falls into three subsections, clarity, colour and ‘legs’. Clarity – the appearance is important. Whatever its age it should look clean and not cloudy or murky. Very young reds from rich vintages can often look opaque but they should still be clear and not have bits floating around. Occasionally you can find a few tartrate crystals in the wine, red or white but this does not affect the wine and is not a fault. Colour – tilt the glass at a 45 degree angle against a white background which will show graduations of colour – the rim colour indicates age and maturity better than the centre. The colour gives clues to the vintage, generally speaking with reds, the lighter the colour the more lively the taste, fuller and more concentrated colour indicates a weightier wine. Whites gain colour with age and reds lose it so a young Beaujolais with be purple with a pinkish rim whilst an older claret will be more subdued with Mahogany tints. ‘Legs’ – you can get a hint of the body and sweetness of a wine from its viscosity. Swirl the wine in the glass and let it settle – watch the ‘legs’ on the side of the glass. The more pronounced the fuller (and possibly more alcoholic) the wine and vice versa.

The Aroma, Bouquet or ‘Nose’ of a wine is a very personal thing but should never be neglected. Always take a few seconds to smell a wine and appreciate the variety of scents that will change as the wine warms and develops in the glass. Smell is the most important element in judging a wine as the palate can only pick up sweet or sour and an impression of body. Flavours are perceived by nose and taste buds together. Swirl the wine to release the aromas and stick your nose deep into the glass taking a few short sniffs to get an overall impression, too much will kill the sensitivity of your nose. Young wines will be fruity and floral but an older wine will have more of a ‘bouquet’ sense of mixed fruits and spices – perhaps with a hint of vanilla, especially if it has been aged in American rather than French oak.

Taste is combination of the senses and will change as the wine lingers in your mouth. The tongue can only distinguish four flavours, sweet on the tip, salt just behind the tip, acidity on the sides and bitterness at the back. These can be changed by temperature, weight and texture. You may think it looks silly but ‘chew’ the wine for a few seconds taking in a little air which allows the nose and palate to work as one, hold the wine in your mouth for a few seconds to get an overall impression and only then swallow. Some wines will attack your taste buds – the first impression, and then follow through after swallowing. Some, particularly New World wines are very up front, while others have an almost oily texture (Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer) as they have low acidity. With reds you will pick up tannins (dependent on the oak barrels as well as the grape) on the back of the tongue. If the wine is young and tannic it will feel like your teeth have been coated. Tannins help the wine age well but can sometimes be a bit harsh unless the wine is well balanced.

Overall impression and aftertaste are often not given enough importance by the some of the Wine ‘gurus’ – for the rest of us it is what matters most! Cheaper or younger wines will not linger on the palate, the pleasure is ‘now’ but over quickly. A fine mature wine should leave a clear impression that persists for a while before fading gently. More important still is balance, one that has enough fruit to balance the oakey flavours for example, or enough acidity to balance the sweet fruits so the wine tastes fresh. Equally a wine which is very tannic with no fruit to back it up as it ages is unbalanced.

The most important thing, however, is to enjoy a wine. A few seconds spent tasting a wine before diving into the bottle can greatly enhance your pleasure – and you will have some idea of what you are drinking and what types of wine you to look for when you go shopping!

Tips for organizing a wine tasting potluck party

It’s great to have a group of people over for a casual social event, but costs can quickly add up. But one idea that can be unique for guests and inexpensive for you as the host is a wine tasting potluck! By contributing just a few items and inviting guests to add their favorite bottle of wine, you can have a great wine tasting event at a relatively low price to you as the host!

You can put as much or as little into this event, but a few nice touches will make it memorable to your friends and most likely start a new tradition with your group of friends. Follow these easy steps to create your evening:

1) Invite your friends: this kind of event works well with just about any number of guests. You can invite four close friends, or you can have 15-20 people over for a larger event. It’s up to you because any number will work!

2) Inform your guests of the requirements: let the guests know that this is a wine “potluck” of sorts. Invite them to bring their favorite bottle of wine. Be sure to tell them that it doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive-the fun part is seeing the unique collection of wines that will be assembled.

3) Add the basics: this is where you’ll realize how easy it really is to host this event! Check out the gourmet section of your local grocery store for unique cheeses and coordinating crackers. There are some great articles right here on Helium that can clue you in on the world of gourmet cheeses! Also, pick up an inexpensive box of wine glasses from your local party supply store. You won’t believe how cheap they are, and you won’t have to worry about butter-fingered guests breaking your good crystal. If you don’t have wine charms collecting dust in your china cabinet, pick up a few brightly colored markers so that guests can write their initials on the base of their glass. Finally, grab some cute napkins while you’re picking up the glasses at the party supply and you’re set!

4) Extra touch: the basics will provide you with a great night, but if you want to spend a little more money, you can add a bit more to the night. Stop at a dollar store or hit the bargain bins at your local craft or discount store for inexpensive journals. Hand them to your guests when they arrive, along with a pen. This way, they can keep track of the names of the wines that they like, as well as what they tasted like and what foods they would accompany. Your guests will love the memento and enjoy doing this wine “research”. They can continue to keep track of favorites in their new wine journal long after your party. It might even encourage someone else to host a similar event! If you want to alter this idea, but with less money, pick up a pack of nice stationery paper and provide everyone with a few sheets to keep their notes.

Remember to keep things casual and hopefully, your wine tasting potluck will be a low-stress, inexpensive way to get your friends together for a fun and different event!

Celebrate the Season with a Wine Tasting Party

Early September is a great time to start thinking about planning some great indoor parties. While you may love the freedom of entertaining outdoors and the great taste of grilled entrees, when the leaves start to change, often time a cozy indoor party is your best bet. Don’t feel that planning a party indoors limits the amount of fun you can have. The colder seasons are great for themed parties. If you’re looking for a sophisticated and fun party idea; think about inviting a few over and hosting wine tasting party.

• Choosing a Wine:
  Your average, house wine may be fine to drink with your daily meal, but when you throw a wine tasting party, you may want to consider going for quality wine. This doesn’t mean you need to spend a fortune, it merely means that you want to search for a wine with various characteristics that you can discern during your tasting. When choosing wines to offer at your tasting party, take time do a little research. At the very least, when you’re shopping for the wines read the explanation of the wine that is usually on the back of the bottle. You can also ask the sales associate at your local wine distributor, or browse the suggested wine lists often offered by online retailers.
• How to Purchase Wines:

  The internet is a great place to look for rare and unique items, and wine is no exception. Often time’s gourmet website will have a great selection of wines that you can order over the internet. Since they also offer many interesting cheeses and other foods, search for both food and wine that can create unique palette pleasing experiences during your party. If you don’t consider yourself very internet savvy or need the wine in a considerably short amount of time check out your local wine distributer and ask for some suggestions on what wines to purchase for your party, most sales reps will be happy to help you.

  I also offer the following suggestion to those who would like to offer a vast selection of wines yet don’t necessarily have the budget to do so. Consider asking your guests to bring a bottle of their favorite wine, or even suggesting a type if wine they could bring. Asking your guests to bring a bottle of wine will be an exciting wine to share favorites or new finds with friends.

Helpful Hint: The nature of a wine party is more apt for smaller get-togethers. Invite a few friends (10 guests is usually a pretty good number) that have a love for wine. If you’re looking for a party theme for a large amount of guests you might want to think of something a little more practical.

What Wines to Serve:

If this is your firsts wine party and you want to attempt to please varying palettes, I usually suggest serving a minimum of seven wines. Serving this number of wines will allow you to offer three red and white wines of varying classes (dry to sweet) as well as a blush wine such as a zinfandel.
It’s helpful to consider what type of foods will be accompanying your wine. There are various types’ food and wine parings, but as a general rule, you’ll want to choose white wines for light poultry or chicken dishes, red wines with beefs or spicy meats, and zinfandels for dishes like stir-fry or other Asian inspired foods.

Preparing the Wines:

To really get the full palate experience from each wine, it’s important to serve them properly. This means that the white wines must be chilled and that your red wines should be aerated. It’s also a good idea to supply your guests with at least two wine glasses. White wine is generally served in narrow glass and red wines are served in classes with wide bowls that allow the wine to aerate.

Helpful Hint: You may want to keep a pitcher of water and some basic cracker in a bowl to help guests clean their pallets.

What to Serve:

The food that will accompany your wines will also be important to the overall experience of your guests. You will want to serve foods that go well with wines such as cheese and cracker. Select various type sof cheeses so you can taste them with assorted wines. With the right selection of wine you should easily be able to pair most foods with at least one wine. However, it’s generally not a good idea to serve foods that are extremely strong in flavor since they may overpower the wines. Since wine is the main focus or your father choose foods that will compliment your wines, not wines that compliment your foods.

I highly suggest keeping the menu very simple. A wine tasting is a time for friends to get together and converse over good food and great wine. You will want guests to be able to mingle. Stay away from meals that require you to spend excessive time away from guests and in the kitchen. I also find that serving as meals that will require your guests to adhere to a specific eating and drinking pattern are not as functional as meals that offer the chance to eat, drink, and converse freely.

Next Page »