If you are a wine connoisseur and are always eager to learn about the novel and classic wine offerings, you should learn what to say at wine tastings. Before you go to your next wine tasting, you should read this guide to get an idea of how you can evaluate fine wine.
Wine tastings are fun because you have abundance of fine wines at your disposal. And if you kept your glasses moderately filled, you can network with like-minded people and learn about the latest and high-class wineries in the area.
Before joining a wine tasting, remember to avoid putting on fragrances or perfumes when getting ready for the wine-tasting event because the fragrant scent of the perfume can compromise your smell for the aroma of the wine.
Before heading for the venue, set a fixed budget. The costs incurred at a wine-tasting event can stack up, especially when you start feeling a little tipsy.
You can either enjoy a complimentary wine tasting or pay an amount of $50 per event. It is always best to ask about the charges and wines on offer for each cost range. Let your budget decide how fancy you can go with the choice of your wines.
If your event is happening somewhere in the south, say, Tennessee, you can pair your wine with some country ham—a specialty of the Tennessee area—on the side. Tennessean wineries that run along the countryside, including the winery Sevierville TN, are chockful with some of the most delectable and fruity wines.
Create a Plan for Tasting
Be prepared to get to know and taste a large variety of wines at the wine tasting. You cannot possibly taste all the wines in the span of a few hours, so better go in with a plan.
First, check out the variety of wines at the venue. Start your tasting with lighter wines, like sparkling wines and fresh whites. After which, you should move on to stronger flavors, such as richer whites and reds.
You can also start with the classics and then move on to the unfamiliar wines that you haven’t tasted before. Make sure you taste famous ones earlier on, like the Bordeaux, so that when the table becomes crowded later, you can move to less busier tables and start tasting the less famous wines.
If you’re ready to take your chances with new flavors, the wine tasting event is the place where you can discover newer varieties and flavors.
Pay Attention to the Wine Color
When it comes to tasting wines, the color is the defining feature that has a bearing on the wine’s quality. After pouring into a glass, swirl the wine a bit to take in the different hues of the color. Take a closer look from the sides, top, and tilt the glass against a white background to check its translucency.
The color of the wine can tell a lot about its age, alcohol content, and grape variety. Purple hues in wine indicate youth, and on the other hand, amber or orange hues against the rim show aging in red wine.
In general, red wines are dark-colored when young and lose color as they sit in the bottle for longer. In case of white wines, they are lighter in color when young and turn golden or brown as they age.
The more alcoholic content a wine contains the more you will see the tears or trails of the wine trickling down the insides of the glass.
Evaluate the Aroma of the Wine
Take a deep breath and inhale the aroma of the wine, and tell yourself whether the aroma is fragrant, fruity, or pungent. Some wines smell light like pinot grigio, and others smell sharp, such as sauvignon blanc.
Check for the fruity aromas first. Think about citrus fruits, orchid fruits, or tropical fruits when smelling white wines. While, consider the aroma of red fruits, black fruits, and blue fruits when smelling red wines.
You can also come across a range of other aromas except for fruits including flowers and herbs. It may smell like black pepper, thyme, rosemary, grass, violet, rose, etc.
In addition, other aromas are earthy, such as chalk, dry soil, wet stones, damp leaves, etc. Highly complicated wines contain aromas from a diverse range of categories.
Tasting the Wine
When you smell the wines, it gives you an indication of the flavor the wine has because taste and smell are interconnected senses. Compare wine flavors against their aromas for similar and different tastes.
A balanced wine has alcohol, sugar, tannin, and acidity elements in proportions. When you taste a dry wine, the dryness is usually caused by the complete absence of any residual sugar.
The alcohol content in wine gives a warm sensation. A high proportion of tannins indicate bitter and astringent flavors, especially in red wines.
The flavor of high-quality wines tends stay in your mouth for longer. Older and high-quality wines are likely to have more flavors than younger and lesser-quality wines.
It’s Okay to Spit
At wine tastings, you are supposed to swish the wine in your mouth and spit it out if you don’t want to get all woozy and dizzy from all the wine you’ll be tasting throughout the event. To keep yourself sane and your senses active, always remember to spit after tasting. The aim is to taste, not to get drunk. There are small buckets for spitting at every table.
Keep yourself hydrated
To enjoy the wine tasting, you must keep yourself hydrated with water after regular intervals. Similarly, it is best to eat something in between wine tastings to avoid drinking on an empty stomach, so that you do not become light headed and lose count or consciousness of the glasses you have had.
Take Notes
It is unrealistic of you to believe that you would be able to remember the details of the wines that you tasted during the event. What makes one wine so special over another, is not so easy to answer when you start feeling tipsy after many glasses.
So, keep a notepad and a pen or pencil handy at such events. You can simply put a tick or a cross against each wine on your notepad. For additional details, write down what makes the wine you like so different from the others that you didn’t like.
Conclusion
Not many people can taste wine the right way. To become a true connoisseur of fine wines and fine living, you have to develop your sense for what quality wine is, what does a dryness of a wine indicate, what do their different colors mean, and what are the most famous wines on offer. The tips above will help you evaluate wines in a way that will impress everyone around you at the table.
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