Top Tips to really enjoy a wine



Do certain wines really have to be in certain glasses? Does temperature really matter? Well, the simple answer is 'do you really want to taste the wine at its best or simply just guzzle it down?'

If guzzling is your thing then you best stop reading now and go and buy a bottle of anything. If on the other hand you want to get a bit more enjoyment and pleasure out of the contents of your glass, you may find it interesting to keep reading.

I'm not a wine snob, I like my wine, but I know what I like and I don't wish to be dictated to that I should like this or I should like that. I can't abide those who order from the wine menu based on price, they seem to think that obviously the higher the price the better the wine must be.
I can tell you, I have drunk some very bad expensive wines and some excellent cheaper ones. However, at this point I feel I should point out that there is cheap and there is ridiculously cheap. A 99c bottle of wine possibly should only be used for cooking and if it is that cheap, it probably isn't going to be something you'd want to serve to guests. Wine this cheap usually tastes of vinegar!! On the other hand, just because a wine is expensive doesn't always mean it's going to be to your taste. There are some exceptionally good bottles of wine that are very reasonably priced. Infact many of my favourite wines are around the £5.99 mark which is less than $10!!

So what should you be looking for when choosing a wine, well, anyone can taste wine, all you need is sight, smell, and taste. It's easy to build up a memory bank of wines you've tasted before and before long you'll find yourself comparing taste and smell and discovering what it is in a wine that you like and what turns you off!! The only difference between tasting and general drinking is that you're paying a bit more attention, and to be honest, that can only enhance the pleasure considerably when drinking.

There are four things to look for in a wine in this order:
1. Appearance
2. Aroma
3. Taste
4. Overall Impression

Appearance

Look at the clarity of the wine, it should look clean, not murky or cloudy in the glass. If the wine looks unclear, it's probably either faulty or has been served incorrectly. Wines do sometimes have a few crystals lying at the bottom of the glass or on the cork, these are tartrate crystals and are perfectly safe. As long as the rest of the wine seem clear, then these are not considered a fault.

When you tilt the glass away from you, you should see the gradiations of colour. This indicates the wines age, or maturity stage. This gives you a clue as to the style of wine in the glass. Generally speaking, the lighter in colour, the lighter the taste. A fuller looking wine will usually be more concentrated and heavy in taste.

White wines tend to gain colour with age, where as red wines will lose the colour as they mature.

Aroma

Smell is very important for wine tasting. It is linked to the sense of taste, and works together with the taste buds to give a full impression. Drinking wine without smell will give you sensations but very little taste.

To release the full aroma, hold the glass by the stem and swirl the wine around in the glass, so that the wine rises up the sides of the glass. Stick your nose into the glass, once you have stopped swirling of course, and take a few short sniffs. You're first sniff will undoubtedly give you the best impression.
Not only will you be able to smell all the fruity aromas, but the smell can also help to put an age on the wine. Young wines will still be full of their primary fruity or floral aromas, where as an older wine will have lost these individual scents but will have bouquet of mixed aromas, sometimes often incorporating the scent of the barrel it has been aged in.

Taste

Now for the best part, the taste. It may seem odd, but by following the other two stages first will make this stage far more enjoyable. The tongue has different areas to collect different tastes. Sweet flavours are detected on the tip of the tongue, salty flavours are picked up just behind the tip, acidity is recognised on the sides of the tongue and bitterness is registered at the back of the tongue.
Rolling the flavour around on the tongue, almost chewing it can enhance these flavours and give you a great first impression. This can get even better if you manage to suck in a little air at the same time, but be careful not to choke!! I always find the flavour is so much stronger if I can just suck in a little bit of air between my teeth. It sounds an odd thing to do, and will possibly get you some strange looks at first, but this practice allows the nose and palate to function together.

Overall Impression
Finally, after swallowing the wine, you'll find there is an after taste. A young wine will not linger on the palette, and the pleasure of an immature wine is very short lived. Where as a more mature wine will leave a lingering impression on the palette.

Finally it should be noted that wine tasting should not become a chore - wine is there to be enjoyed. The above tips are simply a way to help enhance your pleasure of the wine and to be able to taste it to it's full potential, simply by discovering how to release it's aromas and flavours. If you simply think the wine is 'very colourful and tastes of lots of fruit,' then that's fine and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.


So how do you know if a wine is going to be good or not, well, the simple answer is that you really don't until you've tried it.
Wine tasting and drinking is a very individual thing, every one's palettes are different, and don't feel pressured into having to drink a wine just because someone else says you should or it's expensive.

Eventually over time, you'll discover what you do and don't like and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise, especially those who order wine based on the price!!

Drink which ever wines you like the taste of - wine drinking is an enjoyment not a chore!!

The Really Fun Wine Book

Recently I came across a wine book. It’s called the Really Fun Wine Book and was written by Mark Adams. 

He knows his stuff.  Mark owned a winery, is a winemaker and teaches wine classes.

This book is like the title, really fun and is the opposite of what you would expect from most wine books.  It’s not boring or stuffy at all.

It’s written in a way that makes learning about wine easy to understand.  He mixes in a good bit of humor, too.

He covers the things you would expect like how to taste and varieties, but the book also tells you how to determine your unique flavor profile, how to tell if you’ll like a wine before you buy it, as well as how to buy the right wine for you, whether its online or at the wine shop. Lots of other things, too.

Check it out here