Saturday, April 4, 2009

How to Taste Wine

By Ian Kleine

Wine testing is a very rewarding experience for those who glorify and for those who mine wine their life. However, it is not the simple matter of indulging your thirst and outright chugging the whole thing down like water. Wine should be treated like ambrosia: precious liquid that should be served and drunk sparingly and with utmost responsibility. Wine represents art, represents food and drink, represents happiness and culture. In short, wine represents the good things of life and possibly more.

There are a select number of ways to enjoy wine tasting and to get the best out of your money. But what are these steps? Try and follow these to make sure your wine tasting excursion doesn't end up in a blunder or in a foul setting. Most wine newbies often leave and desist from taking on another wine excursion if they have had bad experiences with the first.

Firstly, observe the wine with a steady and sharp eye. Pour the wine into the glass and observe the coloration. Watch as it morphs and changes its intensity with every gentle swirl of your glass. Contrast the wine with the pure white color of a tablecloth, a napkin, or a piece of paper, to see the true essence of the wine.

Observe the lines and the patterns revolving around the glass. White wine becomes deeper, darker with age; while red wines soften, lose their sharp redness and turn a bit more brown. Sediments may develop over time, but these sediments are harmless, and if nothing more but simple nuisances. Swirling the wine could also help with catching preliminary odors that could be tell tale signs for spoiled, or re-corked wine.

You would know what re-corked wines would smell like especially after a good swirling. It has already lost its fruitiness, has an oxidized smell, and oftentimes, feels 'rough' to the tongue.

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment