Eight Points to Consider While Tasting Wine

Wine tasting is also an art and not everyone is an artist. You must consider several points if you want to ace it. Surprisingly, there is no thumb rule for wine tasting yet there are a few practices that experts follow and that help in elevating the experience.

People drink wine for a couple of reasons such as delaying ageing, helping with weight loss, and keeping memory sharp. However, many enjoy sipping wine while indulging in high-pressure, thrilling environments, for instance, when landing online casino jackpots via games like blackjack, baccarat, and poker. After all, the mind-boosting benefits of wine help the players spot the right patterns in the game, so that they can place the most successful bets. And since the thrilling casino games pump one’s adrenaline, the chemical found in wine, Resveratrol, comes in handy – it not only expands blood vessels but also boosts the brain’s ability to retain information.

Wine is for fancy dinners, romantic dates, celebrations, and many more occasions. If you are a beginner, try inculcating the following habits next time you go for tasting wine.

Wine Tips for Beginners

1. Observe the color

Well, this is the first thing we do to anything we eat, looking at it. Observe the color, viscosity, and opacity of the wine before tasting it. Its color helps in knowing various things about it like how heavy or light it is, the variety of the grape, its age, etc.
Just to let you know, white wines gain color as time goes whereas red wines lose the same and turn burgundy or tawny brown.

2. Sniff before you taste

Smelling the wine before tasting helps you understand the wine better. The wines have distinct aromas that can only be smelt. Keep your mouth slightly open while smelling the wine as it would help you experience better.
Even while smelling, don’t hold the glass by the bowl but by its stem. This avoids the warming of wine which would have been done otherwise.

3. Swirl the wine

This process of swirling adds oxygen to the wine. This aeration of wine helps the aroma to get in contact with the oxygen that elevates its taste as well. Additionally, swirling also helps in removing any foul-smelling compounds resulting from sulfites.
If you’re a beginner and willing to do it perfectly, hold the glass stem with your thumb and pointer finger, and move the glass in a circular motion while keeping it on the table surface. Taking a few swirls is alright.

4. Sip, savor, and not just gulp

Sipping in small quantities is the trick to start drinking wine the right way. Take a bigger sip than the regular one, savor it in your mouth for a few seconds, and then gulp. Doing this would give you a better experience and taste of wine.
This would also make the flavor last longer in your mouth. The flavors of wine are not that strong and hence, supposed to be kept in the mouth to let the taste buds function properly.

5. Don’t pour too much at first

Wine glasses should be filled to a maximum of up to two-thirds of their length. There are a couple of reasons as to why wine glasses are not to be filled completely. First, since swirling is a crucial step in enhancing the wine’s flavors, filling it up to the top would disable the person to swirl it.

Second, the person may not be able to finish the whole glass, especially in the cases of beginners. If more wine is required, they’ll ask for more, simple enough!

6. Food to eat with wine

Not every dish goes well with every type of wine. In fact, wine tastes better when paired with a proper dish. If you’re having red wine, accompany it with pizza, antipasto, cheese garlic bread, bruschetta, mozzarella sticks, and dishes with earthy ingredients like mushrooms and lentils.

Pair white wine and sparkling wine with seafood dishes, pasta, chicken, and lighter fare like appetizers and salads.

7. Glasses to be used for serving

Wine glasses are designed in a specific way for specific reasons. If we talk of red wine glasses, these have full and round bowls with wide openings. This enables the full contact of wine and air that amplifies its aroma and taste.
White wine glasses are designed in a way that gives the person the best experience. These are slightly smaller with longer stems, more U-shaped, and upright than the red wine glasses. This avoids reaching the warmth of your hand to the wine, thereby keeping the wine cool.

8. Store wine horizontally

This one is yet again backed by a scientific reason. If bottles are stored vertically, the Cork starts drying out with time, shrinks, allows the outside air to enter the bottle, and eventually spoils the wine. That’s the reason why you could see wine bottles lying horizontally everywhere.

When you try to open it, turn the corkscrew instead of moving the bottle itself. Polish the glasses well before pouring wine into them. This would ensure the glasses are free from any dust and smell.

The beauty of wine is its taste and that is recognized by people only after practicing. This is undoubtedly described differently by people, which is alright. To become a pro, taste as many wines as possible in your style, explore the tastes, and most importantly, enjoy this journey.