GoGoKitty’s Wine Secrets

Among people who enjoy tasting wine, it is referred to as simply tasting. Wine tasting involves evaluating and examining wine using one’s senses. It has become very popular today and even has special terminologies and can be termed as a profession. Most people in the business will agree that wine tasting is an art that allows participants to gain a greater appreciation for the various wines and winemakers as well.

Wine tasters limit the art of tasting to four main tastes. There are four primary tastes according to wine tasters: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. Wine can be just one of these, or a combination of multiple tastes. Wine tasting is characterized by the effect of both tasting and smelling the wine.

How Wine Tasting Is Done

Tasting is a fairly easy art and can be done at home or at a wine tasting party. The wine’s color and clarity, taste, and smell are the most critical components of wine tasting. To evaluate the clarity and color, simply pour the wine into a glass against a white background and simply look at the wine. This should be done mainly from the edge of the glass to the middle.

If it is a red wine, tasters look for traces of brown, maroon, purple or brick. For white wine, green, amber, brown, and yellow are the colors to focus in on. In addition, professionals check for traces of sediments in this stage by tilting and swirling the wine glass.

During the wine tasting process, smell is very important. The correct way to smell wine is by swirling the glass in order to eradicate some of the alcohol smell. It is important to smell the wine in a whiff in order to get the aroma that first strikes out. Next, in order to detect any distinct scents such as vanilla, citrus, flowers, or berries, the taster will place their nose slightly inside the glass and take a deep breath.

The real wine tasting process has to incorporate tasting the wine. Take a sip of the wine and roll it round the tongue, a stage called the attack phase. Here, the first impression of the wine is registered.

The second phase of wine tasting is called the evolution phase and this is where the flavors are studied and dissected to narrow down to a particular product. The final stage is called the finish and this is calculated by how long the taste of the wine will be retained in the mouth after swallowing. Wine tasting enables a person know whether they want more of the wine or if it was too strong or bitter for their liking.

See Also: Wine Tasting Invitation

Wine Tasting Gift Ideas

When going into tasting rooms, there are certain etiquette rules one should follow. If you are wondering to yourself what these rules entail, you are not alone. Most people are not aware of proper wine tasting etiquette, but by the time you are finished with this article you will be ready to make your way to the closest winery for a tasting.

The most basic rule for wine tasting is to start with white and work your way to the reds. In order to taste all the flavors in the wine, begin with dry wines and work your way to the desserts within white and red wines. Strong flavors can overwhelm the palate and can hinder your taste buds from experiencing the bouquets of each wine. Always save your dessert and ice wines for last. Those have the most sweetness and fullness attached to them and affects your palates ability to experience the next tasting.

When entering a wine establishment, don’t be timid. Go ahead and walk straight to the bar; most places are fairly relaxed and informal. After you take a seat, you will be approached by a bartender or a barista. Questions can aid you in finding the wines you enjoy most, so go ahead and ask. Most servers who do wine tastings enjoy explaining the wine and the flavors that are incorporated. Remember to work your way from whites, to red, to ports and ice wine.

Wine tasting can be an involved process. To help you understand various flavors of wine, keep a journal when participating in tastings. This will help you to identify specific flavors, regions, and full bodied wines. You can keep your notes handy to help you choose wines for dinner parties or get togethers. There are a few things to look for when doing a tasting if you are planning on becoming a wine connoisseur: color of the wine, legs, the aroma, and fullness or flavor of that wine. Smelling and tasting the wine poured for you during a tasting are the two most important steps in the examination your wine. It will give you a greater understanding of the types of wine and what you like in a wine. If you are interested in learning more, buy a book about wine. Details and specific aspects can be found in wine books that we have not even befun to dicuss.

Now that you know how to approach a bar and how to taste, take the time to learn when it is appropriate and when it is not to spit out your tasting. Movies show wine tasters spitting out the wine after they taste. This is not always the approach that needs to be taken. The reason why people spit out the wine after tasting it is mainly because of the alcohol content involved. Tastes buds can be affected by large amounts of alcohol. While some believe you are supposed to spit out your wine with every taste, this is not always the case. Save spitting out your wine for when you are judging wines or if you are participating in wine tstings of 10 or more. If you are judging wines, I suggest that you spit. Tasting 20 glasses can cause you to become intoxicated even if you spit it out because alcohol is absorbed through the skin in your mouth.

Since wine has high alcohol content, most people enjoy a snack with tastings. If you are going to be having snack with your wine tasting there are few things to keep in mind here as well. Most establishments have cheese tray, chocolates, dried fruit and nuts to serve. White wines pair slightly better with cheese and dried fruit and red wines go well with the chocolates. But don’t be afraid to mix it up. Wine sampling is about finding the flavors that you enjoy the most, and you can’t be wrong when it comes to choosing flavor combinations that you enjoy. These are tips to help you begin to learn what your personal preferences are. Ice wines and port wines pair well with chocolates, nuts, and dried fruit. I suggest staying away from cheeses with these since these wines are particularly sweet. They seem to compliment the sweetness the best.

Those are the basic things to keep in mind when doing tastings. Now get out there and start learning about the several varieties of wines that are available to you. Soon enough you will be able to host your own wine tasting party. Ask questions if you have any, take notes if you wish, but most importantly enjoy yourself!

Fine wine is expensive and relatively fragile but ages superbly in the sort of conditions found in underground cellars.  Most wine storage systems attempt to replicate this environment as closely as possible for a really healthy wine.  There are a number of companies who will cellar wine for you, but if your wine is intended for consumption, off-site storage has its drawbacks. You can’t just pop in and retrieve the bottles you want when you want and there are delivery charges each time you put in or take out—costs which soon mount up.

As a result, where space affords, most wine lovers find it more convenient to keep their wine at home and the bottle opener handy. Wine should be kept at a cool constant temperature in the dark, so for those of us lucky enough to have proper cellars, storing your wine in a wine rack will provide close to the ideal conditions.  That’s especially true with cork-sealed bottles which are best stored horizontally rather than upright.Humidity is also an important factor because it helps keep the cork in good condition. In a humid cellar a sound cork can comfortably last for around 70 years.

For most of us city dwellers, though, where living space is at a premium, a cellar is not available.  In that case a wine cooler or wine cabinet is the most versatile and affordable way of storing wine at home. Temperature-controlled storage conditions of some kind are a necessity as the vast majority of homes in the UK are not air conditioned, and during summer ambient temperatures can reach as much as 30° C. Wine coolers come in several different shape and sizes, ranging in price from the relatively cheap to the enormously expensive.Some are little more than adapted refrigerators, while the top of the range models are quality pieces of furniture designed with wine storage in mind.

Pros believe that wine tasting is an art and not some actual science.  You see, when someone taste wine, his or her personal choices will affect the way that he or she perceives the taste of the wine.  According to studies, wine tasting involves the senses so the opinion of the person that tasted the wine is rather subjective.  Since the viewpoints of the members of a wine tasting circle may differ, the ratings a wine gets in one country may different from the ratings that it may get in another country.  Does this mean that wine tasting is an untrustworthy form of wine rating?  Well, not really, the difference in the opinion of the wine tasters do present some type of bewilderment at times but since many people are called on to rank the wine, the opinion of the majority wins in the end.  If most of the wine tasters in a certain wine tasting circle claimed the wine is a 8 in the ten point scale, then that particular wine will be rated as a 8. 

How it all started

Tasting the standard of the wine is a very old tradition.  Way back in the times past, folks who are adept at testing the quality of the wine are called on to taste the wine before it is served to the king or the emperor.  The job of the wine taster is actually extremely critical.  Some kings and rulers are known to put to put to death the wine taster if the king doesn’t like the wine served on his table.  Since wine tasting is thought of as a very crucial job in the older times, a formal system of the making a sensory analysis of the quality and taste of the wine developed in the 14th century.  In this time, a system of ascertaining the quality of the wine was first established. 

Since the 14th century, the art of making sensory of evaluation of the quality of the wine have evolved.  {However ,} the underlying principles of determining the quality of the wine still remain.  In our modern times, wine tasters still agree to the 4 well established points of tasting wines namely the appearance of the wine, the smell or the fragrance of the wine when put in the glass, the taste of the wine when you drink it and the after flavour of the wine.  The results of these stages or points of sensory analysis are combined to come up with a more complex analysis of the taste of the wine.

Wine racks, whether ready-made or flat packed for self assembly, are designed to be versatile and strong using solid wood blocks and 18-gauge bright galvanised steel.They are robust and durable and provide convenient wine storage, but they can also be visually attractive and interesting items of furniture in their own right.Even without bottles, they can be surprisingly appealing in an architectural way.

Most hardwood wine racks are constructed from quality materials and are available in a variety of stains and finishes, including oiled or waxed effects.  The most popular selections tend to be Black Walnut, White American Oak, Maple, Douglas Fir or Ash.Softwood racks are generally built from top grade furniture pine and it’s these which are usually supplied ’flat-pack’ for self assembly.These wine racks too are available in a number of stain effects such as Natural, Light Oak, Yew, Mahogany, Rosewood, Dark Oak, Weathered Oak and Black Ash.Matching plinths are also available for a range of free standing hardwood and softwood racks.  

In the commercial sector, counter top wine racks offer the perfect combination of storage and display, holding bottles securely in a unit that is visually pleasing and functions as an effective counter top Point-Of-Sale system.    These counter top units come in variety of styles such as stainless steel or wooden finishes and will accommodate anything from six to nine bottles.  They provide easy access for serving staff and some even have matching glassware, so together they can enhance the ambiance of any bistro, wine bar or restaurant.

For both the business user and the more advanced and dedicated wine enthusiast with larger volume requirements,  a  wine cooler or wine fridge from major manufacturers such as Dometic, Liebherr, Transtherm, Artevino and Caple can also be both practical and stylish.Many feature glass fronts, so the wine collection can be seen without compromising the temperature.