Hello to the grapevine! Today we are talking about tasting. It is helpful to know the proper way to taste wine to evaluate it’s quality. This is really much easier than it is made out to be. First, pour some wine into the glass (2-3 ounces) and observe the color. Look for clarity and color saturation. Next you want to swirl the wine in the glass to expose it to air. This will help release the aromatics. Aromas are the main ingredient in taste so really give it a good swirl then put your nose in the glass and breathe in deeply. Sit back and take in the information your nose is giving you. Now to taste the wine. Take a good sip, perhaps a quarter of a mouthful, and swish it around the whole of your mouth. This need not be done loudly or impolitely, but it should be done. Just before swallowing the wine lean back your head slightly and take a bit of air in your mouth across the wine. This will release many more of the wine’s flavors. Swallow and enjoy the aftertaste. That is all there is to it. Sometimes people feel a bit self concious with the tasting process at first but if done properly you will be amazed how much more flavor and aroma are released. You paid for the wine, why not taste all of what it has to offer? I promise it will be worth it.

While we are talking about taste lets talk about a wine tasting party. half the fun of wine is it’s incredible variety. A tasting themed event is a great way to get to try lots of different wines. These can be as loose or formal as you choose. Invite some friend over and have them each bring a wine. I think it is fun and educational to serve the wines blind. This is easy, just get brown bags to cover the wine bottles and number them. Provide your guests with pen and paper. Let everyone taste through the wines and write down their favorites. Afterwards you can unveil the wines to see what everyone liked or disliked. Often people are very suprised to see what they preferred when they could not see the label.

You can also format an event like this as a food and wine pairs tasting. If you serve a few dishes and allow your guests to taste each dish with a variety of wines you can all see how the food and wines play off each other. For example it can be dramatic how different a piece of salmon tastes when paired with a light white, a rich white, and a light red. Use your imagination and have fun. These events are anything but stuffy and they are often very eye opening. You will learn a lot about wine and taste in general.

Next time: a general overview of the more widely available grape varietals and perhaps a few obscure ones as well.