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July
07
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An Idiot's Guide To Wine Tasting
Have you ever seen those stiff upper-lipped types doing a spot of
the old wine tasting malarkey? You know the form – sip, swill, spit.
Yuck! Well this information has been written to help you understand
the form should you ever find yourself in a situation where you need
to know what to do. And don't go thinking "I'll never have to do any
wine-tasting" because you just don't know that for sure and the last
thing you want is to be caught unaware.
So, on with the tasting...
Study The Wine
Pick up your glass as elegantly as possible. There are two ways this
can be done.
a) For chilled wines – hold the glass by the stem and don't even
touch the bowl.
b) For wine served at room temperature – pick up the glass by the
bowl and hold it cupped in your palm, the stem between your middle
two fingers.
Now that you have the glass comfortably in your hand, hold it at a
slight angle against something white. If your hostess is worth her
salt, she'll have covered the table in white linen specifically for
this purpose (although it does look nice, too).
Be careful not to tip the glass too far – unless you're willing to
replace an expensive linen tablecloth, that is. You may also need to
adjust the distance from your eyes that the glass is held at. Most
find that holding it at almost arm's length is a good starting point
although the very short sighted who are also absent minded enough to
have left their eye glasses at home may find themselves having to
hold the glass almost in front of their noses.
Once you've found the correct position, study the colour and clarity
of the wine. Now you may well believe that wine's either red, pink,
or white but I'm afraid, if that's the case, you're very much
mistaken. Wines can be green, yellow, gold, pink, purple, or even
black. Evidently, the colour of the wine will indicate the type of
grape it was made from – like me, you, and Jack on the street are
likely to know that!
Clarity indicates age. Young wines are more see through and
cloudiness can mean there's something wrong. If that's the case, I'd
suggest putting it back on the table and giving your hostess once of
those 'down your nose' type looks.
The reason why you're studying the colour and clarity looks has
absolutely no bearing on how the wine will taste but a proper
connoisseur enjoys the beauty of wine as well as its taste and ...
The Bouquet
No, we're not talking about the bunch of flowers a bride carries
with her down the aisle, we're talking the smell of wine. Sometimes,
if the people at the wine tasting are really posh, they might call
it 'The Nose'.
Still holding your glass in the correct manner, lower your hand
somewhat whilst bring your glass to a level position and rotate your
wrist so that the wine swirls gently within the bowl. You might want
to leave these instructions at this point to go to the kitchen and
practise this step with a wineglass half filled with water. After
all, it's just as well to know for sure that you aren't going to
spill expensive red wine over your hostess's spanking new Axminster.
To swill wine properly, very little wrist movement is actually
needed. Just very slight circular movements combined with a
right-left movement should do the trick.
The idea behind all this swilling is to bring the wine's aroma out
of the wine itself and into the empty part of the bowl thus allowing
it to be smelled and savoured. This is why wine glasses are bulbous.
The wide bowl has ample room for swilling while the narrow edge
'captures' the bouquet. Clever, eh?
Move your glass to your nose as elegantly as you're able and bring
it in slightly beneath the tip. Inhale deeply. Savour for a few
moments and then inhale again. It's a good idea to exhale between
those two inhalations or you might find yourself going dizzy. Do it
too often and you'll faint.
You may now move your glass away from your nose.
At this point, it's appropriate to make some kind of comment. Don't
imagine you'll fool anybody into believing you're an expert but at
least you can make it sound as if you've actually drunk a glass of
decent wine before. Why should the other guests need to know that
most of your wine costs £3.99 at the Co-Op?
Something like "mmmm, rich and fruity" or "oooh, lovely and light"
will probably do the trick. When talking about red wine, 'rich' is
usually a good word to use - if the wine's white, go for 'light'.
The Actual Tasting
You've probably been looking forward to this bit but whatever you
do, remember that wine tasting is about taking small sips and not
guzzle it down like there's no tomorrow.
This bit's actually trickier than you'd expect so you might want to
do some more practising.
Bring your glass to your lips, open them slightly and take a small
sip. Now close you mouth and roll the wine around on your tongue for
a few seconds before allowing it to slide slowly down your throat
AND AT THE SAME TIME EXHALE!
The trouble with exhaling whilst swallowing is that some of the
liquid might come shooting through your nostrils. Not a pretty sight
and, again, think of the Axminster!
If you fancy, you can always take a second sip at this point but
never a third. No matter how good that one particular wine is, it's
time to move on to the next.
Other Stuff Worth Knowing
Apart from bottles and glasses, the table will probably hold plates
of cheese or, occasionally, sherbet. They're not there to snack on;
they're used between wines to clean out the taste of the last wine
you tasted. Just a little at a time is all that's needed. Do like a
mouse and nibble!
Wear something comfortable and preferably something that doesn't
carry a designer label. After all, if you spill red wine down the
front of your best frock, you're not going to be happy, are you?
That's it. You're now clued up enough to pop along to your very
first wine tasting party without making a complete idiot of
yourself.
Enjoy!
By
Sharon Jacobsen
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Happy shopping.
Indulge your senses,
Leslie Maliepaard
WineWeb.co.za Editor
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