Unless you are a great wine lover, or an experienced oenologist, it is easy to make mistakes when tasting a wine, as this exercise can be so demanding. So, to help you fully enjoy a good bottle of wine, here are 8 tips for enjoying your wine .
Choosing the right type of wine
As the saying goes, tastes and colors cannot be discussed. So, if your preference is white wines, red wines, or even rosé wines, the best way to please yourself is to choose the wine that you like .
Then, you don't have to pay the price to enjoy it, because it is quite possible to find a beautiful bottle with excellent value for money . You can also get very good deals at wine fairs.
Tasting wine in impeccable glasses
Beyond the choice of wine glass (Bordeaux glass, tulip glass, flute, etc.), the important thing is to be able to drink your red wines or your white wines in a perfectly clean glass, and above all odorless .
This will allow you to observe the color of the wine, and to perceive the aromas and sensations very clearly, without being disturbed by harmful influences.
Enjoy your glass of wine in a pleasant place
Good bottles are always opened on significant, often happy, occasions. So, to fully appreciate the moment and the tasting, choose a place that is pleasant to you , where you will be comfortable enough to indulge in the pleasures of tasting.
Make sure you are in a place without any particular smell of tobacco, cooking, or even flowers, as they could distort your sensations.
Choosing the Perfect Food and Wine Pairing
According to wine lovers, the right pairing between your bottle of wine and your dish will be the best way to fully savor your tasting. The types of wine then go differently depending on the recipes, and you must choose your bottles of wine according to the menu , and respect a certain order of service. For example, dry wines are very pleasant with fish or cheeses, while sweet wines are enjoyed as an aperitif, with fatty dishes or with chocolate-based desserts.
Serve wine at the right temperature
Depending on the type of wine chosen, you must serve it at the ideal serving temperature , so that the aromas are expressed intensely. A red wine is traditionally served between 16 and 18°C, while white wines and rosé wines have a lower serving temperature, between 10 and 14°C.
Don't know much about wine? The serving temperature is almost always mentioned on the label of wine bottles .
Aerate the wine before drinking it
When a wine has just come out of its bottle, it may still be a little closed. You must then give it time to open up, to express the intensity of its aromas. To help it, you can then aerate it, by swirling it lightly in your wine glass .
Old red wines and some white wines even need to be decanted to decant and oxygenate .
Avoid tasting wine right after a meal
If you want to carry out a wine tasting according to the rules of the art, it is advisable not to start in the middle of digestion . All your senses will not be sufficiently alert to deliver the full intensity of the aromas and sensations, and your taste buds risk being saturated.
The ideal is to carry out a tasting at the end of the morning or at the end of the day, just before the meal .
Smell the wine and discover the nose of the wine
Tasting a wine is not just done through the mouth, and you must also take the time to smell it, before tasting it. The nose of the wine can then reveal many of its secrets to you, such as its grape variety, its winemaking method or its wine-growing region. Furthermore, the nose can also warn you of a fault in the wine , which will prevent you from having the bad experience of cork taint, for example.
There are basic rules for tasting a wine and appreciating all its qualities. To learn the different techniques, why not treat yourself to a wine tasting workshop in the cellars of our estate?
