Wine tasting has own vocabulary, offers different dining experiences

How to taste wine

1. Look at the wine and examine its color and clarity.
2. Swirl the glass. This allows oxygen into the wine, which helps the different aromas leave the wine and reach your nose.
3. Smell the wine, first from a few inches away, then moving your nose inside the glass. Take a moment to analyze and describe what you smell.
4. Sip the wine, but do not swallow it. Let it roll around in your mouth so you experience all the flavor and aspects of the wine.
5. Aspirate the wine, drawing air into your mouth and exhaling through the nose, while the first sip of wine is still in your mouth. This allows aromas to reach your nose, which helps you experience more flavors of the wine.
6. Sip the wine again, this time drawing air in with the sip — similar to slurping but without the noise. Again take a moment to notice all the flavors of the wine.
7. Swallow the wine. Make sure to pay attention to the aftertaste and notice how long it lasts and whether you like it.
—www.wikihow.com/Taste-Wine

Basic vocabulary of wine

Aerate: to allow oxygen to enter the wine, usually by decanting, which helps develop the wine’s full flavors.
Acidity: one of the four components of wine, tasted on the sides of the mouth. Acidity is necessary to give wine its crispness but should always be in harmony with the other three flavors.
Balance: when all four components are present in balanced levels.
Four components of wine: taste, acidity, tannins and alcohol.
Legs: traces of oil left on the side of a wine glass after it’s been tipped or swirled. The legs indicate how much alcohol, glycerine and sugar are present; the longer the legs, the more they are present.
Sommelier: a wine expert at a restaurant.
Tannins: one of the four components of wine. The astringent, bitter compounds found in grape skins, stems and seeds as well as the oak barrels in which the wine is aged. Tannins can make a wine taste quite bitter or they can taste almost silky as they age.
—www.basic-wine-knowledge.com/wine-definitions.html

Types of wine

Chardonnay: one of the world’s most popular white wines; can be produced in nearly any wine region in the world.
Cabernet: one of the finest red wines, produced in France and Napa Valley, Calif. It is known for its deep, dark fruit flavors like black currant and cherry.
Merlot: a popular red wine that offers a great variety from light to full-bodied bottles.
Zinfandel: red wine grown in California that is known for its big, flavorful impact. It goes well with hearty meals like barbecue, steak or pizza.
Shiraz: the most popular red wine in Australia; known for having more of a spicy taste than a fruity one.
Pinot Noir: perhaps the most “advanced” red wine. It is difficult to make but when done properly contains some of the best flavor combinations, texture and all-over experience than many other wines.
Sauvignon Blanc: light-weight white wine that is popular and fairly easy to drink.
—http://wine.about.com

Glassware

No matter what kind of wine, it’s important that the glass it is served in is clear — either glass or crystal — and has a stem to hold the glass without warming the wine with your body heat. After that, there are many different routes to go with glassware, but there are a few basic guidelines:

Red wines: The glass should be wide and have a large bowl (the cup part of the glass). This is because red wine needs to be swirled and allowed to aerate, so extra space provided by a wide glass helps the aeration.
White wines: The glass should be tulip-shaped (have a wider base and narrow towards the top). Glasses for white wines are narrower than those for reds, which helps prevent the wine from warming up too quickly.
Sparkling wines (i.e. champagne, etc.): The glass should be tall and narrow to keep the wine cool for the longest amount of time possible.
—Mike Towne, owner of The Library in Aggieville
 

Wine pairings

Here are some common and well-trusted wine pairings to help select the perfect wine to accompany your meal.

Chicken, Turkey, Ham, Fish
White wines: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chablis, Chenin Blanc, Johannisberg Riesling, Rhine, White Zinfandel
Red wines: Gamay Beaujolais, Burgundy, Merlot, Petite Sirah (for smoked ham)

Lamb, Duck, Veal, Beef, Venison, Stew
Red wines: Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Gamay Beaujolais, Burgundy
—Rickel’s Wine Store in Aggieville

Things to remember about wine

- Wine is about drinking what is appealing to you — cheap wine can be enjoyable if it’s what you like. Expensive wine can be miserable if you don’t like it.
- Price does not always indicate quality (meaning your enjoyment of the wine), but you should be aware of what you’re paying for. The more expensive the bottle, the better the grapes and wine-making process should have been. That said, don’t assume you have to pay a lot for a decent wine.
- For someone who has never really drank wine before, start with a fairly cheap, light wine, probably a white wine, to get used to the difference in drinking wine from other alcoholic beverages.
- The more wines you try, the more you will find what you like. Don’t be afraid to try something new.
—Mike Towne, owner of The Library in Aggieville