Let's share some tips for today¡K.how to taste the wine
You can read all the books written on wine to become more knowledgeable on the subject, but you should taste wines to truly enhance your understanding. Reading covers the more academic side of wine, while tasting is more enjoyable and practical. A little of each will do you the most good.
We would like to share a few steps of learning how to taste the wine, it probably can be broken down into five basic steps: Color, Swirl, Smell, Taste and Savor.
This month, let us go through Color and Swirl with you¡K..
<<Color>>
The best way to get an idea of color of the wine is to get a white background, like a napkin or linen tablecloth, and hold the glass of wine in front of it. The range of colors that you may see depends on whether you taste a white or red wine. Here are the colors for both, beginning with the youngest wine and moving to an older wine. Usually the color will be classified as the following: -
White Wine |
Red Wine |
¡P Pale yellow-green |
¡P Purple |
¡P Straw yellow |
¡P Ruby |
¡P Yellow-gold |
¡P Red |
¡P Gold |
¡P Brick red |
¡P Old gold |
¡P Red-brown |
¡P Yellow-brown |
¡P Brown |
¡P Maderized |
|
¡P Brown |
|
Color tells you a lot about the wine. Since we start with the white wines, I'll tell you three reasons why a white wine may have more color:
1. It's older
2. Different grape varieties give different color e.g. Chardonnay usually gives off a deeper color than does Riesling.)
3. The wine was aged in wood.
<<Swirl>>
Why do we swirl wine? This is to allow oxygen to get into the wine, swirling is like to release the esters, ethers, and aldehydes that combine with oxygen to yield the bouquet of the wine. In other words, swirling aerates the wine and gives you a better smell.
Everyone does a great job swirling wine. You can do it any way you want, with your left hand, your right hand, with two fingers, behind your back¡Kso on. Some wine experts say that if you put your hand over the glass while you swirl, you will get a better bouquet and aroma.
However, swirl is not easy to learn, so we have to start swirling every day, and everything like your water, coffee, milk, orange juice and even coke.
