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November 2008 - Wine Caddy

A Featured Wine Caddy Article

Wine Tasting for the Average Joe



Going to a wine tasting can be a very fun and enjoyable experience. 
However, many people do not attend for fear of not knowing exactly how to act or
what to do. There no great mystery to wine tastings, just a few things you
should remember. 


As far as etiquette, usually the ladies are served before the
gentlemen.  Some wine tastings offer you bottled water.  Use this to
rinse out your mouth between tastings so your palate is clean for the next
wine.  There is often unsalted and unflavored crackers and bread to help
palate cleansing as well.  You should always handle the wine glass by the
stem.  This helps avoid heating the wine with the warmth of your hands,
thus altering the taste.  Avoid wearing strong perfumes and colognes to a
wine tasting.  That may take away from not only your smell, but also that
of the other guests.  Also, avoid smoking, gum, and mints before and during
a wine tasting to be able to enjoy the full flavor of the wine.


You can tell a lot about a wine just by looking at its color.  When you
attend a wine tasting, the glasses should always be clear so you can get a good
look at the wine.  The tables may also be covered with white tablecloths to
help you see the wine's color clearly.  Do not let the wine name full
you.  For example, white wines are not white in color.  They may range
from yellow to green to brown.  Red wines range in color from pale red to a
deep brownish red and often become lighter with age.  Sometimes the color
of a wine may indicate age or flavor.  You may be able to tell the age of a
red wine by doing a rim test.  Tilt the glass slightly towards the rim of
the wine glass and look at the wine.  If the color of the red wine is more
of a purple, it is usually a younger wine.  If the color of the red wine is
brown, it is an older wine. 


Another thing you may have seen people do before they taste wine is swirl it
slightly in the glass.  This is to help open up the wine's flavor. 
Remember that the wine may have been in a bottle anywhere from six months to
many, many years.  When someone swirls a wine, it helps release the
flavors.  Just like when you're cooking at home and stir the food to help
blend the flavors.


The color of the wine is just one aspect you will want to look at when you
attend a wine tasting.  You will also want to smell the wine.  After
swirling, this is the next step in the tasting process.  You have probably
seen people smell wine before and wondered why they did it.  Smell plays a
very important part in what we taste.  Researchers have determined that
perhaps as much as 75% of what we taste is actually based on what we smell
first.  You can smell your wine one of two ways:  taking a small whiff
to get an idea of how the wine smells, then a deeper whiff or take one deep
whiff.  After smelling the wine, take a minute to think about the
smell.   You do not want to immediately taste it after smelling but
give yourself time to explore exactly what you smelled.


Finally, you will need to know is how to taste the wine properly.  Your
tongue has taste buds in both the front and back.  These taste buds can
detect bitter, salty, sweet, and sour flavors, but some are more sensitive than
others are.  There are three steps in tasting a wine:  the first
impression, the taste, and the aftertaste.  The first impression happens
when you take your first drink and the wine actually hits your taste buds. 
It should awaken your sense to the wine.  After taking the first drink, you
should swish the wine around your mouth for a few seconds to let all your taste
buds discover the full flavor of the wine.  Think about what the wine
tastes like.  Is it light or heavy?  Is the smooth or harsh?  The
aftertaste is the sensation that remains in your mouth after swallowing the
wine.  How long did it last and was it pleasant?


Before attending a wine tasting, it may help you feel more confident to read
about the different types of wines.  This will give you a better idea of
what to look for as far as flavor and taste.  Next time you are invited to
a wine tasting; do not be afraid to go.   You may be missing a great
experience! 


About the Author


Jason Connors is a successful writer and wine connoisseur providing valuable tips and advice on wine cellar design, wine making, and wine basics. http://www.about-wine.net

A synopsis on Wine Caddy.

Wine Tasting for the Average Joe


Going to a wine tasting can be a very fun and enjoyable experience. 
However, many people do not attend for fear of not knowing exactly how to a...


Click Here to Read More About Wine ...

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Sweet Sherries

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8:07 AM

Most of the matter here is relevant to Gold Book . This was the main intention of writing on Gold Book , to propagate its value and meaning.

Gold Book For Your Reading Pleasure

Restaurant Wine List Review - Wine Taste, Why Keep It a Secret?


We?re your customers. That?s right, we pay your bills ? so listen up. Why can?t we understand your wine list? We know what we like, but your wine list doesn?t give us a clue. Ok, so we?re not wine knowledgeable, don?t hate us because we?d still like some wine that we?ll enjoy. We really like wine, especially with a good meal. But we don?t want to study the stuff so we can understand your wine list and know how a wine will taste.

Count these up: 1) County of Origin, 2) Producer, 3) Vintage date, 4) Appellation, 5) Variety of Grape, 6) Vineyard, and 7) season the grapes were picked (Ice Wine, Late Harvest, etc.). That?s right, seven items of information must be catalogued and understood to give us a chance at knowing what a wine tastes like when reading your traditional wine list. Keep six of these, change the seventh, and all bets are off on how the wine will taste. We get as confused as a blind dog in a meat house.

If you hear a lot of us saying, ?Just give me a glass of your house white,? you have a wine list problem. Hey, we?re not too cheap to buy a bottle of wine; we just don?t want to make a sizeable investment in a bottle we may not like. So why keep us in the dark, trying to decipher your wine list code? Why not tell us how the wine tastes, and we?ll pop for a bottle or two.

Expensive restaurants once solved this problem with a sommelier whose job it was to discern our taste preference, analyze the menu we?ve ordered, and recommend a wine we would enjoy with our meal. There are precious few qualified sommeliers around these days, especially in affordable restaurants. When your wait staff recommends, it?s usually wines they like.

The only thing worse than a traditional wine list is one with ?winese? puffery descriptions.
Example: ?This wine has hints of dark tree fruit, root vegetable, autumn leaves, pears, berries and vanilla, with a strong finish of cigar box.? Amazing! Do you have something that tastes like wine?

In January of 1980, Grey Moss Inn in Grey Forrest, Texas, implemented the ?Customer Friendly Wine List.? Customers could order wines by the way they taste for the first time ever. The wine list was divided into categories:

1) Slightly Sweet, 2) Light, Soft, 3) Light, Crisp, Fruity, 3) Fuller, Rounded, Dry,
4) Elegance, Finesse, 5) Robust, Complex, Full Flavored 6) After Dinner Sweet

Red, white and rose wines all appeared in most categories. Some wines like Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon appeared under as many as three categories. As customers, we knew that by staying within a category we could be experimental ordering wine and still enjoy our selection.

Jill Goolden published the book, The Taste of Wine, around 1990 , and about a decade later Fiona Beckett published Wines by Style. The thesis of these books is to classify wine by how it tastes, rather than the seven criteria above. These books led to a rash of wine lists offering up their contents by taste profile ? but these glimmering lights seem to be flickering out.

If you lack the confidence to develop a wine list for your restaurant that lets us order wines by the way they taste, hire a qualified wine consultant, or work closely with your vendors to achieve your goal. Then watch your wines sales grow from glasses to bottles, as we feel comfortable ordering from your list.

Bill Stephens writes the syndicated column http://www.heyrestaurantguy.com . His 35 year career in food service includes restaurateur, caterer, food and wine columnist for Harte-Hanks, Murdoch and Hearst Newspapers, food and wine magazine journalist, and he consults for restaurants with Bill Stephens Associates http://www.billstephensassociates.com



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Nancy Wine

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