Tag: Tasting
How to Attend a Wine Tasting
Posted onOf course, we’re talking about wine-tasting as something you go out and do, whether it’s on a winery tour, at a friend’s house, or some catered event.
If attending at a winery, do take the time first to find out about the winery’s history. This might involve a tour of the place, with the summer help giving you a little walk-around and five-minute speech. Read the brochures. Studying the history of a place is part of appreciating the romance and magic of wine; you’ll always learn something new and fascinating.
In the actual tasting, progress through the wines in order from lightest to heaviest. In fact, whenever you’ll be sampling several wines in a row (or even when you’re serving them), follow the general rule:
* Young wines before mature ones.
* Light wines before heavy ones.
* Chilled wines before chambered wines.
* Low alcohol before high alcohol.
* Dry wines before sweet wines.
If you don’t know which is which, ask the winery staff, who will only be too happy to point them out. They will understand that part of the purpose of wine-tasting is to learn more about wine, so don’t be shy if you want to ask questions.
Between wines, it is customary to either rinse with water or nibble on a piece of bread or pastry to cleanse the palate. Some wineries or events will give you a small sample – almost a “shot” – and others will let you have a glass or two of one wine if you fancy it. Do try to restrain yourself! Several wines in a row can build up alcohol levels unexpectedly fast. Sip small amounts of each one, and by all means take your time.
Now you get to find out one of the mysteries of wine: why do they use those funny-shaped glasses? Well, when you get a new glass of wine, swirl it around gently just like you see the aristocrats do. Now hold the glass still. Watch the edge of the liquid as it stops moving; do you see little tendrils of wine clinging to the sides of the glass? Those are called “legs”, and the more legs a wine has clinging to the sides of the glass after you swirl it, the more alcohol it contains.
A second purpose to the swirling motion is that this allows the wine to “breathe”. So after it’s settled a little, inhale with your nose over the glass. About half of how a wine tastes is tied up with how it smells, and the aroma of wine is an intended part of the experience.
And you thought they were doing that just to look like sophisticated show-offs!
Now you’re ready for a taste. Sip a little less than a mouthful, and roll it around on your tongue. Hit every taste bud you have with it, even under your tongue. Let the vapors from it permeate your sinuses. Now swallow – don’t spit, as that’s only something that judges do and even then they’d rather swallow if they think they can get by. Let the aftertaste come to your palate. Now’s the time to voice your reaction: how was it? Don’t be shy about your opinion; every taster can tell the staff something new about their wine.
If you’re tasting several wines, take a break every now and then and stroll around. The property of most wineries is worth a walk just to soak up the scenery and atmosphere. If it’s a social occasion, all the more reason to pace yourself as you socialize. At a winery, there will usually be a time at the end of the tasting where they give you the opportunity to buy something. By all means, feel free to fall in love with a bottle or two and adopt it!
By the way, would you believe that there are people who do this for a living? There are people blessed with “perfect pitch” in tasting, who take courses and get a diploma and everything, and then wineries hire them to give their expert opinion about the wine. How’s that for the life?
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Wine Making and Tasting
Posted onIn your search for wine making recipes online, you will encounter a variety of interesting recipes from which to choose; there are standard ones for beginners, variations from the classics, innovative ones that are exciting to make, and there are the organic recipes to keep you fit and healthy.
With a jug of water, some yeast and pectic enzyme, some sugar, and other flavorings, there are many homemade wine making recipes you can experiment with. You can make wine from your favorite fruits like your all-time favorite grapes and strawberries as well as apples, apricots, peaches, bananas, pineapples, and all sorts of berries. You can also make them from nuts like almonds and hazelnuts. You can try roses, lilac, and dandelions, too. There is a world of wine making recipes out there, and they’re just a click away.
To say a wine is sound and round or well-rounded, means it is well-balanced. Smooth means that the wine is just right, while sharp and rough mean that the wine is imbalanced a bit strong and falling between sour and tart in terms of acidity. Silky means that the wine is fine and balanced. In essence, wine has three basic components: Fruit, acidity, and tannin. To make a good wine, these three components must be in balance, not overwhelming.
There are variations in taste, such as soft in contrast to hard and light in contrast to heavy referring to tannins. Based on its flavor, a wine might be described as nutty or earthy. It would be unfavorable and faulty if it were said to be mousy, musty, moldy, or faded. As the names imply, Yuck!
A wine’s dosage means the amount of sugar added to wine, especially to sparkling wine. Thus, derive the terms sweet and dry and the semi’s in between. Cloying, on the other hand, suggests that the wine is too sweet for comfort.
As a whole, a wine should have a finish that is pleasant just as you swallow, and an aftertaste that is likewise pleasant after you swallow the wine and it lingers inside your mouth.
Aroma is how a young wine smells. Green is what it tastes like. Clean is when you have no complaints, and herbaceous is as grassy and organic as they get. Thin is when the wine is bland, and hot is when wine really burns. It’s for fire-breathing dragons and not for you.
But the most important ingredients of all, you find inside yourself. Wine making involves a passionate desire to learn. It entails patience and discipline. It takes time. You ferment, blend, and age along with it, with grace. It takes a real love for wine, be it white or red, sweet or dry, crackling or sparkling, local or foreign.
They say the best way to know wine is to drink some and enjoy some. Get to know the experience of it. Appreciate the nuances of each unique kind and brand. Wine can be very much a part of every dining experience and many celebrations in our lifetime.
There are many good wine recipes and every recipe can be extraordinary.
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Wine Tasting For the Novice
Posted onWhen it comes to wine appreciation, there’s so much involved. From wine flavors to aromas to tasting to educational information, it all contributes to the fun you have drinking it, right? No matter where you drink your wine-whether it be a winery, a dinner party, or your own living room-knowing how to taste your wine adds flavors and aromas you may have never enjoyed had you not tried it. If you aren’t sure how to best taste your wine, as opposed to just swig it like a beer-don’t worry, this article’s got you covered. Here’s all you need to know in order to conduct a simple wine tasting for social and your own purposes.
Color- First, when conducting a wine tasting, you want to check out the color. Aside from it being red or white, what shade is it? If it’s a white wine, it can be light yellow, light green, brown, amber, or clear. Depending on the color, you will find a quite a range of taste and aroma.
Opacity- Next, examine how clear it is- in the light. Look closely at your white or red wine to discover translucent or opaque it is dark or light, etc. Moreover, it’s always good to check for cork bits and sediment, as both of these factors will definitely affect your wine experience.
Swirl- It’s what you have all been waiting for: the classic wine swirl. Here it is. Why do people swirl their wine other than looking pretty sophisticated doing it? Because it releases more aroma, and this will take you more fluidly to your next step: smelling your wine.
Smell- Ok, so now that you have swirled your wine and released more aroma by doing so, if you want you can swirl it again-many enthusiasts do. Once you have refreshed its aroma, smell your wine by sniffing lightly over the glass.
Now, Really Smell- Now, that you got a first impression of the wine, take a deeper smell by putting your nose into the glass of wine. Inhale through your nose with your mouth closed. This is typically where a wine enthusiast will say something like, “my, doesn’t that have an oaky aroma?” or something to that effect, but you may or may not recognize an aroma if you are new to wine tasting and haven’t sniffed enough wines. What you are looking for is basically one of a few aromas: oak, vanilla, citrus, floral, or berry scents. If you don’t get it on the first try, certainly try swirling and smelling again.
Taste- Yes, it takes six steps in the average wine tasting to get to actually drink your wine, but if you are doing it properly, it should be well worth it. How do you taste it properly? Take a small sip and introduce it to your taste buds or palate. You should be able to pick up tannin amount, acidity, sugar, and alcohol content. As the wine approaches the middle of your palate, you should be able to pick up which flavors are involved. Then, once swallowed, consider the aftertaste, and how it affected your overall wine experience.
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How to Conduct a Wine Tasting
Posted onWine tasting is a fine art that has been perfected over time. While professional wine tastings are conducted by wine merchants and buyers, it is easy to have your own informal wine tasting at home with friends. Here are some tips to properly taste wine.
First, pick 3 to 6 wines. If you aren’t very familiar with wine yet and are just looking to explore some wines, pick some that you have been eying at the store, anything from red to white. If you want to conduct a more sophisticated wine tasting, limit your wine selection to one type of wine, such as Merlot or Chardonnay, or even to one vineyard. If you want each taste to be a surprise, put the bottles in brown bags so that you and your friends can’t see what wines have been chosen.
For each wine, pour a small amount of wine (2 ounces or less) into stemmed glasses. Smell the wine first to get an impression of the aroma. Taste the wine, then spit it out discreetly, or if you prefer to make your wine tasting more lively, feel free to consume the wine!
Between each sampling, have some small snack foods available to cleanse your palate. Bread with cheese and mild fresh fruit usually work well. Don’t get anything too strong that will interfere with the taste of the wine. Have water available and rinse the wine glasses by swirling some water inside and dumping it out. Continue with each wine until you and your friends have had a chance to taste them all. To make it more interesting, you could set up a contest to see who can correctly guess the type of wine for each bottle.
Wine tasting is a great way to try several wines and learn about the large diversity of wines available. While wine tasting can be as sophisticated and formal as you desire, it can also be as fun and unique an experience as you and your friends want. Think of your own fun personal touches to add to your wine tasting, such as a theme, blindfolded tasting, making special snacks, and more.
For more information on foods to pair with your wine and recipes to try, please visit the informative, interactive food website CD Kitchen here.
Why Only Maotai Platinum Breakthrough Health Wine Tasting Wine Bottleneck – Maotai, Health Wine –
Posted onTiger Spring Sugar Wine Will be during the high-profile Maotai Platinum Wine As the audience the highlight, then, wine has become a platinum Shanghai Expo licensed products, from August 2009 on the market, Maotai platinum wine has not retired and sit as before, the market continued to heat, has continued to affect consumer choice . Many consumers, said: “Platinum breaks through the traditional wine Health wine Taste bottleneck, not the kind of deep sense of taste, drink up the flavor with Maotai almost taste very good. “
Health wine on the market today there are many varieties, most health wine products can not escape the taste of Chinese medicine, in fact, the only way to ensure the health function of health-care wine, and guarantee its taste is extremely difficult, which is why many consumers prefer to drink wine do not drink alcohol because of health. With the platinum wine, the traditional health wine out of the drawbacks of being unable to break through thick Yao Wei, platinum wine taste wine market can not break the improvement of health care legend. Of course, this wine with platinum production plants using high-quality Maotai Maotai Spirit As the base wine, the efforts of its senior bartenders are inseparable. Platinum
Maotai wine Maotai Group own wine, is the national liquor Maotai and the secrets of the perfect combination of Chinese medicine, plant it to produce high-quality Maotai Maotai liquor to wine base, use a variety of natural botanical science compatible by who was Nixon, Kim Il Sung, Tanaka and many other leaders modulation Maotai Mr. Tao-Yeuan Wang Maotai Group senior bartenders carefully modulated, the power of using alcohol, drugs of power, inherited the original Maotai taste, Maotai prominent, light alcohol. Mr. Tao-Yeuan Wang After years of research and development efforts continue to improve platinum wine taste, the final show in front of consumers of platinum test numerous wine Tao-Yeuan Wang obtained the best results. He said: “Platinum wine is nursed back to health for the people of wine, I am 70, and drinking a little, in excellent health.”
Platinum breakthrough health liquor liquor taste of traditional Chinese health wine industry is a big step forward, but also the quality of Maotai Group, the embodiment of winning. In addition, approved by the state, platinum wine can regulate immune function, alleviate fatigue effect, consumption of a variety adjustable and blood, regulating immunity, enhance body resistance to disease is the most perfect health and taste combination.
Learned that there are different price points Maotai platinum wine, different degrees for different consumer groups, but especially for its price range from 100 to more than 800 yuan, choose a large space, many consumers say: “Buy the grade of both platinum wine benefit. “
Lawrence in 2009 Alcohol Fair, Maotai Group Chairman Ji Keliang personally Tasting wine Maotai platinum and spoke highly of his instructions to insist on platinum wine Food Quality and safety as the first principle, subject to implementation of the quality of group output, the speed of development subject to quality, efficiency complying with the quality and volume of complying with the quality, safety of the four subject to the principle of quality first, never play the quality card!
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