How to Host a Wine Tasting Party

By Scott Wells

Having a wine tasting party is a lot of fun. Although, this might seem to be for only the sophisticated crowd, anyone can learn about wine and hold a wine tasting. This is a great way to get together and experiment with new varietals. You can use any method of a wine tasting when you have a party.

The first thing you need to do is determine the type of wine tasting you want to have with your friends. The best 'first' wine tasting method is the Big 8 because this gives everyone a good idea the differences of varietals right up front. You can choose from the horizontal, vertical, pairings with cheese or chocolate, or other methods. It is up to you as it is your wine tasting party.

You will next need to determine who you are going to invite to the party. Be sure there is enough room for all of the guests you want to invite before you send out any invitations. You want enough chairs for people to sit comfortably. You also don't want to have too many people as it could be a bad situation if people feel rushed.

When you think about the amount of people you have at your wine tasting party will help you know how much wine you need to buy. Be sure to have enough so all of the guests are able to taste the same wines.

Thinking about the 'who' in who you are going to invite is important also. You might not want to invite friends who think they are experts on wine or they might get a little annoying. They also might take over the entire learning process of the different wines. This is supposed to be fun so be sure to invite fun people and people who are open minded.

You should design a card for each wine being tasted. This will be filled out by each guest as they taste each wine. They will be able to record the aroma they smell from each wine, the flavor, what it tastes like with a specific cheese, etc. You can also have them score the different wines on the back of each card also.

The best way to do a wine tasting with your friends is by holding a blind wine tasting party. You will need black or dark colored glasses so the guests cannot see the colors of the different wines. This way their perceptions will be more honest and accurate.

You also do not ever want to tell your guests what the prices of a specific wine was because they will immediately pass judgment on whether or not it is a good wine. Some people immediately assume wine is no good if it is less than $100. Never tell the price to your guests, especially if you have many different wines varying greatly in price. It is okay to tell prices after the wine tasting is over.

It is important not to have labels on the bottles or anywhere they can be found. If you leave a label on the counter then you may have a cheating guest. Allow the guests to incorporate their senses properly without any help or hints.

You don't have to go all out when you decorate for a wine tasting party. It is important to have a white table cloth so the wine color can be properly assessed. Many people like to decorate with candles, paintings, and flowers. It is entirely up to you how you want to decorate at your party.

Be sure you have plenty of light at your wine tasting party. This is important or you will have difficulty with proper assessments of the color of the wine. You might serve a very cloudy wine but if the room is dim and candle light is shining it may look brilliant.

When you serve wines at a wine tasting party be sure that they are served from dry to sweet. Start with the light white wines first and work your way slowly to the dark and heavy red wines. You should also start with younger wines to the older wines. If you are doing a vertical test based on years then you will be sure to start with the newest wines first.

When you pour wine at a wine tasting be sure you pour enough in the glass to taste the wine and not too much. Two ounces is usually a perfect amount to pour for your guests to get the right amount for a proper tasting of the wine.

Be sure to provide snacks like unflavored, unsalted crackers and bread to your guests. You don't want your guests to be hungry. This will also cleanse their palate so they are ready for the next wine to try on your list.

The most important thing to consider at a wine tasting party is driving. If your wine tasting party consists of people drinking the wine and not just tasting then they will need to find a ride home. Be sure rides have been arranged so all of your guests are safe when the party is over.

Scott Wells writes for http://DrugAbuseFocus.com/53/ - where you can read alcohol and drug abuse stories for the purpose of inspiration, motivation or to provide hope to you or someone you love. Drug and alcohol abuse is serious. Read the stories of others or anonymously publish true stories about drug and alcohol abuse.

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Wine Tasting - Order, Characteristics and Scoring

By Scott Wells

When you have a wine tasting party or you taste wine with your friends it is very important to serve the wine in the proper order. The appropriate order of wine tasting goes like this. Elderly tasters are always served first, no matter what the gender is. Women will be served next. The men should be served after the women. The host is always served after everyone in the room has a glass.

When you taste different wines you also have to think about the order of the wines being tasted. If you taste heavy or sweet wines before light wines they may leave a taste in your mouth. This is because they tend to dominate the flavor.

A wine taster must taste the lighter wines first or their taste buds will be skewed for tasting other wines. The order wines should be tasted is as follows: sparkling, light white, heavy white, roses, light red, heavy red, and sweet wine.

If you have never tasted the wine it can be hard to know if it is heavy and if it should not be tasted first. You should assess the wines by other characteristics such as the nose, color, and appearance.

Assessing Characteristics

When you assess wine there are a few things to consider. The sweeter and heavier a wine it is you will be able to tell. This is by the swirling method. Red wines that are sweet and heavy will leave swirls on the glass, also known as 'legs'. This is why you want to drink your red wines out of a bigger bowl shaped glass. You need to be able to swirl the glass to assess the sweetness and heaviness of the wine.

The varietal wines present an aroma of the grapes. A good wine taster will be able to tell the varietal blends by the grape smell. Integration is also considered by a wine taster. Integration includes many different components such as acid, tannin, alcohol and others. These components must all be in balance. The proper term when a wine is in balance with these components is 'harmonious fusion'.

When a wine's quality is assessed the term expressiveness is used. This is when the aromas and flavors are well defined in the wine and clearly projected through the taste.

Scoring a Wine

There is a set system when you score wines. It is important to compare the merits of different wines. Different aspects are often weighed when you score wines. It is important to know how to score wines when you taste them with your friends. The aspects you will look at in the wine include the appearance, the smell, also known as the nose, the palate or taste, and the overall taste of the wine.

Not all wine scoring systems are the same. Some are weighted differently. For example, the appearance may be 15% of the score and the nose may be 35%. The nose of the wine being better on one glass of wine may make the wine score higher. Most critics have their own preferred system. It is important to come up with a system before you begin wine tasting so you and your tasters are not confused.

Scott Wells writes for http://MakeChristmasCrafts.com - where you can learn to Make Christmas Crafts just in time for the holiday season.

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The Basics Of Wine Tasting

by: Kadence Buchanan

Wine tasting is an assessment of a wine's quality. It's not just about taste but also covers aroma, color, the way it feels in one's mouth and how long the wine persists in the mouth after tasting. Wine tasting is also one way to determine the maturity of the wine and whether it is suitable for aging or for immediate drinking. Its purpose it to discover the key facets of the wine in order to appreciate it better in every sense of the word.
Wine tasting also serves to compare a particular wine with others that fall into the same price range, region or vintage - its quality, whether it is typical of the region it was made in, whether it uses certain wine making techniques and if it has any faults. It may sound hard to believe, but practiced wine tasters can actually tell if a wine was made through oak fermentation or malolactic fermentation. Their taste buds and their noses are simply that well-developed.
In wine tasting, wine is often served "blind," meaning that the taster should not see the wine's label because he might be influenced by it and to ensure impartial judgment of the wine.
Wine should be served at temperatures of 16 and 18 degrees centigrade (60 and 64 degrees fahrenheit). It is at this temperature that the wine's flavor and aroma is said to be most detectable. It is important that wines be served at the same temperature so that they can be judged using the same standards. The one exception is in the case of sparkling wine, which is usually served chilled mainly because sparkling wine does not taste well when it is warm.
Since wines do not taste alike, the order of tasting the wine is also important. For instance, heavy or sweet wine leaves a lingering taste that can affect the taste of succeeding lighter wines. There is actually a preferred order of tasting: sparkling wines; light whites, then heavy whites; roses; light reds; heavy reds; sweet wines.
So, the next time you see someone smelling his wine or just gently dabbing it on his tongue and lips, you have a better idea of what's going on. In truth, it looks foreign and a little complicated, but anyone can be an accomplished wine taster with some practice. All you have to do is drink more wine. What could be easier?

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Wine Tasting 101 - Quick Terms To Enhance Your Tasting Enjoyment

by: Jennifer de Jong

Wine is a wonderful beverage with many different facets. Some people only drink wine on special occasions, but if you are like me you enjoy trying as many new wines as possible as often as you can. In order to increase your enjoyment and wine drinking satisfaction there are a series of terms and techniques you should become familiar with. Wine comes in different taste, color and ingredients. Tasting more and more of wines will make you more aware of your specific taste and preferences and the specific characteristics of the different varietals. Tasting wine is a sequence of event that enhances the enjoyment of imbibing. Wine can be an intimidating subject, but becoming familiar with the following terms in regards to the taste, flavors, and ingredients of wine will break down the "snob factor" associated with wine and start you on the road to becoming a true connoisseur. The following are some basic wine words to become familiar with.
Sweetness
The degree to which a wine tastes sweet. Sweetness is tasted on the tongue. Residual sugar also can change the viscosity of a wine, making it richer. The impression of sweetness comes from either sugars, or alcohol, or both, and can be altered in relationship to the presence of acidity. The sweetness of the wine can be determined by the amount of fermented sugar and fruit added to it.
Acidity
The next flavor tasted in wine is the feel of acidity. The acid taste can be felt to create taste and freshness in the flavor established. The taste of acidity creates freshness, crispy and zest in a balanced manner. Most of the drinkers prefer acidity taste of wine to come up with the purpose of having the wine. It helps the people to enjoy the taste and make it meaningful. The characteristic of wine differs in each kind of taste and flavor mixed. The degree to which a wine has sourness, or tartness, a taste perceived on the tongue. Derived from natural grape acids, primarily tartaric and malic, but may also include lactic and acetic from microbial action, whether intentional or otherwise. A compound present in all grapes and an essential component of wine that preserves it, enlivens and shapes its flavors and helps prolong its aftertaste. There are four major kinds of acids--tartaric, malic, lactic and citric--found in wine. Acid is identifiable by the crisp, sharp character it imparts to a wine.
Alcohol
Essential component of wine which gives a sense of sweetness, especially in dry wine, and contributes to body and length of finish. Can be noticed as warmth in the back of the throat. Big is a term used often to describe a wine high in alcohol, usually also heavy in body. Too much alcohol in a wine makes it hot. Its affects run from the obvious to the not so obvious. Alcohol doesn't just provide the kick it gives texture ("body"), flavor (roundness and sweetness) and vinosity (makes it smell and taste like wine) as well as providing balance and a certain chemical and physical stability to wines. The primary alcohol is known as ethyl alcohol or ethanol, but there are dozens of other so-called "higher" alcohols which though in minute quantites provide hundreds of flavors.
Fruitiness
The fruitiness can be tasted more in wine, because it is product which extracted from rich grapey fruits. It comes in crispy, freshly and tasty flavors. Tasting term for wine which has retained the fresh flavor of the grapes used in its fermentation. Not to be confused with sweetness. A wine can be fruity and not sweet.
Structure
Related to balance; all of the in mouth basic impressions of sweet, sour, salty, bitter, along with alcohol, body, etc., but in absence of the more complex, organoleptic impressions detectable by the olfactory bulb. In other words, everything but the aroma.
Body
The impression of weight or fullness on the palate; usually the result of a combination of glycerin, alcohol and sugar. Commonly expressed as full-bodied, medium-bodied or medium-weight, or light-bodied.
Understanding these basics will help you to figure out the style of wine that suits you best and will help you to be a much more educated consumer. Soon you will be able to taste a wine and by using these wine basics you should be able to narrow down the type of wine you are drinking without even looking at the label. Your friends will be impressed and your wine confidence will be sky high. CHEERS!

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A Guide on How to Do Wine Tasting the Right Way

By Thomas Sherwood

Going to a wine tasting party can be a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone. However, most people don't attend because they have fear about not knowing how to act in such parties and afraid that they will offend someone or be embarrassed by not knowing how to taste wine.

Basically, the basics of wine tasting are actually quite simple. You don't need to have formal training and everyone can do it. By the time you finish reading this article, you will be well on your way in becoming a wine taster and you will be ready enough to attend wine tasting parties or even go on a wine tasting vacation in some of the most prominent vineyards and wineries in the world.

As far as etiquette is concerned, the ladies are usually served before the gentlemen. In most wine tasting parties, you can expect to be served with room temperature bottled water. The water is to rinse your mouth between tastings in order for your palate to be clean for the next wine. Cold water is not served as cold water will shock your taste buds which can overall affect the taste of the wine.

Also, some wine tasting parties serve unsalted and unflavored bread or crackers. This also helps in palate cleansing, which will also get your palate ready for the next wine tasting.

When tasting wine, it is important that you should always hold the wine glass by the stem and not cup the bowl in your palm. The purpose of this is that it helps in preventing you to heat the wine with the warmth of your hands. You have to remember that this will also affect the overall taste of the wine.

It is also very important that when you attend wine tasting parties, you shouldn't wear strong smelling perfumes or colognes and even after shave. The scent of the perfume will overwhelm the bouquet or the smell of the wine, thus, affecting the taste of the wine. You will not be the only one affected by this, but also other tasters. So, be polite and don't wear strong smelling perfume or other scents.

It is also important that you shouldn't smoke, chew gum, and mints before and during the wine tasting event. This can have an effect on your taste buds and you will not be able to fully enjoy the real flavor of the wine.

Tasting the wine doesn't just involve putting the wine in your mouth and roll it around your tongue a couple of times before spitting or swallowing. You have to remember that wine tasting is all about the wine. It is about the color of the wine, the smell or the bouquet, and of course, the taste.

The first step in tasting wine is by taking a look at its color. The glasses served should always be clean and clear in order for you take a good look at the wine. The tables should be covered with white linen table cloth in order for you to see the wine's color more clearly. You have to remember that white wines aren't always white. It may have a yellow, green and even brown color. For red wines, you will observe that it also has different shades of red. The lighter the color of the red wine is, the older it is.

The color of the wine will also indicate the age or the flavor. Try doing a rim test to look at the color of the wine. Just tilt the glass and look at the wine. If it is purplish in color, it indicates that the wine is young. If it is brownish, it means that it is an older wine.

The next step is to smell the wine. Swirl the wine around the glass to expose the wine to the air, position the glass close to your nose and inhale deeply. Swirling also releases the flavor of the wine. You have to remember that the wine may have been in the bottle for six months to many, many years. By swirling the wine, you will release the flavors. It's like cooking at home where you stir the food in order for you to blend the flavor.

Finally, you now need to taste the wine properly. Don't gulp the wine down. Just take small sips and roll the wine around your tongue. You have tor remember that there are three steps in actual tasting, which is the first impression, the taste and the aftertaste.

These are the steps in tasting wine. So, the next time you are invited to attend a wine tasting party, you will be able to feel more confident as you will know what to do.

Thomas Sherwood is a former Sgt in the United States Marine Corps & owner of Sherwood Locksmithing of La Vergne TN.

Discover all you want and need to know about wine at, please visit The Absolute Beginners Guide To Wine

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How To Taste Wine Like A Professional

by: Ken Finnigan

To many people the sight of a man or woman in a restaurant or bar sniffing and swirling a glass of wine before ultimately tasting it and relaying their satisfaction to the server can seem rather pretentious. However, this is actually the best way to get the most from your bottle of wine; to see, smell and taste every aspect. Whether it is an expensive box of wine or a prize winning bottle of Merlot, to truly appreciate a bottle of wine it is important to learn how to correctly taste wine.
The most important thing to keep in mind when tasting a wine is to be sure to use your senses. Enjoying a glass of wine is not simply about drinking and noting the taste, but about inspecting all aspects of the wine.
Colour is very important in wine which is why people are often seen holding a glass of wine up to the light before drinking it. As wine ages the color of the wine changes. Red wines in general begin as a very dark red or purple color. Over time, red wines tend to fade from this dark shade to a garnet and finally a brick red. At first this color change might only be noticed around the rim of a wine, but over the years the entire wine will fade. White wine on the other hand tends to darken with age. White wines usually start out straw or lemon in color and age to dark amber.
Why is the color of a wine so important to inspect? The color of a bottle of wine with respect to it’s age can be an important key in determining if a bottle of wine has been manufactured poorly. For example, if a one-year-old bottle of Sauvignon Blanc is already a very dark, deep amber color when the bottle is first opened, this could signify that the bottle has not been manufactured and processed correctly causing the wine to age prematurely and not taste it’s best. The same can be said for red wines, if a young bottle of Merlot is already a brick red or brown color when opened, chances are good their was a problem with the bottle and it will not have optimal taste.
Some in the wine community still think it is important to inspect the legs of a glass of wine. “Legs” is a term used to describe the oily wine beads that are on the sides of a glass after it has been swirled around. Many used to think that these legs were a sign of high alcohol or sugar content giving a better quality of wine, and while this might be true in a variety of cases, nowadays most people prefer to use taste as a better method of assessing quality.
T he best way to release the aromas of a glass of wine is to swirl it for a few moments. Swirling helps to agitate the wine and allows more oxygen to have contact with the wine, which in turn releases aromas. It is important to smell a glass of wine before drinking to ensure that the wine smells healthy. A wine should never smell moldy, stale, oxidized, or vinegary in any way.
Aside from checking if a wine smells healthy, swirling a glass of wine is also a great way to be able to smell the primary and/or secondary aromas. Primary aromas are usually found in younger wines, and usually are fruit related, such as orange, raspberry and cherry. Older wines take on secondary aromas, which are earthier. Sometimes wines are said to have an oak, musk or butter flavor, which all are considered secondary aromas.
Finally there is using your palate and tasting the wine. Does the wine taste fruity or earthy? Is it sweet or dry? What kind of texture does it have; thin, buttery, rich? How long did the flavor last after it the wine was swallowed? A wine that lingers is a sign of a good quality wine, but it also means the flavor can be enjoyed longer.
Now that the basics of wine tasting have been revealed, the next time you order a bottle of wine, don’t be embarrassed to sniff it, swirl it and taste it like a professional.

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4 Easy Steps to Wine Tasting

by: Jennifer de Jong

  Legend has it that Cleopatra once promised Marc Anthony she would "drink the value of a province" in one cup of wine, after which she drank an expensive pearl with a cup of wine. Marilyn Monroe is rumored to have bathed in a bathtub of champagne. The lure of wine is cross-cultural and going strong. Enjoying wine, once surrounded by pomp and circumstance, is now something that many of us do on a daily basis to enjoy food, friends, and family. There is no reason each experience shouldn't be as exceptional as taking a bath in Champagne. Knowing a few simple tips about tasting wine can enhance your wine experience by leaps and bounds and easily transition you from a wine lover to a wine expert.
STEP 1 - LOOKING
Fill the glass about one-third full, never more than half-full. Pick it up by the stem. This may feel awkward at first, but there are good reasons: Holding the glass by its bowl hides the liquid from view; fingerprints blur its color; the heat of your hand alters the wine's temperature. Wine experts can usually tell right away how much a person knows about wine by looking at the way they hold their glass.
Focus on the hue, intensity and clarity of the wine color. The true color, or hue, of the wine is best judged by tilting the glass and looking at the wine through the rim, to see the variation from the deepest part of the liquid to its edges. Intensity can best be gauged looking straight down through the wine from above. Clarity-whether the wine is brilliant, or cloudy with particles-is most evident when light is shining sideways through the glass.
STEP 2 - SWIRLING
Next comes the swirling. This too can feel unnatural, even dangerous if your glass it too full and your carpet or clothing is new. But besides stirring up the full range of colors, it lets the wine breathe a little and releases some of the aroma for examination. The easiest way to swirl is to rest the base of the glass on a table, hold the stem between thumb and forefinger, and gently rotate the wrist. Right-handers will find a counter-clockwise motion easiest, left-handers the reverse.
Move the glass until the wine is dancing, climbing nearly to the rim. Then stop. As the liquid settles back into the bottom of the glass, a transparent film will appear on the inside of the bowl, known as the wine's "tears" or "legs." You will often hear people pondering about the legs or showing them off, "Hey look at the legs on this wine!", but in truth they're simply an indication of the amount of alcohol in the wine: the more alcohol, the more tears or legs.
STEP 3 - SMELLING
When you stop swirling, and the legs are falling, it's time to take the next step: smelling. Swirling the wine vaporizes it, and the thin sheet of liquid on the sides of the glass evaporates rapidly; the result is an intensification of the aromas. I'm sure you've seen wine snobs do this and you have laughed at them, but stick your nose right into the bowl and inhale.
There's no consensus about the proper sniffing technique. Some advocate two or three quick inhalations; others prefer one deep, sharp sniff. I've seen tasters close one nostril, sniff, then close the other and sniff again. It really doesn't matter how you do it as long as you get a good sniff in. With practice, and keen attention, you'll learn how to maximize your perception of aromas, and then how to decipher them.
The world of smell is vast and bewildering. First of all, our olfactory equipment is incredibly sensitive; we can distinguish aromas in quantities so small that laboratory equipment can scarcely measure them. Second, our analytic capacity is extraordinary; estimates of the number of different smells humans can identify range up to 10,000!
As with color, wine's aromas offer insights into character, origin and history. Because our actual sense of taste is limited to four simple categories (the well-known sweet, sour, bitter and salt), aroma is the most revealing aspect of our examination. But don't simply sniff for clues. Revel in the sensation. Scientists say smells have direct access to the brain, connecting immediately to memory and emotion. Like a lover's perfume, or the scent of cookies from childhood, wine's aromas can evoke a specific place and time with uncanny power.
STEP 4 - TASTING
With the aromas still reverberating through your senses, put the glass to your lips and take some liquid in. How much? You need to have enough volume to work it all around your tasting apparatus, but not so much that you're forced to swallow right away.
Because you don't want to swallow, not just yet. It takes time and effort to force the wine to divulge its secrets. I keep a pleasant wine in my mouth for 10 to 15 seconds, sometimes more.
Roll the wine all around your mouth, bringing it into contact with every part, because each decodes a different aspect of the liquid. Wine provokes sensations, too: The astringency of tannins is most perceptible on the inner cheeks; the heat of the alcohol burns in the back of the throat.
First, as you hold the wine in your mouth, purse your lips and inhale gently through them. This creates a bubbling noise children find immensely amusing. It also accelerates vaporization, intensifying the aromas. Second, chew the wine vigorously, sloshing it around in your mouth, to draw every last nuance of flavor from the wine.
Don't forget the finish. After you swallow, exhale gently and slowly through both your nose and mouth. The retro-nasal passage, which connects the throat and the nose, is another avenue for aromas, which can linger long after the wine is finally swallowed. You'll find that the better the wine, the more complex, profound and long-lasting these residual aromas can be. With great wines, sensitive tasters and minimal distractions, the finish can last a minute or more. It's a moment of meditation and communion that no other beverage can create.

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The Art of Tasting Wine

by: Jennie Wills

There is a lot of finesse and etiquette involved when it comes to tasting wine, but this is no reason to be intimidated and run away! Tasting wine is where all the fun begins.

Smelling, sipping, tasting, and drinking! The etiquette in wine tasting exists because taste is entirely affected by smell. Wine has so much to offer our taste buds, so in order to get the whole experience a short ritual must first occur.

1. Color - Take a look. View the wine, examine its color. Each varietal will show similar variances of color so this will be your first clue in determining the right grape. For a sommelier or avid wine junkie, this step can paint a larger picture about the varietal, region, and age of the wine in question while even prepare the participant for what to expect. As an amateur however take a mental picture, admire the beauty the wine beholds and prepare to taste!

2. Swirl – I am quite sure you have seen diners swirling their glasses of wine at least somewhere once. This step is integral to the art of smelling as swirling acts as a catalyst in releasing the wine’s bouquet. A bouquet refers to the overall smell of the wine, and is also known as “the nose”. After a bottle is opened and poured it requires oxygen in order to develop into the treasure it was meant to be. Swirling encourages aeration, allowing more oxygen to get into the wine and release the bouquet. So get swirling!

3. Smell – This step is critical in tasting wine as our sense of taste is good, however our sense of smell is much better, in fact on average a person can smell over 2000 various scents! What we smell also affects what we taste so it is important to take the time to smell the wine before you taste. You will begin to notice many different scents that may be hard to differentiate at first. Try opening a few different bottles of white varietals or red varietals and smell each. Notice the differences between them. Does it smell like a particular fruit or spice? Does is smell burnt or like tar? Maybe it smells woody or nutty? By practicing you will be better able to determine different characteristics in the wine and of course be able to determine the varietal right away.

The last and equally important part about smelling wine is to identify whether the wine is “off” or in other words bad. Wine, like most everything, is not perfect all of the time. A nose that reflects the dank smell of a moldy cellar is a sure sign of a “corked wine”. This is the most common fault found in wine caused by a contaminant called TCA which is found mostly in corks but can also reside in wood barrels, walls, and beams. Unfortunately this ugly little impurity can cause a lot of damage. So use your senses to detect corked wine, and take your damaged bottle back to where you bought it for a refund!

4. Taste – This is not a cue for drinking! This simply means to take a sip and hold it on the palate for at least a few moments. We have thousands of taste buds all over the mouth so it makes sense to allow the wine to find almost all of them! Move the wine all around the mouth so that it reaches your cheeks and throat. Notice how your taste buds react to the substance. While tasting the wine, consider the following to help determine characteristics.

Sour/Tart: This is determined at the edges of the tongue and back of throat usually signaling acidity.

Sweet: You will experience this taste immediately if there is any residual sugar in the wine as sweetness is determined on the tip of the tongue.

Bitter: This taste is determined at the back of the tongue.

Weight: Felt in the middle of the tongue and around the gums. Light or full?

Tannin: Very astringent sensation felt throughout the mouth especially the gums and teeth. It often coats the taste buds making fruit difficult to detect.

The Finish

Whether you decide to swallow or spit out your taster, be sure to take a little time to review your entire experience with this wine. Really process the journey in order to secure its’ story into your mental records. Ask yourself a few questions and take some tasting notes if you like: What did this wine show you? Did you enjoy it? What did you like/dislike about it? Was it well balanced? A well balanced wine is not too much of any one taste, flavor, or sensation; it’s just right!

It is also wise to pay attention to how long its’ presence lasts in your mouth. This is known as the length of the wine. A great wine can last for several minutes!

Like any sport or hobby, practice makes perfect; the more you taste the more knowledge you’ll gain on this quenching subject.

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How to Begin Wine Collecting

by: Dakota Caudilla

Some people collect wine for money…and some people collect wine because they have a passion for wine. Irregardless of whether you’re collecting wine for profit or for pleasure, collecting wine requires some investment. Enjoying wine is a completely different thing from collecting wine, bear this in mind.

When it comes to collecting wine, one of the most important thing to consider is where you’re going to keep the wine. A substantial portion of your investment towards your wine collection hobby is in ensuring that there’s a suitable place to store your wine. The motive is to ensure that the wine collection will increase in value, not decrease. Believe it or not, the storage and the way the wine is kept make a world of difference.

Wine that is kept, collected and protected in suitable condition will age nicely and will turn into vintage wines. However, if your wine collection is not properly cared for, well, you’ll know. The quality of the wine collection will deteriorate and a wine expert will be able to tell that your wine has been ill-treated.

First of all, do extensive research on the many different types of wines there are in the market. Some wines are meant to be kept and stored over a long period of time, some are not. Books on wine collection should be bought and if you’re at all serious about wine collection, spend some time reading through them and understand the different types of wines and the way that they should be kept. If keeping and reading books on wine is not your ‘glass of wine’, you can do your research on the internet. Either way, there’s a wealth of information on wine that you can find. Explore, absorb and remember.

Once you understand the way each type of wine should be kept, it’s time for you to design and construct the place where your wine is to be kept. This depends on the kind of wine you intend to keep there, of course.

And after you’ve built your wine ‘cellar’ (bear in mind, sometimes, wine cellars are not necessarily built in cellars), you should start purchasing wine; wine that you like. One basic thing to remember is that wine is differentiated with the provenance of the vintage. The better the storage, the better the quality. The better the quality, the higher the price. Before you buy wine, ask the seller for an authentic certificate. This may sound so trivial but it’s important if you want to know and be sure that you’re purchasing high quality wine. This is especially important if you’re making a bulk purchase of the wine.

In collecting wine, you would want to strive for a balance between New Age wine from Australia and Chile and with Old World Wine from Europe. Bear in mind that ready-to-drink wine is not suitable for long-term safekeeping. Dessert wine is also best opened and consumed within a short period of time. Know the difference before you start collecting wine.

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Red Wine and White Wine

by: Tracy Crowe

I have been wondering about the difference between red wines and white wines. To me, they taste quite different. Red wines are heavier and more complex than white wine, and often tend to be less sweet. Why is this? Actually red and white wines are made quite differently. The differences between red and white wines include the kinds of grapes used, the fermentation and aging process, and the character and flavor of the wine.
White wines are almost always made from white grapes, although they can be made from black grapes, since the juice in most black grapes is clear. When white wine is made, the skins of the grapes are separated from the juice when they are put into a crushing machine. Then yeast is added to the juice for fermentation, until the juice becomes white wine. After filtering etc, the wine is aged by storing it in stainless steel or occasionally oak containers and bottled after a few months. White wines, then, are made without skins or seeds and are essentially fermented grape juice. They have a light character and have crisp fruit flavors and aromas. They can be sweet or dry or somewhere in between. Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio/ Pinot Gris, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc are all white wines.
Red wine is usually made from red or black grapes, although all the kinds of grapes usually have a clear juice. The process of making red wine is different from the one of making white wine. After the grapes have been in the crushing machine, the red grapes with their skins and everything sit in a fermentation vat for a period of time, typically about one to two weeks. . The skins tend to rise to the surface of the mixture and form a layer on top. The winemaker frequently mixes this layer back into the fermenting juice (which is called must). After fermentation is over, the new wine is taken from the vat. A little "free run" juice is allowed to pour and the rest of the must is squeezed into "press wine". The wine is clarified and then is stored, usually in oak containers, for several months until it is ready to be bottled. The oak containers add additional wood tannins and flavors to the wine which help to intensify it and add richness to it. The result of this process is that red wines exhibit a set of rich flavors with spicy, herby, and even meaty characteristics. Beaujolais, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chianti, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel are all red wines.
The main difference between red and white wines is the amount of tannins they have. Since tannins largely come from the grape skins, red wines have more of them than white wines. Red wine acquires it's tannins in the process of maceration (leaving juice to mix together with the skin, seeds and woody bits). It is the tannins and skins of the red grapes which are released into the wine that contribute to the deep color and flavor of red wine. Tannins have a slightly bitter taste and create a dry puckery sensation in the mouth and in the back of the throat; and often lend a wonderful complexity to red wine. They also help preserve the wine. This is why red wines are usually aged longer than white wines.
There are as many different flavor profiles among red wines as there are among white ones. Some red wines are sweet and fruity, while some whites ( such as Chardonnay) have tannins from being stored in oak containers. Some German white wines have lasted for centuries, while some red wines are made for immeadiate consumption. For wines meant for consumption right away the winemaker takes out the bitter tannins, creating a fruity, fresh, and approachable wine. So, apart from the color, there are no hard and fast rules about the differences between red and white wine.
Is it true that red wine is better for you? The research of Dr Frankel has shown that red wine contains more antioxidants than white wine, although the total amount varies according to the variety of grape, region it was grown, the climate and soil it was grown in, and whether it was stored in oak (since wines stored in oak have more antioxidants) and the filtration techniques used. However the antioxidants in white wine are apparently more effective. The research of Dr Troup shows that the antioxidant molecules in white wine are smaller and thus more effective because they can be more easily absorbed. It seems that white wine is just as healthy as red wine.
In summary, the primary difference between red and white wine is the amount of tannins they contain, although there are no hard and fast rules about the differences between them outside of the color of the wine. Usually red wines are more complex, richer, and heavier, with spicy, herby, and even meaty characteristics. White wines are usually sweeter, and lighter, and have crisp fruit flavors and aromas. Neither is significantly better for you. Which wine is best for you to drink is simply a matter of taste.

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