Wine Tasting Tips - Developing Your Palate - Enjoying Fine Wines - How to Taste Wine

Wine has been a part of human culture for many, many years.

Indeed, wine has come a long way and today, it is still one of the most popular beverages in the world.

Today, many people host wine tasting parties to celebrate the wonderful beverage that is wine. Parties like these are quite enjoyable as you will be able to taste different kinds of wine and also experience new flavors.

However, what if you don't know how to taste wine? Surely you wouldn't want to be the laughing stock at the party just because you don't know how to taste wine properly. So, here are some basics on how to taste wine.

The first step in tasting wine is by looking at the wine. Never ever fill the glass with wine. The reason for this is that when it is time for you to rim test the wine, you will need to tilt the glass to take a look at its color. Now, you can't tilt a wine glass if it is full of wine, can you?

You need to hold the wine glass by the stem and never by the bowl. Although this may feel awkward at first, you need to remember that the purpose for this is to avoid altering the wine temperature with the warmth of your hands. Another reason is to avoid blurring the color of the wine with your fingerprints.

After observing the wine's color, the next step is swirling the wine. The purpose for this is to release the aroma as well as the flavor. Swirling the wine will also expose the tears or the legs of the wine. The more tears or legs in the wine, the higher the amount of alcohol there is in the wine.

The next step is to smell the wine. When you swirled the wine around, you also exposed the scent of the wine. Now, stick your nose right in to the bowl of the wine and inhale deeply. About two inhalations will do.

The smell of the wine will also indicate its age or its origin. The quality of the wine may also be determined by the smell alone.

After that, you are now ready for tasting the wine. Tasting the wine doesn't involve gulping everything inside the wine glass at once. It involves doing small sips on the wine and most important of all, you need to be able to taste it.

After having wine inside your mouth, you need to roll the wine around your tongue. There are three things that you need to remember when you taste the wine. The first is the first impression or what the wine tastes like when it enters your mouth, the second is the taste or the flavor of the wine when you are actually swirling the wine around your mouth and the third is the aftertaste, which is the lingering flavor after swallowing the wine.

These are the things that you need to remember when you taste wine. Remember these tips and you can be sure that you will be able to know what to do when you attend a wine tasting party.

Anita LaRaia's Pick a Perfect Wine in No Time
Walking into a wine shop or perusing a restaurant's wine menu can be an overwhelming event. With many stores and upscale eateries offering more than a thousand wines to choose from, the average consumer needs a guide like Anita LaRaia. As the founder and director of The Wine School of Atlanta, Georgia, Anita has taught thousands of wine classes over the past 26 years and graduated some of the country's top wine connoisseurs. Using her unique blend of wine expertise, practical advice, and easy-to-read conversational explanations, Pick a Perfect Wine In No Time covers everything you need to know about wines and their food partners. With full coverage of important topics like vintages, vineyards from around the world, wine types, and wine labels, even the most inexperienced wine drinker can impress the wine steward at a fancy, upscale restaurant.

Anita includes valuable reference information on wine vintages, exciting food and wine combinations, menus and recipes for hosting wine events, how to start a wine collection on any budget, plus finding the perfect tour of the wine country in California, France, or Italy.

Wine Grape Bonsai
This eco-conscious Wine Grape Bonsai are 10-12 year old wine grape specimens, literally bringing an authentic piece of California's Wine Country heritage into your home. This bonsai is grown best on a patio that's protected from the elements, but it will do equally well in any shaded spot. Watching your bonsai go from the active growing season into its dormant season will put you more in touch with the earth and its cycles. Complete care instructions included.

• VeriFlora® Certified
  
• 10" to 12" Height
  
• 8" to 10" Diameter
  
• Natural ceramic container
  
• Container measures 4"W x 6"L x 2½"H
  
• Recommended for indoors
  
• 10 to 12 year old plant
  
• California grown

Red Wine
Red wine is made from red, blue, or purple grapes. The grape juice is fermented with the skins of the grapes, which give the wine its color. Popular red wines include:

Beaujolais - features a light and fruity flavor
Bordeaux - flavor of berries and woods
Burgundy - the classic French wine, very complex taste
Cabernet Sauvignon - a deep, rich-tasting wine
Chianti - features a deep red color, and strong taste
Merlot - mellow tasting wine
Pinot Noir - light, often with a fruity taste
Zinfandel - wine features a peppery taste

White Wine
White wine can be made from the juice of any grape, but is usually made from white grapes. The grape juice, which is white in color, is fermented without the grape skins. The most popular white wines are:

Chablis - features a light, crisp taste
Chardonnay - dry, with a variety of flavors
Pinot Grigio - a dry, light-tasting wine
Riesling - sweet, often served as a dessert wine
Sauvignon Blanc - soft, with a smoky taste
Soave - a delicate, light-bodied wine

Blush Wine
Blush, or Rose wine is made from red grapes. The skins are fermented with the juice for a short period, so the wine takes only a small amount of color.

Rose - light, slightly sweet, and pinkish in color
White Zinfandel - pale rose color, sweet taste

Essential Wine Tasting Kit
Filled with everything you need to conduct more than 30 wine tastings, The Wine Enthusiast Essential Wine Tasting Kit is the foundation of any wine tasting party. Complete with essential tips on buying, storing, and enjoying wine, this kit is sure to help you plan a pleasurable and entertaining evening of wine tasting and camaraderie. With this kit, you and your friends will learn how to taste wine and identify its various flavors. You will also learn wine vocabulary, and how to stock your home with your favorite bottlings.

Kit Includes:

• The Wine Enthusiast Pocket Guide to Wine. The world of wine in a nutshell, with essential information on how to maximize enjoyment of every glass.
  
• 2 Tasting Checklist Notepads: With suggested descriptions to help you pinpoint the tastes and aromas of both red and white wines.
  
• 6 Reusable Cloth Bottle Bags
  
• 6 Reusable Bottle Stoppers
  
• 24 Color-Coded Bottle Tags
  
• Coupon for 2 free issues of Wine Enthusiast Magazine
  
• Blank wire journal for keeping track of the wines you love
  
• Wine label removers

Going to a wine tasting party can be a fun and enjoyable experience. However, there are a great many individuals that won't attend such a party when invited -- they are intimidated by the prospect of not knowing how to properly taste and evaluate wine -- and they fear they will offend someone or embarrass themselves.

To enjoy the tasting of wine, no formal training is needed -- in fact, anyone can do it. There are a few basic principles involved; and, once mastered, you will be well on your way to not only being more comfortable, but actually looking forward to situations that would enable you to taste and evaluate wine.

Getting Ready to Go
Remember that your sense of smell is closely tied to that of your sense of taste. As a courtesy to your fellow guests, remember to refrain from wearing strongly scented perfume, cologne, or after shave. You won't want to overshadow the bouquet of the wine you will be sampling. Likewise, you should refrain from smoking, chewing gum or mints before our during the wine tasting event. Smokers should try to avoid smoking before they arrive, as the scent of cigarette smoke tends to hang on your clothing, and can impact the taste of the wine -- both for yourself, as well as for your fellow guests.

The Setup
In most wine tasting situations, a few standard elements will be included -- room temperature bottled water, which is offered to cleanse the palate between tastings. It is served at room temperature, rather than chilled for one specific reason -- cold water will shock the tastebuds, and impact the taste of the wine.

In addition to the water, your hosts will likely offer unsalted or unflavored bread or crackers. Again, this is done so that you may cleanse the palate in between wine tastings.

Serving Begins
Once serving begins, ladies are usually served before gentlemen. Don't be surprised to find that your host will be pouring you roughly a quarter of a glass for you to sample. The glass won't be filled, because it will prevent certain steps in the evaluation process.

Always hold the wine glass by the stem and not cup the bowl in your palm. The purpose of this is that you want to prevent potentially warming the wine with the warmth of your hands -- this will impact the overall flavor of the wine.

The All-Important Tasting
Tasting the wine encompasses a number of things -- the color of the wine, the fragrance (or bouquet), and of course, the taste.

The first step in tasting wine is by taking a look at its color. The glasses used to serve the wine should be clear in color, in order to provide an unobstructed view of the wine. The tables are typically covered with white linen table cloths, in order for you to see the wine's color more clearly. You'll notice that the white wines aren't always white -- in fact, they may be yellow, green and even brown in color. There are color variations in red wines as well -- the lighter the color of the red wine is, the older the wine is.

In addition to the age, the color will also serve as an indicator of the flavor of the wine. 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.

Next, you will want to inhale the fragrance of the wine. To do this, gently swirl the wine around the glass to expose the wine to the air. Next, position the glass close to your nose and inhale deeply. Swirling also releases the flavor of the wine. The wine you are tasting may have been in the bottle for only a few months, or it may have been bottled many years ago -- swirling the wine will release the flavor of the wine.

Finally, you now need to taste the wine properly. 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. Before swallowing the wine, try to observe if there is concentration of deep fruit in the wine. In tasting wines, it is advised that you swallow the wine little by little. The best of wines should display a pleasant and lingering finish.

Younger red wines smell like berries and there is also a slight smell of chocolate, licorice, spice, and mint. Older red wines smell more like prunes or raisins; wines that are of no good or too old smell like that of vinegar. The same pattern is followed by white wines.

Don't be frustrated if you can't identify all of the wine's flavors right away. It takes time and experience to identify the best wines in the world. But if you want to indulge yourself in wine tastings, nothing will improve your skills more than practice.

Always keep in mind that experts started out just like the other beginners. Wine tasting is a good way to discover the best wines in the market.

Wine Tasting Party Kit
Whether it's a casual afternoon in the backyard or a more formal soirée, a wine tasting party is fun and educational for everyone--from novices to sophisticated sippers. Within this all-inclusive kit are the elements to be a terrific host, including cloth wine bottle covers, tasting score pads, a cheat sheet, glass markers, and an entertaining book that introduces you to the ins and outs of tasting wine in a comfortable, festive, social setting--your own home.

Kit Includes:

• 64-page illustrated book
  
• Tasting notepads
  
• Wineglass markers
  
• Six reusable linen wine bottle covers
  
• Cheat sheet of tasting terms

Wines are one of the most popular beverages that are served in parties either formal or just a simple get together. The thought of wine tasting is simply a straightforward experience that will cause you to realize how it is to taste something made out of time. Appreciation for every tangy taste made by the wine through careful hands of winemakers can be achieved.

Think of the smell, look and exciting taste that tingles your senses and make you soon become a pro in recognizing one wine from the other. You have to remember that wines can have several varieties which have unique scents and tastes that can range from sweet, bitter, salty and sour. Discerning the flavor is due to the combination of the taste and smell of the wine at hand.

Wine tasting can be mastered -- and, like any skill, will be improved with practice.

A Word About Wine Clarity and Color
After pouring the wine into a fine wine glass, observe the wine itself. Check out the color by tilting the wine glass away from you direction and determine it from the rim to the middle part of the glass. You can appreciate this more if you have a white background which can either be a napkin, paper, etc. Just by looking at the color, you can identify differences when it comes to wine hues. Red wines are usually colored as ruby, maroon, brownish, purple and even brick red. White wines are known to be colorless although, some white wines are colored amber, light green and golden yellow.


Give In to the Aroma
A person's sense of smell is considered as one of the most important factors in tasting wine because it can analyze primarily if the wine is something that their taste buds can take. In order to get a very good impression of a wine's aroma, try to swirl your wine glass gently which is a way of vaporizing some of the wine's alcohol content and on the other hand, releasing the drink's aroma. After which, try sticking your nose slightly into the glass and make a deep breathe. Vanilla, oak, citrus, flowers and berry are some of the most recognized aromas of a wine. Through a wine's aroma, one can easily indentify the drink's uniqueness and quality.

Taste the Goodness
This is the best part of the entire process. Taste the wine discreetly by starting sipping in small amounts. Then let it stay in your tongue while you enjoy being captivated of the wine's taste. Tasting a wine has three stages wherein you need to take namely the attack stage, evolution and finish.

The attack stage is considered as the initial phase of tasting wherein your palate is the one responsible. There are usually four parts of the puzzle initiating the attack stage which are levels of tannin, content of alcohol, the residual sugar and the acidity of the drink. When these four puzzles combine with one another, they display a distinct crucial sensation right on the palate.

The evolution stage is known as the actual presentation of wine inside the person's tongue and palate which discerns the flavor of the wine. The finish in wine tasting is referred to as the last stage, and determines how long the taste of the wine lasts in your mouth after it has been swallowed.

2006 O'Brien Estate Merlot
Dark and intense, the 2006 Merlot is dense with flamboyant black cherry and plum. Aromatics of crème de cassis and espresso roast lead to flavors of pure black cherry, licorice and hints of cedar that are lingering, exotic, and elegant. Estate bottled, Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley.

O'Brien Estate 2007 Chardonnay
Intense aromas of pear, almond, butterscotch and spice that layer with flavors of fig, tropical fruits and spice in a full-bodied, round and creamy chardonnay with good acidity, a subtle touch of spicy oak, and a long finish. Estate bottled in the Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley.

One of the great joys of wine is being able to select a bottle of wine from your own cellar, perhaps one that you've been storing for some years, draw the cork and enjoy it with friends. You can marvel at the changes brought on by maturity and, as a bonus, you can brag about the price you paid and congratulate yourself on picking up such a bargain!

Out of the many basement ideas that homeowners consider when thinking about renovation, a wine cellar is one of the more unique, fun, and useful projects that can be done.

However, wine is an ever-changing thing and how it is stored will directly affect how quickly and how well it ages!

Storing Wine is Very Simple ...
It requires a constant temperature, humidity, darkness, stillness and a well-ventilated and clean environment.

Insulation
The first essential is to create a storage environment that provides the basics of stable temperature, no light and no vibration.

In general terms 4" (100mm) of polystyrene is the equivalent to 3 ft (1 meter) of ground. So if you're trying to decide between an above ground construction and an underground cavern, you must be prepared to dig deep for the latter.

Your cupboard, indoor space or your outdoor construction must be well shaded, well insulated and with the minimum of air movement in and out.

Temperature
The objective is to provide stored wines with a constant temperature of between 50°F and 59°F (10°C - 15°C).

Seasonal changes in temperature will not harm your wine, although fluctuations greater than one degree a week should be avoided.

Wines subjected to temperatures over 77°F (25°C) are in grave danger of rapid deterioration.

Wines stored in less than ideal conditions will age at speeds quite different to those envisaged by winemakers when they offer suggested storage times. A hygro thermometer will provide you with accurate information as to both the temperature and humidity ranges within your cellar.

A well-constructed above ground cellar or a well dug underground cellar will require the minimum of additional temperature control although your climate or the position of your cellar may necessitate the use of a cooling device that will provide complete temperature stability.

Another alternative is a temperature controlled wine cabinet. Some of these can hold up to 800 bottles but note that some manufacturers' suggested bottle capacity can be misleading and the racks may be smaller than you require. Champagne bottles are larger than Riesling bottles!

Regard assembled wine as your best cooling block. A high density of wine bottles will reduce wine temperature fluctuations.

Consider keeping your long-term wines in a professional storage facility if your cellar cannot conform to the optimum temperature ranges.

Humidity
A dry atmosphere is an enemy of the natural cork seal. A natural cork is compressed and forced into the bottle as a 100% natural seal.

Low humidity combined with a defective cork results in the wine moving out of the bottle (increasing ullage) and air naturally moving into the bottle.

Moderate humidity is important to keep the cork in good resilient condition and prevent it shrinking. Screw capped bottles do not require humidity.

Excessive humidity will not harm the wine but can cause the labels to go moldy. The ideal humidity for your cellar is 70%, however anywhere between 50-80% is acceptable.

Traditional Redwood Magnum Wine Rack - Holds 48 Bottles
This exceptional piece of redwood wine rack furniture makes an incredible addition to your collection. With 3 columns, each 16 rows high, you can store up to 48 bottles in each of these beautiful wood wine racks. Enhance your home wine cellar with a customized look at an affordable price. Easy to assemble, all hardware included. Rack must be secured to wall.

Darkness
Light will prematurely age a bottle of wine. Clear bottles are most susceptible to this problem, but ultraviolet light will penetrate even dark colored glass.

Ultraviolet light will damage wine by causing the degradation of the otherwise stable organic compounds, especially the tannins found in wine. These organic compounds contribute to the aroma, flavor and structure of the wine. Without them your wine would appear flat and thin.

So -- exposure to ultraviolet light results in unfavorable and irreversible changes in your wine. Sparkling wines require extra care as they are more sensitive to light than other wines.

Lay it Down!
Store your wine bottles horizontally so the wine is in contact with the cork. This will keep the cork wet. If the cork dries out and shrinks it will let air get to your wine. Store it with the label facing up. This will help in three ways:

You can easily see what the wine is. You don't need to disturb the bottle to see what you've got in your cellar.

The sediment will form on the opposite side to the label and make it easier to see.

The label is less likely to suffer damage. If you're storing wine as an investment, a damaged label will reduce the value.

Follow the tips above and you'll be on your way to creating a cellar where your wine will age to perfection and a cellar that will be the envy of your friends!

"Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance." - Benjamin Franklin

If you're a wine enthusiast, making your own wine is more than likely a dream you'd love to fulfill. The growing popularity of wine has unleashed a wide variety of methods and equipment designed for home wine makers that you can use to make your own private label wine.

Basic instructions and tips for making your own wine are plentiful on the Internet as well as magazines and books. Before you begin the wine making process, be sure to browse the net or visit your local library or bookstore for more information.

Basic wine making equipment can be purchased online or at any home brewing or home winemaking supply shop in your city. You'll also be able to find a list (including prices) of all the supplies you'll need to get your wine making venture off the ground.

Purchasing a basic wine making kit can be much less expensive than buying the equipment individually. You can start out with a kit and then add the extra gadgets as you progress.

Some wine making starter kits include a hydrometer, sample jar and a crown capper or wine corker. Others include a blend of grape concentrate, grape juice and sugar as well as yeast, stabilizer and clarifier. If the kit you choose doesn't contain oak chips and elderberries, you may want to purchase these items separately.

When you've got the equipment and have an idea of what it takes to make a good bottle of wine, the next step is to choose the grapes. Your location will depend on the types of grapes you can grow or purchase.

But whether your goal is to make an inviting bottle of Chardonnay or a full-bodied bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, you should be able to find a variety of the grapes you'll need.

The grapes you choose should be insect-free and clean. Carefully inspect the grapes and discard any that appear to be rotten or discolored. Stems left on the grapes can cause your wine to have a bitter taste, so be sure to remove them.

Wine making methods may seem complicated, but you'll find lots of simple step-by-step instructions to help you enter the world of others who choose to make their own wines.

Your own private label wines make wonderful gifts and produce a sense of self-fulfillment. You may like it so much that you decide to make wine making your life's work -- like thousands of others who started out with one little wine making kit -- just like you.

Imagine having a fun and rewarding career that gives you the opportunity to turn your love of fine wines into a profitable business. When you become a wine merchant you can choose to open any of the following wine businesses:

• You can open your own wine store and sell bottled wines to customers within a community.
  
• You can open your own wine bar and create a social establishment to attract locals as well as tourists and vacationers.
  
• You can open your own winery or start your own vineyard, to personally oversee how your wine products are made, stored and shipped.

When you open a wine business you will become part of a growing industry as rich as a chilled bottle of Chardonnay. Wine sales in the U.S. have more than doubled since the early 1990s, reaching $26 billion in 2005.

Wine is a drink that never goes out of style, but it is particularly trendy today. Popularized in the Academy Award winning movie Sideways and the bestselling book French Women Don't Get Fat, wine's health benefits have been extensively reported in North American news media.

If opening a wine business sounds like the career of your dreams, the Guide to Become a Wine Merchant is for you. In this e-book you will discover how you can get started and succeed in the wine business.

Guide author Mitchell Warren is a wine connoisseur and journalist who interviewed wine industry professionals to bring you insider tips to help you open your own vineyard, winery, wine bar, or wine shop. Among the wine industry professionals who share expert advice in this guide are:

• Tom MacDonald, owner of Webster's Wine Bar located in Chicago, Illinois, Chicago's oldest wine bar, which serves over 35 wines by the glass and 500 by the bottle with brands from all over the world.
  
  
• Christina Martin, owner of Martin Ulisse Imports located in Corpus Christi, Texas, a distributor specializing in the finest Italian wines imported from smaller, undiscovered wineries to American wine lovers.
  
  
• Joel Peterson, co-owner of Ravenswood Winery of Sonoma, California, a winery which devotes attention to full-flavored varietal wines that rival the quality of Europe's finest.
  
  
• Ben Wallace, owner of Cella Raiders, a retail store selling an eclectic variety of wine online and a buyer of vintage wine collections.

The guide covers topics of vital importance to anyone who wants to open a wine business, including: Advice for All Wine Businesses, Opening a Wine Store, Opening a Wine Bar, and Starting a Winery or Vineyard.

It can cost hundreds of dollars to take courses on starting a business, and chances are they will not include specific information about opening a winery, wine bar, or wine shop. The Guide to Become a Wine Merchant contains some of the best business advice you could get from other sources, and more.

The information in this guide can save you many hours of research, help you avoid some costly mistakes, and give you information you need to open a vineyard or winery, open a wine bar, or open a wine store.

Ordering is fast, easy and safe. You will receive your ebook guide within minutes. Click here to learn more, or to order your copy.

Romantic Portfolio
Romantic Portfolio Wine Gift Set is a set of 5 wines reflecting different phases of a relationship in a lacquered wood box. Each bottle has a poetic back label. Limited edition of 400 signed and numbered.

Australian Riesling is truly a wine for all seasons and all seasonings! With aromas of pear, apple, jasmine, lime, honey and spice, and flavors from fresh citrus to ripe tropical fruit, Riesling's versatility makes it the perfect match for any occasion. You can pair it with hearty meat dishes, sausages, turkey and pork, but also with salads, light seafood and spicy Asian fare. Rieslings labeled "Late Harvest" or "Botrytis" will be for dessert.

Many people mistakenly think of Riesling as being only a sweet wine, but the diverse grape produces both dry and sweet styles. Long revered in Australia, Riesling's popularity is now spreading throughout the U.S.

Pick up a Riesling from one of Australia's premium wine regions. Each exhibits characteristics as distinct as its vineyard. From Clare Valley you can expect minerality with notes of lemon; Eden Valley's signature flavor is lime zest and a delicate, textured finish; Great Southern in Western Australia tends toward the floral and spice spectrum; and Tasmania's Rieslings are crisp and tart. Also, keep your eye out for Southeastern Australia on the label. These are blends from different regions that are generally softer and fruity with a crowd-pleasing zing.

Here is a delicious dish that is a great match with Riesling, whether you are preparing a family meal or want something unique for a party. Any night of the week, pour a dry Australian Riesling with take-out shrimp pad Thai, sushi or down-home fried chicken. It will make any meal an occasion.

Pan-Roasted Pork with Riesling and Apple-Pear Relish
Olive oil for cooking
4 pork chops
White wine

Riesling and Fruit Relish
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, finely diced
1 small leek, white part only, sliced
2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 apple, diced
1 pear, diced
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup Riesling
2 Tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 375° F. Heat ovenproof skillet over medium heat and add oil to coat. Cook pork chops 4 to 5 minutes on each side, or until browned. Add splash of white wine to pan and scrape up any browned bits. Transfer pan to oven and roast 8 to 10 minutes, or until cooked as desired. Remove from oven, cover with foil and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

For relish: Heat oil in small saucepan over medium heat, add mustard seeds, shallot and leek and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook 8 to 10 minutes, until fruit is tender and liquid is syrupy.

Most Australian Rieslings are quite dry and match beautifully with many different flavors--from chili peppers to ginger, lemongrass to curry and orange zest to cloves. Chicken breasts may be substituted for pork chops; vary cooking time accordingly. Serves four.

- Courtesy Gourmet Finds