Enjoying wine is about so much more than swishing, slurping and swigging. It can enhance the flavors of meals, or it can spell relaxation and romance. Increasing your knowledge of wine can help you enjoy it more that you do currently. Apply the tips in this article to increase your love and knowledge of wine.
Try not to exclusively drink the best wine that you can find at all times. Sometimes, you will notice that some of the best tasting wines are medium grade and not the crème of the crop. Explore all types of wine and try them with different meals to determine your favorites.
Do you need a wine all your guests will enjoy? Instead of choosing a rare wine people might not appreciate, choose a Beaujolais, a Chilean, a Sauvignon or a Cava from Spain. These wines are easy to find and offer enough diversity to remain interesting for connoisseurs without making novices feel like they are sophisticated enough to enjoy the wine.
If you are trying to find a way to drink a less-expensive wine, consider making it into a punch or Sangria. Adding some fruit, a bit of sweet soda and a little ice can completely change the taste. This makes for a nice addition to a baby shower or birthday party, and one of your guests is sure to enjoy.
If you are planning to cook with wine, examine your recipe closely. If it calls for dry white wine, this means that the recipe will not work well with a wine that is sweet. Look for a wine that states that it is dry, and you will avoid ruining a potentially fantastic dish.
Find someone who can help you identify wines to try. This can be either a merchant who earns your trust through good recommendations, or a wine expert who seems to have a palate close to your own. Their ideas can keep you trying new wines without just picking bottles randomly.
When cooking with wine, let your recipe help guide your choice. If you are simply using wine to de-glaze a pan, a splash of just about anything will do. However, if wine is a main ingredient, such as in Coq au Vin, you may want to splurge a little to do the dish justice.
For a spring picnic, evening at the race track or other outdoor events during seasonable weather, your best bet is a sparkling wine. Take your pick of bubbly’s like a nice Asti or Champagne and complement it with mild cheese, fresh bread and fruit. Remember to bring flute glasses too, to make the experience complete.
If you want to visit a winery, you should know that the wine you buy and bring home will not taste like the wine you tried at the winery. The wine offered to visitors is often never put into bottles and the wine you buy will change during your trip home.
You can read as much as you like about wine, but ultimately, you have to decide for yourself if you like it or not. Price often doesn’t matter. You may like an inexpensive bottle of red wine much more than a costlier version. Don’t apologize for your tastes. Drink what you enjoy.
The Internet will give you a lot of information in regards to wine types, the years, the flavors and where you can get it. Just print off what you want to know and store it in a binder – you can refer to it when you are wine shopping. Ask for the opinions of the employees, compare notes, and don’t take home a bad bottle because of lack of knowledge.
A Spanish wine should always be kept fresh but this is not an absolute rule. Most people usually drink Rioja around here, and this will stay good up until 7 years after it is bottled. Just store it in an area with a stable temperature to keep it fresh.
If you are dining out with work colleagues and trying to impress the boss, try to arrive at the table first and order a bottle of wine to be delivered upon your guest’s arrival. This will really make it look like you know your wines. Avoiding a wait time for the bottle can also enhance the evening for everyone.
Aim for wines that were produced in the 1960s and 1970s. These are generally the best types of wine, in addition to the fact that they have aged a good amount of time. If you see that you are accustomed to drinking wine from a certain period, explore other wines in that span of time.
To really get the most of your glass of wine, you will want to sniff it twice. The first time, take a long, slow whiff from right outside of the glass. The second time, take a sniff with your nose inside of the glass. You will see how much better the wine tastes when you do this.
When you first get a glass of wine, look at its color. This will tell you all about what the wine will taste like. Aged white wine gets darker and stronger. Aged red wine actually fades in color. How the wine has been aged and which grapes were used will also affect the color.
Look for clearance wines at your local grocery and liquor stores. Wine is an ever changing business so retailers are constantly clearing their shelves to make room for new wine options. The great thing is that it can work in your favor if you are looking to try new wines, as you will save money and have a constant flow of options.
No one can dispute the fact that any occasion can be enhanced with the inclusion of wine. All that’s needed to get maximum enjoyment out of wine is some basic knowledge of it. If you use the tips from this article, your friends will soon consider you as an expert and ask you to help them choose a wine for their next party.