Few things in life have the ability to enchant and delight the way a perfect glass of wine can. In order to truly revel in the glories of the vine, it is necessary to take a bit of time and learn all you can about the subject. The article that follows is intended to help you do just that.
Keep in mind that an expensive wine is not necessarily good. Everyone has different preferences when it comes to wine and you should not force yourself to drink expensive wines to appear sophisticated. There are plenty of delicious wines you can find at an affordable price. Try different varieties until you find something you really enjoy instead of judging wines in function of their prices.
Keep in mind that the color of the wine is not always the same as color of the grapes that are used to make it. The color results from the process of wine making and it is the skin of the grape used in the process that gives an individual wine its final color.
Look at the entire wine store. Do not just stay in one aisle. Some stores are better organized than others, and you may even find some great deals in a section that you may not normally look in. Take some time to explore it. Surveying the store can help you avoid missing anything.
If you are a wine newbie and you are looking for a wine to try, why not go to a wine tasting? At these events, you can taste many different wines until you find one the best suits your taste. Also, if you find one you like, you can usually purchase a bottle at the same time.
Allow yourself to be a little adventurous when shopping for wine. While it is really easy to stick to the tried and true wines from France or California, there are some fantastic varieties to be found all over the world. By stretching your boundaries just a little, you might find a wine that you really love!
It may seem very enticing to fill your glass with wine all the way to the top. However, most people don’t understand that the proper way to serve wine is to fill the glass to about one third of the way. This enables the drinker to swirl the wine and fully distribute the taste.
Carry a map or some sort of direction for your given area. Some of the best wine venues are incredibly organized and easy to navigate, while others are chaotic and will lose you in the twits-and-turns. Print off a map of your designated area, and you’ll never miss that perfect shop just around the bend.
Take a good look at your wine before you taste it. You can tell a lot about a wine by its appearance. If you practice this, you will soon learn a lot from a wine by its color. Look at the wine from many angles so that you can see all of the colors it has to offer.
White wines and reds are not the same regarding the temperature they are to be served at. Usually, red wine needs to be served about 10 to 15 degrees warmer than white wine. One good method is first chilling your wine inside the refrigerator and then letting it sit at room temperature a couple of minutes. You want the white wine to be served at about 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and the red around 60 degrees.
Want to know how grappa is made? Grape skins, called pomace, which remain from making wine are distilled. This ferments them to create a very strong beverage which is perfect as an aparatif or digestif. Want a real kick in your coffee? Add some grappa for a real wake-me-up in the morning!
Don’t stick to the old rules about which color wine goes with which food. Color is not as important as taste. There are some red wines, like certain pinot noirs, that taste great with fish. Other times, you may find a white wine complements your steak better than a red.
If you are trying a lot of wines trying to decide which ones are the best for you, make sure to write down all of the ones you like and don’t like. There are online services that help you find similar wines to ones you like, so you can use them to find more wines. You can also use these sites to avoid wines that are similar to the ones you didn’t care for.
Here is a little bit of wine history for you: wine has been around for as long as 7,000 years! Egyptians are the first civilization we know of to have records of drinking wine, and those date back to 2,500 B.C. They created wines much like we do today, including bottling the beverage and storing it.
When choosing a wine glass, select one that is large (around 20 to 22 ounces). With this size, you can swirl the wine around more freely. Furthermore, select a glass wine that is clear and thin with a long stem. Make sure the glass curves slightly inward at the top.
A good tip if you’re offering wine at your restaurant is to make sure you pour the right amount of wine into a glass. This should go without saying but the right amount of wine to be poured into a glass should be a small amount, so that the wine has room to breathe.
Wine has the unique ability to enhance and improve most of life’s experiences. Learning all you can about wine is a great way to make your wine drinking experience even better than you thought possible. The piece above should have given you a head start on your journey to becoming a true expert.