Enjoying Wines

Archive for the ‘Wine Tasting’ Category

There is so much that can you learn with a basic wine tasting kit. Such ‘aids’ are necessary because it is hard to explain and understand what you are tasting and smelling: this is the main obstacle to overcome when people start learning about wine. Many aromas will seem unknown and hard to identify even if they characterize most wines. If you read a wine-related article or hear someone say that the wine smells of rose petals, you may feel disappointed if you don’t get the same impression. Who is wrong then?

A wine tasting kit is a box with small vials that contain aromatic essences and essential oils. There will be more than a hundred such vials, and they can help you train to identify wine aromas. Practice leads to an improvement of the skills, because you increase your sensory memory and the moment you smell and taste, you remember the aroma and become able to name it. A wine tasting kit can be used for entertainment purposes as well, as you can use it for parties and games. For example, you can ask guests to close their eyes and identify an aroma by simply smelling it.

You can buy a wine tasting kit from a wine supply vendor or from regular wine shops. Another option would be to order it online. So as to simplify things, it suffices to check in the category with wine accessories. As for costs, a wine tasting kit is not cheap, but people who follow an education about wines and have the means to purchase bottled varietals, will certainly afford such accessories too. There are definitely limitations to the use and the quality of a wine tasting kit, but you should not expect too much from it either.

The learning process is individual, and unless you drink different wine varietals in parallel with the use of the wine tasting kit, you won’t be able to get the full sensory experience, through both taste and smell. If you start at a beginner level, and you use the wine tasting kit consistently while also having wine, you’ll be surprised to discover that you’ve grown a ‘talent’ and that your nose and palate become more receptive and sensitive to stimulation.

As for parties, your friends should know a thing or two about wine in order to make full advantage of the wine tasting kit. Otherwise, you’ll feel pretty disappointed if nobody seems to recognize the essences in the vials!

We recognize dry wine as the opposite of sweet wine. Lots of people don’t like dry wine, because they don’t have their taste educated to have such types of wine with their means. They follow their taste for dessert, and prefer a sweet wine first and foremost. Another misconception is to believe that women usually drink sweet wines. A statistical report is not at all relevant when we are talking about personal taste in wine: dry wine can be just as nice as sweet wine.

Dry wine always goes with the main food courses while anything sweet or fruity should be left for dessert. France and Germany give the world some of the most widely appreciated types of dry wine: Riesling and Moselle from Germany and Chablis and Sauterne from France. The United States also produce nice white wines in these categories in California, New York, Carolinas and Verginias. The American varietals carry a particular flavor that distinguishes them from the European counterparts due to the grapes growing in the American soil.

Since you should serve dry wines with food, they are also known as table wines. There should be a good match between food and drink so that you really appreciated the flavor. Chicken and fish go well together with white wine, while veal, beef, pork, lamb and venison should be matched with red dry wine. Of course, you should also follow personal taste and preferences for a particular varietal. Cheese is another excellent match for dry wine, but you need to pay attention to the pairings, to enjoy the flavor of both cheese and wine.

In terms of chemical composition, a dry wine has only 1% sugar, as compared to a sweet wine that has 25% residual sugars. Another difference appears in the type of fermentation: dry wine requires only the natural fermentation of the grapes, nothing other than that. Sweet wine on the other hand is fortified with additives that prevent the sugar in the grapes from completely converting into alcohol. Last but not least, the acidity is another feature that defines dry wine. Dry wine is made from grapes plucked at an early stage, which explains why it is more acidic.

The Internet provides lots of tips and suggestions on how to serve dry wine. It would be a pity not to take advantage of this rich source of information, making the best of what it has to offer.

Cheers!

To a certain point wine is a symbol of elegance, relaxation, enjoyment, gratitude towards life and so much more. We can very well speak of wine art and the sheer joy of tasting a unique wine flavor paired with the right food and in the right environment or company. The way people appreciate wine varies greatly: some have it with every lunch or dinner, while others consider it a luxury and hardly ever drink a glass. No doubt, art wine characterizes the interest of someone who can afford to learn the distinction between white, red and dessert varietals.

Lots of people who’ve really had a rich life experience and who don’t have to strive for their dollar, take time to visit wineries every now and then. Life perception seems to change when surrounded by sunny hill tops covered with vineyards and when the nostrils and palate feel the wine flavor. Wine art somehow means that when you’re tasting wine, you are totally involved in the experience: your senses become drunk with the flavor, and you learn to recognize subtle bouquet variations and really appreciate wine variety.

Many people who’ve visited wineries, taking tours of Napa or Temecula, California, for example, claim that time seems to stop in a winery, as the visitor becomes more aware of the present moment. There is so much to enjoy right now in the surrounding reality, that you leave out all worries, thoughts, business or family concerns. A time off or a getaway perfectly matches a visit to the Wine Country. And, there only do you really start to perceive what wine art is about.

Let yourself dazzled not only by the taste of premium wines, but also enjoy the must, the flavor of fresh grapes and the beauty of wine making. Open yourself to the sense of the place and you’ll be filled with emotion and gratitude that there are places on earth like wineries, where the sweet nectar of the gods becomes ‘alive’. You are here not to taste, but to actually live wine art. It may sound romantic and idealistic, but when you’ll be in a winery yourself, you’ll realize that words alone can render the full beauty of the experience.

If my words have stirred something in you, all that remains is to make time and actually visit a wine making area in the country. Plus, you will be more curious and attentive to every wine that you taste, because now you know or just suspect that there is such a big and beautiful story behind it!