Learn how to taste wine and impress your date

Posted on April 3, 2007
Filed Under Drinks |

Wine tasting glassesTaking your date to a fine restaurant for dinner is only half the battle in getting in her bed. You can earn extra points if you act like a true gentleman and show your and order wine with confidence. This of course would involve tasting the wine presented to you. So here is a step-by-step guide of wine testing for dummies.

There are 4 essential steps to wine tasting

1. The swirl: Holding your glass by the stem flat on the table, swirl it in circles to release the aromas.
2. The sniff: Now that the swirl has released the wine’s aromas, bring the glass close to your nose and smell; make sure to inhale deeply. The aeration helps to bring out the wine’s flavor enhancing your ability to judge it.
3. The sip: Now that the wine’s aromas have been released and you have prepared your taste buds for what’s coming, bring the glass to your mouth and at first slurp a bit of wine and gurgle. Then swirl the swish the wine all over you mouth.
4. The spit: Once done tasting, spit. This step is only important if you plan to taste more than one wine in a row. Careful with this step because it might have some serious negative effect towards you image, especially if you are in a high class restaurant!

The tricky part about wine tasting is how to tell the difference among wine varieties such that you can pick your favorite. To achieve this you have to practice on your own time at home. Go out and purchase a number of different wines, blanc and red. You should start practicing with the broadest and most important wine-flavor categories: oak, acidity and floral aromatics in whites; fruit, tannins, and earth flavors in reds.

To figure out the difference in taste among the different wines, get yourself some green apples for cleansing your palate between sips (cheese will ruin you ability to discriminate) and apply the 4-step wine tasting process described earlier. For example, start with a chardonnay and notice the buttery-oak taste. Follow with a sauvignon blanc and notice how unpleasantly acidic it is. A Riesling will have a flower aroma that will transport you to the corner flower shop. If you have also brought home some reds then poor a glass of Bordeaux and enjoy its dry, chalky tannins. An Italian Cabernet Sauvignon should fill your while mouth with the bitter earthiness of a rocky hillside in Calabria.

This guide should get you started in wine tasting. If you really want to excel at it then you have to practice even more. Once you can identify the few major flavors mentioned above, you are read to graduate to finer wines.

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