Wine Facts: Taste Your Wine

These simple guidelines will help you get the best from every bottle by outlining a few of the basic techniques to storing, serving & tasting wine.

Storing wine

Wine kept for more than a few weeks requires proper storage conditions. It needs to be kept still, dark and at a constant temperature. It may seem hard to achieve these basic storage conditions in many homes, however, much can be done to make even the most uncompromising apartment wine-friendly. The basic requirements for successful wine storage can be summed up as follows:

Temperature

The ideal is a constant, low temperature, around 50-60F, but wine will endure 80F, so long as the fluctuation in temperature is kept to a minimum. Wine storage should also be kept well away from a heat source. If a cellar is not available, one suggestion is to place your wine in a dark cupboard or closet with good ventilation and a constant internal temperature.

Darkness

Wine is spoiled (oxidized) by long exposure to direct sunlight or daylight balanced artificial light. However tempting it is to display bottles in the dining room or kitchen, keep them in the dark and they will be better for it.

Vibration

Constant agitation also causes wine to age prematurely. Keep wine away from the vibrations of heavy motors of domestic machinery, street traffic, etc...

Angle of storage

Wine must be stored on its side to keep the cork moist and tight against the bottle neck. If a bottle is stored upright, the cork will eventually dry out and shrink, the bubbles will escape from sparkling wine, and the wine will become subject to oxidation and vinegaring.

Serving wine

The decision to open a bottle can, of course, be spontaneous. But even a simple bottle tastes better at, for instance, the right temperature. The following considerations can help enhance the pleasure of every glass:

Rest

Allow wine time. A bottle that is rushed to the table straight from the delivery box or shopping bag can never be at its best. Wines, especially older ones, suffer from being moved, and regain their balance and character only after a period of rest, preferably in a cool, dark place.

Temperature

Allow time for bottles to chill - or warm up - before serving. In general, white and sparkling wines should be served chilled to around 42-52F. Red wines are usually best between 55-65F. Useful tip: An ice/water bucket is the quickest way to cool wine. Cubes of ice surrounded by water will rapidly chill a bottle in under 15 minutes, while a refrigerator takes 1+hrs to do the job.

Refrigeration

Do not keep wines in an ordinary refrigerator for more than a few days, as they grow tired and flat and can even pick up taints from other foods stored nearby.

Let wine "breathe"

We strongly recommend, whenever possible, opening the bottle of wine at least one hour before serving. Uncorking a bottle and exposing it to oxygen for a period of time before pouring gives the wine a chance to aerate, enhancing subtle flavors and aromas, and making an enormous difference to the character of the wine.

Choosing a glass

Wine tastes different, and better, when drunk from the right sort of glass. This observation, seemingly esoteric, has been proven in carefully-conducted comparative tastings. An all-purpose white wine glass has a tulip-shaped bowl and a tall, thin stem. Most red wines show at their best in a larger version of the same shaped glass. Flutes are ideal for champagne and other sparkling wines. But overwhelming all other considerations is cleanliness. A dirty glass - which may not look dirty but which carries a taint - will ruin any wine.

Tasting & enjoying

Tasting wine means taking care to study the qualities a wine has to offer, as distinct from merely drinking and enjoying it. Learning how to taste is quite simple. The skills are easy to learn and anybody can become a good taster if they want. With the few basic techniques outlined here, you can take the first steps in the tasting process, which leads to a better appreciation and enjoyment of wine.

Appearance

Although less important than tasting and smelling, looking can tell you quite a lot about the wine. Tilting the glass away from you until it is almost horizontal will reveal the width and hue of the "rim". The wine's clarity, brightness and depth of color are best seen by looking at it from above, with the glass standing on a table.

Smell

Smell is the most important of our senses for appreciating and enjoying wine, for a very high proportion of what we "taste" is in fact smelled. Just recall how little you can taste food or drink when you have a cold or a stuffed-up nose. The smell of a wine is described in a general sense as its nose. "Aroma" and "bouquet" are also used. The nose of a wine will vary in intensity and distinction according to its age, grape variety, origin and quality, but it should always be clean-that is, free of unpleasant odors.

Taste

No written work or picture can substitute for actually tasting wine. Tasting can be a study in itself or an adjunct to everyday wine-drinking. It is the only way to build real knowledge of wine.

The techniques of tasting

Three senses unite when tasting wine: sight, smell and taste. Watch an experienced winetaster at work and you'll see a relatively casual process: a glance, a sniff and a sip. This expertise can be easily acquired with a bit of practice. Following the simple tasting procedures outlined below can add immeasurably to your appreciation of wine.

1. Lift your glass up against a blank background to get a general impression of the color. Check that the wine is clear
   and bright. Look at the degree of color and notice if it is: bright purple (typical of young red wines), ruby and browny-reds (aging red wines), or brown and dull in appearance (often indicates a wine that is oxidized).
2. Swirl the glass around gently, holding your glass by the stem or foot, in order to release the aroma (forward smells that come from the grape) and bouquet (subtle scents that develop as a result maturing and oak aging).
3. Sniff the wine, concentrating on the smell and of what it reminds you. There are many words to describe smells, but most of us have no training, or little practice, in using them, so we have to relate a wine's smells to something similar. For example, you may hear wines described as floral (rose, jasmine, violet), spicy (pepper, licorice), fruity (lemon, cherry, melon) and woody (oak, cedar, vanilla).
4. Take a sip and instead of swallowing it straight down, work the wine around your mouth for several seconds (this is called "chewing"). Notice how much more of its flavor you can taste. With the next sip of wine, in addition to chewing it, purse your lips and suck a little air through the wine a few times before swallowing. Notice how you can taste/smell even more of the wine this way because you have deliberately released its aromas. "Chewing" and "aerating" the wine for several seconds helps to get the most out of any wine you are tasting.