|
|
|
Coffee: Is It Getting Too Complicated?
Plain coffee is fast becoming a thing of the past. It's now quite simple to whip up a gourmet hot beverage for guest, family, or just for yourself. Nowadays there are a number of coffee clubs and circles in which coffee drinking has become somewhat...
Cuban Thanksgiving From Our Latin Table
If you have ever wanted to be part of a large loving latin family or have ever been fascinated by Latin-American cooking, you will enjoy Our Latin Table . With his beautiful 162 page book, Fernando Saralegui brings you into the fold...
From Prix Fixe to Cold Tea: A Glossary of Popular (and Obscure) Restaurant Terms
An Offbeat Glossary of Restaurant Terms Everyone knows what a bistro is...right? And a la carte is a term that even a fifth grader knows...well, maybe not. And what exactly does smart casual mean? There are so many words and terms in the English...
Share A Gourmet Food Basket With Your Lover
A gourmet food basket is an excellent gift for the man or woman who 'has everything'. Most gourmet foods available in the delicatessens and supermarket 'delis' of western countries are derived from European and Middle Eastern cuisines. Each culture...
Wine Openers- 6 Styles Reviewed
Waiter Corkscrew
This is probably the most ubiquitous wine opener in the world,
and the ultimate in simplicity. This tool features a design that
allows the entire tool to fit in your pocket, and as such has
become the overwhelming favorite...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
An Idiot's Guide To Wine Tasting
Have you ever seen those stiff upper-lipped types doing a spot of the old wine tasting malarkey? You know the form – sip, swill, spit. Yuck! Well this information has been written to help you understand the form should you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to know what to do. And don't go thinking "I'll never have to do any wine-tasting" because you just don't know that for sure and the last thing you want is to be caught unaware.
So, on with the tasting...
Study The Wine
Pick up your glass as elegantly as possible. There are two ways this can be done.
a) For chilled wines – hold the glass by the stem and don't even touch the bowl.
b) For wine served at room temperature – pick up the glass by the bowl and hold it cupped in your palm, the stem between your middle two fingers.
Now that you have the glass comfortably in your hand, hold it at a slight angle against something white. If your hostess is worth her salt, she'll have covered the table in white linen specifically for this purpose (although it does look nice, too).
Be careful not to tip the glass too far – unless you're willing to replace an expensive linen tablecloth, that is. You may also need to adjust the distance from your eyes that the glass is held at. Most find that holding it at almost arm's length is a good starting point although the very short sighted who are also absent minded enough to have left their eye glasses at home may find themselves having to hold the glass almost in front of their noses.
Once you've found the correct position, study the colour and clarity of the wine. Now you may well believe that wine's either red, pink, or white but I'm afraid, if that's the case, you're very much mistaken. Wines can be green, yellow, gold, pink, purple, or even black. Evidently, the colour of the wine will indicate the type of grape it was made from – like me, you, and Jack on the street are likely to know that!
Clarity indicates age. Young wines are more see through and cloudiness can mean there's something wrong. If that's the case, I'd suggest putting it back on the table and giving your hostess once of those 'down your nose' type looks.
The reason why you're studying the colour and clarity looks has absolutely no bearing on how the wine will taste but a proper connoisseur enjoys the beauty of wine as well as its taste and ...
The Bouquet
No, we're not talking about the bunch of flowers a bride carries with her down the aisle, we're talking the smell of wine. Sometimes, if the people at the wine tasting are really posh, they might call it 'The Nose'.
Still holding your glass in the correct manner, lower your hand somewhat whilst bring your glass to a level position and rotate your wrist so that the wine swirls gently within the bowl. You might want to leave these instructions at this point to go to the kitchen and practise this step with a wineglass half filled with water. After all, it's just as well to know for sure that you aren't going to spill expensive red wine over your hostess's spanking new Axminster.
To swill wine properly, very little wrist movement is actually needed. Just very slight circular movements combined with a right-left movement should do the trick.
The idea behind all this swilling is to bring the wine's aroma out of the
wine itself and into the empty part of the bowl thus allowing it to be smelled and savoured. This is why wine glasses are bulbous. The wide bowl has ample room for swilling while the narrow edge 'captures' the bouquet. Clever, eh?
Move your glass to your nose as elegantly as you're able and bring it in slightly beneath the tip. Inhale deeply. Savour for a few moments and then inhale again. It's a good idea to exhale between those two inhalations or you might find yourself going dizzy. Do it too often and you'll faint.
You may now move your glass away from your nose.
At this point, it's appropriate to make some kind of comment. Don't imagine you'll fool anybody into believing you're an expert but at least you can make it sound as if you've actually drunk a glass of decent wine before. Why should the other guests need to know that most of your wine costs £3.99 at the Co-Op?
Something like "mmmm, rich and fruity" or "oooh, lovely and light" will probably do the trick. When talking about red wine, 'rich' is usually a good word to use - if the wine's white, go for 'light'.
The Actual Tasting
You've probably been looking forward to this bit but whatever you do, remember that wine tasting is about taking small sips and not guzzle it down like there's no tomorrow.
This bit's actually trickier than you'd expect so you might want to do some more practising.
Bring your glass to your lips, open them slightly and take a small sip. Now close you mouth and roll the wine around on your tongue for a few seconds before allowing it to slide slowly down your throat AND AT THE SAME TIME EXHALE!
The trouble with exhaling whilst swallowing is that some of the liquid might come shooting through your nostrils. Not a pretty sight and, again, think of the Axminster!
If you fancy, you can always take a second sip at this point but never a third. No matter how good that one particular wine is, it's time to move on to the next.
Other Stuff Worth Knowing
Apart from bottles and glasses, the table will probably hold plates of cheese or, occasionally, sherbet. They're not there to snack on; they're used between wines to clean out the taste of the last wine you tasted. Just a little at a time is all that's needed. Do like a mouse and nibble!
Wear something comfortable and preferably something that doesn't carry a designer label. After all, if you spill red wine down the front of your best frock, you're not going to be happy, are you?
That's it. You're now clued up enough to pop along to your very first wine tasting party without making a complete idiot of yourself.
Enjoy!
~~+~~+~~
Sharon Jacobsen is a freelance writing living in South Cheshire, England. She's knocked back a good few bottles of wine in her time as well as participated in the odd wine tasting party. To contact Sharon, please visit her website at www.sharon-jacobsen.co.uk
~~+~~+~~
PLEASE NOTE: My byline and resource box MUST be kept intact with the link to my website made 'live' otherwise this will be considered a breach of usage.
Copyright Sharon Jacobsen - www.sharon-jacobsen.co.uk
|
|
|
|
|
| Wine&Spirits Magazine |
| Click here for recommendations on what to buy en primeur, more than one hundred wines reviewed by Joshua Greene and Fiona Morrison, MW. ... |
| www.wineandspiritsmagazine.com |
|
| Sam's Wines & Spirits - The Wine And Spirits Leader |
| Chicago-based store selling imported and domestic wine, beers, spirits and gourmet foods. Site also offers food pairing ideas, party planning and ... |
| www.samswine.com |
|
| DrinkOn.com - Buy Wine, Spirits, Whisky & Champagne Online... |
| Sales of wines and spirits. Secure on-line ordering. |
| www.drinkon.com |
|
| Beverages & More! - Wine, Spirits, Liquor, Beer, Microbrews ... |
| Beverages and more! Wine, Spirits, Beer, Gourmet Food Superstore selling Cabernet, Chardonnay, Merlot, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Chianti, Port, Pinot, ... |
| www.bevmo.com |
|
| Morrisons Supermarket - Wine/Spirits |
| Range and Product Information · Wine/Spirits · More 4 Baby · Music, DVD and Video · Home and Leisure · Petrol Stations · Health and Beauty · Pharmacy ... |
| www.morrisons.co.uk |
|
| Morrisons Supermarket - Wine/Spirits |
| Market Street · Range and Product Information · Wine/Spirits · Award of the Month · Wine of the Month · New at Morrisons · Focus On · Wine Offers ... |
| www.morrisons.co.uk |
|
| Gourmet Food Mall - Wine Spirits & Beer |
| Wine, Spirits & Beer Gifts Online. Need a wine gift basket? ... Coming soon... Read Wine, Spirits & Beer articles submitted by our merchants. ... |
| www.gourmetfoodmall.com |
|
| Food-and-Drink - Wine-Spirits Ezine Articles |
| EzineArticles.com allows ezine or email list publishers to upload or download free expert content that can be used within email newsletters or websites. |
| ezinearticles.com |
|
| BWS - Beer Wine Spirits |
| Welcome to BWS, which stands for Beer, Wine and Spirits. BWS is Australia's fastest growing liquor retailer with the best service & prices! That's BWS. |
| www.beerwinespirits.com.au |
|
| Imbibe | The Ultimate Drinks Magazine, Exploring Wine, Spirits ... |
| Imbibe Magazine is the magazine of liquid culture. It's the indispensable guide to all that's fit to drink. |
| imbibemagazine.com |
|
| Home Entertaining - Gourmet Cooking, Wine, Spirits, Holiday ... |
| Home entertaining tips from Food Network recipes and videos. |
| www.foodnetwork.com |
|
| wine shopping wine spirits wineries |
| Wine, Spirits · Food Shopping. wp3df4401b.gif. wp647b4e87.jpg. Read our DISCLAIMER and PRIVACY POLICY before using my site. ... |
| www.annamariavolpi.com |
|
| O-I Beer Wine Spirits Overview |
| OI Packaging Solutions - Everywhere Everyday, Beer/Wine/Spirits ... Beer Wine Spirits Group Shot. Top Brands Choose O-I Around the world, consumers purchase ... |
| www.o-i.com |
|
| Amazon.com: wine spirits and beer |
| wine spirits and beer (10 products tagged by 3 customers). Products tagged "wine spirits and beer" ... Got images related to the tag wine spirits and beer? ... |
| www.amazon.com |
|
| Krones AG - Home - Branches - Wine, Sparkling Wine, Spirits |
| Wine, Sparkling Wine, Spirits. Wine – new wine-growing nations tap export opportunities With 1.1 million hectares of vines under cultivation, ... |
| www.krones.de |
|
| wine spirits, excellence is our tradition |
| wine spirits. african beverage data · alcoholic beverage importers · asian beverage data · australian beverage data · beverage bottlers US ... |
| www.beveragemarketing.com |
|
| wine spirits, official homepage |
| wine spirits. Beverage Marketing studies of the U.S. market, Beverage Marketing now publishes 15 titles providing a comprehensive worldwide perspective. ... |
| www.beveragemarketing.com |
|
| Buy Wine, Fortified Wine, Spirits, Liqueurs online :: Cockburns of ... |
| Wines from Australia, Wines from California, Wines from around the world. Buy your wine online for home delivery by Cockburns of Leith. |
| www.winelist.co.uk |
|
| BLM Wine+Spirits - Boston's best resource for wine and spirits ... |
| Directory of available wines with prices, newsletter signup, and tasting schedule. |
| www.blmwine.com |
|
| Petite Wines Miniature Drinks, Wine, Spirits, Whisky Miniatures |
| Miniature whisky, wine, liquor, spirits and alcoholic miniatures. Personlised labelling service for wedding favours and corporate gifts. Secure online shop. |
| www.petitewines.co.uk |
|
|