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Tasting wine - the right way
Of course, the main thing when it comes to personal favourite wines is that you like their taste. However, those who would like to spot those tiny differences between different locations, countries and vineyards should take time and train their tongues and palates. In the following we have compiled a few tips on how to make your next wine tasting a true success and on how to determine your favourite wine on the basis of all important criteria – even as a beginner.
Visual inspection
First, you should inspect the wine with your eyes. When spotting whether you're about to drink a red or a white, your palate is prepared for the experience and can concentrate on more important things. Properly instructed its visual appearance also tells you a lot about its alcohol content, vintage, climate and type of growing.
In the process, you should always look at the glass in front of a neutral background. Daylight and direct sunlight can distort the assessment. In this sense, the dim lighting of cellars doesn't just provide a romantic setting.
A little tip to find out whether the wine has a high or a low alcohol content: Swirl the wine in the glass. This will lead to “tears” forming on the glass. If those run back into the wine slowly, it has a higher alcohol content.
Smelling the wine
Why is it so important to smell the wine? Of course, no-one is born a master wine taster and true professionals go through long and extensive training. But with a little help, even beginners can distinguish between gooseberry and passion fruit (in Sauvignons), lemon, apple and peach (in Rieslings) and even cherry and plum (in Pinot Noirs) notes.
You see, two of the most important factors in wine tasting are time and attention. For after the visual and olfactory inspection comes the “fun part” – the actual tasting!
Tasting the wine
However, “booze hounds” have no place at a wine tasting event. First, only wet your mouth with the wine. All your senses are now attuned to it. And yet, your “work” isn’t complete with swallowing. For the after-taste is just as im-portant.
Only when you feel comfortable with all the steps of the tasting process, when nothing can disturb but only elevate your pleasure, you can rightly say (even as a beginner): “Yep, that one’s tasty. That’s my kind of wine.”
Book a wine tasting at the Hotel Steirerschlössl. The choice is yours...
