Food & Beverages

Have you always wanted to understand fine wines and how to distinguish the great ones from bad ones? Perhaps you have, but you never knew where to start. There are so many fine wines produced all over the world, from French wine to Australian wine, and California wine to Oregon wine. It probably seems impossible to learn which wines are best.

All you really need to begin understanding fine wines lies right on your shoulders, literally. To begin your wine knowledge odyssey, you must rely on the very senses we use everyday–sight, smell, taste, and touch. Along with your brain, these senses begin to designate all the different flavors, aromas, and textures as you try many different fine wines. In time, youll be able to pick out very distinct characteristics!

Appearance, Smell, and Tasting
When beginning wine tasting, the first step is observing the wine inside your glass for clues. Tilting the glass you can notice concentration of color, which helps determine the wine maturity and quality. Age creates color change, where whites darken and reds lighten. You can also check for foreign matter or milkiness–characteristic of low quality wine. Swirling your glass, the speed at which droplets sheet down the sides reveals body weight, the faster the lighter.

Many consider smelling wine the most important step in wine tasting. Swirling the glass again, take a sniff–you should immediately recognize must or bad odors in a poor wine. Your second sniff is meant to determine each varietal, and this may take a lot of practice and experience to become accurate. The next few sniffs are geared toward discovering some aroma associations, as well as the acidity or tannin levels.

Finally, when you sip the wine, think about each area of the tongue that perceives taste and try to notice where the wine triggers response. This lets you decide levels of sweetness, acidity, citric (sour) tastes, and also the tannins in wine. The back of your throat experiences the tannin with an astringent sensation. Fine wines with high tannins have longer aging potential. With tasting, you also feel the weight and how the wine coats your taste buds, determining full or light body.

Common Varietals in Fine Wines
There are many wine varietals grown all over the world. Some reoccur in many different countries, while others remain extremely exclusive to a particular country and region. There are red wine varietals and white wine varietals, each growing in varying climate conditions. Some examples of common white varietals include Chardonnay, Pinot Grigot, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Zinfandel, and Pinot Noir are common red varietals.

When you purchase wines, you may notice that some bottles label the wine using the varietal name. For example, the Napa Valley Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon. Bottles with the varietal name usually comes from a New World winemaker, from the US, Australia, or New Zealand. Old World winemakers usually label according to where the wine comes from, to stress the region and terroir.

Critiquing Fine Wines
Even if you are just learning to critique fine wines, you can enlist the help of other renown wine critics who create surges in the market with a single rave review. One man in particular named Robert Parker created a fine reputation as one of the worlds most trusted critics. He publishes The Wine Advocate, and often creates cult best sellers with one fine Robert Parker wine rating. Using his advice as a guideline may help you point out particular tasting notes in your learning process.

The diverse range of Bordeaux wines results from a tremendous number of growers and wine-producing château in the largest fine winemaking region in the world. Bordeaux has the ideal climate for producing wines with an excellent diversity of microclimates and soils. Clay, chalk, limestone, and gravel are ideally suited for the many grape varieties making Bordeaux wines.

Bordeaux is known best for red wines (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot), but the region also produces excellent sweet and dry whites (Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, and Muscadelle). Bordeaux wines have a stellar reputation built on centuries of experience, creating rich, elegant wines that subtly blend the different grape varieties. Local winemakers and wine scientists continue to create legendary wines out of Bordeaux.

The Diversity of Bordeaux Wines
While many top-quality Bordeaux wines command high prices, there are still many other choices in every category. There are more than 9,000 wine-producing chateau and 13,000 growers in the Bordeaux region, that produce a range of wine types. There are aged wines, young wines, rich, sophisticated, and light, refreshing wines–everything for every palate!

With such a diverse selection, wine enthusiasts can try many different kinds in any price range, as well as flavors and aromas for every mood! With a little tasting experiment of your own, you can begin understanding the subtle Bordeaux blends. Take some time to swirl your wine, smell it, taste it, and observe the appearance. As you experience each wine, youll come closer to mastering the Bordeaux wine!

Burgundy wines come from six stunning regions in France with a favorable climate, clay and limestone soils, and good exposure. Birthplace of the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Burgundy produces some of the finest wines using these two main grape varieties. Although Pinot Noir and Chardonnay occupy most of Burgundys vineyards, Gamay and Aligot&eacute also grow in these regions.

Overall, Burgundys regulated vineyards produce more than 180 million bottles of wine per year, which is 5% of Frances total regulated production. As a region, Burgundy wines play a large part of the economy. The dry, cold winters and hot, sunny summers make the perfect climate for growing the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, although slight climate changes make vintages vary in quality year to year.

Tasting Burgundy Wines
The first step one takes while tasting Burgundy wines is to examine the appearance of the wine. Here, you can notice the liquids clarity, intensity of color, and shades. The wines appearance correlates directly with its development, whereas whites deepen in color as it ages, and reds lighten. Smelling is the next important step, which reveals the wines aromas.

As you take a sip of the wine, pay attention to each of the four taste sensations–salty, sweet, sour, and bitter. With white wines, you will also note varying acidity, while with red wines you will feel a sensation on the back of your throat from the tannin. Many flavors are associated with wine varieties, and you can begin picking these nuances up by mixing a small sip of wine with a little air in your mouth, working it against your palate using your teeth and tongue.

Some of the perfect accessories for a distinguished dinner party are a nice assortment of fine wines and spirits. Getting together with a group of friends usually means good conversation, great food, and comfortable social interaction. Bringing a selection of fine wine and spirits is one way to enhance the food and even initiate conversations about fine wine!

If you are planning an elegant dinner party and wish to bring your guests together for an enjoyable shared experience, wine tasting can be an incredibly fun activity! You could choose a number of wines from different countries, or from several regions in one country like France, to taste the variations in each bottle. As you take turns swirling, examining, smelling, and tasting, each guest can describe flavor associations!

Beer, fine wines, and spirits have been apart of every cultures long history. We often see artwork depicting joyous celebrations flowing with wine. There are even many religious ceremonies that use wine symbolically within rituals. Having a glass of wine with your meal each day may even have significant health benefits, although we do know that heavy drinking may cause alcoholism and other negative effects. If you consume alcoholic beverages, you should never drink and drive.

Purchasing Fine Wines and Spirits
Many fine wines and spirits can be purchased in your local retailer. However, there are many fine wines that you may have to search hard to find. Should you wish to browse a wider selection of fine wines from many countries and regions, the Internet is a great resource! There are online wine retailers who can deliver many excellent wines right to your door!

As a wine enthusiast, you may one day wish to partake in some type of wine delivery service. Especially if you are tired of the boring and uninspiring selection you usually browse at the local wine retailer, wine delivery can really bring some nice surprises to your glass! What you might not realize is that most retailers stock their aisles with mass produced wines, which means you really miss out!

For a retailer to continuously shelve unique wines, they must take a lot of time and devotion researching fine wines. If youre lucky, you might live near a specialty wine retailer, who takes pride in offering the widest selection of harder to find wines. These specialty stores usually have experts that offer great recommendations and offer lots of consultation. Most retailers dont want to spend the extra time handpicking selections.

Those of you who want to try unique wines from all over the world, but do not have a great specialty wine retailer nearby, could take advantage of an online wine retailer who offers wine delivery. Many wine experts realize the little access people have to great wines and started online businesses that offer a huge selection. Some of these online retail stores are a division of a physical retail specialty store.

Wine Delivery Options
If you like to try new wines on a regular basis, then an online wine club may be exactly what you need; you can sign up to have a different wine sent to your home every month! Customers can always just purchase one bottle, rather than a monthly selection. Some retailers will even include some information about the wine; describe where the wine originates, the varietal, tasting notes, and what food to enjoy with that bottle.