Wine Etiquette

I will be traveling to Tuscany next weekend, so I thought it would be extremely important to learn wine etiquette before I entered a wine tasting. Although it may seem intimidating to enter a wine tasting at 21, I found that these guidelines helpful in easing my nerves. I also think it will enlighten my experience while I am there, having all this knowledge prior to arriving.

If you are planning on trying more than one wine, it is important to try white wines before red wines, light wines before dark, dry wines before sweet, and simple wines before complex.

There are 5 steps one can follow when tasting wine. They are color, swirl, smell, taste, and savor.

The color of the wine can give you a sense of how old the wine is, which type of grape was used to produce it, and if the wine was aged in wood.

It is important to allow your wine to breathe, that is why people swirl the wine in their glass before trying it. The oxygen in the air helps to open up the flavors in the wine, especially for red wines. That is why some red wines are served in open glass containers, instead of bottles.

Smelling the wine, after you swirl it, is said to be the most important step in the entire process. You are supposed to smell it three times, so that each time you encounter more of the essence of the wine. It is suggested that you the smell the wines you prefer often, so that you can begin to identify the better ones.

Once you finally take a sip of the wine, it is important not to just swallow it immediately. You should allow all the taste buds in your mouth to experience the flavors in the wine. If you just swallow it right away, you will never fully taste the wine.

The final step is to savor the wine you just had. It is a good idea, after you finish, to reflect on the wine you had and exam what you liked and disliked about it. This will help you decide which types of wines you prefer!

"Maggie's Wine Etiquette ." 28 May 2008. http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/9705/wine/wine.html.
"Wine Etiquette." Pick A Restaurant. 28 May 2008. http://www.pickarestaurant.com/reference/wine_etiquetterecommended_wine.htm.