Web Analytics Made Easy - Statcounter
Author: topstuf
Date: July 2, 2020

Drink Wine Like A Pro - Guide All About Wine For Beginners

Drinking a glass of wine is not similar to sipping a cup of tea. Wine drinking is a culture to some of us. For others, it is a hobby. It is true that there is no strict rule for tasting wine. Still, you will get the best from every sip by learning the tricks of drinking wine. You can unleash the potentials of a wine connoisseur, hidden in you and Drink Wine Like A Pro. Let us now help you to know the perfect technique of drinking a glass of cool wine.

We cannot guide you without introducing you to the basic wine knowledge. Most of the wines have grapes. However, these grapes are different from what you have found in any grocery store. These special wine grapes are sweeter and smaller with seeds and thicker skin.

When you are new to alcoholic drinks, the most intimidating task for you is to buy the right wine. You may not know your own taste palate. To most of the beginners, Pinot Noir and Merlot wines are the best choices. These are red-colored wines with fruity flavor. You may also try out Sauvignon Blanc white wine. While choosing wines, you have to focus on different factors.

The wine bottle label is the source of information to the beginners. It will tell you all about wine, present in your bottle.

  • Geography – All over the world, there are different vineyards, most known for producing tasty grapes. By identifying the source of the grapes, you will easily be able to guess the quality of your wine.
  • Alcohol percentage– You will feel unbalanced while you drink wine, having a high level of alcohol. You can pick a wine with less than 14% of alcohol.
  • Taste indicator– On your wine bottle label, you can find a symbol, indicating the sweetness and other aspects of the taste.

Wines of different styles

To dive yourself in the world of wine, you can try to learn about the diversity of this drink. Wines, produced at different places of this world, have subtle variations. To help you to learn about wine, we have talked about some varieties.

  • Sparkling Wine

With its origin in France, it is much similar to Champagne. This wine is produced with the time-intensive production process. While you love Champagne, you can try it out.

  • Aromatic Wine

This sweet flavored wine is made of aromatic grapes. It is a rich, perfumed white wine that may be within your budget. Torrontés and Moscato d’Asti are this type of wines.

  • Rose Wine

This wine had gained popularity after the import of French wines to England. Rose wines are of different varieties, as they are made of various grapes. Most of the drinkers love the dry version. Grenache and Carigan are some of these wines.

  • Dessert Wine

Dessert wines are of various types, and their taste ranges from the sweet to the dry ones. You can find thick syrup in this wine. 

  • Red wine
  • Full-Bodied - It is the darkest wine of highly tannic qualities. The tannin, present in wine, attracts proteins of our saliva. This red wine couples with fatty, juicy steak. You will get a pleasing sensation from drinking wine.
  • Medium bodied - You may call it the food wine, and it is available in different flavors. The level of acidity has a balance. You can have it with any food, including cheesy lasagna and salads.
  • Light-bodied - This is a pale colored red wine with tannin tastes. However, it can slightly dry your mouth. 
  • White wine 
  • Light bodied- It is the most-sold wines and looks like beer. You can find green herbal tastes of bell pepper and gooseberry. On the cool days, you may try out this wine
  • Full bodied- The red wine lovers love this wine due to the presence of a smooth and creamy flavor. This wine is produced with unique winemaking techniques. Chardonnay is one of the classic white wines for you.

Pick the right wine glass for enjoying your drinks

Some of us love drinking wine directly from the bottle, while others find a style in holding a wine glass with their hand. Wine glasses are of different shapes, and some of them fit best for particular types of wine.

  • Universal glass

You may not be too much enthusiastic about the design of your wine glass. In that case, the space-saving option to you is to choose the universal glass.

  • Specialty glasses

As one of the regular drinkers, you may invest in these wine glasses. These are smaller glasses, having a narrower mouth for limiting the evaporation.

  • Standard glass for red wine

For most types of red wines, you can rely on this glass. You can choose this glass to enjoy wines, having a higher amount of alcohol.

  • Bordeaux Glass

While you are drinking bold red wines, you may choose this glass. The bigger surface area causes the evaporation of ethanol. As the opening is wider, you get a smoother taste from wine. Sauvignon, Cabernet and different other wines taste best in this glass.

  • Glasses for white wines

To have pleasure from drinking white wines, you may buy small sized bowled glasses. These glasses help in preserving the floral zest and keep up the cool temperature. The acidity also remains at the best level. Orange wines, White, Rioja and Chardonnay are the wine options to use this bowled glass.

Learn the way of tasting wine to refine your palate

 

 

This is one of the important sections in our beginner’s guide to wine. The sommeliers also rely on various wine tasting techniques for sharpening their capability of recalling wines. Our guide will help you to taste wine as a pro.

Check out the look of your wine

Opacity and color of wine are the two major indicators of the grape species, acidity level, alcoholic content and sugar and the climate, where the drink is produced. You can find out these traits within a few seconds. The age of wines is also identifiable from the overall look. With the increasing age of white wines, you can find the altering color of the drinks. It turns into a yellowish and brownish drink. However, red wine becomes paler due to aging.

The rim and color variation indicates the types of grapes. Grenache and Nebbiolo wines are translucent colored drinks. Pinot Noir is a ruby colored wine, while Malbec has pink rim.

The viscous and thicker wine legs inform you about the presence of high alcohol.

Get the aroma of wine

Aroma is one of the strongest indicators of everything related to your wine. By identifying the aroma, you may answer different questions- What is the age of wine? Does the wine have fruity flavor?

Pie crust and Meyer lemon are the aromatic compounds, known as stereoisomers. We can sense the aroma due to the evaporation of alcohol. One glass of wine may have various compounds, and it will be always easy for you to interpret it rightly. We can categorize the aroma in three ways.

Primary aromas have their origin in wine grapes. Barbera emits the aroma of anise or licorice due to the compounds, present in Barbera grapes. The fruity taste is very common to most of the wines. However, the floral and herbal notes are also the primary aromas.

The yeast fermentation process at the time of making wine results in the secondary aroma. For instance, Brut Champagne has a sourdough smell. This smell is yeasty and bready. Yogurt aroma is also the secondary one, and malolactic fermentation results in this aroma.

The bouquets or tertiary aromas are present in the aging wine. Aging over a long period causes these aromas. For instance, you can find vanilla aroma in some oak-aged wines. This tertiary smell can cause a modification of the primary aromas, and you can sense it in solera wine.

Having some knowledge of these aromas is essential to a regular wine drinker.

Know the taste of wine

The wines, having a higher acidity level, are not much sweet. Thus, acidity and sweetness have a relationship. The unit used to measure the sweetness is g/l RS. The wines with 220 g/l RS are much like syrup. 30 or 40 g/l means average level of sweetness.

Now to talk about acidity, you have to mention pH factor. Wines have varieties of acids. Acidity indicates the level of sourness of your wine. Zippy or tart is another name of the highly acidic wine. The pH value of wine varies from 2.5 to 4.9.

More about the flavors of your wine

You know that the red wines have different fruit flavors. These flavors can be of black or red fruits. You have to learn the way to differentiate these fruit flavors. The full-bodied wines have black fruit flavors.

While preparing red wine, the manufacturers combine black and red fruit flavors. Grenache contains the flavors of red fruits, while Syrah has the tang of black fruit. White wines blend two different types of fruits, including the citrus and tree fruits. The tree fruits include apricot, peach, apple, nectarine and pear. The wines, made from these fruits, are Moscato, Viognier, and Sauvignon Blanc. The citrus fruits include lemon, pineapple and orange.

Opening the wine bottle with an opener

  • Cut around your wine bottle’s rim for removing the foil capsule. Raise your corkscrew’s arm.
  • Place your bottle in a flat position and then lower the corkscrew’s arm.
  • Hold the corkscrew straight and vertically for placing it at the central portion of your cork.
  • Firmly hold your bottle’s top portion and the corkscrew’s lower end.
  • Turn your corkscrew’s handle until raising its arms.
  • By pressing down the corkscrew’s arm, you can lift out your bottle’s cork
  • Use a towel for wiping the bottle’s rim

These few steps will help you in opening your wine bottle.

What to do before opening the wine bottle

  • Store your wines at a place away from the sunlight and artificial light. It is important to prevent any odor from your wine.
  • Do not store the corked bottle in an upright position.
  • The temperature for storing wine has to be stable.
  • Do not move the stored bottles frequently

Dealing with the wine after unsealing its bottle

When it is white wine, you must store the opened bottle insider the refrigerator. Make sure that you have corked the bottle tightly. You must drink the wine within 3 to 5 days. However, for the red wines, you can place the bottles at any dark site. The regular drinkers can buy a special wine refrigerator.

How to avoid dripping while pouring wine into the glass

Take a napkin for wiping the spout. Make sure that the label of the bottle is facing outward. Sommeliers love holding the bottle in this technique. At first, you can pour 5 to 6 ounces of wine.  Fill out the remaining part of the glass with water. The bottle’s bottom side has to be away from you at the time of pouring the wine.

Etiquettes of wine tastings that you must know

While you are tasting wine at a party or any other occasion, you must follow the customs-

  • Never spit out your wine when you have not found any spit bucket. This spitting indicates that you have not enjoyed the drink.
  • Hold the stem of your wine glass, and not its bowl.
  • Drink the wine and never gulp it
  • Track the feelings that you get from every wine
  • You can find different sensation from different wines. There is nothing wrong in them.

Is your wine in the right condition?

As one of the beginners, you may question- Can wine go bad? Improper storage and different other factors can cause damage to your wine. In our wine guide, we have listed a few signs, indicating a bad wine.

Smell and flavor in the cork- The cork of the bottle has absorbed the wine’s flavor.

Smell like that of vinegar and cardboard- It indicates the impurities, present in wine, and these impurities cause mold formation in the drink.

Bubbly wine- Too much air results in this issue.

Intense brown color- The aged wines may be brown. However, you must not drink it without checking everything.

Mistakes in drinking wine-

  • Filling the wine glass fully up to its brim
  • Sipping the red wine instantly after you have poured it into the glass
  • Drinking a high amount of wine at a time

Thus, you must avoid these mistakes to enjoy your wine in a better way

Tips to drink wine for better health

  • Include wine in your diet chart. While you have your wine with the everyday diet, you must track the amount.
  • Sip one to two glasses of wine on a few occasions.Men must not drink more than two glasses.
  • Cook your foods using wine. For the cooking purpose, you may choose red wine as one of the ingredients. You can add this wine to your gravy and soup. By cooking, you can burn off its alcoholic content.
  • Red wine is better than white ones to maintain health. It contains a high amount of
  • Do not drink wine on your empty stomach. You can easily lose your control due to the fast reaction of alcohol.
  • Drink more water before and after sipping the wine. Hydration is a must after drinking wine.

Pairing wine with foods

Most of the wine enthusiasts love pairing their drinks with some foods. However, the choice of the right foods with your wine is a must to have the best taste. In our wine guide, we have given you tips on these pairings.

  • The acidity of your wine has to be higher than that of your food.
  • The sweetness of the wine must be more intense than your food.
  • The flavor intensity of both wine and food has to be in balance
  • Red wines can go with the strong flavored red meats
  • Eat fatty foods with the bitter wines
  • Choose chicken or fish with your white wines

While you find out the wine composition, you will find various traits of all the wine types. Tannin, sweetness, acidity and alcohol level are different for wines. By identifying the flavors and traits of wine, you can easily make the pairings with your food. DIY or creative pairings are interesting. Still we have guided you on the way of choosing food with wine.

Chocolate and other ingredients with wine

Wine and chocolate pairings are very common to us. However, a minor mistake in these pairings may affect your feelings. For instance, a dark chocolate with red wine results in a sour or bitter taste. Milk chocolates, containing cream, go with most of the wines. However, dark chocolates have polyphenols, and you have to balance the bitterness while making the pair. White chocolate does not have cacao, and it is best to consume with your dry red wine. You may also take spices (mint, basil, sage, lavender and coriander) and herbs with your wine.

Final Words

To conclude, we can say that the above guide on how to drink wine would make you confident. You will get more pleasure from drinking different wines. You can now visit to a winery and pick your favorite wines.

Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
 This site is a participant in the Amazon services LLC associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
topstuffblogs@gmail.com
crossmenuarrow-right