The difference between wine tasting and wine drinking is huge. Anyone can drink wine successfully…however, you need to learn how to taste it properly, especially when you are moving in a certain social circle.
Thankfully, here at the Bowgie Inn Crantock, we have put together a handy little wine tasting guide!!
Without further ado, here’s how to taste wine to make yourself look all cultured and that – innit.
1. Read the label. It’s probably got a few fancy words on it that you can drop into conversation later.
2. Pour a bit into a glass (which you should hold by the stem!)
3. Tilt the glass 45 degrees and make comments like – ‘oh what a lovely colour!’ You should also see a clear residue left on the glass when you tilt it. This is the alcohol in the wine. It has a different viscosity to the water content so it moves differently. When the alcohol trickles down the inside the glass it’s called legs. so if a wine has good legs then it’s got a high alcohol content.
4. Now swirl the wine around in the glass. This allows more oxygen to circulate allowing for a stronger aroma. So sniff. Don’t be shy. Stick your nose in and inhale deeply. Tell everyone you can smell meadows and sunbeams, figs and peonies…It doesn’t really matter what you say because no one else can smell what you smell! All that matters here is that you smell something. The more you do the swirl and sniff the more you’ll begin to notice a difference between the different wines you drink.
5. Now comes the slurp. This is important. A slurp is not a sip. It’s much noisier for a start. Plus a slurp really does make the wine taste different. So take in a small amount of wine into your mouth, slosh it around then suck in loads of air through your mouth. Imagine you are sucking through an invisible straw whilst at the same time keeping that bit of wine in your mouth. It will sound like you are trying to gargle. It may also come out through your nose if you laugh, but not to worry!
6. Now swallow (or spit – but not on the carpet please). You should be left with an intense flavour of the wine in your mouth. That slurp will have intensified the sweetness and the acidity. The time you can still taste things happening in your mouth after you’ve swallowed the wine is called the finish. So now you can say ‘This wine has a wonderfully long finish’ and know exactly what you’re talking about!!
Generally speaking, wine goes best with food – especially the stronger, acidic varieties. But here at The Bowgie, we’ve put together an array of different wines that go down nicely whether you’re eating or not. We think we can satisfy the most dedicated wine buffs with our selection, but there’s only one way to find out – get down here and order yourself a glass!