The design of the glassware used when tasting wines is not arbitrary. Its tulip-like shape helps to trap wine odors. Optimal wine tasting glassware will be thin so that the heat of a taster’s hand can warm it if necessary, and clear in order to accurately show wine color. Read More
The term "legs" or "tears" refers to the thin streams of liquid that trail down the inside surface of the wine glass after wine is sipped. Read More
Optimal wine tasting temperatures are as follows - Sparkling wines and sweet wines: 45-50˚F (7-10˚C), Dry white and rosé wines: 50-60˚F (10-15˚C), Light-bodied red wines: 55-65˚F (13-18˚C), Full-bodied red wines: 62-68˚F (17-20˚C)
Wide-ranging variations in wine’s style, flavor & other attributes can negatively affect a wine depending on which one you may have tasted before it. Standard wine-tasting order is designed so that no wine suffers poor representation due to its placement in the tasting sequence. Read More
Setting is key for an optimal wine tasting experience. Holding tastings in the morning ensures freshness of tasters’ minds & palates. When possible, hold tastings in areas lit by natural light, with no extraneous odors (cologne, food, smoking, etc), noises or visual distractions.
Because sight is the first sense we use to examine a wine, the color present in your glass can reveal a lot about the wine. Read More
When arranging a wine tasting, be prepared to serve wines at about the same temperature at which you'd serve them with food courses. Read More
Highly acidic dishes like those made with tomatoes or citrus elements heighten the palate’s awareness of a wine’s sweetness, body, and fruitiness. These same foods tend to diminish perceptions of acidity in wine.
Letting your choice of cuisine inform your wine selection by serving a wine of Spanish origin with tapas or paella, or matching a French wine to your dinner of Confit de canard or Boeuf bourguignon, can be broadening and lead you to discover new and interesting wines. Read More
Bitterness in food intensifies perception of bitterness in any wine drunk with it, and makes the wine taste more acidic. Salty dishes mask perception of bitterness in wines.
Salty foods tend to increase the palate’s perception of a wine’s body while lessening perception of the wine’s bitterness and acidity. When pairing salty dishes, select a sufficiently acidic wine, or it will taste flabby and overpowered by the food.
Avoid high-tannin red wines with fish dishes. Tannin reacts with iodine in seafood to make both the wine and food taste metallic and unpalatable. If you must have red wine with fish, choose a lighter-bodied, low tannin, high acid one, like Beaujolais and lighter Pinot Noir.
When serving a food with more than one dominant flavor element, select a wine that plays well with each aspect. Read More
When devising food and wine pairings, the wine’s purpose is to complement the meal, rather than it being the meal’s purpose to complement the wine. Always aim to match wine to food, never food to wine.
Food has a greater effect on the taste of wine than the reverse. Foods with significant sweetness, umami & chile heat intensify the palate’s perception of acidity, bitterness, and alcohol burn in wines, while diminishing perception of the wine’s fruit notes, body, and sweetness.
Because fat binds tannin, a highly tannic wine makes an excellent pairing for rich dishes featuring the likes of pasta and cheese, wild game, cured and red meats, or other foods with generous fat content.