Buying And Enjoying Great Wine: Tips And Tricks
Serving wine at the dinner table or during a party gives it a chic old world appeal. You have come to the right article if you want to learn more about serving, tasting and choosing wine. Keep reading to gather all the right information below for your next dinner,date or party!
You should write down a few notes after trying a new wine. Make sure you write down the name of the wine, its origin and the year as well as your impressions. It will be hard to remember what a wine tasted like, especially if you attend wine tastings and try many different wines in the same day.
SOLID TIP! Never cook with a wine that you do not enjoy the flavor of. When wine cooks down during the cooking process, it concentrates.
Take a blind taste test of a few wines. Judge them on flavor, scent and boldness. Ignore the most sought after qualities like price or the winery’s region. Tasting blindly is a great way to get your honest opinion on the wine itself, without getting tricked by the hype that sometimes goes into certain varieties.
You should know that old bottles are often worthless. You could try selling it to another wine connoisseur, but most buyers look for large quantities. Keep in mind that serious buyers will want to know everything about the provenance of the wine you want to sell, which is not always feasible if you found a bottle in your basement.
SOLID TIP! Wine goes extremely well with pasta dishes. To choose the perfect wine remember that red wines work best with heavy sauces such as tomato sauce.
Choose your food and wine pairings carefully. Typically, white wine is suitable for light dishes, salads or fish. Red wine goes well with heavier dishes and dark meats. The rule of thumb is the heavier or darker the dish, the darker the wine that you choose. If you have having a multi-course dinner, start with white wine and progress to red wine.
Do not limit yourself to countries that are known for exporting wines such as Spain or France. In fact, some of the best wines on the market are from Argentina or from New Zealand. You should not form your opinion of a country after tasting only a couple different wines.
SOLID TIP! If you stain a shirt with some wine, use Windex. Believe it or not, Windex can eliminate wine stains faster and better than merely soap and water.
If you are saving your wine after a night of drinking, make sure to cork it well. You want to avoid letting extra air into the bottle because it will completely change the taste of the wine and can cause it to go rancid. Make sure the cork fits securely, or use a wine stopper that blocks air out.
Take notes on any wine that you try out. You aren’t going to really know what you are doing at first. However, over time, you will start noticing specific trends in your notes and reactions. You might even see that your reaction to particular wine’s changes as you drink more of them.
SOLID TIP! Leftover wine should not be saved for any more than four days. When wine comes in contact with oxygen, it starts to break down.
When tasting wine, you should avoid distractions as much as possible. Keep in mind that the presence of a strong smell in the room might influence how you perceive the aroma of the wine you are tasting. The temperature of the room and of the bottle you are tasting will also influence your impressions.
Taste wines in an environment free of aromas. If you have food cooking, use candles or have other odors present when you are trying to taste a wine you will not get an accurate impression. Aromas will conflict with the taste and could leave you with a distaste for a wine you may have enjoyed otherwise.
SOLID TIP! When buying wine as a gift, consider pairing it with food of some sort. A nice basket containing some chocolate and wine or fine cheese and wine makes a wonderful gift.
Most people cannot afford a wine cellar in their home, but that does not mean you cannot create an atmosphere that is conducive to storing a few great bottles of wine. Try to store you wine in a darker location where the temperature will remain fairly consistent. Doing this will preserve the quality of your bottles of wine until you are ready to drink them.
Before visiting your favorite restaurant and mulling over which wine to chose, check out their website. Most fine dining establishments will post their wine list on the site, leaving you plenty of time to investigate the possibilities. Consider your entree in advance and research the wine that will best complement it.
SOLID TIP! Even though white wines should be thoroughly chilled when you drink them, you should avoid storing them in a refrigerator for weeks at a time. The best thing to do is to keep them at room temperature and refrigerate them an hour or two before you plan on serving them.
If you have decided to serve white wine at your next gathering, make sure you only store it in the fridge a few hours before serving time. Storing the white wine in the fridge too long (a few days) can affect the way your wine tastes as well as the aroma.
Before drinking the wine, let it breathe. Pour the wine in a carafe or a decanter. Pour some wine into the containing vessel. Let it sit there for around ten minutes. See how it tastes compared to drinking it right out of the bottle. You should now be able to figure out what the differences are between letting it sit there and not letting it.
SOLID TIP! Casual events, like tailgating parties, call for a wine with a screw top. The reason is because you can manage screw tops easier than corks because you don’t need a wine opener to open it.
When stocking your wine collection at home, opt to purchase experimental bottles before buying full cases. With such a vast number of different wines out there, you want to expose yourself to as many wines as possible before committing to a case. Keep your collection full of ‘educational’ bottles.
The Internet has once again come through to make the job easier and buying wine will never be the same again. You can now turn on your computers and shop the local and distant venues without leaving the home. This is perfect for when you have a selection in mind or don’t want to make the trip.
SOLID TIP! Do not hesitate to experiment when shopping for wine. Tasting new wines is a great way to educate yourself about different regions of the world and the wines they produce.
Searching for the best value for your wine? The wine experts claim that you can get the best deals from wine that comes from Chile, such as Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. However, you should not count out wine from other countries, such as Argentina, South Africa, and New Zealand, because you can also find some good values in these places.
As you can see, serving and storing a bottle of wine is no easy task. In order to ensure that the taste is not diminished, you must follow the advice from this article. If you apply all you’ve learned, your next gathering with a bottle of wine will be a true success!
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