Author: Lucaris

When doing a wine tasting, you should have a clear understanding of wine notes and how to describe them. Follow these 9 tips on how to act and accurately describe wine to others.

1. Make sure you have paper and a pen on hand.

Make sure you have paper and a pen on hand. After tasting several glasses of different wines, your memory can get a little hazy. Try giving each wine a score out of ten based on appearance, smell, taste and an overall conclusion. It’s important to write concisely so you don’t spend too much time writing and allow you time to enjoy yourself.

2. Wine tastings often have a spit bucket on hand.

Wine tastings often have a spit bucket on hand to ensure that your judgment isn’t impaired and that your wine evaluations remain lucid. You are of course allowed to swallow the wine if you choose but if you would like to use the spit bucket make sure you leave the wine in your mouth for about 10 seconds before spitting, and you’ll be able to appreciate it just fine. In addition make sure you rinse your mouth with water or a sorbet to make sure that your palate cleansed so you can judge each wine fairly.

3. There’s more for tasting than drinking.

There’s more for tasting than drinking. Remember to see, swirl, smell, and sip when tasting wine to fully appreciate it. Remember to concentrate on your thoughts and feelings about each wine and note it down for your tasting memory. The reason you’re doing a wine tasting is to explore new experiences of wines and to find the ones you love after all!

4. Understanding the differences among the most common grape.

One of the most influential factors affecting the flavor of wine is the grape variety that goes into how it is made. Understanding the differences among the most common grape varieties in the wine-producing will definitely help your wine exploration. It is always a good idea to take wine notes so you remember its flavour and which grape varieties you like.

5. Looking at the colour of the wine.

When looking at the colour of the wine, hold the glass at the stem and hold the glass up to the light, look closely at the wine to check out the colour and clarity. Be as specific as possible, is the colour maroon, purple, ruby or even dark brown? Is it cloudy or clear?

6. Smell the wine, and sense its aroma.

After swirling the wine, close your eyes (so your other senses don’t distract you) and bring the glass up to your nose, smell the wine, and sense its aroma.

7. Take a sip, don’t gulp it down.

Take a sip, don’t gulp it down, let it roll around in your mouth so you can properly analyze the flavors and subtle notes. Remember to clean your palate before taking a sip of another wine so you can appreciate the wine properly.

8. Remember to eat beforehand!

Remember to eat beforehand! Tasting wines (and maybe drinking some too) on an empty stomach is a recipe for getting drunk quickly and not being able to enjoy the rest of the event. Attending wine tastings a few hours after breakfast or lunch will give you a great wine tasting time. Eat something and let your stomach settle before you get stuck in.

9. Be mindful not to introduce any unwanted aromatics to the tasting area.

It’s impossible to appreciate all the aromas of delicate Riesling or Cabernet when the air is heavy with perfume, cologne or smoke. Be mindful not to introduce any unwanted aromatics to the tasting area. You don’t want to miss out on the nuances of the wines you’re trying to enjoy.

If you’re about to dive into the world of cheese and wine pairings and want to make a fantastic impression at your next wine and cheese evening, remember the following essential rules.

Pair by flavor, intensity, and age

Young cheeses like Stilton, Camembert and Brie can partner best with young wines that are juicy, fruity, fresh and spirited like sparkling wines, crisp whites, dry rosés, and fruity, acidic reds. Very old cheeses, that are savory, rich and nutty, pairs best with wines that have ample body and structure. So, as the general rule, do pair by flavor as well as intensity and remember to correlate the intensity with age of wine.

Salt loves sweet

Sweet, fruity wines are balanced, beautifully with salty cheeses like hard Grana, blue cheese, aged Gouda, or feta. The salt in the cheese heightens the perception of sweetness in the wine, so the wine that’s already sweet and fruity perfectly makes a breezy pairing.

Red wine with cheese?

Although white wine is far better when it comes to cheese pairings, if you love red wines then choose the red with a low tannin as it pairs broader with any kind of cheese.

Texture: complement or contrast?

Ensuring your cheese and wine complement each other is the goal. Pairing the rich, creamy cheese that blends seamlessly with a buttery, oaky white wine but contrasts flavours can also be welcome. The bubbles in sparkling wines pose a nice counterpoint to a rich cheese, scrubbing your tongue clean and encouraging the next bite. That’s why Camembert and Champagne are the perfect combination.

What grows together… goes together

Following this old adage, French goat cheese from the Loire is gorgeous with Loire Sancerre, Red Burgundy’s a natural with Époisses, Manchego, a hard Spanish cheese, is great with both Sherry and buxom, from southern Spain. Matching by region doesn’t always work flawlessly but pairing by terroir can be a great place to start.

Cheese and wine pairing enthusiasts

If you are an enthusiast for wine and cheese paring, try to start with a bottle of Riesling as to its perfect character; low alcohol content, high acidity, sweetness, fruitiness, and mineral backbone perfectly match broadly with many types of cheese. When in doubt, play it safe!

Yes! Swirling helps release the hundreds of different aroma compounds in wine.The compounds are so tiny and in fact they float on evaporating alcohol into our nose which is why releasing more of them helps make the aroma better and stronger. It’s also important to remember that wine tastes better in better glasses and in order to swirl wine well, you’ll need spaces in your glass. Thankfully Lucaris has many options of wine glasses for you to select.