Wine thats used the Vinturi Aerator
This winter, make sure you get the most out of your wine with the Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator. Vinturi’s step by step guide will help wine lovers to learn taste and enjoy red wine like an expert.
Condition:
Before doing anything - check the temperature of your bottle, a red should be between 14 and 18°C, just below room temperature and cool to the touch.
Open and pour your wine.
Take a look at clarity - is the colour consistent? Even red wine should be clear when held up to the light, not cloudy.
Swirl the wine around in the glass and observe how the wine behaves on the side of the glass. The wine or ‘legs’ should run down the side of the glass at a consistent speed.
The legs tell you about the alcohol content of the wine: the slower they descend the moresugar in the wine and therefore the higher the alcohol content.
Colour:
Hold the glass at 45 degrees over a white surface, or a piece of paper. Observe the colour, is it light or dark? Look carefully at wine around the rim of the glass - is it clear pink or brown?
You can tell the age of a wine from the colour around the rim. Younger wines have a light red or even pink rim, whilst older wines might be brown.
Smell:
Give the wine another swirl around the glass and stick your nose right inside the glass. What can you smell? Try not to think about the fact that it’s a wine when describing the aromas - there are no right or wrong answers so say what you smell!
Are there any flavours that shouldn’t be there? It is estimated that approximately 7 % of wines are corked - if there is no smell, a rancid smell or if the wine smells of something strange such as plastic, this could be why.
Wine is usually compared to food flavours such as fruits, nuts, tobacco, chocolate, herbs and spices. You might detect the following: blackberries, raspberries, blackcurrants,melon, hazelnuts, walnuts, vanilla, pepper and so on.
Taste:
Continue to swirl the wine around the glass before taking a sip. What do you taste? Flavours on the palate generally follow those on the nose but they might also be different. Is the wine big and bold or light and fresh? Is there a pleasant acidic taste which cuts through heaviness? Can you detect chalky tannins? Most importantly - do you enjoy it?
Your smell recptors are located in the back of your mouth in the soft palate - which is why you'll see experienced wine tasters making that slurping noise! Try holding a little win in the bottom of the mouth and drawing air across the palate.
Aeration:
To enjoy your bottle at its best make sure you aerate it - wine which has been allowed to breathe tastes better. As air gets in contact with the wine the top layer of alcohol evaporates allowing the flavours to be released - this is why you swirl the wine around the glass when tasting. As the wine aerates the aromas and flavours will become more defined and easier to detect as any heavy tannins which obscure flavours are removed.
Tagged in Food And Drink Wine