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How to Serve Wines
The proper etiquette
of wine serving and drinking should be one of complete informality and ease. It does not
require long planning and great care of execution, except, of course, in the case of great
and old wines. Some general rules to follow would be:
Serving temperatures:
(a) Red table wines should be left standing
in the dining room approximately 24 hours before the meal for allowing any sediment to
settle, and then brought to room temperature.
(b) White and Rose wines are served
slightly chilled (around 50'F.), and one hour on the shelf of a refrigerator will bring
them to the right temperature.
(c) Champagnes and other sparkling wines
take longer to chill and should be left in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Uncorking:
(a) Red wine is improved if the bottle is
uncorked about one hour before the meal. Wine is a living body. It is dormant in the
bottle, and, as soon as the bottle is uncorked, the wine is "awakened" and
starts "breathing." It absorbs oxygen from the air, and this oxidation activates
the development of the "bouquet" and the aroma. One hour or so of
"breathing" gives depth and smoothness to red wine.
(b) White and Rose wines have a very
delicate fragrance which would lose its freshness if it were exposed to air for too long a
time. Therefore, the bottles are opened just before serving.
All experts agree that one type of wine
glass is perfect for all wines, including Champagne. The perfect glass is long stemmed and
tulip-shaped, with a bowl the size of an orange. It is clear and thin, without heavy
ornamentation. As a matter of fact, any large glass or goblet is better than the small,
so-called "wine glass" that is in use in many homes and restaurants. Serving
wine in a water goblet is a good idea when no regular wine glass is available.
Serving:
Wine is poured as soon as food is brought
to the table. It is the host, rather than the hostess, who serves the wine and sees
to it that glasses are replenished all during the meal. The glasses are never filled. They
are served only half-full.
On Tasting Wine
"There are no standards of taste in wine, cigars, poetry,
prose, etc. Each man's own taste is the standard, and a majority vote cannot
decide for him or in any slightest degree affect the supremacy of his own standard."
-Mark Twain, 1895 man's own taste is the standard, and a majority vote cannot
decide for him or in any slightest degree affect the supremacy of his own standard."
-Mark Twain, 1895
The following are the necessary steps for tasting wine. You
may wish to follow them with a glass of wine in hand. Wine tasting can be broken down into
five basic steps: Color, Swirl, Smell, Taste, and Savor.
Color
The best way to get an idea of the color of the wine is to
get a white background and hold the glass of wine in front of it. The range of colors that
you may see depends, of course, on whether you're tasting a white or red wine. Here are
the colors for both, beginning with the youngest wine and moving to an older wine:
WHITE WINE : pale
yellow-green, straw yellow, yellow-gold, old gold, yellow-brown,
maderized, brown
RED WINE: purple, ruby,
red, red brick, red-brown, brown
Color tells you a lot about the wine. There three main
reasons why a wine may have more color:
- It's older.
- Different grape varieties give different color. (For
example, Chardonnay usually gives off a deeper color than does Riesling.)
- The wine was aged in wood.
Swirl
Why do we swirl wine? To allow oxygen to get
into the wine: Swirling releases the esters, ethers, and aldehydes that combine with
oxygen to yield the bouquet of the wine. In other words, swirling aerates the wine and
gives you a better smell.
Smell
This is the most important part of wine tasting. You can
only perceive four tastes-sweet, sour, bitter, and salt-but the average person can smell
over 2,000 different scents, and wine has over 200 of its own. Now that you've swirled the
wine and released the bouquet, you should smell the wine at least three times. You will
find that the third smell will give you more information than the first smell did. What
does the wine smell like? What type of nose does it have? Smell is a very important step
in the tasting process and most people simply don't spend enough time on it.
Pinpointing the nose of the wine helps you to identify
certain characteristics. The best way to learn what your own preferences are for styles of
wine is to "memorize" the smell of the individual grape varieties. For white,
just try to memorize the three major grape varieties: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and
Riesling. Keep smelling them, and smelling them, and smelling them until you can identify
the differences, one from the other. For the reds it's a little more difficult, but
you still can take three major grape varieties: Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Cabernet
Sauvignon.
Taste
To many people, tasting wine means taking a
sip and swallowing immediately. This isn't tasting. Tasting is something you do with your
taste buds. You have taste buds all over your mouth-on both sides of the tongue,
underneath, on the tip, and extending to the back of your throat. If you do what many
people do, you take a gulp of wine and bypass all of those important taste buds.
What should you think about when
tasting wine? about when
tasting wine?
Be aware of the most important sensations of
taste and where they occur on your tongue and in your mouth. One can only perceive four
tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, and salt (but there's no salt in wine, so we're down to
three). Bitterness in wine is usually created by high alcohol and high tannin. Sweetness
only occurs in wines that have some residual sugar left over after fermentation. Sour
(sometimes called "tart") indicates the acidity in wine.
Sweetness- Found
on the tip of the tongue. If there's any
sweetness in a wine whatsoever, you'll get it right away.
Fruit and Varietals Characteristic- Found
in the middle of
the tongue.
Acidity- Found
at the sides of the tongue, the cheek area, and
the back of the throat. White wines and some lighter-style red wines usually contain a
higher degree of acidity.
Tannin- The
sensation of tannin begins in the middle of the
tongue.Tannin frequently exists in red wines or wood-aged white wines. When
the wines are too young, tannin dries the palate to excess. If there's a lot of tannin in
the wine, the tannin can actually coat your whole mouth, blocking the fruit. Remember,
tannin is not a taste. It is a tactile sensation.
Aftertaste- The
overall taste and balance of the components of
the wine that lingers in our mouth. How long does the balance last? Usually a sign of a
high-quality wine is a long, pleasing aftertaste. The taste of many of the great wines
lasts anywhere from one minute to three minutes, with all their components in harmony.
Savor
After you've had a chance to taste the wine, sit back for a few
moments and savor it. Think about what you just experienced, and ask yourself the
following questions to help focus your impressions. Was the wine:
Light, medium, or full-bodied? For a white wine: How was the
acidity? Very little, just right, or too much? For a red wine: Is the tannin in the
wine too strong or astringent? Is it pleasing? Or is it missing? What is the
strongest component (residual sugar, fruit, acid, tannin)?
How do you know if a wine is
good or not?
The definition of a good wine is one that
you enjoy. Do not let others dictate taste to you!
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