Your Guide to Wine Tasting at Home
To create a wine tasting at home, you will first need a selection of wine. Whether it’s bottles of wine that you’ve meant to drink or wine that you’ve purchased just for the occasion, it’s a good idea to choose a theme such as Roses wine from around the world or bottles dating from a particular vintage. For my wine tasting at home, I came up with an idea. I was able to create a special moment for my tasting. I did a picnic in my backyard over wine tasting feasting over a Charcuterie Board. The highlighted link is to that post so you can get some ideas.
As some of my readers might already know, I was a bartender in college, and I went off to California for school. I was introduced to wine tasting from a co-worker who invited me to Napa Valley to go wine tasting in a tasting room. We went in August that like the best time to go, that is when they have their region’s harvest. Well, August- October is the best time of the year. Napa Valley has over 400 Wineries. After the first time in Napa Valley, I went every year for four years and took classes on wine tasting and pairing the correct wines with your meal. So, I’m going to share with you guys what I learned over the years about wine.
Appearance of Wine
The visible appearance of wine is a significant factor in wine tasting. Pour wine into your glass, but do not overfill or it will be much harder to swirl it around. The maximum serving recommended per glass usually is between 3 to 5 oz for a wine tasting. What you want to do is take a sheet of white paper and tilt your wine glass to see the color of the wine reflected on the paper.
Now swirl the wine gently around your glass.
Does it leave any traces on the side of the glass? Known as “legs”, some believe that these swell effects indicate alcohol content or that that the wine is full-bodied and will have a more concentrated taste.
For white wine, is it a deep yellow or grassy green? Does it look clear or cloudy and is there any sediment floating in it?
Stock the Necessary Supplies
Documentation – Provide paper and pens for taking wine notes or
White Background & Clear Glassware – Color is an important feature when comparing wines, so dodge tinted glassware provides the best possible lighting.
Glassware – Giving one glass per person is acceptable; however, I would suggest having two glasses per person, to better taste and compare wines at the same time.
Palate Cleansers – Set out a lot of Bread or water crackers for palate cleansers.
Spit Buckets – Allow your guests the opportunity to get rid of unwanted wine.
Bottle of water
Serve Wine Correctly
Dependent upon what type of party you are hosting, the serving order of the wines may not be important, but if you have the chance, think about lining up the wines in this order: bubbles, light whites, rich whites, rosés, soft reds, bold reds, and then dessert wines. Attempt serving wines at the temperature they show best: whites 40-50 degrees bubbles 40-45 degrees, and reds 55-65 degrees.
For our backyard wine tasting, we selected four different roses of wine. That was the theme of my tasting. I kept it in the roses family to see how different brands match up to each other.
We started off with tasting Sarah Jessica Parker Invivo X
I didn’t know that Sarah Jessica Parker had teamed up with INVIVO to make her Roses wine until the salesperson at my local wine store told me, I looked it up for myself and found out more information on the release, this premium rosé – Invivo X, Sarah Jessica Parker Rosé originates from the South of France and is launched in a virtual wine tasting May 26, 2020, via Zoom. I can describe the taste of the wine to be succulent and refreshing. The peach-hued pink is said to offer aromas of grapefruit, crunchy apple, and nectarine, with a hint of sweet raspberry.
The next wine we reviewed for the first time was Cote Des Roses.
This wine is from Languedoc in the south of France and features what one of the most beautiful bottles I have seen to date is. While exploring this wine, I found out that a student at Ecole Boulle designed this bottle. Cote des Roses is an area near Gruissan in the south of France, not a play on words. Gerard Bertrand offers 3 Cote des Roses wines, a red, white, and the rose. it is refreshing. Crisp, with bold fruitiness you would expect the finish to be cloyingly sweet, but it isn’t! It is dry enough in finish that you will savor your glass, thiswine is a blend- grenache, cinsault and Syrah varietals make up this pale salmon hued treat.
The third wine we tasted has to be one of my favorites right now for the summer the Notorious Pink, the first time I had this wine was at my favorite Italian spot in my neighborhood, the waitress suggests I try a new rose wine that I never had before. Notorious Pink Rosé is a mix of melon, raspberry, sweet cherry, citrus, floral. Notorious Pink is a special blush cuvée made from 100% Grenache, the leading grape varietal at Domaine la Colombette in the South of France.
For the final tasting we had Chateu De Fabregue, this full-flavored rose has it all: notes of wild strawberries, a touch of spice, a perfect balance of freshness and body that makes this rose great in almost any application." Costieres de Nimes is the most southerly appellation of the Rhone wine region in southeastern France. The wines of the area are reputed to have been consumed by the Ancient Greeks and thus figure among the oldest known wines in the world. A typical Costieres de Nimes red wine, made from the class...
Hopefully, you’ve found some inspiration to host your own wine tasting party at home!
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