Wine Appreciation 101

Tips for a successful gastronomic experience:

Before a meal that will include fine or delicate wines, offer your guests a light aperitif.

Consider serving aperitif wines like vermouth, muscat or pineau des Charentes with ice. It’s a matter of taste. As it melts, the ice will dilute the concentration of the drink slightly.

When you’re choosing wine, give some thought to the courses to come: how strong are the smells and tastes ahead? What are the predominant tastes and textures?

Bear in mind the characteristics of the various types of grapes – either memorize them or prepare a crib sheet you can refer to.

When dining out, make sure that bottles are uncorked at the table. There isn’t really any point in sniffing the cork though.

Pour a small amount of wine into your glass, then inhale. If there’s anything wrong with the wine, this will enable you to detect the problem. The wine may:

be oxidized or maderized:

if it smells of grass, rancid butter, cut fruit that’s been exposed to air, or bitter almonds;

have gone off or turned:

if it smells like vinegar, makes you wrinkle your nose, or smells like nail polish remover;

be corked:

if it smells like mouldy wood due to a defective cork.

Taste the wine so you can tell whether it’s being served at the right temperature.

A white or rosé may be cold enough from resting in a wine bucket with ice cubes and water; take it out for a while if you think it’s too cold.

When red wine is served at room temperature, you may have to ask to have it chilled - an ice bucket with water and a few ice cubes is more convenient than putting it in the fridge.

To keep the wine chilled, serve a little at a time.

To preserve the rest of the wine once you’ve opened the bottle, bear in mind that what changes the wine is oxygen. Transfer the remaining wine into a glass container that you can fill to the brim and put it in the fridge. Fortified wines are less likely to deteriorate, since they contain a much higher percentage of alcohol.

Source: SAQ