Choosing Start Choices for the Lab Testing Now
By Lynwood Sicilian
The objective of a tasting is to “taste” several wines. If it is you who organize the tasting, do not fill the glasses too much to avoid ending up drunk after 2 or 3 wines. Pour enough for 2 or 3 sips, no more. You also don’t have to empty the glass every time. You can pour the excess into a spittoon, designed for this purpose. The use of the lab testing options is there also.
The Other Rule
- Plan a few pieces of bread to accompany the tasting.
- To sort of “reset” the palate between each wine and also not to drink on an empty stomach.
The choice of glass is important! Prefer a tasting glass on foot and in the shape of a tulip (more elongated than round). This particular type of glass makes it possible to smell the wine better thanks to its taller and more closed shape at the top (less evaporation). Another point to check: the thinner the rim (the edge of the glass) the more pleasant it is. To convince yourself that the shape of the glass is essential in a tasting, take the test. Pour the same wine into glasses of different shapes and you will find that you will smell and taste different.
To release a maximum of aromas, slightly turn the wine in the glass before smelling and tasting it. A “tick” among the winegrowers we met because they recognize that this gesture has become so much a habit that they also make the water turn in their glass.
The Options
When serving (or any other sparkling wine or champagne), tilt the glass slightly to avoid the formation of thick foam. It’s better and chicer! No need to tilt the glass to serve non-sparkling wines. To avoid reheating the wine, hold the glass by the foot.
- The order advised by our experts for a tasting is to start with the bubbles, then go to the reds and finish with the whites, from the driest (with more acidity and freshness) to the more mellow (rounder and more sweet on the palate). On the other hand, during a meal, it is the choice of dish that guides the order of the wines.
To taste wine correctly, start by looking at it: it is color (color), its shine, its reflections, its clarity, if it hangs on the walls of the glass (if it leaves tears as we say in the jargon), etc. Then you have to smell it and finally taste it.
Useless to serve the wine while taking height (as for the mint tea)! The idea is to serve it as cleanly as possible. For this, there are small gadgets such as drip stops or so, it is necessary to know how to give a little flick of the wrist (to the right for right-handers and vice versa for our left-handed friends) to rotate the bottle and prevent a drop runs all the way down and ends up staining the table.
Last Words
How do you know if you should decant your wine? The question is difficult because it depends very much on the wine but as a rule, everyday table wines (between 5 and 10 euros) do not require to be aerated before tasting. Unlike the great wines, which are often older and more expensive (from 30-40 euros per bottle) which benefit from being put in a carafe sometime before being served.
