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Wine for Beginners
Understanding the basics of wine types, selections, storage, and tasting will add new dimensions to your wine experience. TheWineCooler.net has provided simple guidelines to assist as you discover your own palate.
Getting Started with Wine Tasting: Wine tasting is like any other interest or hobby, the more you practice the better you will fine-tune your sensory abilities. The effort and time you invest in your palate training is very rewarding, not to mention a lot of fun!
How to Taste Wine: The ability to sniff out and untangle the subtle threads that weave into complex wine aromas is essential for tasting. Try holding your nose while you swallow a mouthful of wine; you will find that most of the flavor is muted. Your nose is the key to your palate. Once you learn how to give wine a good sniff, you'll begin to develop the ability to isolate flavors – to notice the way they unfold and interact – and, to some degree, assign language to describe them.
"Good Wine" for Beginners: You have probably heard from both friends and experts many times that any wine you like is a good wine. This is true if simply enjoying wine is your goal. You don't have to do more than take a sip, give it a swallow and let your inner self decide "yes" or "no." Simple.
It's true that figuring out what you like is an important component of wine tasting, but it's not the only component. Quickly passing judgment about a wine is not the same as truly understanding and evaluating it. If you're tasting properly, you will be able to identify the main flavor and scent components in every wine you try; you will know the basic characteristics for all of the most important varietal grapes, and beyond that, for the blended wines from the world's best wine-producing regions. You will also be able to quickly point out specific flaws in bad wines.
Exploring Wine Regions: Wine is made in virtually every country in the world. These countries are often referred to as "Old World" or "New World." "Old World" consists of regions with long histories of wine production, such as Europe and parts of the Mediterranean. Some of the most well-known "Old World" wine regions include France, Italy, and Germany. "New World" (as the name suggests) is used to describe newer wine-producing regions, such as United States, Australia, and Chile.
Reading a Wine Label: At first glance, a wine label can be confusing to those just getting started. Luckily, most wine producers have made it easier on wine beginners by listing the grape(s) directly on the label. However, there are a few regions have typically
relied on the wine consumer to be familiar enough with the region to know, for example, that Red Burgundy is Pinot Noir.
| Wine Service Temperatures |
| Champagne, Sparkling, and Dessert Wine |
40° F |
| Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio |
45-48°F |
| Chardonnay, Chablis |
48-52°F |
| Pinot Noir |
60-64° |
| Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz |
64-66° F |
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Preservation: When you have leftover wine in the bottle, preservation is key. As wine comes into contact with air, it quickly spoils. To slow down the deterioration process, use a quick vacuum pump to suck out the excess air. The less air in the bottle,
the longer the wine's lifespan.
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