Wine Tasting – The Brief Etiquette Guide
Wine tasting: The brief etiquette guide
It would be fair to say that we all have slightly different definitions when it comes to wine tasting.
For some of us, it’s about knocking back as much wine as possible. For others, it’s about savoring the moment.
Suffice to say, there is certain etiquette to adhere to if you are about to participate in a wine tasting session, whether you are hosting your own and sourcing wine from somewhere like The Bottle Club or if you are venturing to an event, today’s article will take a look at some of the key rules.
Rule #1 – Don’t guzzle it down
Well, this first rule probably won’t raise many eyebrows. As we alluded to in the introduction, far too many people approach one of these events with the intention of consuming as much wine as possible.
There’s no doubt that you will have large quantities – but it has to be done in the correct way.
There’s a four-prong process to wine tasting; involving looking, swirling, smelling before then sipping. The final element to this process is key here; you’re not gulping the drink down; it needs to sit in your mouth for at least a few seconds so you can really savor the taste. This is crucial as contrary to popular belief, one of the big things you’ll take away from this session is the texture of the wine. This is something that is easily missed if you decide just to swallow it as soon as it hits your tongue.
Rule #2 – Don’t wear excessive amounts of perfume
Whether it’s perfume or aftershave, these are two substances where you have to tread very carefully.
Sure, there’s no harm in applying small quantities of these to your body, but anything beyond this really can wreak havoc with the tasting session. Suddenly, it will become really difficult to properly taste the wine – and the point of the session is lost.
Rule #3 – Take advantage of water
Sure, it’s a wine tasting event, but don’t forget that water is an important component in the day.
The experts refer to this technique as “cleansing your palate” and as well as tapping into water, try and have some crackers or something else just to get the previous wine’s taste away.
If you don’t do this, you’ll find that a lot of the wines start to blend into each other and this is going to make the whole purpose meaningless.
Rule #4 – Don’t be afraid of spitting
This next point might raise a few eyebrows amongst some of you, but spitting can be a really important element of the whole wine tasting process.
The reason behind this is simple; when you spit, you are reducing the chances of getting incredibly drunk! Like it or not, this is very easy to do when you start to taste numerous wines and in a bid to appreciate each and every one, we really would urge you to spit the liquid out after getting a sense of it.
Special thanks to this week’s guest writer, Richard Parker