Wines and SpiritsThe Way to Taste Wine
Whenever you come across fertile wine country, wine tasting is often one of the most rewarding experiences available. If you long to walk through the vineyards, admiring the grapevines and picturesque backdrop wine glass in hand, take a moment to appreciate the subtle beauty of wine.
1. Look at the wine. Tilting the glass a bit can make it easier to see the way the color changes from the center to the edges. White wines become darker as they age. Red wines lose their color and turn brownish or muddy.
2. Swirl the wine in your glass. This allows some oxygen into the wine which will help it open up, releasing its aromas.
3. Note the wine"s viscosity - how slowly it runs back down the sides of the glass while you are swirling. More viscous wines are said to have "legs", and are likely to contain higher levels of alcohol.
4. Sniff the wine deeply. Try to describe to yourself what you smell.
5. Take a sip of wine, but do not swallow yet. Roll the wine around in your mouth, "chew" it,  exposing it to all of your taste buds and breathing through it as you do.
6. Take another sip of the wine, now swallow it.
7. Note the aftertaste when you swallow. How long does it last? Do you like the taste? What flavors do you taste, try to describe them to yourself.
8. Remember what you experienced, and build on that experience.
9.Try pairing wines with different foods and note how they enhance or diminish the flavors of the wine. Pair red wine with different cheeses, meat, good quality chocolate and berries. With white wine, pair apples, pears and citrus fruits. Most importantly, a wine should complement the food.
Drinking wine is easy... just tilt the glass and swallow. Tasting wine is more of an experience. You need keen concentration, a good memory and a vivid imagination, and in the end you will learn to love and appreciate wine. That is why wine lovers learn to really taste. Tasting the wine in your glass adds an extra dimension and becomes a celebration of life.