10 things you need to know about wine

10 things you need to know about wine

Get the basics of swirling, sniffing, sipping and serving wine at home.
Updated:
2009-10-14 21:24
Published:
2008-11-03 00:00
By 
Lynn Hoffman

Stock up on a variety of tasty vino

6. Take your time
Tasting wine is a dance, not a race. One of the best things about wine is that it invites you to slow down. If you haven't smelled the flowers today, at least you can smell the wine's bouquet. You'll have even more fun if you take a minute to enjoy the wine's colour before smelling it and maybe even pausing after your first sniff, before taking a sip.

7. Don't rush to judgment
There's nothing worse than premature evaluation. Once you decide if it's good or not, you stop paying attention to the taste. So try this: swirl the wine in the glass, look at the colour, smell the aroma, sip and swish, pay attention to the taste and don't decide if you like it or not. The last person to make up his or her mind wins. 

8. Have a variety of wine on hand
It won't be long before you'll have preferences. You'll discover that you like this wine with chicken and that one with pasta. You may even find that you're suddenly ‘in the mood' for one of your favourites so it's a good idea to have a few different bottles available -- all stored in a cool place in your home.

9. There's no shopping like wine shopping!
Shopping for wine is fun. If you find something you like, you can ask the clerk in the wine shop for advice about finding something similar. You can pick a bottle at random (in your price range, of course) or you can surf wine websites, in search of stores that carry your favourites. If you look around, you may find wine-tastings where you can sample a few different wines and pick out ones you like.

10. Respect your tastes but try new wines
Remember that there are two things that count: liking what you
like and being open to liking something new. So relax and let the wine work its magic.

Along the way in your wine journey, your tastes will change, you'll probably make new friends and you'll definitely have a lot of fun.

Celebrate local flavours with a menu inspired by the red wines of Niagara.

Lynn Hoffman is the author of adventure-packed, woman-centred fiction such as Bang Bang and the wine book for beginners The New Short Course in Wine.

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10 things you need to know about wine

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  • Mike Labencki wrote:

    Feb 03, 2009

    2009-09-22 10:51 AM

    I could not have written a better 'wine' article. All my friends look at me funny when I pull a bottle of my homemade "bourglais" style wine out of the frig before serving. I place it in there an hour previously and now it has 'cooled' a bit, yummmmm. Yes 'letting it breath' is just as important as cooling.
  • bob bray wrote:

    Feb 04, 2009

    2009-11-18 3:02 PM

    well written informative and easy to understand which is refreshing for an article on wines Thank you
  • Mike Vail wrote:

    Dec 22, 2009

    2009-12-22 3:08 PM

    If you're at the point where you consider red wine delicious, and get your jollies swishing it around and snorting the vapours - you better check yourself in to an AA meeting. Wine snobs are the most pretentious alcoholics there are, and oh, yes, there are thousands of people dropping dead from overconsumption of red wine, which is soooo good for you - not.
  • Tracy wrote:

    Feb 02, 2010

    2010-02-02 5:45 PM

    A glass of red wine with your dinner is good for you and helps with digestion....Like any alcohol, moderation is the key
  • Jeff wrote:

    Feb 02, 2010

    2010-02-02 6:22 PM

    I enjoy a glass of wine and have, like you mention, found that I enjoy different wines with different foods. I personally find one of the best ways to try a new wine is to look for a tasting in the local area and attend it. I found a delighful Merlot that way and several others that were worth a taste or two. As everyones taste is different anyone is free to disagree with me but I have found that certain red wine can be chilled quite well and then allowed to warm slowly giving a variety of taste sensations. Obviously Mike Vail is not a wine lover and enjoying a glass of red wine does not make you ready for AA. You do not have to be a "wine snob" to enjoy a glass of wine, if fact it helps if you are not. As for 1,000's of people dropping dead from over consumption of red wine, I would love to see the statistics he used to arrive at this.
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