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.
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.
Page 2 of 2
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.
Page 2 of 2
Advertisement
