Since the world of wine can be very intimidating for a neophyte, many wineries and wine shops offer tastings. This is a great way to break the ice and learn more about what wines you like and dislike. It’s ideal for hearing from an expert on advice on wine and food pairings and other helpful information to get the most out of the wines you may be interested in.
There are ways that you can make sure that you do get more out of a tasting that you would otherwise miss out on if you decide to simply show up. In this article, we will go over several ways that you can go to a wine tasting and leave with a lot of practical knowledge about wines.
Winery vs wine shop
Going to a local winery to taste the wines made from grapes they grew themselves is a wonderful opportunity for a unique experience. If you’re traveling to a wine area then take some time to research what the local wineries are that offer visits and tastings. Not all do and even those that do offer tastings may not say so directly. You may need to contact the winery and ask them.
For instance, if you go to Morocco, not exactly a destination known for wineries, you could get lucky and experience a tour of a vineyard. Got to the local winery website like dunewines.com and send them an email asking about the option.
The same goes for Lisbon! Portugal is known for its incredible and flavorful wines. Some of the best wineries to visit in Lisbon offer tasting experiences that include wine and food pairing. They may even provide a tour of the vineyards and cellars, so you can learn more about the winemaking process.
The difference between a tasting at a winery and one at a wine shop is that there is only going to be one theme at a winery. They are going to run you through a tasting of the wines that they make. A wine shop has a lot more flexibility in that they can have you try a wider range of wines. For instance, they might make a special tasting on just Merlot but have you try the ones from different countries to see the difference.
Take notes
Tasting a lot of different wines and then trying to remember what you learned about them is next to impossible. You’ll need to take some notes so you can remember what you tasted and then try to find the wines that you like and avoid ones that you didn’t.
There are a lot of ways to take wine tasting notes, but the basics are that you should have a space for the name of the wine, the year and varietal, and then an area where you can write down whether it was fruity or tannic. You can even make a checklist and print out several of them so you can simply tick a box about the characteristics of the wine.
Ask questions
The experience can be intimidating so a lot of people don’t think to speak up and risk asking a stupid question. There are no stupid questions so if you have something that you’d like to know that will help you identify a wine that you like it pays to speak up.
Ask questions about what types of food the wine should be paired with for the best effect. Or, how to store a wine that you plan to buy. There is some information that you might have to enquire about to find out.
