Develop your palate: The fascinating world of wine tastings

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A good quality wine is worth savouring to be able to sense all its flavours, its more or less unique bouquet. It is a great beverage for a sophisticated event, combined with tasting. It is important to know how to skilfully serve the different varieties to your guests. It is not only important to good quality wine, taking care of the right setting is also important. 

How to organise successful wine tastings?

Organising a wine tasting is not something complicated, but there are some important points to bear in mind. It is best to divide it into three basic phases, namely visual tasting, olfactory tasting, gustatory tasting. The more senses that are involved, the better, i.e. visual, olfactory, palatal should be kept in mind. It all starts with assessing the appearance of the liquor, its colour, clarity and much more. Before tasting, one sniffs the wine in a still glass to be able to sense the volatile aromas. For the more experienced, this is sufficient to determine whether a particular beverage is good. Only at the end can you proceed to the taste tasting, which is more about chewing the liquid than drinking it. You can tell if it is sour, sweet, salty or bitter, to what extent. 

Four steps to professional wine tasting

The first step is to properly label and create an interesting composition on the table where the spirits are placed along with the starters. A great solution will be to introduce live flowers and grapes to best reflect the atmosphere of the vineyardswhich is sensational for tasting. Green leaves, grasses, field flowers, wooden elements are all welcome. The second step is to create a wine bottle display, which presents itself very impressive. 

The next issue will be to make sure you have the right wine glasses, obligatorily on legs. Tasters know very well how important it is in which vessel alcohol is served. It affects its taste, so the choice cannot be random. White wine glasses have narrower openings at the top, and it is important to remember to serve liquor after it has been chilled. Also, don't forget to designate waste places, as there is no shortage of empty bottles and corks during tastings. 

Discover the differences between the main wine varieties

There are many wine varieties, but when it comes to tastings, it is worth focusing primarily on the basic variants. For example, you can decide on particular types of liquor by grape variety. It is also useful to know what is served in a particular order, i.e. white wine first, then rosé, then red. It is also important to serve the light beverage first, only coming to the heavier ones later. 

The tasting of the youngest wines begins first, then the older vintage liquors are served. Dry wines are tasted first, then moving on to sweet wines. In summary, the following types of wine are worth serving at the tasting: white, red, rosé, dessert and sparkling. The different varieties differ in many respects, that is, above all in taste, colour and texture. 

Wine terms you need to learn

Interested persons wine topics know very well that there are many terms to remember. Knowing them makes it easier to navigate the world of beverages. Some terms have no Polish equivalents and their names sound rather enigmatic. An example would be baume, the Australian unit that defines the concentration of sugar in must. The list of wine terms is long, so you need to take the time to assimilate the knowledge. 

Many people do not even realise that rootstock does not just refer to the object on which something is placed. The term refers to the part of the vine intended to be grafted to the fruiting part. The following terms are included in the glossary to learn about: anthocyanins, appellation, botrytis, brettanomyces, chateau, cru, residual and residual sugar, fermentation, filtration, clarification, maceration, must, deacidification, polyphenols, pumping over, sedimentation, tannin, vinification and much more. 

A wine for every palate: A guide for amateurs 

Beginner gourmets usually start with sweet wines, although those with the most sugar should not be chosen. There is also no shortage of dry spirits, which are mild with a noticeable sweetness. It is worth betting on wines with fruity and chocolate aromas. A great choice of wines are those made from raw material grown in warm regions. Versatile for every palate are, among others, the following varietals: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gracjano. 

Sparkling wines with fruity and floral notes are also recommended. Semi-dry semi-sweet wines from the late harvest are also noteworthy. There is no shortage of liquors that appeal to everyone, with a wide range of aromas. It is worth looking for the most aromatic varietals, and you may also be tempted to try spirits with additional aromas, for example with a hint of vanilla or coconut. You have to start somewhere, and the simplest solutions work best.