bchristineb asked:


I want to start drinking wine because it is low in calories. There are so many to choose from so I could use some good advice. Any wine that is sweet or fruity would be great.

BeetTV asked:

Online Video Wine Show Host Signs with CAA: “Swish Your Wine like Mouthwash!” Gary Vaynerchuk, host of the wildly successful daily online show Wine Library TV, which has some 60000 viewers, with traffic that greatly exceeds industry Goliath, the Wine Spectator, came by the Beet.TV studios the other night for some wine tasting basics. Smelling the wine is key — as is swishing it like “mouthwash.” Well, the wines Gary brought over were certainly nothing like mouthwash. Gary really knows his …

Why swish? While it was originally thought that certain regions on the tongue detected specific flavors, we now know this is not true.

The front and back of the tongue contain the taste buds and rather than specializing in a particular taste sensation, all taste buds are capable of detecting sweet, sour, bitter and salty flavors, although there may be some slight differences in sensitivity. So that you get the most out of your taste buds, when wine tasting, swish the wine around your mouth, which will allow all of your taste buds (and your sense of smell) to participate in the detection of the finer flavors of the wine.

Smell and Taste:

Have you ever tried desperately to detect flavor from a food or beverage when you had a terrible cold? You probably tasted very little, if anything at all. Research indicates that 70 to 75% of what we taste is actually due to our sense of smell. Specialized “aroma” nerves in the nose are necessary to identify tastes more subtle than sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Smell and taste go hand-in-hand when wine tasting . . . without your sense of smell you would be unable to detect the delicate flavors of chocolate, herbs or smoke in your wine.

Wine Tasting Techniques:

Wine tasting is not just like art, it is an art.

While wine tasting can be subjective in nature, wine connoisseurs follow some general “guidelines” when judging a wine. It’s very easy to learn the techniques of wine tasting, and if you already enjoy wine, learning the nuances will simultaneously increase the pleasure you derive from tasting.

The three steps in wine tasting are: Look, Smell, and Taste.

Look:

You can tell much about a wine simply by studying its appearance. The wine should be poured into a clear glass and held in front of a white background (a tablecloth or piece of paper will serve nicely) so that you can examine the color.

The color of wine varies tremendously, even within the same type of wine. For example, white wines are not actually white; they range from green to yellow to brown. More color in a white wine usually indicates more flavor and age, although a brown wine may have gone bad. Where as time improves many red wines, it ruins most white wines. Red wines are not just red; they range from a pale red to a deep brown red, usually becoming lighter in color as they age.

Rim color:

You can guess the age of a red wine by observing its “rim.” Tilt the glass slightly and look at the edge of the wine. A purple tint may indicate youth while orange to brown indicates maturity.

Swirling:

Swirling the wine serves many purposes, but visually it allows you to observe the body of the wine. “Good legs” may indicate a thicker body and a higher alcohol content and/or sweetness level.

Smell:

Swirl your wine. This releases molecules in the wine allowing you to smell the aroma, also called the bouquet or nose. The two main techniques that wine tasters use are:

1.) Take a quick whiff and formulate an initial impression, then take a second deeper whiff or

2.) Take only one deep whiff.

Either way, after you smell the wine, sit back and contemplate the aroma. Don’t try to “taste” the wine yet, concentrate only on what you smell.

It may be difficult to describe in words when you’re a novice, but after trying many wines you ill notice similarities and differences. Sometimes a certain smell will be very strong with underlying hints of other smells. Take your time. By labeling an aroma you will probably remember it better. You may even want to keep a notebook of your impressions of wines, and save the labels; next time you see the wine you won’t have to purchase it to know if you like it . . . or you don’t!

Taste:

The most important quality of a wine is its balance between sweetness and acidity. To get the full taste of a wine follow the following three steps:

1. Initial taste (or first impression): This is where the wine awakens your senses (your taste buds respond to sensations).

2. Taste: Slosh the wine around and draw in some air (even if you do look funny in front of your dinner guests). Examine the body and texture of the wine. Is it light or rich? Smooth or harsh?

3. Aftertaste: The taste that remains in your mouth after you have swallowed the wine. How long did the taste last? Was it pleasant?

After tasting the wine, take a moment to value its overall flavor and balance. Is the taste appropriate for that type of wine? If the wine is very dry, is it supposed to be?

Some serious wine connoisseurs assign a point score to a wine to determine its quality. While this method can be useful, it is in no way necessary to determine a quality wine. The more different wines you try, and the more attention you pay to each wine, the better you will become at ascertaining and describing each wine’s characteristics.

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By: Gerald Crawford

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Lady asked:


Could someone give me a few names of some bottles of wine that are good tasting, but also very cheap (10- $20)? I would like to give some wine as gifts as a small thank you, but I don’t want people to know that its cheap. Thanks.

jestbunny asked:


One of my relatives is going to a wine tour today and she is going to have 45 samples of wine total. Will she come home completely wasted?

mjohnson2469 asked:


Okay, I am a romantic, but haven’t quite been the wine guy I am dating someone that drinks wine and knows the difference. So I want to surprise her tonight with some fine wine by the fire place. Can someone please tell me what is appropriate, and some ideas?
Thanks In Advance!

One of the fastest ways to develop a knowledge base of wines you enjoy is to taste them. This can be a lot of fun. Go to your local wine & spirits store; gather up a bunch of bottles and head home for a night of tasting adventures. You might have more success if you ask the wine clerk for suggestions, or check out the ratings affixed to bins at the store. Check out wine reviews online (Wine Library TV is a good place to start) or check out what the experts say in wine publications like Wine Spectator. Depending on your preferred learning method, you may find it helpful to do a vertical tasting, which means sampling wines of the same variety but with different vintages.

There’s no shame is doing a taste test at home alone (just be sure to spit out the wine or you won’t be able to remember what you liked and what you didn’t!). It is also a great way to spend the evening with a friend or significant other. Okay, so you’ve got your bottles of wine. Before you start tasting, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the proper way to taste wine. These techniques actually help you appreciate the wineÑthey are not simply to make you look smart (although they undoubtedly do).

Tasting Basics

“For the home taster, conducting a blind tasting is a great way to focus one’s tasting skills, but it’s not essential if your objective is simply to learn about the wine,” Peter Meltzer, wine critic for Wine Spectator, says in his best-selling book author of Keys to the Cellar. “It’s better to first grasp the salient characteristics of different varietals and vintages by sampling a series of related bottles in a pressure-free environment in order to develop personal preferences.”

Jim Kennedy, President of BaggedWine.com, argues the merits of doing a blind tasting. He says that blind tastings are the best wine to taste the wine rather than the marketing effort behind the wine. “When tasting blind you should only taste one varietal at a time to ensure that the process is not too complex for those at the tasting,” he says. “This is intended to be fun rather than giving the feeling of a sommelier test.”

Wine is evaluated by its color, bouquet, palate, and aftertaste. To fully appreciate a wine’s characteristics, Meltzer recommends tasting white wines at cellar temperature (about 55 degrees) and reds at about 65-70 degrees to avoid compromising the wine aromas and flavors. And, if you’re truly serious, skip the cologne and perfume, as they interfere with the aroma of the wine’s bouquet.

Let Your Nose do the Talking

Meltzer says to hold the wine glass by its stem (holding it by the bowl leaves smudges, obscures the color and warms the wine). Hold it against a white backdrop to examine the color. Not sure what you’re looking for? Look at its hue. Is it bright or flat? Clear or cloudy? “As red wine ages, it devolves from bright red or purple into brick or mahogany, browning around its edges,” says Meltzer. “White wine will turn progressively golden as it matures. Wines that are the product of less than perfect harvest will be less intense than those picked under ideal conditions.”

Next, rest the glass on the table and swirl it. When the wine settles, you should see a clear film on the side of the glass, called legs. You may have seen a wine snob or too making a big show about a wine’s “legs” but in reality it’s just a measure of the wine’s alcohol contentÑthe more you see, the higher the alcohol content.

“Swirl the glass vigorously and inhale deeply,” Meltzer advises. “Try to detect any ‘off’ odors.” If you smell a heavy cork smell, the wine may be bad. Any scents that are moldy or musty are a warning sign. An oxidized wine, which means it has been exposed for too long to the air in the vinification process or because the cork has dried out, will give off a smell resembling Sherry or Madeira. A barnyard like could mean the wine is spoiled by yeast, and a smell like nail polish remover could mean the wine has a volatile acidity.

On the up side, you are most likely to meet with a pleasant smell and there are hundreds of them, including complex fruit smells from blackberries, black currants, and cassis.

“Your nose will actually tell you more about a wine than your mouth, because our sense of taste is actually restricted to four categories: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter,” says Meltzer. “To minimize the impact of a wine on your palate, slosh it around in your mouth, aerating it by taking in deep breaths at the same time. Ideally, keep the wine in your mouth for at least 10 second before expelling it into a spittoon or slop bowl.”

Young, mature or brand new, choosing a wine that’s right for you

Don’t worry; we weren’t going to leave you to your own devices. If you’d like to try wines from areas other than the most popular regions, here are some tips. David Muse, wine writer and sommelier, likes to try wines from what he calls “exciting regions.” “For me right now Austria is producing wines that are of incomparable quality and like nothing youÕve had before,” says Muse. “Gruner Veltliner is this luscious white wine that is more ductile than almost anything. It goes with all the typical wine killers: shrimp, artichokes, tomatoes.”

Looking to impress your friends? According to Muse some good wines reaching maturity include the famed 1997 California Cabs. “The fruit is tempered and their nuances are coming out. I recently had a Caymus Special Select that was overwhelmingly good, and I don’t normally like domestic wines. Also, Late 80s Grand Cru Champagne is good. I had a Krug ‘Le Mesnil’ at lunch from ’86 that was lively yet playful.”

If you want a wine that’s ready to serve young, Muse suggests Beaujolais. “Everyone knows by now that Beaujolais is drinkable,” he says. The wine is bottled and consumed within months of the grapes being picked. Also, there is a wine from Austria called Jungfernwein, or Virgin wine. This is wine produced from first year vines, newly planted. It lacks complexity, but so do many Sunday afternoons by the pool.”

For adventurous types, there are some new varietals coming to market. “Portugal is bottling still, unfortified versions of the grapes traditionally used to make Port,” Muse says. “They are wonderful, but often high priced. A single varietal to be on the lookout for from Portugal is Periquita. Also, get your hands on Blaufrankisch, made from an Austrian red grape that produces wines similar to Cabernet though not quite as punchy as the US versions.”

Developing a true appreciation for the flavors, vinification process and complexities of wine takes time. Developing a list of wines you like may take even longer. Building a respectable home collection could take years. Purchasing wine is not like buying clothes–what you see is not necessarily what you get.

Wine Tasting Essentials


Having a tasting? Here is a quick list of supplies:


Wine glasses (make sure you have plenty! Wine charms are a good idea if you are having several guests, so no one confuses his or her glass with someone else’s). White table cloth (so guests can examine the wine’s color, density, legs) Spittoons (for spitting out the wine). Bowls with unsalted crackers or baguette to cleanse the palate. Tasting sheet for notes.

And of course, don’t forget the wine!

By: A. Covington

About the Author:

GastonsResort asked:

Gaston’s White River Resort Free Wine tasting

So you want to host a wine tasting party? And you want your event to be as fun and educational as possible, right? Well as much as some people like to focus just on wine alone, food and wine are a match made in heaven. Besides, when people start drinking wine and the fun discussion begins, people tend to get hungry. So even if you are not hosting a full wine dinner party, your wine tasting will be much more of a success if you have fun and delicious foods available for your guests to snack on. While simple crackers and/or bread may be enough just to cleanse your palate between flights of wines, even a small selection of more interesting wine tasting appetizers can really bring your humble event to a whole new level.

Tip 1: Try to pair your wine tasting appetizers to the theme of the wine tasting. In other words, don’t pair heavy sausage stuffed mushrooms if you and your guests are tasting light, delicate white wines. Try to pair the food to the wine theme. If you are tasting several types of wine, then provide a selection of appetizers.

Tip 2: Don’t get too formal. Unless you love to cook, try not to overwhelm yourself with complicated foods. Start with simple snacks that are easy to prepare or take no preparation. If you are not serving a full dinner, then try to keep it simple. Put out several plates of finger foods and encourage guests to help themselves.

Some specific wine tasting appetizer ideas: Below is a list of some classic finger food appetizers which are perfect for a wine tasting event. They are generally easy to prepare and can be simply placed on the table for guests to help themselves. They are also pretty versatile, pairing well with many types of wine. Beyond these, get creative. There are no rules so if you have a favorite appetizer that you like to make, throw that out for your guests to enjoy as well. The only tip I have about choosing dishes is to avoid very spicy foods or odd, pungent flavors which may clash with many wines. The ideas below start with the most simple and easy to prepare and continue through some more involved appetizers that require a small amount of preparation.

Bread and/or Crackers: Sliced bread, such as a French Baguette or Batard, and/or simple crackers are a great basic food to have available at every wine tasting. Besides being necessary to serve some soft cheeses or other spreads, they are filling and a good neutral snack to cleanse your palate between wines. Cured Olives: Most fine supermarkets now carry excellent selections of cured olives. These are extremely easy. Simply serve them in some bowl or dish and be sure to supply an empty bowl for discarded pits. There are several varieties to choose from. Try to avoid very spicy or salty ones as these can interfere with the tasting of wine. Nuts and Dried Fruit: It is very common to see a selection of dried nuts and/or dried fruit slices as wine tasting appetizers, served alone or alongside olives or a cheese plate. In fact, many nuts accompany cheeses beautifully and are neutral flavored enough to accompany many wines. Spanish Marcona almonds and walnuts are great choices, as are dried apricot slices. Try to avoid very sweet fruits, particularly if you are drinking dry table wines. Cheese Plate: Cheese and wine can be absolutely delicious. You can provide a selection of fine cheeses on a cheese plate, accompanied by knives or forks for firm cheeses and a spreading knife and bread for softer cheeses. Try to pair the cheese with the types of wines you are serving. If you can, find cheeses from the same regions as the wines. Short of that, try to choose more mild flavored cheeses with lighter wines and richer, more pungent cheeses with more full-flavored wines. While very rich, pungent or stinky cheeses can be delicious with rich wines, their strong aroma may detract from being able to appreciate the subtleties of the wines at the tasting. Sliced Cured Sausages and Meats: Dried sausages and other charcuterie can be another easy and delicious accompaniment to a wine tasting. There are dozens to choose from. French saucisson sec, Italian salami, Pâté, terrines, Prosciutto, and many others are all delicious, easy to serve and a fine appetizer to accompany a wine tasting. Bruschetta: Bruschetta is a simple Italian finger food appetizer usually consisting of slices of toasted bread topped with various chopped accompaniments such as tomatoes, shallots, cheese, garlic, and/or olive oil. There are many variations but most recipes are quite simple and quick to make. To make it a bit richer to accompany heavier red wines, add sautéed mushrooms or meats such as Prosciutto or bacon to kick up the flavor a notch. Tapenade: Tapenade is a puréed olive dish usually consisting of olives, herbs, anchovies, garlic and olive oil. Because it is made by blending the ingredients in a food processor, this spread is quite easy and quick. It’s also delicious! Make a big batch and serve in a big serving bowl along with bread or crackers to spread it on.

By: Josh Dusick

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bigmikechen asked:


This is for a pot roast recipe cooked low in an oven. There are two variations, one with red wine and one with white wine/vermouth.