Raising a toast
A cut-and-keep guide to wine-drinking by qualified winemaker PRIYANKA KULKARNI
Do you ever have second thoughts before ordering a glass of wine at a dinner table because you are afraid of the fact that you might not know how to taste the wine and talk about it?
If yes, then you might not be the first one to be intimidated by this ancient beverage that sure does carry a strong personality with it.
Wine has been part of gastronomy since centuries and surely demands some elegance and etiquette when it comes to its drinking. What’s more, wine snobs certainly do not make it a user-friendly drink at the bar by throwing some random, unknown wine-related words at you!
But fear not my friends, wine after all is not so difficult to drink and enjoy with family and friends. In fact, wine is one such beverage that always comes with a story to unfold as you sip a glass of wine maybe at a dinner table, at a bar, or just while sitting on the couch on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
The basic rule I go with when it comes to wine, is one - either your like it or two - you do not like it. This is completely dependent on your palate and each one of us can have very specific choices about wine. If someone gives you a very expensive red wine from Bordeaux and you happen to not like it, then it is totally alright, your palate probably does not have the taste for strong bolder tannins and it prefers something lighter to drink, and you needn’t be coy to admit that. Well, the best part about wine is that there are so many wines out there that each one of us can find something that totally suits our preferences.
Wine tasting is a fun process and can be broken down into four basic steps.
1) LOOK: Check out the colour, opacity, and viscosity of the wine. The colour of wine indicates the age of the wine. In general, a pale straw yellow colour is linked with a young white wine and a deep golden amber colour is linked to an aged white wine. Likewise, a young red wine often shows deep purple shades of red while an aged red wine will show some brownish brick red shades.
2) SMELL: The next step is to smell the wine. Identify the basic smells that come first to you: do you smell fruits such as citrus, cherries, strawberries etc., do you smell flowers or do you smell tobacco, chocolates etc.? Wine is a very complex medium and can show off a variety of aromas.
3) SWIRL: Swirling your wine glass usually enhances the aromas of the wine. Gently swirling the wine volatises the aromas’ compounds and releases them up towards your nose. Thus, opening up the wine to many different fragrances.
4) TASTE: Finally take a sip and enjoy the liquid gold. Wine contains three basic tastes – sweet, sour, bitter plus the tactile sensation that comes from the grapes and oak derived tannins called the astringency of the wine.
Once you have learnt how to taste a wine, following are some basic tips on how to be more comfortable with this elegant beverage in public.
1) Hold the wine glass by the stem and not the bowl
Some people do associate holding the wine glass with the bowl as a style statement, but it is best not to overlook the fact that the wine glass has a specific design with a stem for some solid reasons. Grabbing the glass by the bowl changes the temperature of the wine and eventually affects its taste. One does not enjoy a warmed up bottle of cola as it tastes weird; the same goes with wine.
2) Fill your glass only up to the proper fill height
Overfilling the wine glass never really helps. Firstly, it makes you look like someone who wants to drink all the wine by yourself and secondly, it does not leave any room for you to swirl the wine as you taste it. Try swirling an overfilled wine glass and it gets really messy and embarrassing. I’m sure none of us would like to have a red wine stain on our favourite white dress. One-third to half-full is considered proper glass filling.
3) Trust your palate
Wine descriptors and tasting notes most certainly act as reference points while tasting a wine; however one must not forget that any sensory experience is also subjective. For instance, someone at the dinner table can smell coconuts in the wine but maybe you smell something totally different like strawberries; so be it, do not beat yourself up to find the aromas of coconuts that your neighbour on the table smells in the wine. Your palate will always guide you to know what your favourite wine is - do trust it. You might not necessarily like a famous Pinot Noir at the party but that is just because your palate prefers a Merlot maybe.
4) Ditch the age old notions of wine drinking
Don’t think that white wine is only for women or red only for men. Sometimes a wine can show some feminine qualities with delicate floral aromas, but that does not stop a man from enjoying a refreshing floral bottle of rose on a summer afternoon with barbeque in the backyard. Drink what you like, and again, don't be afraid to experiment in trying many different styles of wine.
5) Serve the wine at correct temperatures
This one is one of the most essential rules that one should never forget. White wines, Champagne and other sparkling wines taste better when served chilled. Here are some temperature guidelines for serving your wines:
Sparkling and Light Bodied White Wines: Serve chilled around 8-10°Celsius
Full Bodied White, Aromatic White wines and Rose: Serve around 10-13° Celsius
Red Wines: Serve around 17-20°Celsius. It is said that red wine is best served at room temperatures, but do take into consideration that room temperatures in a city like Mumbai on a hot summer afternoon can be 33-35 degree Celsius and that is not what we mean by room temperature for red wines.
No ice in the wine !!!! Don’t consider wine like other beverages where you can add ice cubes to cool it down. Adding ice to the wine dilutes its flavours and aromas.
6) Talk about the wine
Always talk about the wine you drink with your friends and colleagues, share your experiences and tasting notes, it only helps you to get more comfortable with the wine-drinking culture. Even consider starting a wine club with your friends so that you can get together once in a while and talk about different wines, their flavour profiles, the region where they come from and so on and so forth.
7) Choose the right glassware for your wine
A proper glass will make any wine taste better. Using the right glass for your wine will not only make your wine taste better but will also give you a much better experience tasting the wine. Different glass shapes affect the density and position of vapours that carry the aromas of the wine at the openings of different glasses.
White wines are typically served in glasses with a narrow mouth, because such glasses preserve floral aromas and maintain cooler temperature. Red wines are served in broader bigger bowl glasses as it allows the red wine to breathe and interact with oxygen which results in the wine tasting smoother and the bigger bowl delivers more aroma compounds. One can find a wide range of glassware for wine in the market and it does not cost you a fortune to buy a good glass to enjoy a great wine.
So, go grab a bottle and pour yourself a glass and learn to drink wine like a pro. Always remember to trust your palate and engage yourself with the enigma of discovering beautiful wines. Priyanka Kulkarni is a qualified winemaker from India, who has studied viticulture and enology through a master’s program in France. She is an oenophile who loves to explore wines and spends most of her time travelling to new wine destinations. Every year she is involved in the harvest season of wineries in different countries. She has so far worked in seven different countries, earning the tag of a ‘travelling winemaker’.