Acquiring the Taste for Wine is Easier Than You Think

Many people enjoy the idea of sipping a glass of wine or visiting and touring a winery. Unfortunately, not everyone can handle the strong taste of wine. Fortunately, acquiring a taste for wine is much easier than most people believe.

Let it Breathe

Wine oxidizes when exposed to the air. This oxidation helps produce a mellow taste. This is especially true for red wines, which can taste rather harsh when poured straight from the bottle. Open a bottle of wine and allow it to sit for 5 to 30 minutes before pouring. Once poured, let it sit a few minutes more.

Use a Wine Glass

Taste and smell are intimately entwined. Being able to smell something fully allows us to properly taste it as well. Using a wine glass is an easy and excellent way to properly taste a glass of wine.

Wine glasses are specially designed to trap the aromas of wine inside. In fact, most wine aficionados will put their entire nose into a glass of wine prior to drinking. This makes it possible to fully capture all of the unique smells in each glass.

Swirl the Wine Around in Your Glass

Prior to drinking, swirl the wine in your glass around a few times. Pay attention to the color, and how it sticks to the sides of the glass. Darker wines will typically have a bolder flavor. Wine that sticks to the sides of the glass contain more fruit juice. These wines are said to have “legs”.

Although it takes some time to learn how to properly analyze wine, some experts can actually tell what a wine tastes like just by watching it swirl in their glass.

Taste Your Wine

Take a sip of wine and let it flow over all parts of your tongue. Once you’ve swallowed, breathe through your mouth, allowing air to touch the parts of your tongue that were exposed to the wine. This will probably cause the taste of the wine to change. Try to pick out the individual flavors in each glass of wine. This may take some practice to perfect.

Keep a Journal

Write down what you like and don’t like about different wines as you try them. Make sure you write the type and name of each wine you sample. This will help you understand and develop your palette. The more wines you try, the better you’ll become at picking out the various flavors. This will also help you learn which types of wine you should avoid.

Breaux Vineyards’ provides the perfect opportunity for guests to sample several different types of wine. We offer guided tastings of our current offerings from our large, Tuscan-style tasting room. Visitors can even take a tour of our winery to learn about our wine-making process on both Saturdays and Sundays between 11am and 1pm.

Visit our vineyard in Loudoun County to see why Breaux Vineyards is Virginia’s favorite winery!