food sectionfood section
When you sample several bottles of the same wine from the same vineyard, but from different years, you are conducting a vertical wine tasting. Tasting a particular wine from different periods of time is a great way to learn about how the age, weather, growing and production conditions change a wine's body and flavor from year to year. You can throw your own vertical tasting with any wine you'd like -- just be sure you can get several vintages of it.
The shape of a wine glass is very important. The optimal wine glass helps to show off a wine's color, aroma and taste, according to sommeliers and wine producers. Companies once differentiated their glasses based on whether the wine was white, red or sparkling. Now, many companies that produce wine glasses have expanded their offerings, creating glasses that enhance the flavors of a specific type of wine.
A wine tasting event can be a pleasurable gathering for friends or families. Whether you're organizing a simple, intimate gathering or an all-out, formal affair complete with media coverage, careful planning is essential in order to execute a successful event. Provide invitations and the necessary items to make sure your guests are having a great time during the wine tasting. Have a variety of wines ready so your guests can have a good sampling range.
The wine list at Commander's Palace Restaurant in New Orleans admonishes its patrons that even the best wine "fails to delight" unless it is consumed "in more favorable surroundings." Indeed, good vino is best enjoyed in the company of friends. You can bring your friends together around the sacred grape by hosting your own private wine-tasting party in the favorable surroundings of your own home. As with other institutions of high culture, a successful wine-tasting will meet some basic standards.
Hosting a blind wine tasting provides an entertaining evening and often yields surprising results. The most famous blind tasting was the 1976 Paris Tasting when upstart California wines outranked some of France's most treasured and revered whites and reds, sending shock waves throughout the wine industry. While your blind tasting might not be as earth shaking, it's sure to be a hit with your guests.
Drinking wine is considered a very sophisticated and refined past time and this perception can make becoming a wine drinker seem like a daunting task. It does take time to become a seasoned wine drinker who can smell the different scents and flavors in wines, but anyone can learn how to drink and appreciate a good glass of wine. In fact, studies suggest enjoying a glass of wine might actually keep you healthier and living longer, says Wine Spectator.
Blind wine-tasting parties can be fun, educational and a good way to show off your wine knowledge -- of lack thereof. And while you don't need blindfolds to hide your party members' eyes from the wine, you do need bags to hide the wine labels from your guests.
Hosting a wine tasting party is a great way to gather with friends and share the heady experience of great wines. Here are some suggestions for hosting a successful tasting party.
