Using This Wine Tasting Workout To Become A Fine Wine Connoisseur

Provided By: Brix 33 | Wine Bar in New Port Richey FL 

If you want to practice using your new-found wine tasting skills, you came to the right place. Use this exercise to gain experience and develop your skills. As a quick recap, lets go over some four common aspects of wine you will be assessing when you taste wine.

Tannin is the compound in wine (and many other foods/beverages) that contributes to the 'dry' taste. When you eat cranberries, do you notice that your mouth has a slight dryness? That is due to tannins.

Acidity is the agent in many foods and beverages that contributes to a pucker. In wine, lemons are commonly used to increase acidity in order to make the wine less bold.

Sweetness refers to the level sugar present. Wine should have a balanced sweetness and should not have a concentrated amount at the bottom of the glass.

Alcohol is ethanol present in wine that has the ability to cause inebriation. It has a very distinguished flavor and has a strong effect on the taste/texture of wines.

So when you are attempting to train your ability to taste each of these components of wine, it will help to keep practicing with the same wine for a while. You will be adding these compounds to the wine so that you can see how it affects the wine. To begin, get used to tasting the wine without any additives. Then you will need to use these items for these compounds:

Tannins: Black Tea Bags (opt for cheaper brands, as they tend to be higher in tannin)

Acidity: Lemon Juice (concentrated is better)

Sweetness: Pure Cane Sugar

Alcohol: Pure Grain Alcohol or Vodka (high alcohol content)

Palate Cleanser: Saltines (other bland crackers will do)

Use these substances in the wine and taste the difference in the wine. As you do this repeatedly you will begin to notice how certain compounds affect wine. Use the crackers between tastings to help clear your palate for the best effect.

And there you have it, this is a sure-fire way to improve your wine tasting skills. By using this method, you will be able to understand the more complex wine-tasting topics in the future. Many other methods exist as well however this is a great starter-exercise. Once you've developed your skills we urge you to visit Brix 33 in New Port Richey FL for our fine wine tasting events every Wednesday.

Why We Decant Fine Wines | Brix 33 Restaurant in New Port Richey FL | http://Brix33.com

Provided By: Brix33

One very important topic in fine wine that is commonly forgotten is the topic of decanting. While it is a term that you have probably heard, there is a good chance that you don’t actually understand the purpose and process behind this. Understanding this will help you understand wine even better, and you can even use this information to impress your friends.

So for starters, what do you think the definition of decanting is? If you said to let to let something sit and breathe (a common misconception), you guessed wrong. The actual definition of decanting is “to gradually pour a liquid from one container into another, especially without disturbing the sediment”. With this in mind, letting wine sit in a decanter is not decanting the wine…pouring the wine in to the decanter is decanting. The primary goal is to remove sediment and particles from the wine.

In order to accomplish this goal, you should begin by placing the bottle upright for at least 24 hours to allow the particles to settle to the bottom. Once this is complete you should remove the stopper/cork and wipe the neck. With a bright light shining in to the bottle (so you can see the sediment), take your bottle and decanter and begin pouring your wine SLOWLY in to the decanter. The goal here is to pour the clean wine in to the decanter and leave the sediment in the bottle once you’re finished.

Lastly, you can choose to let the wine sit and aerate for an amount of time, however this is not required. It takes experience in wine tasting to know which wines to decant and which ones not to decant. Typically the older the wine, the less you let it aerate. This is because you will miss the ‘opening up’ of the wine, which is something you want to experience. Remember this, when you begin pouring wine out of a bottle, you are exposing it to air for the first time since it was bottled. When it comes in contact with the air, it transforms quickly. You will want to experience this for yourself, so come down to Brix33 in New Port Richey FL for our weekly fine wine tastings!