Wine Tasting Etiquette...

 

I've been back in the wine business and behind the tasting room bar for almost a year now. I love the aspect of sharing my knowledge and love of wine with like-minded folks looking for a wine tasting experience. So many people are just as excited and eager to learn about the wine as I am!

Of course, working in the wine industry is not always as glamorous as it seems... Occasionally we do see customers "behaving badly". This can not only alter their experience, but can rub other customers the wrong way as well. Call me Miss Wine Manners if you will, but I have come up with a little list of Do's and Don'ts when you're visiting a tasting room...

Before heading out...
DO call ahead if you have a group of 5 or more people. Tasting rooms are often busy, especially on the weekends. Depending on the room, they may not be able to accommodate a large group. By simply calling ahead, the tasting room can suggest times of the day that may be better for your size group, or they may set up a special area.

DON'T wear too much perfume or cologne. Much of the wine tasting experience involves sniffing wine. If you wear too much perfume or cologne it will alter your tasting experience, as well as others'. Go easy on the scents...or better yet, skip it for the day!

DO make sure you eat a good breakfast or lunch. If you're heading out for a long day of tasting, it's also a good idea to bring some snacks, take some breaks, and drink lots of water! Believe me...I've learned the hard way. ;)

DON'T try to squeeze in too many tasting rooms in one day. It's a good idea to try and plan out your trip. You'll want to make sure you plan at least 45 minutes to an hour for each tasting room. There are many great wine tasting maps online for the area you plan to visit. Try to stick with 3-4 wineries in a day, your palate will thank you!  Make sure you don't show up at a tasting room any later than 30 minutes before closing!  The staff wants to make sure you get the best experience. Showing up 10 minutes before closing is not only rude, but it's a sure-fire way to miss out on all the winery has to offer.

Inside the Tasting Room...
DO assess the tasting room upon entering. The place might be busy, with a full bar. Take your time and walk around, look at the merchandise or the grounds until a space opens up for you. Make sure you don't try to elbow your way through the crowd! Believe me, the staff knows you're there and in most cases they will make a space work for you.

DON'T talk on your cell phone and try to use your "indoor voice". In most cases, tasting rooms are quiet spaces to contemplate the different flavors and aromas in wine. Talking on a cell phone in this space is rude and can be distracting... take it outside and join the tasting when you are finished. If you're with a large group and having a good time, it's hard to keep voices down. Judge the situation/tasting room you are in and act accordingly.


DO listen to the pouring staff and be polite. Staff will often suggest wines that you may or may not usually like. Be open to trying new things! You don't have to like every wine, just make sure you state your dislike in a subtle and polite way. It's okay to use the dump buckets to pour out the wines you are not fond of!

DON'T try to "out-geek" the pouring staff. Their job is to inform you about their wine. They love having engaging conversations with you about wine, just try not to make it a competition of "who knows more".

DO ask genuine questions. As I said before, in most cases, tasting room staff enjoy their job and love to answer questions about their wine and about wine in general. If you do end up with an unpleasant server, quietly take down his/her name and consider leaving a comment with the tasting room manager, either on a comment card or in an email. They usually appreciate a calm and fair assessment of the server's behavior.

DON'T gulp it down: it's a tasting room...not a drinking room! Tasting room pours are small for a reason...you are there to taste the wine, not to get a good buzz going. Try to sip slowly and really be thoughtful about the wine. Also, don't pester the staff for more tastes then they are allowed to give you. Even if you're planning to buy a case, they are bound by law to pour you a certain amount, in order to keep you safe.

DO stop to picnic at a winery that offers an area...just make sure you don't bring another winery's wine!


Hopefully you are already versed in most of these little wine tasting tips! The most important thing to remember is DO have fun and DO make sure you are SAFE! Designate a driver and do something special for them at the end of the day...buy them dinner or send them home with a special bottle purchased during the day!

Happy Sipping!

Decanting, Wine temperature & Storage ~ Group Two ~ Session 1 Cont'd...

To Decant or not to Decant:

Many of us have heard that a big red wine must be aerated or oxygenated for the best flavor profile. So we decided to investigate this idea of decanting to answer a couple of questions. 1. Does decanting a wine really make a difference? And 2. Will decanting the wine improve the flavor, or make it more approachable?

The research…

• In our research, we found that there are many reasons for decanting a wine. First, decanting is necessary for wines that have a good deal of sediment in the bottle. (small granules in older red wines) Sediment can signify a fine red wine that has been bottle aged. However, it is unpleasant to ingest while sipping your wine, and does not look very appetizing in the glass!
• Other thoughts on decanting suggest that it is for show. When you put a wine in a decanter it not only looks nice, and it makes people feel like they are drinking an important wine.
• Another reason for decanting could be for faulty cork. If the cork is not coming out of the bottle easily and drops into the bottle, decanting is a good fix.
• Perhaps the most prevailing argument for decanting is to aerate a big red wine. Younger red wines would do well with decanting to allow their characteristics to soften and develop. Older wines will help to blow off bad aromas and to get rid of sediment. Jenn and I have definitely noticed this to be true with some big red wines, and we tend to open a bottle about an hour before we serve it. Some of the literature suggests that if you are to decant a wine it should be done just before serving. If a wine goes through too much aeration, too long before being served, you are risking the loss of bouquet. It is also said that the taster can accomplish aeration in their own glass. If you do use a decanter, you should pour the wine in so that it splashes as much as possible. The bubbles you see are putting oxygen in the wine as it is going into the decanter.

So you may be asking…ok, should I decant or not? The answer is simple. Like much of wine tasting, it falls on personal preference. If you like a wine better after decanting or aerating…do it! If you don’t want to bother with it, don’t! Generally, if you are serving a fully matured wine and want to give it some air, go ahead and decant it a few minutes before serving. Otherwise, you can pour it in the glass and let the taster decide!

Wine Storing and Serving:

Wine Storing: Storing your wine properly is essential to its longevity. There’s nothing worse than saving a beautiful bottle of wine for several years, only to open it up and realize it has gone bad! It is recommended that you store your wine at 50-59°. The lower the temperature, the slower the maturation and the more complex a wine will become. Now, we can’t all purchase 100 bottle wine fridges, or dig a cellar under our houses. So what can you do? The key things to consider are: temperature, light, and humidity. If kept too hot, or exposed to strong sunlight the wine can deteriorate quickly. If too cold, the wine can freeze or the cork can expand and push out.

Here is a general checklist of things to remember when storing your wine:

• Keep wine stored at a constant temperature (ideally 50-59°)
• Avoid dramatic temperature changes
• Do not allow temperature to get over 77°
• Avoid exposure to strong sunlight
• Some humidity is ok, but no more than 75%
• Store bottles on their side, allowing the cork to stay wet

Wine Serving: Serving your wine at the correct temperature has a tremendous effect on its aroma and taste. To take full advantage of a wine’s aroma or bouquet, you’ll want to serve it warmer. When a wine is served too cold, fewer volatiles will escape and it will appear to have no smell at all. This goes for both red and white wines.

General wine serving guidelines:

• Tannic red wines – 59-64°
• Complex dry white wines – 54-61°
• Soft, lighter red wines for refreshment – 50-55°
• Cool, sweet, sparkling, flabby white and rose, and those with off odor – 43-50°

Remember that wine will tend to warm up to ambient temperature, so starting off at the lower end of these spectrums is not a bad thing.

Our Group Investigation...

For this particular exploration, we decided to use a Chardonnay to show the difference in wine temperature. We found that while we could taste flavors well in the unchilled Chardonnay, we enjoyed the chilled version much better! 

Kristen demonstrating
how to decant

To best show off what kind of difference a decanter can make, we used a Tempranillo from Spain. This wine definitely delivered in the tannins department! When we first poured it and tasted it, the tannins were very strong and many of the folks in our group did not enjoy the sensation at all. So we asked them to swirl the wine in the glass a few times to see if it changed. We did notice some change over the course of a few swirls, but the biggest change came with the decanter. Kristen demonstrated pouring the wine directly into the decanter and splashing with as many bubble as possible. ***Please note that this works to decant a tannic red wine. If you are decanting an older wine to get the sediment out, you will want to be much gentler when pouring it into the decanter!*** After pouring it into the decanter and swirling it around a bit, the group noticed that the wine was far more pleasant and we were able to better evaluate the wine for it's flavors, rather than the tannins alone. 

So play with your wines and test out how you want to drink them. A wine can change so much with a little aeration...you might be surprised by what you like after decanting!

Happy Sipping!