Make the most of your wine tasting experience!

Wine tasting is actually a sensory examination where we look at a wine's color, clarity, aroma, and taste. So, you're engaging three very important senses and if you want a “good result,” it's helpful to follow a few small but significant rules. Don't worry, no one will confine your wine tasting habits within strict boundaries, we just want to help make your experience even more enjoyable!

See the Colors Well!

Red, white, rosé. Is that all? No, of course not. Even the basic "colors" have several variations, as you'll find out even at a basic tasting where, for example, you can compare different types of red varietals or a tank-aged white wine with a barrel-aged one. Many shades and even the same wine can have multiple aspects in the glass, but to see this well, you'll need the right background.

We know that many wineries already think about this and prepare at least a white backdrop for guests. However, to avoid surprises, it's not a bad idea to carry an envelope-sized white paper with you to clearly see the color and shades of the wine!

Take Care of Your Nose!

After you've examined the color of the wine in your glass, the next step is to smell it. You don't need to train your nose beforehand, but don't overload it either. As much as you might love it, it’s better not to wear your favorite perfume before a wine tasting. Not only will you be doing yourself a disservice, but you'll also affect the whole group. In a cloud of fragrance, you won't be able to sense the most important thing: the aroma of the wine.

The aroma of wine deserves its own post, or even a separate educational material. In addition to many fruits, you can discover earthy and tobacco aromas in wines, and you might detect over 100 different scents that you previously might not have associated with wine. Therefore, it’s worth arriving at the tasting with a clear nose – you won't regret it!

Your Taste Buds Will Be Treasured This Day

If we suggested taking care of your nose, then it’s even more important to take care of your tongue. You'll deprive yourself of many exciting primary, secondary, and even tertiary flavors if you don’t follow our advice.

Don’t Eat Onion

Neither red, purple, new, nor garlic before the tasting, and actually, you’re better off not eating them the previous evening either. At least raw onions are not recommended, as they completely disrupt your taste and overpower all other flavors. They kill the experience; whatever you drink after a hefty onion meal, it wouldn't matter, you'd hardly feel anything. We’re not saying that sometimes it isn’t enjoyable to have wine with a hearty ham and sausage plate well accompanied by onions, but that’s not about refined tasting.

Don’t Eat a Lot and Spicy

It's hard to find the ideal “foundation” before a wine tasting, as it’s not good to go hungry into an 8+ item tasting. However, it's also true that if you eat a lot, especially spicy food, right before tasting wines, your senses will be strained and you won’t get as much enjoyment as if you had spared them. Our experience suggests that you're best off eating neutral-tasting food about 2 hours before the tasting, so there are no interfering flavors in your mouth and you can fully concentrate on the wines. Cheese, bread, a less spicy pasta dish could be good; the important thing is not to scald your tongue with either hot food or strong spices.

Don’t Start With Brandy

Some of our partner wineries might be surprised at this, because we know that many offer brandy as a welcome drink to guests. We also know that many like to start a wine tasting or even a good meal with it. However, if possible, we recommend starting with a sparkling wine or champagne as an aperitif. A strong brandy is taxing on the senses, while a nice champagne opens them up, making the flavors more pronounced later on. Whether it's a wine tasting or a meal, the same applies.

These aren't dangerous rules, but if you follow just these, any wine tasting will be a much greater experience. Look around on Borindex and book a wine tasting in advance!