If you have ever tried wine tasting you will have found its quite simple. You don’t need to be an expert and can even start without any recognized training. Etiquette dictates that the gentlemen should ensure the ladies are always served their wine first. Water at room temperature is normally served at any good wine tasting parties. You might find this strange but the water is used to clean your palate out prepared for the next taste of wine. Make sure that the water you are given is not too cold as this can shock the palate and ruin the taste of your next drink.

Holding the wine glass by the stem and not the bowl in the palm of your hand is very important when it comes to wine tasting. One thing that people don’t realize is that the palm of your hand is warm and this can warm up the wine therefore changing the taste.

Most individuals think that wine tasting is just a matter of rolling the wine around your mouth before you either spit it out or swallow.

The first step in tasting wine is by taking a look at its color. The glasses served should always be clean and clear in order for you take a good look at the wine. Use a white background when checking the color of the wine, this will enable you to see the true color and clarity of the wine. White wines are not always pure white, sometimes they are a shade of green, yellow and even brown. Again red isn’t always a pure red, you can have lots of different shaded but older red wine tend to be a little lighter.

There is a test that can indicate the age or the flavor of the wine and that is to run the wine around the rim of your glass and look at the color. Simply tilt your glass and observe the color of the wine, if it look like a tint of brown it will be an older wine, if it is has a shade of purple then it will be a younger wine.

Testing the scent is the next step and this is done by swirling the wine around the glass to mix in the air and then breath fully through the nose after placing the glass just above your top lip. The wine could have been in the bottle for a little as six months to many years so by swirling the wine you will be releasing the flavors. It’s like cooking at home where you stir the food in order for you to blend the flavor.