Learn about your wine - a simple beginner's guide part 2 (weekend edition)

in #food8 years ago (edited)

Hey guys, I hope you managed to apply your new set of skills and impress someone last time around, if not, then it's Friday, and YES, I am about to give you some more new information that will help you to become that "wine charmer"

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“I cook with wine; sometimes I even add it to the food.”
― W.C. Fields

So last time around I gave you some basic rules on how to match your food with your wine (that is of course if you have any food with your wine).

I had quite a few responses and some of the readers asked me to go more into detail on understanding how to taste wine.

Off we go then:

[food-drink-wine_taster-wine_tasting-straws-poor_etiquette-fine_wines-gra110514_low68c6c.jpg

To break it down, wine can be understood by the body and the color. And those 2 things are closely connected.

Now you may say : "hold on pal, you ain't fooling me here, there are only 2 colors...". Well you are almost right, but in fact by breaking the wine further down into the body category, we will get at least 11 colors (here I must say, that different experts argue different numbers).

So before I give you a picture for better understanding, what is a body?

Well the body is exactly what influences on how the wine will taste!

It is broken down into 3 categories:

  • Light bodied - generally under 12.5% of alcohol, crispy and re-freshing, like Riesling (mmmmm...)
    17928_2010_02_riesling1a8d80.th.jpg

  • Medium bodied - those have between 12.5% - 13.5% of alcohol, most rose wines fall into this category. Also the well liked Sauvignon Blanc
    2005-RussianRiver-Sauvignon-Blanca534a.th.jpg

  • Heavy bodied - those wines have over 13.5% of alcohol, mostly red, although a Chardonnay is a full bodied wine. The taste is accompanied by mouth coating. A good example is Merlot or my personal favorite - Tempranillo
    merlot-2013f8da6.th.jpg

Now for those of you, who really want to understand this, please look at the following picture:

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(From left to right, you can see a light bodied to a heavy bodied wine. Followed by a young wine, and an old wine. Yes, they have a seperate color)

“The HAPPIEST people don’t have the BEST of everything… They just drink WINE.”
― Tanya Masse

I mentioned an 11th color, well I personally put rose wine on its own, hence 11 colors.

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Now that you know this, how do you use this?

  • Well, first of all when you about to taste a wine, stop for a minute and look at the color, try to swirl the glass. Heavy bodied wines will tend to stick to the walls of the glass, whether lighter wines will not.
  • Heavy wines will be darker in color, and have a much more "mature" taste
  • Heavy wines will have a sweeter taste in comparison to a more acidic taste of lighter wines
  • Lighter wines are tenderer but more "prickly"

Remember the rule, the heavier the food, the heavier the wine? Use it!

Think about what you are going to eat, look at what is written on the label, and simply match those 2 together!

“Love is like wine, drink it as you rhyme.”
― Santosh Kalwar

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Most importantly, remember to enjoy!

And don't drink and drive guys =)

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Great post. I love not only the content for people who want to learn about wine but also that your writing style is very friendly to the reader while while still giving seriously good info at the same time. Great work

Thanks a lot for a proper comment and the support, I believe it encourages newbies like me to write and to develop the steem community!

In vino veritas, in aqua sanitas.
Gaius Plinius Secundus

haha! totaly!

This post is pure gold. Thank you.

Thanks a lot! Be sure for more to follow!

Are you sommelier or just like wines? Anyway it was interesting to read. Thank you. I know it's easy to find out if dry wine has more than 12.5 - 13% of alcohol, by specific flavor on the tongue because of alcohol. Thas's why 12.5% is perfect for me.

Thanks for the comment. I have been working with alcohol for a long time, so know quite a lot about it.
Each person has his own "perfect" wine

Good post, but hard to read text on the pic: "The color of wine"

Yes, sorry for that. if you would like i can email it to you.

I'm the only person who sees to the picture, on which a man milking a bottle of wine?? xD


PS: I'm not drunk. Or ...

It is there alright! )))

Good stuff! Not drinking and driving is something that should be drilled into everyones head! Soo dangerous ! I loooove wine! Red, white and rose! Any time anywhere ;P

Especially for the weeknd )
Both the wine and the not drinking and driving part is important )

Thank you. I didn't know rose wine had utters. You learn something new every day! Happy Steem-in! :)

Hey, thanks for the comment!

just stumbled across your blog, i really like your posts, they are great for a wine beginner like me!

I'm glad you like it! Be sure to look out for more in the future )