Wine-o: Lesson from Dan; Drinking vs. Tasting

I had the great fortune to have time after work to speak with Dan at the Macadoodle's wine tasting bar.  Dan is one of the wine experts at the Pineville location and he was kind enough to give me some pointers for beginning wine tasters.

The first thing he told me: "Tasting is completely different from drinking".  As he had me taste a couple different wines he told me that I was sipping and not truly tasting the wine.  He gave me the following steps:

1.  Take a gulp of wine, a large mouthful, let the wine run all over your tongue and mouth.  The tongue has various zones used for tasting.  It is important to make sure you are employing all of those when tasting.

2.  Then take an inhale through the mouth and exhale through the nose.  This completely transformed the taste of the  Reds Red Wine blend.  All of a sudden I could taste beyond the peppery tones of the Zinfandel.  Notes of berries and a much fuller taste were apparent to me.

3.  Aerator - an aerator changes the flavor of the wine by oxidizing it.  This enhances the fruity flavors and reduces the acidity in the wine.  It is important to open any dry red wine one hour before serving to appreciate the full flavor of the wine.  (As was noted in my post regarding the Tontitown Winery Merlot and Shoofly Shiraz)

The Macadoodle's Wine Tasting bar is open when the front doors are!  Stop by and try their offerings of the day and get some tips for your own wine tasting!