Tips for Wine Tasting in Texas

With so many wine tasting events in Texas coming up, one needs to get the most out of every wine tasting. This type of soiree needs you to be equipped with some essential tips to make the events unforgettable. While there are so many hours you could spend leaning pro techniques, it’s not a requirement for an enjoyable wine tour.

These simple tips will help you develop the confidence you need to attend any wine tasting event in Texas.

Tips for wine tasting tours

• Ensure you drink a lot of water to keep your body hydrated.
• Have a designated driver or a shuttle service. The little tastes add up and you might end up tasting more than you expected.
• Make a note of winery business hours
• Exercise patience when entering a crowded room as the staff are doing their best to serve you.
• Always be respectful of your appointment time.
• Carry proper identification with you as winery staff check if you are of age.
• Never leave the wines you have purchased in a hot car. You can always carry a cooler with ice cubes inside.
• Don’t put on perfume or cologne as it will interfere with yours and others sense of smell and taste.
• Eat crackers, bread and cheese in between the wine tasting to clean your palate.
• Ask questions if you don’t wine varieties or terminologies used.
• Don’t make negative statements about any wine that you don’t like. Simply say that it’s not your favorite and move to another tasting.
• Relax, learn and have fun.

Tips to help you taste and grow your wine palate

Sommeliers use these wine tasting tips to sharpen their palate. Albeit the pros use these tips, they are simple and they can help anyone at a wine tasting event in Texas. The truth is anyone can enjoy and taste wine, all you need is a wine glass and a brain.

Look

The first rule of wine tasting is carrying out visual inspection of it in neutral lighting. Check out the color, viscosity, and opacity of the wine. This takes you from 5-10 seconds and you can learn a lot about the wine from its appearance.

Smell

If you are a beginner in smelling the wine, start by thinking broad then narrow it down to specifics. For example, for white wines, generally, ask if the fruits are citrus or tropical fruits. Trying to get to the specifics at first can be frustrating. 3 primary categories can be used to smell wine.

• Primary aromas: These are grape derivatives and they consist of herbs, fruits, and floral notes.
• Secondary aromas: These are derived from winemaking practices. Yeast-derivatives are the easiest to note in white wines. For instance, you ca smell almond/peanut nut husks, stale beer, or cheese rind.
• Tertiary aromas: This one is derived from wine ageing in a bottle or oak. In most cases, the aromas are savory: vanilla, roasted nuts, cedar, baking spices, old tobacco, autumn leaves, or cured leather.

Taste

Generally, this is the use of your tongue to observe wine. The retro-nasal aroma might change once you swallow the wine.

• Taste: you get to detect the sour, bitter, sweet or salty taste of wine. Grapes are sour as they have a bit of acid so all wines have that sour taste. Some wines are bitter, like the Pinot Grigio. Other table wines have had some grape sugars added to them making them sweet.
• Texture: the texture of the wine can be felt by your tongue touching the wine. The higher the alcohol content, the richer the texture of the wine. Tannin can also be detected in red wines.
• Length: Wine has a beginning, middle, and finish.

Think

Think about the wine in totality. Was it unique or forgettable? Did you love it? What characteristics made you love it? Was the taste balanced?

Get yourself a glass of wine and practice before you go for your wine tasting event in Texas.