20 Feb Some Primary Wine Essentials
Maybe you chose to abstain from alcohol for religious or health reasons. For whatever reason, if any of these descriptions sound like you, you probably don’t know much about wine (unless you’ve been around it a lot because of friends). Learning some basics can be helpful for many reasons, from entertaining to knowing how to gauge when you need to stop if you’re planning on drinking at a party and don’t want to become sloshed.
How much alcohol is too much?It’s tough to give a general recommendation here, because that will vary from person to person, depending on body composition. When you begin to feel the effects of alcohol, stop then instead of continuing (if you want to avoid getting drunk).
How much wine should I have on hand if I’m having friends over for dinner?Even if you don’t drink, you might have folks coming for dinner and need to have enough alcohol on hand for your guests (along with the appropriate stemware). Vinepair.com has a handy tool for calculating how much you should buy to make sure you’ve got things covered.
And, here’s the thing: different wines taste better at varying temperatures. Knowing this will allow you to do your homework ahead of time to make sure you’ve got it at the appropriate temperature before opening the bottle for your dinner party.
Why do people smell and swirl their wine before consuming it?Well, here’s the deal. There’s an indicate it. Swirling the wine enables oxygen to infuse with the wine, which process releases the wine’s distinct flavors, something that’s helpful before you take in it. And as for the smelling bit? Your sniffer largely affects your sense of taste, so getting a good whiff before you swallow for the first time helps to prep for that process … sort of syncs the whole experience.
What wine to serve? If you’re new to this whole world, you might think that all wines are created equal (if it’s alcohol, it’s alcohol, right?). Sure, they all contain alcohol, but depending on the types of grapes used, whether the wine was oaked or not, how much contact the grape juice had with the grape skins, and the various pairings of different grapes to produce a variety of flavors means that you’ll end up with an array of outcomes– some wines that are more robust, and others that are lighter. Because of this, you’ll want to match the wine you serve with the type of food you are having for dinner.
Like anything else, the more that you become familiar with the world of wine and familiarize yourself with various aspects of it, the less opaque it will seem. Soon you’ll be taking every aspect of this off like it ain’t no thang. Meanwhile, good luck as you tryout and get to know more about wine, its relationship to food, and the rich culture and long-standing tradition that it recalls.
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