Wine Tasting Tips

As with anything, there are always "tips" and "best practices" to follow. Such is the same for wine tasting. Which is why, even before I take you through my Napa/Sonoma journey, I wanted to share with you some innocent mistakes that I made, so YOU don't do the same.

Drum roll...

1) NO perfume, NO! NO! NO! Don't do it. Before you venture out to any vineyard, don't wear it and don't think about it. It KILLS the scent of the wine, before tasting. It's also pure -> courtesy for other tasters. "The majority of the taste is smell, and have you ever tried tasting anything when you've had a cold?" CEM

2) No smoking! Obvious, right?

3) No lipstick! It messes up the clean, and clear glasses. I made that boo boo yesterday at the St. Clement winery. (icky looky on the glassy)

4) With wine tasting, another good tip is to know that it's about the legs. Not YOUR legs, silly.

And if you look closely, --->

you can see how the wine drips down the interior of the glass, forming the look of legs, or TEARS, as I referred to them as - WRONG.

5) Philippe Thibault is hospitality operations manager at Chateau StJean in Sonoma. He provided me with my first wine tasting ,which for me was life changing (I'm not being dramatic!). He also spoke about the smell. [When tasting] "Close your eyes when smelling the wine. Swirl it around in the glass to let it breathe...It's satisfaction in the mouth."

More later...

Oh, and don't forget to pronounce the wine or winery correctly. Do your homework, or ask someone. For example, Chateau St.Jean is pronounced "StGENE," not "John."

(Glass photo with "legs" comes courtesy of Chad)