Short Wine Lesson

Every once in a while, it’s nice to have a good bottle of wine to cap your night off. Take time to enjoy the bouquet and sip your wine while enjoying the best pieces to drink it with. But how do you do all that? Here’s a basic wine lesson for starters that I’ve come up to help you out.

What to Pair with Which

There’s a reason why ham and cheese go so well with each other, and there are similar principles when enjoying the flavors of food and wine together. When dining out, here’s what you can pair with the different kinds of wines:

• Sparkling wine goes best with salty foods like anchovies, potato chips, and fries.
• Dry white wines go great with salads and other vegetable dishes.
• For spicy cuisine, it would be best to balance out the flames with some sweet wine.
• When eating creamy dishes such as cream-based pastas, go for rich white wines.
• Rose wine goes great with richly flavored food such as Mediterranean cuisine.
• Light red wines complement mushroom-based dishes.
• For roasted food, ask for medium red wines.
• Bold red wines are perfect for meats and stakes.

Wine Appreciation

Tasting good wine is one of life’s greatest pleasures! To appreciate great wine, first look and take time to see the color and opacity of wine. Swirl the glass around and you’ll see the wine legs forming! Next, smell and enjoy the bouquet or the aroma of the wine. Watch out for fruit aromas, herb, earthy, and flowery notes when smelling the wine. Take a minute or two to intoxicate yourself with the scent.

Time to taste it! Expect flavors like lemon, coconut, or even raspberry apart from that aged grape flavor. Appreciate the structure or sweetness, boldness, and acidity of the wine as well. After you’ve tasted the wine, take a few more sips and pair it with the matching food items that go with it best.

Now that you know some of the wine basics, you can find the best bottle for the kind of food you have and appreciate it like a wine connoisseur!