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How to Acquire a Taste for Wine

It’s easy to acquire a taste for food and new recipes. But developing a taste for wine when you’ve never shown much interest in it before is a little trickier.

Not everyone enjoys the strong taste of it straight away, and many prefer something gentler like vodka or beer. But whether you’re trying to broaden your horizons or enjoy wine and cheese dates with friends a little more, here is how you can acquire a taste for wine.

Allow it to Breathe

If the harshness and bitterness of wine are what puts you off giving it a try, then allowing it to breathe can be a process worth going through. When you expose wine to air, it oxidises and mellows the flavour.

In particular, red wine can be incredibly harsh if you pour it directly from a bottle you’ve just opened. Open the wine bottle, pour a glass, and let it sit for half an hour. It may end up being far gentler on your palate.

The Lowdown on Canned Wine

On your hunt for the best bottle of wine and food recipes to complement it, you may stumble across canned wine. It’s not a typo; wine really does come in cans these days. But does it live up to the hype? Here’s everything you need to know about canned wine to make an informed decision.

It’s Been Around for a Long Time

You may not have seen canned wine before, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been around for a long time. You just needed to know where to look. Sparkling wine came in cans as long ago as 2004, and they have been growing in popularity ever since.

A quick trip to your local bottle store may see you armed with a box of canned wine for home or event consumption.

It Chills Faster

One of the most frustrating things about drinking wine in Australia is how quickly it warms up. Our summer temperatures can be scorching, which means drinks don’t stay cold for long.

If you buy wine in a can, you can put it inside a beer cooler and drink it outside with far more confidence. What’s more, cans cool down quicker in the fridge than thick glass wine bottles do.

Best Wine for Spicy Food

It might be easy enough for you to find delicious recipes and prepare standout food dishes, but what about pairing wine? Making sure your wine of choice complements a spicy dish rather than detracts from it is not as easy as you might think.

In saying that, it’s not impossible. If you’re about to flex your culinary muscles by preparing spicy dishes for friends and family, then read on. Here are some of the best wine types to go with them.

For Spicy Food with Sweetness

If you are creating a spicy dish with just a hint of sweetness, you have to be quite careful with your wine pairing. For example, if you are making a Thai dish that not only has mild chilli but palm sugar and lemongrass, then you can’t choose a sweet wine to go with it. The two layers of sweetness might clash rather than work in harmony.

In that case, a light-bodied Riesling can be an ideal matching option. You may even find that a full-bodied rosé can work exceptionally well with both that spice and sweetness. Even though some rosé wines are sweeter than others, it doesn’t tend to detract from the heat and sweetness of food as much as some other wine varieties.

A Hint of Heat

Not everyone likes a full-blown spicy dish that blows your socks off after the first bite. If you have opted for a seafood dish with a subtle heat, you have to choose a wine that can work with creaminess and chilli. Sparkling wines, or even champagne, can meet the mark.

Matching Wine with Food

The melange of wine and food go hand-in-hand. Mainly these elements are matched to enhance the dining experience. In most cultures, wine is considered a must at the dinner table. Both culinary traditions and wine making of any region have evolved over the years. The contemporary society demands everything to be blend perfectly. The recent trend seems to cater to the needs to pair the desired choice of wine with food. Let’s say you’re the typical party lover and normally party with your selected set of friends. Naturally, you may be well aware of your friends’ likes and dislikes in respect of food and drinks. Supposedly, you get an opportunity to throw a party for them; you surely know before hand their preferences of food and wine. You would easily arrange to pair these things. The end result would be, people would hover about your great taste of food and wine.

Food experts are of the opinion that the correct combination of these two elements makes dining experience more delightful and enjoyable. The most fundamental element of food and wine combination is to understand the balance between the weight of food and the weight of wine. Heavy wines like Cabernet Sauvignon may overpower light dish like a quiche. The light bodied wine such as Pinot Grigio would be overwhelmed by a hearty stew. Apart from weight, textures and flavors are also complemented or contrasted.

How to Throw a Wine Tasting Party

‘Taste more than one wine at a time, and taste with others’

Few days ago, my friend shared with me details about an enticing article, she had come across. It was about wine tasting party. Are you perplexed about the concept of wine tasting party? Well, let me share the concept with you. A wine tasting party is considered as a great way to share thoughts with a group of friends. In fact, it’s regarded to be a champion icebreaker topic.

Think about this. In case you taste a wine or two in a week, then your knowledge concerning wines may gradually develop. On the other hand, if you get an opportunity to taste many wines at once, you may get an idea of all the different wines existing on this planet. You may get a chance to taste wines, ranging from Australian to French Chardonnay and in a matter of few days, you may become an expert to speak about wine and you could expand your knowledge just by hearing, what others have to say about a particular wine.

Red Wine and its Varieties

Australia is the fourth largest wine producing country in the world and boasts of great quality wines from major producers like Foster Group, Constellation wines and so on. The red grapes of Australia are their greatest asset and the most cherished wine is Shiraz. With the abundance of sunshine in Australia, the grapes ripen perfectly to give that special taste to the Australian wine. It is believed, the warmer the wine region, the better the red wine. But, the cooler areas are also well suited for the lighter and delicate red wine. There are several mild climate regions that are home to Australian specialty of sparkling red wine popularly known as “Shiraz”.

Shiraz: Shiraz produced from the same grapes as Syrah in France’s Rhone Valley were imported in Australia in 1832. It prospered in the Australian turf and became a great source of high quality wines for those who prefer to buy fine wine online and other stores. The versatility it displays to transform depended on the region and its growth is something special. There are several elegant styles that have emerged because of the climate, like the elegant peppery cool climate style in Heathcote, Victoria to cull out intense flavors with a spicy style of Coonawarra and Margaret River, the powerful minty one from Clare Valley, sweet and chocolaty one of McLaren Vale and muscular ripe fruited of Barossa. There is no other variety, which can match the mulberry, spicy, slightly wild flavor of Australia’s Shiraz wine.

Have You Tasted These Rare Australian Wines

The flourishing pace of Australia is making it the most happening country in the world, with more and more wine enthusiasts turning to the internet to buy vintage wine. There are many aspects that add to its popularity and one of them is the rare and variety of Australian wines being introduced in the market. There’s no doubt that it’s truly a tasting element that allures your taste buds sipping Australian wines. Over a hundred new varieties of grapes are being used for wines, and some of the names were unheard off till a few years back.

All around Australia new varieties are being trailed in the vineyards. The new brands are rapidly coming in the mainstream of the country’s wondrous wine spread of varieties like Sangiovese, Pinot grigio and Viognier.

The Tricky Art of Choosing Wine and Food Pairings

Generally, people love to have a glass of wine to go with their meals. But, very few of us actually know, what food go with certain wines. You have to really find a classic wine to complement your food or vice versa. It is also known as pairing of the food and wine.

For instance, we often mismatch a strong wine with a delicate cuisine. It is important to give a fine balance. Acidic wines would go very well with oily foodstuffs, fish items and cream sauces. Whereas tart wines usually complement sharp foods.

Music, Food, Red Wine and You

A romantic and musical dinner cuisine is never complete without rich and sparkling wine bottle. And it is all the more better, if it’s sipping with lustrous red wine. The fabulous red wine is very popular in Western and European countries. The rich red color comes from grape skin.

The heavenly taste of quality red wines increases with time, albeit you have to store it very carefully, to improve the taste. Usually red wine is made with red, purple or black grapes. The color quality depends on the fermentation procedure. Red wine is generally served in warm climatic condition, in a mild cooled form. Red wines are more costly than other kind of wines. Red wines are often classified according to its tannin nature and astringent taste.

The Art of Wine Tasting

People around the world thinks, to taste wine is a simple process and assume that it consists to just sip, swish and swallow. But, many are surprised to know that there’s actually more to wine tasting. We can say that to taste wine is an art in its own self. It’s mainly used to distinguish the taste of fine wines.

Firstly, if you wish to taste wine, then begin with swishing. Has it ever strike you, as to why tasters swish their wine around their mouths? They do it mainly to understand the taste. Your front and back areas of the tongue have taste buds and these actually help to recognize the taste of the wine. Hence, to get the correct taste from your wine, you are required to swish it around your mouth and permit your taste buds and sense of smell to bring out the distinguished and fine flavors in the wine.