Wine and wine tasting
It is safe to say, there is no secret that we love wine. And that is why we created Do’s and Don’ts of wine tasting.
We are not experts in wine tasting, or how to produce wine. We have visited a couple of vineyards in 4 different countries and always had a great time. What we have learnt from this significant experience, we would like to pass on you, our readers.
For wine drinking, we are super picky on what wine we will eventually buy and drink. We prefer certain wines over others. Like everyone else. We easily agree on rose and red wine, but the troublemaker in this family is white wine. Teri loves her Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand (the more citrus taste, the better). Felix loves oaked Chardonnay.
There are white wines, we both enjoy drinking, but it took some time to find that out. And that is the beauty of wine tasting. Not only you explore new wines, you eventually find out what you prefer to drink.
To understand the work of producing wine is a never ending education and THAT we love the most about wine. The story of the wine, the people behind it. And you get to meet them at wine tastings. Or at least through the people working at the tasting room.
People behind producing wine have one thing in common: they are very proud, and it is their dream job. Well, we understand that.
We hope that these Do’s and Don’ts of wine tasting will help you have a fabulous time at vineyards.
Do’s of wine tasting
🍷Book a tour or hire a driver: You will end up tasting plenty of wines and most probably be enjoying it. So let someone else to worry about driving. Plus, if you book a tour, you will meet new people.
🍷Start the day with a good and big breakfast or lunch. Depends on the time of tasting, but have some delicious food before tasting. Is the vineyard offering a cheese plate to wine tasting? Take it!
🍷Read the tasting notes and write your own remarks. Just to see if you notice any listed flavours. These tasting notes might look like not important, but there is everything you need to know about the wine.
🍷Smell the wine before taking a sip. We can not remember where we heard this, but will pass another valuable information on you: It takes three sips to judge the wine. THREE SIPS.
🍷You don’t like the wine, just toss it away. There are always buckets where you can do so. Yes, so easy it is. There is no reason to be ashamed of tossing away wine you don’t like.
🍷Ask questions. Yes, there are no stupid questions, and it delights winemakers to talk about their products. You are not sure about a certain thing about the wine, just ask. You can ask anything related to wine tasting.
🍷Drink water while tasting. As much wine you drink, as much water you should drink. So if you drink 1L of wine, you need to drink 1L of water.
🍷Buy wine. If there is a wine you like, purchase it. Is there a white wine we both enjoy? We buy it because finding a white wine we both enjoy is sometimes hard.
If you have never been to wine tasting, don’t worry. Tell the person at wine tasting room and they will explain you a lot. How to hold glass, how to drink wine and what you should taste. They will navigate you through the tasting for your most significant experience.
Don’ts of wine tasting
🍷DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE. Seriously, don’t drink and drive. Yep, this is the most important rule, don’t drink and drive.
🍷Don’t use breath mints or gum. It will ruin the experience of wine tasting. Makes sense, right? It will give the wine you are tasting completely distinct taste.
🍷If you ask for a second glass of wine, buy it afterwards. If you plan to purchase that certain wine, then it is fine to ask for second pour of wine.
🍷Don’t judge the wine before you try it. We had wines, where we were certain it will not be our cup of wine, but it was actually nice to drink. And remember, it takes three sips to judge the wine.
🍷Don’t be loud. You will probably not be the only one at wine tasting, so keep your loud comments to yourself. We were once part of a group of 12 people and we had the most amazing time. BUT there was one guy who kept talking so loud that you could hardly hear the winemaker talking. It was just rude.
🍷Don’t be I-Know-It-All because honestly, wine tasting is very subjective. Honestly, if you don’t like a certain wine or vineyard, it doesn’t mean we have the same opinion.
🍷If you purchase a wine, don’t negotiate on price. To produce an excellent quality wine, take so much hard work so it would just be rude to negotiate on price, don’t you think?
Unforgettable experience you will make
We can remember every single wine tasting tour we have taken part in. And all of them were such an unforgettable experience we had. You bet, we will do more wine tastings.
Please, be kind and pay some respect to the winemaker, the people in tasting room and all the people who work at the vineyard. Don’t be rude because you don’t like the wine.
The winemaker will be more than happy to answer all your questions, and you will probably learn something new you didn’t know about wine yet.
We love to buy wines on our holidays and bring them back home. It is so much fun to open the bottle a few months/years later and still remember the vineyard.
Through wine tasting we discovered wines, we never knew they exited and found our favorite vineyards, where we always love to come back.
Get in touch with us
We hope our Do’s and Don’ts of wine tasting are helpful and you will have an excellent time at vineyards.
We would love to hear from you. Please get in touch with us.
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You can contact us also via email if you have any stories to share or you just need some advice from us. Or you just want to chat.
We are looking forward to hear from us.
With love, Teri and Felix
