The 5 S's of Wine Drinking

The 5 S's of Wine Drinking

There are 5 steps that will help you get the most out of that glass of wine sitting in front of you. This week we have talked about the Big 6 grapes and we've talked about how to read the label. Now that you know these basics you have the best chance of stumbling on something great! Now after you have that bottle home, whether you've splurged or kept it cheap (that's just how it is these days), you can thouroughly enjoy it. It seems like a good idea to make the best of the purchase since it is one of those extra "treats" and in this economy those are far and few between. Before you start to open the bottle chill whites and hour before you are suppose to drink it and reds for 15-30 min. Chill Reds?!?!?!! Yes chill your red. They were always ment to be enjoyed at 50 °F which is most wine areas is room temp not the balmy 70's we keep houses or the summer months impose on us. Now that the wine is chilled to proper consuming temperature you should open it. Use whatever glass you have right now, we'll go more into better glasses in a later blog but this is about experimenting and enjoying what you can. Don't go out and buy some crazy glasses until you are more into wine drinking and it's a good financial purchase for you.

* random note - don't pour the glass over half full, no matter what you need the wine to breath and move around...this isn't Kool-Aid people! : )

Now to the 5 S's of Wine Drinking........


See - Look at the color of the wine, see how light or dark it is. This will help you be prepared for the body of the wine (full or not). This will also be your first indication of age of the wine. If the color seems off it is and don't drink it. Going from light bodied to full you will have lighter to darker colors (both reds and whites)

Swirl - The easiest way to swirl is placing the glass on a flat surfaces and moving the base of the glass in a circle...less sloshing this way. The act of swirling opens up the wine so that you can break out all the aromas of the wine. In complex wines this imperative. It's amazing the difference between swirling and not.

Smell - Next you smell the wine. The swirling step has now opened all the delightful smells and aromas for you to enjoy. Each wine type has it's own "staple" smells. This also gives you a heads up to what it might taste like. You can get go from tart fruits to juicy fruits to tropical in whites and red cherries to plums and figs in reds. You also can get spices, herbs and earthiness. A Cab Sav will have a ton of spice in the aromas and a white grape called Viognier will have the most amazing herb smells with honey and peach. Start your smelling career by smelling slow and long. Do it more than once! When trying to pick out all the complex aromas you'll never get them all on the first couple goes. AND make sure to get you nose in the glass. Since you haven't poured more than half a glass there should be room and in the area above the bowl of the glass is where the swirling put all those lovely smells.

Sip - This is the best part!!!!!! Sip the wine making sure it covers all of your tongue. This way you get all the levels of flavors. You'll want to taste the fruit and the spices. And obviously this should happen as often as is appropriate!!!

Savor/Spit - A less obvious S but a good one to know. Like I said make sure you take your time to get to know the wine. They are as complex as women. Treat her right and take it slow and you might meet the person (wine) of your dreams! Take your time to smell every possible aroma and taste so that you can get every hint of flavor. For instance a Chardonnay will be a whole pastry in a glass and trust me you'll want to taste the apple/pear/citrus/butter/toast/vanilla/honey/oak flavor. The second half of this is spit. You may think this is bad or stupid but if you are doing a wine trail (Wine Trail Survival Blog to come) you will not want to drink as much as you are going to and drive. The professionals do it and you should too.


I hope this helps! Please let me know what you drink this weekend and what notes you came up with in the tasting as well as any pairings. Who doesn't love food and wine ?! A bonus blog may happen when we do our pairing and tasting this well too and you can see how good or bad this goes. We have been having quite the epic adventures with "the other whites".


~Beth & Jake