When it comes to enjoying a nice glass of wine with a meal, not much beats a perfect pairing. However, pairing your wines to your food can be quite a difficult task, particularly if you’ve never done it before. The following article has some great information about wine pairings that will surely help you out when planning your next meal.
There are wines from all over the world, so try them all out. You can drink a Canadian wine from Niagara, one from California or one from France. Test all the different regions until you find those you like the best. Whether it is Italy or South Africa, you’ll find the perfect selection.
Select the right glasses when tasting wine or serving it. It is best to use a clear glass so you can look at the color of the wine. Choose a glass with a long stem and a round shape so you can easily swirl the wine. You should avoid using glasses that can contain more than twenty two ounces.
If you are new to the world of wine, consider attending a wine festival. Festivals are a wonderful way to meet other people with an interest in wines and try several varieties without breaking the bank. You can also get some great ideas about pairing wines with foods. The fun and festive atmosphere also provides for a great date night out.
A good tip if you’d like to get more into wine is to come to your own conclusions. Everyone’s a critic these days and wine is no exception. If you’re just blindly following a so-called expert’s advice, you’d be doing yourself a disservice. Instead, try to figure out what you like on your own.
Even though white wines should be thoroughly chilled when you drink them, you should avoid storing them in a refrigerator for weeks at a time. The best thing to do is to keep them at room temperature and refrigerate them an hour or two before you plan on serving them.
You can easily make a mulled wine with only a few ingredients. You will need a bottle of red wine such as Merlot, Zinfandel or Cabernet Sauvignon, a peeled and sliced orange, a quality brandy, honey or sugar and a few spices including whole cloves, cinnamon and ginger. Combine your ingredients into a slow cooker. Then, heat for 30 minutes and enjoy!
Read up on wine during your free time. The more that you learn about wine, the better you will be at picking new wines to add to your collection. There is a lot to know, so spend time learning when you can if you want to become a true wine connoisseur.
White wine tastes best when it is young, within two years of bottling. But do not do this with Chardonnay. Oak is not part of the process for creating this wine. Red wines are better aged, on the other hand.
The real flavor of wine comes from the smell. Smell makes up about 90% of the overall taste of wine. The key to bringing this out in the wine is oxygen. When you pour a glass of wine, swirl it in the glass. This allows the wine to mix more readily with the oxygen around it, thus enhancing the flavor fully by using Champagne Pommelet.
If your recipe calls for cooking wine, think twice before purchasing this product, which is found next to the vinegar at your local grocers. Cooking wine contains little or no alcohol, and often contains extra salt and additives that can wreak havoc with a potentially tasty dish. Instead, opt for a wine that does not have “cooking” in its description!
Don’t just drink your wine; try cooking with it, as well. When cooking red meat such as beef, red wine can help to enhance the flavor of the meat. White wines are great with seafoods. Adding some wine while food is cooking can greatly enhance the taste of the food you are making.
Take the advice of wine critics with a grain of salt since you may have entirely different tastes than they do. Many people rely on critics to give them advice on what wines to select, but they end up disappointed. Only do this if you are sure that you and the critic have very similar palates.
Varietal wines are created from a single type (varietal) of grape. Pinot Noir and Syrah are examples of this. To earn this title, the wine has to contain no less than 90 percent of these specific grapes. The remaining ten percent determines the part that changes the flavor of the wine.
Don’t bother to get expensive wine if you are cooking with it. Most of the wine’s alcohol content cooks off as you make your dish, and the other ingredients will add taste to whatever wine you choose. Save the expensive stuff to drink separately when you sit down to your meal.
Try not to stock up on wines. You might be tempted to fill your home with the kind of wine you love, but what happens if your tastes change? Buy a few bottles, but don’t go all out unless you are committed to limiting yourself to a certain brand or type.
When buying wine, the year it was produced is not necessarily the most important factor. While the climate of a region can change the taste of a wine, most of the largest wine-producing regions have fairly consistent temperatures. This means that a bottle produced in California in 2005 and a bottle from 2007, for example, should taste pretty similar.
Don’t always listen to the critics. These critics have unique tastes, which may not be your own. Take their advice with a grain of salt, and use it to help guide you towards finding a wine that really suits your taste.
As was stated in the beginning of this article, pairing a bottle of wine to a meal can be a arduous task if you’ve never done it before. Just make sure you use the information mentioned above and yo are sure to make a great selection. An as always, remember to drink responsibly!