Proper etiquette when visiting a winery or tasting room

Visiting a winery or tasting room to taste wine is a lot of fun but there are certain rules of thumb you should follow to make your experience more enjoyable.

First of all, these days most wineries charge a tasting fee, at least those in popular areas like Napa and Sonoma. In Australia and New Zealand, it is still free to taste wine which I find super cool but seems the exception rather than the rule! At wineries that charge there is usually a list available for tasting and you are allowed you to select a certain number of wines to taste for anywhere from $5 to $20. It used to be back in the good old days you could taste for free everywhere but now most wineries are charging to limit recreational tasting though most wineries that charge to taste will credit your tasting fee towards a bottle of wine if you buy something.

If you look online before you go wine tasting you can often times find coupons for 2 for 1 or even free tastings. And, if you go to wine events you can ask the representatives from the wineries with wines that you like if they have any tasting passes or if they can provide you a coupon for a free tasting or a 2 for 1 tasting if you come to their winery. Often they are happy you like their wine and will provide you a pass in the hopes you will bring friends with you and turn them on to their wine as well.

When you get to the winery you usually start tasting with sparkling wine, then rose, then white wine and then last you move on to red wine. You should taste from lighter to heavier varietals and you should rinse your glass with water or even a bit of wine when you switch from white to red to keep the taste pure.

If you tell the person pouring you the wine what you like, they should be able to make recommendations for you of what wines to try. Also, while you are tasting the wines let the person pouring know what you think of the wine you are tasting; is the wine to dry, too fruity, too sweet, is it to light for you, too heavy, too peppery, too smoky, do you love it? If you give them feedback then they can direct you to wines that you may like better or to other wines similar to the one you are tasting if you are enjoying it.

If you are poured a wine you do not like you can dump it out in the container left out for that purpose and you should not feel bad about it. Different people like different wines and as you drink more wine you will learn the tastes and varietals that are most pleasing to you. Besides that is what wine tasting is supposed to be, experimenting and trying new wines you may not otherwise taste.

If you paid to taste you do not have an obligation to buy any wine but if they are giving you a credit of your tasting fee towards a bottle it may be a good investment as you are essentially getting the tasting for free. You can always tell the person pouring you the wine where you live and you can ask them where you may be able to find their wine in your area or if they have a local distributor if you do not want to buy any wine on that day.

The more you talk to and engage the person pouring you wine in conversation about the wine, the more likely you are to be able to taste more wines and if you are lucky you may get them pour you some extra tastes or some special reserve wines.

Some small production wineries only sell their wines onsite at their winery or tasting room so if you find something you really like you should buy it. Bigger production wineries will sell their wines at retail value though so although it may seem contraintuitive, you will typcially not get the best deal on a wine by buying it from the winery as they generally do not put their wines on sale or mark them down. Sometimes wineries will have a sale to move stock and make way for a new vintage but generally speaking you will not get the best price on a wine at the winery. If you really like a wine you've tasted, you should consider buying some as you may not be able to find it elsewhere.

Many wineries have picnic areas and they encourage you to bring food and enjoy thier grounds. If you do plan to do that you should not drink wine from another winery but instead buy a bottle from the winery that you are picnicing at.

It is a good idea to look online for festivals and special events at wineries that center around certain varietals or holidays or even foods as that can be a fun time to go and visit. If you go during the harvest you can see grapes being picked, if you go before the harvest you can see grapes on the vine. Wines are made from grapes which are harvested and farmed like other fruits and vegetables so depending on the season and time of year you go what you see will change.

Also, there is new trend of grapes being sourced. This means that grape growers sell their wine to others who then blend it and make it into their own wines. This is being done by big corporations, by individual wine negotiatants and also by wine makers who have no actual vines or grapes or even wineries per se but who take grapes grown by others and craft wines that they then sell under their own label. There are also vinters who buy grapes hire a winemaker and then sell wine under a label they have created. Some have tasting rooms in cities and are considered urban wineries, others have tasting rooms in wine country but no winery per se.

Whether you are visiting a winery or a tasting room for the first time or are going for a repeat visit, remember to be open to trying new things, that is after all the point of tasting wine. Wine tasting is a chance to give new varietals a chance, to try ones you know you like and even those you think you don't like, as you just never know what you may find and if you don't want to go to a winery or tasting room consider visiting a wine bar as usually you can find a nice diverse selection of wines.

Whatever you do, be sure to ask lots of questions, be open to trying new wines and most important of all have a good time!

How to Taste Wine Including Basic Wine Tasting Terminology

A person who is into wine is called an oenophile which is Greek for lover of wine. The best way to become knowledgeable about wine or a bonafide oenaphile is to drink it and decide what you like.

In order to truly enjoy wine you should take in its smell, taste and sight. In fact, enjoyment of wine is a very sensory experience.

When tasting wine you should first look at the color. Next, you should inhale its scent, this is called the nose and is also known as the bouquet. Wine can be floral, fruity, earthy, leathery, smoky etc.

After inhaling the aroma of a wine, you should hold the base of the glass and swirl the wine around to put some air into it. The wine that sticks to the side of the glass is called the legs. It is often said that the more legs there are in a glass of wine the better the quality of the wine but this is not actually true. Legs of wine actually have to do with the alcohol content of a wine. Alcohol evaporates faster than water so as you swirl wine around in a glass, the alcohol in the wine left on the side of the glass starts to evaporate. The changed alcohol to water mix results in different surface tension areas which causes the wine to forms streaks in the areas of the least or most resistance. The streaks then run down the glass leaving the legs. This is called the Marangoni effect and has to do with physics and evaporation as opposed to wine quality. So, you can call someone's attention to the legs of a wine and pretend to sound knowledgeable but really is has nothing to do with the taste or quality of the wine.

After you look at the wine, smell it, swirl it in your glass and look at the legs, you should then take a sip of it and move it around your mouth in order to determine how it feels on the tongue. This is called the wine's body or mouth feel. The body or mouth feel of a wine has to do with the weight and thickness of the wine. The body can be lighter or heavier, thin and watery or thicker and more oily. The body impacts the feel of the wine on your tongue, how it feels in your mouth and ultimately how it tastes.

Once the wine is in your mouth, move it around all the taste buds on your tongue so you get the full effects of the taste of the wine. This is what is called the wine's complexity. Is the wine one dimensional or does it have many flavors and layers?

When you swallow the wine, the taste that lingers on the tongue is called the finish. Typically the longer and more memorable the finish, the better the quality of the wine

The wine may need to breathe for it to taste better. Allowing wine to breathe means you are exposing it to air which can allow the wine to open up for the flavors to be fuller. This is best done in a glass or in a decanter to allow a larger surface area to come in contact with air. Just taking out the cork and leaving wine in a bottle will not allow enough air to get in to make a difference. For wine to truly breathe it should be exposed to the maximum amount of air possible. To put some air in the wine and open up the flavors you can also use an aerator which you place on the bottle or the glass and then pour the wine thru.

When tasting wine be sure to use your eyes, nose and mouth and, if you want to come across as a wine afficionado then throw in some of the terms described above and you will be well on your way to becoming an oenophile.