5 Tips And Tricks to Improve Your Wine Drinking Experience

You don’t have to be a sommelier or have gone to school for oenology to enjoy wine drinking. Knowing the basics and having a few tips in your back pocket can make you better than ever before at selecting, preparing, pairing, and enjoying wine.

Whether pouring yourself a glass to enjoy on your own or selecting and serving wine for a dinner party, you can handle wine like a pro by knowing a few good tricks and tips. Here are Winedom’s five starter tips for helping you impress.

1. Make A Cheap Bottle Taste Better

While we can’t bestow on you the Midas touch, there is a really easy way to improve the taste of a cheap bottle of wine. You’ve probably seen people swirl their wine before drinking it and maybe you’ve even done this yourself. Chances are, you don’t know why. Aerating wine (swirling it to allow the wine to open up and reach its true flavor potential) is a quick and easy way to improve all wines. Take that cheap bottle and pour it into your blender, cover the blender, turn on for 20-30 seconds and then allow it to settle before pouring. This super easy aeration method will improve the taste by bringing in a lot more air than just a few simple swirls.

2. Label Over Price Tag

Sure, you get what you pay for, but you can also find high quality wines in lower price ranges if you take time to skip the price and take a few hints from the front label. Within your budget take the time to check out clues in the labels rather than simply go for the highest price point.

• Wines that contain sulphites are common. Sulfites are a food preservative that a small population is allergic to.
• New World Wines
  • Check the front for the growing region: Regions cannot be listed unless a percentage of the grapes come from that region. These are legally controlled in most countries and will mean the wine is more pure to that region’s style.
  • Ignore the words “reserve designation” – this is a bit of information that is completely unregulated. Unless you know particular wines where being marked as “reserve” are actually higher quality, don’t fall into this common trap to spend a little more for a meaningless designation.
  • Ignore the front when it talks about “vintage” unless you know which were good years for that particular grape and wine.
  • Estate designation is a good thing to think about. Wines bottled on site are generally higher quality.
• European Wines
  • The Appellation of Origin appears on these bottles and will designate the wine into one of three quality levels. No matter how pretty the label is, this is what you want to focus on.
    • QWSPR: These are the best wines. You’ll find a place name and then either this abbreviation or Quality Wine Produced in a Specific Region.
    • Table Wine: The lower two quality categories fall into this designation. The higher quality table wines will include a specific region.
• On American wines, “table wine” designations do not have to do with quality. A table wine has no more than 14% alcohol.

3. Getting Out The Evidence

Spilled a little wine on your crisp white shirt or light colored dress, blouse or skirt? Have no fear, it’s not ruined. Ignore the call for seltzer (which does work on other food stains) and reach for Windex or other glass cleaner (usually a light blue liquid in a spray bottle). Spray and dab and you’re likely to not remember the next time you reach for that piece of clothing.

4. Break The Rules

While there is some reason behind drinking red wines with red meat and white wines with fish and poultry, like all rules, this one made to be broken. There are many wines that play with the rules of their color (for example, orange wines look more like whites but are loved by red drinkers who have sworn off their lighter versions) and you should do the same when pairing. If you have found that a particular red works with your signature chicken or fish dish – serve it. Also, when hosting dinner parties, make sure guests have a choice in wine. Like everything else with food, some people have a specific taste no matter what the rules say they should drink.

5. Know What To Do In Case Of A Wine Hangover

Wine hangovers are a terrible feeling but there are things you can do to feel better sooner if you indulged a little too much the night before. Remember hydration and metabolism and you’re halfway there. The faster your metabolism kicks in, the sooner your body can flush the parts of the wine that are making you feel awful. Hydration will complete the flushing process. So, get up early, go for a brisk 30 minute walk (or 10-15 minute jog), and keep drinking water and you’ll feel better than if you stay in bed.

Have your own wine-related tip or want to see Winedom post more articles like this one? Let us know in the comments or chat with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.