Dummies.com has a great section on wine, wine testing and everything else associated with wine. Here is the site’s advise on sniffing wine! Also, don’t forget to check out our wine online…Click Here!
Swirl ‘n’ sniff
To get the most out of your wine sniffing, you swirl the wine in the glass first. Don’t even think about swirling your wine if your glass is more than half full — you’ll end up sloshing it everywhere.
Here’s a closer look at how to swirl and sniff your wine:
1. Keep your glass on the table and rotate it three or four times so that the wine swirls around inside the glass and mixes with air.
As you swirl, the aromatic compounds in the wine vaporize so that you can smell them. Wine has so many of these compounds that whatever scent you detect probably isn’t a figment of your imagination.
2. Quickly bring the glass to your nose, stick your nose right into the airspace of the glass where the aromas are captured, and smell the wine.
Try different techniques of sniffing. Some people like to take short, quick sniffs, while others like to inhale a deep whiff of the wine’s smell. Keeping your mouth open a bit while you inhale can help you perceive aromas. (Some people even hold one nostril closed and smell with the other.)
3. Free-associate — think of what the aroma brings to mind.
Is the aroma fruity, woodsy, fresh, cooked, intense, light? Your nose tires quickly, but it recovers quickly, too. Wait just a moment and try again. Listen to your friends’ comments and try to find the same things they find in the smell.
The point behind this whole ritual of swirling and sniffing is that what you smell should be pleasurable, maybe even fascinating, and that you should have fun in the process.
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