5 Essential Wine Tips Every Wine Enthusiast Must Know

Being a wine enthusiast comes with familiarity with this complex subject. Whether you are a novice or an expert, knowing the terms and etiquette is essential.

Get started by going through these essential tips to help you elevate the extent of your wine knowledge.

1. Know How to Hold a Wine Glass Properly

Like any other glass, you need to hold a wine glass properly. It is not simply about holding it. Make sure you hold it by the stem so as not to warm the wine by holding it in its bowl. This also helps prevent your fingerprints from smudging the glass.

Try to hold your wine glass with the rim facing your palm. Avoid touching the glass’ bottom directly with your fingers.

2. Open a Wine Bottle the Right Way

You will most likely open a lot of wine bottles if you become a wine enthusiast. You need to know the correct way to open it. The correct way is to place the bottle on the counter, holding it upright.

Firstly, you’ll need to remove the foil covering the cork and neck of the bottle, using the blade on your corkscrew. 

Next, insert the corkscrew into the cork and twist the corkscrew until it’s fully in the cork. The lever the cork out carefully to avoid damaging it.

3. Taste Wine Before Serving

It is not wise to serve a glass of wine without tasting it first. Tasting wine before serving will let you know if it is ready to drink. It will also let you know if it needs some time to age. Most importantly, there is no right or wrong way to taste wine!

Give the wine glass a little swirl, this will allow oxygen to get into the wine and reveal its aromas. When you go to smell the wine, put your nose into the glass and breathe deeply, you may feel silly but this will allow you to pick up a lot of different scents! If its a red wine, maybe you’ll pick up strawberries, cherries or tobacco. If it’s a white, maybe there will be some lemon, vanilla or blossom. 

Smelling the wine is also really important as it means we can determine if something is wrong with the wine, such as being corked – you don’t want to be smelling damp cardboard or wet dog! Remember, a wine can only be corked if the wine bottle was sealed using an real cork, not a screw cap or a synthetic cork.

Now it’s time to take a sip and let the wine sit in your mouth for a moment. Can you pick up any of the flavours of the scents you picked up? Everyone tastes differently and there are no right or wrong answers, so don’t be intimidated if someone picks up something that is different from you

You can take a sip. Alternatively, you can swirl the glass to move the wine around. You will notice the wine’s colour and clarity at this point.

4. Invest in the Right Wine Accessories

There are many wine accessories that you can purchase to improve your wine-drinking experience.

You may want a wine rack so you can keep your wines organised. This will help you avoid forgetting which wine you have and which one is already consumed. You can also use it to store wines at different temperatures.

A wine rack will also help you store the wine correctly, you need to store a wine bottle on its side to avoid the cork drying out. 

A wine thermometer will let you know the exact temperature of the wine. This way, you can be sure that you will be drinking it at the right temperature.

A wine decanter can help to aerate the wine. This is perfect if you want your wine to breathe. Additionally, keep a wine stopper. This will let you seal your wine bottles properly. You can also buy wine aerators. This will let you aerate your wine without using a decanter.

5. Study Various Wine Terminology

While you are still at the beginner stage of wine drinking, it would be best to stick to the basics. You can start learning by studying the labels and descriptions of the wines. If a wine is rated as a “Cabernet Sauvignon” type, you should know what that means.

Learn the elements of wine tasting. You need to know specific terms, such as varietal, body, nose, penetrating, and complex. These will help you understand whether a particular type is the one you are looking for.

You need to learn many things to become an expert wine enthusiast. To start, you can purchase books about the subject. However, you can also learn the basics through wine tastings. As you attend wine tastings, you can practice your knowledge and skills. The more you smell and taste, the more scents and flavours you’ll pick up and remember.

Happy tasting!

If you’re looking to buy white wine online, Cru Wine offers the best options in Great Britain. Feel free to go through our collections on our online store or contact us for more information.