My At Home Wine Tasting Experience
I had the amazing opportunity to host a private wine-tasting experience in the comfort of my home last month. It was an afternoon filled with wine, cheese, and fabulous people— I couldn’t ask for anything more perfect! This was the first event I was able to host since the pandemic started and it was a great way to start the beautiful season of spring. Not only did I get to hold this event with my closest friends, but it was a celebration of us all being fully vaccinated. Yay!
The wine-tasting wouldn’t have been the same without @visforvino and his great expertise and knowledge on all things vino. We were able to try a variety of wines ranging from countries all over the world. Vince gave us a little background information on all the wines we drank and let me tell you, a lot of wine was consumed that day. After learning a bit more, our knowledge was put to the test and we were quizzed on new and old world wines. Distinguishing between the two sounded like a daunting task, but it was all fun and games and made me realize, even as a self-proclaimed wine expert, that I still had so much to learn. Don’t forget to check out Vince's Amazon Show, V is for Vino, as well, to get a virtual snippet of what we experienced. Our first event after getting vaccinated was nothing but pure joy, and I can’t wait to host more events like this one!
The next time you’re throwing a wine party for your friends, make sure to hit ‘em with a few interesting wine facts! Throughout the wine tasting, Vincent made sure to fill our brains with little antidotes about wine and what makes it so special. Here are a few of our favorite tips that will make everyone feel like their own sommelier:
There are two types of wines— Old World and New World. Old World wines have a light body, are lower in alcohol, aren’t very sweet or fruity, and are higher in acidity. New World wines are the complete opposite— they are full bodied, higher in alcohol content, low in acidity, and are extremely fruit forward in their taste.
The color of wine is determined by how close the grape juice is to the grape skin - a perfect example of this is Rosé having a pink hue instead of being fully red.
Weather has a huge effect on how wines turn out. In warmer climates, grapes ripen more easily and produce wines that are lower in acidity and higher in sugar and alcohol content.
Fortified wines, like port and sherry, are made by adding in more alcohol in different stages of the wine making process.
If you want to drink wines that are free of pesticides and herbicides, natural wine is your friend. Are favorite natural wine is Lalalu Cabernet Franc 2018.
If you want to pair food with your wines, remember this rule: heavier foods go with more full bodied wines (think steak and red wine) while lighter fair is served with wines that are more crisp and refreshing (fish and white wine).
The term “drinking to one’s health” hails from Ancient Greece and was toasted by the host of the dinner to assure everyone that the wine was not poisoned.
California is the fourth largest wine producer in the world! The other top three are Spain, Italy, and of course, France.
If you are just as big of a wine lover as I am, let me know your go-to wine! You can always follow along and connect with me through Instagram.
