White Wines should be chilled in the fridge for a few hours before serving, ideally between 5-12°C

Red wines should be stored somewhere slightly cooler than room temperature, so somewhere just below 20°C. Younger, fruity reds will benefit from a little chilling though.

Sparkling Wine should be thoroughly chilled, so make sure you refrigerate it for several hours, or ideally overnight before serving.

Dessert Wine should be stored at room temperature.
Hint: Chilling wine will tone down its sweetness. And if a red wine becomes too warm, it may lose some of its fruity flavor.

Should you use a decanter?
A decanter is mainly used to remove sediment from older red wines. It can also be used to open up young red wines. Otherwise, wine will “breathe” enough in your glass and you won’t need to decant it.

Whites:

Sauvignon Blanc - Also called Fume Blanc, this wine has a grassy, herbal flavour, which is a popular choice for fish and shellfish dishes.

Pinot Gris (Pinot Grigio) - These wines are rich, lightly perfumed and often more colourful than other whites. This is due to the low acidity of the wine. The best versions have pear and spice-cake flavours.

Chardonnay - A white wine that can range anywhere from clean and crisp with a hint of flavour, to rich and complex oak-aged wines. Typically, Chardonnay balances fruit, acidity and texture. This varietal goes well with everything from fish and poultry to cheeses, spicy foods and nut sauces.

Muscat - This variety produces spicy, floral flavours that actually taste like grapes, unlike most other wines. Muscats can range from very dry and fresh to sweet and syrupy. This varietal is best served with puddings and chocolate desserts.

Gewurztraminer - This is a distinctive white variety that is rich in spicy aromas and full flavours, and ranges from dry to sweet. It will smell and taste of gingerbread, vanilla, grapefruit, and honeysuckle, and is a good choice with Asian cuisines, and pork-based sausages.

Riesling - The white wines are known for their floral perfume and, depending on where they're made, they can be crisp and bone-dry, full-bodied and spicy or luscious and sweet. The flavour is often of peaches, apricots, honey, and apples. A good wine for duck, pork, and roast vegetable dishes.

Champagne/Sparkling Wine - The gas is added to these varieties in the wine-making process, and they can vary in style from very dry (Natural), dry (brut) and slightly sweet (extra Dry) to sweet (sec and Demi-Sec). You can also identify many sparkling wines as Blanc de Blancs (wines made from white grapes) or Blanc de Noirs (wines produced from red grapes).

Reds:

Pinot Noir - A light to medium body red wine, with a delicate, smooth and rich complexity and earthy aromas. They are less acidic than a cabernet sauvignon or merlot, and are often flavoured with baked cherries, plums, mushrooms, cedar, cigars, and chocolate.

Zinfandel - A Californian varietal, this wine is a light to full bodied red, with berry-like or spicy flavors. Works well with moderately spicy meat dishes and casseroles. The Zinfandel grape is also used in the popular off-dry blush wine known as White Zinfandel.

Syrah (Shiraz) - Very popular red wines, these have an acidic kick, and a complex combination of flavours which include berry, plum and smoke. It's called Shiraz mainly in Australia and South Africa.

Petite Sirah - These are red wines with firm, strong and often peppery flavours. Petite Sirahs will complement most meals with rich meats.

Merlot - Merlot is a red wine with medium to full body and herby flavors. Merlot typically has a softer taste than Cabernet Sauvignon. Its flavors and aromas include blackberry, cherries, plums, chocolate, and mocha.

Cabernet Sauvignon - Cabernet Sauvignon is a red wine known for its depth of flavour, aroma and ability to age well. It is full-bodied and intense, with cherry, currant and sometimes herbal flavours.

There are 3 basic steps:

Look

You can tell a lot about a wine simply looking at it

Things You Should Consider:

• White wines are not actually white; they range from green to yellow to brown. More colour in a white wine usually indicates more flavour and age, but a brown wine may have gone bad.
• Is your white wine clear, straw-like, golden, light green, pale yellow or brown in appearance?
• Red wines are not just red; they range from a pale red to a deep brown red, usually becoming lighter in colour as they age.
• Is the colour of your red more maroon, purple, ruby, garnet or even brownish?

Rim Colour: You can guess the age of a red wine by studying its ‘rim’. Tilt your glass slightly and look at the edge of the wine. A darker, purpley tint will indicate it’s a young wine, while orange to brown tints indicate maturity.

Swirling: Swirling your wine allows you to really observe the body of it.

Smell

Smell is important to a wine taster, as a lot of what we think is taste really comes through our noses.

Swirl your wine around your glass before you take a whiff and here are some tips for what to look out for:

What to look out for:

RED:

• Cabernet Sauvignon and the closely related Merlot, often smell of cedar wood and pine needles, which will be mingled with a good fruit smell similar to currants
• Zinfandel will smell quite berry-like
• Pinot Noir has hints of violets and spice
• Syrah varieties are pungent, and have a freshly ground black pepper quality

WHITE:

• Chardonnay smells of crisp, ripe apples and may have hints of butter, coconut, figs or other tropical fruits- particularly if it's been aged in oak
• Riesling will smell of apples too, but can also have hints of citrus, melon and pine
• Sauvignon Blanc often has a grassy smell and occasionally grapefruit hints
• Chenin Blanc will remind you of melons and occasionally even orange blossoms
• Muscat will smell of peaches

SOME TIPS:

• Some wines have added hints that wine tasters call ‘vegetal’, which usually smell of green olives, green peppers, tobacco leaves or grass
• A wine aged in oak may have hints of vanilla, cinnamon, cloves and almonds
• Extended bottle aging will give a toasty quality to wine, and will leave an earthy aroma; such as scents of mushrooms, old leather, roses and wildflowers

Taste

Finally, you can have a taste. Always start with a small sip and let it roll around your tongue.

• Think about the feel of the wine in your mouth - is it light or weighty? Wine can vary from watery-thin to viscous and oily, and this is all part of the experience of tasting wine
• Sourness is a fault in wine, especially if it is vinegary, which is a sign that it has been spoiled
• A crisp, sharp acidity, with a sour sensation is a good trait though,, and will go well with fish- similar to how a slice of lemon will
• A wine with too little acid, on the other hand, may seem nicely mellow at first, but if it's too bland your food may overpower the flavour
• Many chardonnays mix sweet and sour tastes; the best are crisp and almost dry, with just enough fresh-fruit sweetness to soften the acidic edge

What You Will Need:

• Six wines – ideally three whites and three reds
• Six complimentary cheeses (recommended selections are listed below)
• A loaf of bread – which will allow you to cleanse your palate between wines
• Wine glasses – one per person
• A pitcher of water – for rinsing each glass between wines
• A dump bucket – for discarding wine before the next pouring
• Tasting cards – for describing and recording each wine you taste

Wine & Cheese Recommendations:

• Recommended White Wine & Cheese Pairings:

Gewurztraminer & Swiss

Riesling & Gouda

Chardonnay & Baked Brie

• Recommended Red Wines & Cheese Pairings:

Italian Chianti & Gruyere

Zinfandel & Muenster

Cabernet Sauvignon & Blue Cheese

• Dessert Wine Recommendation: Muscat with Cheesecake

Time to Begin:

• The first thing you need to do is to select your wine varieties. A good basic formula is choosing three reds, three whites and ending with a sweet dessert wine and some cheesecake
• Coupling your wine selections with complimentary cheeses will help enhance subtle flavours within the different wines chosen
• Make sure you each have your own tasting card to record the wine’s distinct appearance, aroma, flavor, and your opinion of the cheese pairing
• Typically, when tasting wines, you should work from sweet to dry with white wines and progress from light to full-bodied with red wines. If you are following our recommended pairings above, taste them in the order in which they are shown
• Providing bread between wines will allow you to cleanse your pallet, and will set you up to fully experience the next wine
• As you finish your tastings, you can cap off the evening with a crisp dessert wine, which goes perfectly with a slice of cheesecake

When you become a bit more advanced at wine tasting, you can make your event a bit more exciting by offering a “blind tasting” experience, where you cover the labels, and must all guess the wine varieties based on the experience you have gained.