How to Impress With Your Wine Knowledge
If you love finding new ways to impress your friends and family, you’ll enjoy this segment. Today on The Marc and Mandy Show, Sommelier Sean Dolenuck, of La Boutique Del Vino, shares a few tips you can use to impress at your next function!
The Cork
One misconception about wine corks is that you should give them a good sniff to decipher if your bottle is a good one or not. In actuality, when your waiter uncorks your bottle, you should handle the cork in your hands and check to see if it is wet. If your cork is wet to the touch, that means it has been stored properly.
The Taste Test
Once you’ve okayed the cork, your waiter will most likely pour you a portion of a glass. Your move: give the glass a little bit of a swirl to air out the wine. You can also take a quick sniff of the wine while you’re at it. TIP Always hold the wine by the stem, so that your body heat doesn’t cause the wine to rise in temperature.
The Red
If you’re dealing with the red wine, ask your waiter to chill the bottle prior to uncorking it. Unlike white wine, which is typically stored at a lower temperature, red wine is stored at room temperature and could probably stand to be taken down a degree or two.
Depending on the type of restaurant, you may also be able to decipher what wine pairings will go well with what foods, well ahead of time. If you know exactly what you’d like to order, finding the perfect wine pairing is sweet and simple; if you have your food narrowed down to a region, (for instance, if you are going to an Italian restaurant), you can narrow down your wine pairings substantially using Google.
