Ecclesiastes 9 : 7 Go eat your bread with joy; And drink your wine with a merry heart, For God has already accepted your works.
Wine makes a man deliriously happy. If he has had a little too much to drink, then it settles his mood down. Wine is mostly characterized from the place it originates. It carries with it the flavors and tastes of that region. Right from the climate and soil where the grapes were grown to the barrels where the wine was fermented, the wine carries with it, deep tones and richness of the place it came from.
Today vineyards span across the world. France, Italy, California, Spain, Portugal, India have quality vineyards that are tended with great care to produce the best tasting wines in barrels and bottles. The newer wines are more fruity and delicious. Today's crowd of wine sippers prefer this light, fruity taste. They tend to stay away from stronger and pungent flavors, ones that have higher levels of alcohol. Even vineyards have begun to realize this. They are making their wines with lesser alcohol content.
Good wines are reasonable in price. They are anywhere from $6 a bottle and upward. They also carry 7 to 12% alcohol.
People from parts of Europe, including France and Italy have set the proper etiquettes for wine tasting. Vineyards are now going out of their way to grape out a wine bottle that meets customer preferences.
The age old method of creating quality wines is stomping the grapes till your feet turned red (literally) with its juices. The color for all wines is given off by the tannins in the skin of the grape. Crushing and bruising the skin over and over, by vigorous stomping with the feet blends the various tannins into the wine, giving its original earthy flavors.
Grape stompers or vine pressers required a lot of patience to stomp baskets of grapes all day to make wine. Today most vineyards use mechanized stompers to make wine.
Active yeast is introduced into the wine to start the fermentation process. The new wine is stored in large vats to complete the fermentation process before it is transferred to barrels made of oak. Oak barrels are said to retain flavors more effectively. The aging process begins as the wine rests in the oak barrels gathering more flavor and getting stronger in taste. Different wine makers set different dates to bottle the wine. They market the wines to reach our homes for those special and momentous occasions.
Tasting Wines:
Tasting wines has developed quite a following. It has become a trend that is almost a religion now. People want to know more about wines, though the subject is in itself as deep as the ocean.
Chilled wine opened fresh is poured crisply into a waiting tall wine glass. The table cloth is light in color to accentuate the deep red or pale white of the wine. The bubbles at the top aerate the wine mildly. Holding the glass at an angle, the wine taster must take a gentle, yet quick sniff. He must inhale the aroma the wine emnates and anticipate the taste. A gentle twist of the thumb helps swirl the wine in its glass.
The wine must be sipped at first and circulated inside, all over the mouth. The wine can be rinsed in your mouth to give off its unique taste. You can breath through your mouth to aerate the wine some more. Let the wine linger in your mouth for a while. This helps the tongue absorb most of the tastes the wine is carrying.
Then a quick gulp completes the wine tasting.
Different groups of people have their own methods to tasting wines. Do what seems best and tasterrific to you.
There is no one religious way of tasting wine. You can always modify and improve upon the existing method mentioned here.
Wine is a great accompaniment to meats, seafood and poultry. Today wines are combined with a variety of cheeses. Wines may be also tried with different fruits - like the Strawberry, Kiwi and other exotic fruits.
