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Tips for Visiting Wineries...
Here are some tips anyone can learn that will make your wine tasting experience even more enjoyable. A winery is not just about the wines, but about the "wine experience." We want to pass along some ways to make this wine experience a great experience. So here are a dozen of my top tips I have learned on how to have a great day wine tasting.
- Choose a Designated Driver. Yes, the tastes are small, but they add up over a day. If you visit four wineries that is roughly the same as four glasses of wine. With today's laws, that would put most people over the legal limit. So, decide who's going to drive before you head to the first winery. Don't assume that "someone will be sober enough to drive" at the end of the day. Nothing ruins a great day at the wineries like a DWI arrest, or worse.
Additional Tip: If you don't want to designate a driver, hire one of the limo or shuttle companies to drive you around (i.e. Grapeline). But beware, that even though you took a tour, someone still might have to drive once the tour shuttle drops you off at the end of the day. So think ahead, or stay at a hotel in town where many shuttles can drop you off directly.
- Don't Try to Visit Every Winery. In Temecula, we have over 28 wineries. Do the math! Choose three or four wineries that you'd like to try and take your time at each one. Wine tasting is about more than just the wine. Rushing because you want to visit a lot of wineries in one day takes away from the experience. Don't do it. However, there is one exception to the above. Some wineries we have been to in California just are not worth the time. You can usually tell right away within two minutes after you walk in the door (bad wines, lame atmosphere, incompetent wine servers, etc.). At some wineries we have visited in the state, we quickly exited after five minutes, so we could move on and visit other/better wineries where we could enjoy ourselves and take our time. You only have so much time, so do not waste it on a winery that is not a fit for you.
- Bring a Picnic Lunch. One of the things I enjoy most about a winery afternoon is having a picnic lunch among the vines. Many wineries have beautiful patios or decks where you can spread out and have a great lunch. But, if you're going to drink wine with lunch, make sure it's from the winery where you're eating. In most cases, they'll even lend you glasses. It's rude to drink wine from another winery on someone else's property (and many times it is illegal for a winery, under their license, to have other wines on the property. Ours is one of them.) If you hit a winery late morning and then eat at the second winery, then you will gain the constitution to visit at least one more, possibly two wineries before the day is out - particularly if you follow guidelines one and two.
- Drink water. A good rule of thumb is to drink one bottle of water per winery: My wife Deanna and I did a Grapeline tour in Paso Robles (a franchise of the Grapeline in Temecula). A great tip they share with their customers on the shuttles is to drink a bottle of water per every winery visited. They have a cooler of water available to their guests on each shuttle. Pretty smart. It's a great idea because the water keeps you from becoming dehydrated (and more intoxicated) by the wine.
- Avoid wearing perfume or cologne. Yes, it's a minor point, but a key one. Sure you might want to impress a date by smelling really nice, but it really interferes with the tasting experience (for you and others around you). It is confusing when you are trying to pick up the berry aromas in a wine and you smell "Seduction" instead.
- Go through the actual tasting process. Typically, you want to taste from light white to heavy reds, leaving the sweet wines to the end. The saying is "white before reds and dry before sweet." If you drink a dry wine after drinking a sweet wine it will usually just taste bitter. And when you taste, do not forget the process:
- SEE: Look at the wine against a white surface. Is it colorful or brownish? Key word is "clarity."
- SWIRL/SMELL: Hold the glass by the stem, always. Then swirl your glass to aerate the wine (getting air into the wine). Swirling opens up a wine and releases those aromas and flavors.
- SLURP: You can either just taste, or many like to slurp. Take a small taste and while the wine is in your mouth simply breathe through the wine. It's like sucking up a spaghetti noodle, or a reverse whistle. This aerates the wine in your mouth and involves your nasal senses more.
- SAVOR: Move the wine around in your mouth Pay attention to your senses. Think about the wine. Is the finish long, or does it just go away quickly? Is it balanced, acidic, tannic, crisp, buttery? Do you like it, love it, or think it might be the perfect liquid to peel off old wallpaper?
- To rinse or not to rinse. This is my personal opinion here: You do not have to rinse between tastes. I have read that rinsing between tastes actually waters down the next taste. Plus water ruins a healthy Ph balance in a glass that wine leaves for the next taste. The only time I would rinse would be from a red wine to a dessert white wine, so that the white wine does not look pink. Oh ya, rinse after your last taste if you are taking the glass with you.
- Don't finish wines you don't like. If you try a Cabernet, and it is too tannic or acidic, pour the rest out. Every tasting bar has a dump bucket for just this reason. If you want to just taste a particular varietal or just reds or whites, you can do that. Some wine growing areas specialize in certain wines, so it is often fun to try that same varietal at different wineries to taste the difference (Santa Barbara: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Paso Robles: Zinfandel and Syrah, Napa: Cabernet, Oregon: Pinot Noir, Sierra Foothills: Zinfandel)
- Don't finish every good wine. Swirl the wine, smell the wine, taste the wine, then dump the rest out. No need to drink the whole taste sometimes. It's not considered bad etiquette and you will be able to visit more wineries in a given day without becoming smashed.
- Use the crackers. The bread and crackers are there to refresh your pallet so one taste does not blend into another taste. Don't gobble a plate or bowl of them, just take a bite between tastes so your pallet is set-up and ready for the next wine.
- Ask questions. Once you're get to the tasting bar, don't be a passive taster, who just stands there and says nothing. Engage the wine server. They are excited about the wines and want to share that excitement with you. Remember, a winery visit is about the full experience, not just the wines. Ya never know, the servers may pour you a wine that is not on the menu, or better yet, do some barrel tasting. Connect with the servers and they will likely remember you the next time you visit. I typically like to ask the servers what wineries THEY like to visit, so I get the inside scoop of a region I am unfamiliar with.
- Venture outside your comfort zone. Occasionally I like to move outside my preferred types of wine (I like reds, and I typically just go for reds). Sometimes the wine server mentions an outstanding Chardonnay or Viognier, etc. So I go for it, and venture outside of my preferences. I am usually not disappointed. Don't stick to what you are familiar with or what you prefer. Take some risks.
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Wine 101 Subjects
Making Wine...
Wine Info...
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