Cyle Part Of The Wine Route In Alsace
Ive spent over a week in Alsace of which I rented an bike for 2 days. These 2 days were the best days of the trip. And that is why I want to mention them.
Basically, the principle is the same as if you would be driving your own car, but youll cover less distance by bike. This way, you can really taste a couple of wines in the region.
And you have to worry less about drinking and driving .
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What Wine To Taste At A Alsace Wine Tasting
Most of the time, they will ask you what youd like to taste.
Wine is not a good answer!
If you have a specific grape variety in mind or know their wines, order those. In all other cases, I recommend asking for their suggestions.
The winegrower will then know youd like to sample a couple of wines.
Some smaller wineries only have a few varieties of grapes, others offer the whole range of Alsace grapes:
- Sylvaner
Other famous terms you need to know:
- Crémant dAlsace
- Edelzwicker
- Grand Cru Wines
- Vendanges Tardives
Read more: Discover the best of Champagne Region near Reims
Virtual Wine Tastings Are A Fabulous Way To Explore Different Cultures While Travel Is On Hold
Opening a bottle of wine is the quickest and cheapest way to travel the world without leaving your couch and you don’t even need a passport! No question opening a great bottle of Chianti Classico brings to mind rolling hills, cypress trees, and rustic Italian villas. Rosé from the south of France can evoke the Mediterranean’s turquoise waters and secret country paths bordered with wild lavender and sage. We always go in-depth about the wine region itself, the local history, culture, lifestyle, and suggested food pairings in our virtual tastings. Treat your palate and imagination to an adventure!
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How To Organize A Private Wine Tasting: A Checklist For Parties And In
Many companies, from small businesses to Fortune 500s, treat employees to a entertaining and educational guided wine tasting experience with our sommeliers. Having organized hundreds of such events, our team has complied a comprehensive list of best practices and creative ideas for having a successful wine event.
Using the list below, you can create your own wine tasting party or in-home or office private event with wine the way the professionals would. However, if you prefer to have a sommelier to guide you and your guests, and to let us take all the work off your shoulders, call us at +1 310 467 5582 or write to .
If you are looking for a suitable sommelier to prepare and run your tasting, be sure you hire a polished, articulate and well-organized professional… from The Sommelier Company. Don’t fall into the trap of hiring an unproven presenter for your event just to save a few dollars.All our sommeliers are tested for public speaking, certified with the top sommelier education bodies, and live close to your event venue… ask us to see credentials. And, our responsive office team will prepare your event perfectly.
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Malbec from Argentina
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Zinfandel from Paso Robles
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Key Grapes from Around the World
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Wines rated 95 and above
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Wines of Italy
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Wine & Food Pairing
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Vintage wines that match the anniversary or birthday theme
2. Our typical recommendation for an impressive tasting is $50 per guest.E. Logistics and Set-up1. Chill the white wines before and throughout the event.
Winery Tasting Room Guide Etiquette For Survinng The Rituals Of The Tasting Room
The tasting room guide contains all you need to know to survive the rituals of the tasting room. Look calm and relaxed like a veteran wine taster. We have visited as many as 1000 tasting rooms over 45 years of traveling to the wine country. Learn what to do and not do in the tasting room. Our quick guide to tasting room etiquette.
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Benefits Of Joining A Winerys Wine Club
- Wine clubs may ship you wines before they are available to the public.
- Wine clubs may ship you special wines such as reserve wines or exclusive releases that are not available anywhere except at the winery or to members.
- Wine shipments are usually discounted 10 to 20%.
- Wine club members receive a discount on any wines or merchandise they order from the winery or purchase at the winery.
- Wine club members say they enjoy and look forward to receiving the wines and the element of surprise that comes with each shipment.
- If you like the wines produced by a winery, it is a convenient way to taste the latest offerings.
- A winery may offer special events at the winery for wine club members only.
- There is no cost to join a wine club.
- You can quit a wine club at any time.
Skip The Perfume Or Cologne
Smell is one of the main components of wine tasting. Thats because taste and smell are intimately connected.If you wear perfume or cologne, or smoke right before a tasting, it can affect the tasting experience for you and everyone around you.When your nose is full of perfume, it cant pick up on all the aromatics and flavors in your wine. Therefore, its proper tasting-room etiquette to show up scent-free when learning how to taste wine.
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Characteristics Assessed During Tasting
Varietal character describes how much a wine presents its inherent grape aromas. A wine taster also looks for integration, which is a state in which none of the components of the wine is out of balance with the other components. When a wine is well balanced, the wine is said to have achieved a harmonious fusion.
Another important quality of the wine to look for is its expressiveness. Expressiveness is the quality the “wine possesses when its aromas and flavors are well-defined and clearly projected.” The complexity of the wine is affected by many factors, one of which may be the multiplicity of its flavors. The connectedness of the wine, a rather abstract and difficult to ascertain quality, describes the bond between the wine and its land of origin .
Vertical And Horizontal Tasting
Vertical and horizontal wine tastings are wine tasting events that are arranged to highlight differences between similar wines.
- In a vertical tasting, different vintages of the same wine type from the same winery are tasted. This emphasizes differences between various vintages.
- In a horizontal tasting, the wines are all from the same vintage but are from different wineries. Keeping wine variety or type and wine region the same helps emphasize differences in winery styles.
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Dont Be Afraid To Ask For A Different Wine
The wines that are offered to you during a tasting are a general representation of what that winery has to offer, but theyre certainly not the only options available to you. Most good wineries will want to help you find something that knocks your socks off, and are more than happy to present more of their wines when asked. Dont love that chardonnay? Ask for something else, and be as detailed as you can . We are quite versatile at our winery and will always do our best to substitute one wine for another, says Anthony Mueller, a wine educator at Napas Inglenook Winery and a former sommelier at The French Laundry. If we can accommodate your request, well do our very best to make it happen.
Act Like Youre Interested Even If Youre Not
Theres always one person in the tasting group who is along for the ride just to drink and catch up with a friend and is wholly uninterested in the actual tasting experience or learning anything about the wine at hand. If you are that person, and youre talking over the host as they lead the tasting, hear me out: Its actually disruptive to most of the group, so dont be that person!
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Common Myths About Aerators
Have you heard that these devices are bad for wine? The answer to this question and other common myths surrounding these devices are explored in greater depth below.
- Uncorking the bottle is sufficient aeration: FALSE. Letting the wine sit without the cork for hours is not enough for aerating it given the small mouth of the bottle.
- An aeration device can change the taste of a wine: TRUE. It can reduce the tannins to make the wine taste smoother.
- All aeration tools for wines work the same way: FALSE. There are devices that attach to the mouth of the wine bottle, and even decanters, which work differently.
- Aeration can remove the rotten smell of wines: TRUE. When you smell a matchstick or rotten egg upon opening a bottle of wine, its a sign that the wine needs aeration.
- You should aerate all wines: Light bodied whites need not be aerated, unlike young reds or whites.
What Exactly Does Aeration Do To A Wine
Hello there! I’m Dr. Vinifera, but you can call me Vinny. Ask me your toughest wine questions, from the fine points of etiquette to the science of winemaking. And don’t worry, I’m no wine snobyou can also ask me those “dumb questions” you’re too embarrased to ask your wine geek friends! I hope you find my answers educational, empowering and even amusing. And don’t forget to check out my most asked questions and my full archives for all my Q& A classics.
Dear Dr. Vinny,
What is the science behind the aeration of wine? What does air do to a wine? Why is it if a wine is closed and then you put air though it that it can release the aromas and flavors of the wine?
Heidi Y., Grande Prairie, Alberta
Dear Heidi,
Exposing wine to air does two things: it triggers oxidation and evaporation. Oxidation is what makes an apple turn brown after its skin is broken, and evaporation is the process of liquid turning into vapor. Wine is made up of hundreds of compounds, and with aeration, usually the volatile undesirable compounds will evaporate faster than the desirable, aromatic and flavorful ones.
Dr. Vinny
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How To Throw A Wine Tasting Party
This summer turn your backyard or patio into a fun wine tasting party! Throwing a wine tasting party can be an easy and laid back way to entertain without spending a fortune. All you need is a few different bottles of wine , light bites and a cheeseboard. Invite your pals over for a fun night to try new wines with unexpected food pairings.
A HUGE thanks to Emmi USA for sponsoring this fun post!
Last year I threw more dinner parties than I could count. We kicked the entertaining season off with a gorgeous Bohemian Dinner Party and closed out party season with a moody 30th Birthday for a girlfriend.
Its no surprise that I LOVE dinner parties probably more than the average 20-something.
When I polled Instagram a few months ago I realized, that while you guys love a dinner party, youre also looking for easy party ideas without a full menu and a tablescape.
Im hear to say, I HEAR YA SISTER!
I had to stay true to my philosophy around here that: entertaining should be easy and fun without breaking the bank and causing you more stress than happiness.
I love affordable party ideas just as much as the next girl and I am a firm believer that affordable, never has to look cheap! I know without a doubt you will throw an epic wine tasting party! Now, lets get planning!
How To Win New Customers And Boost Profits With Virtual Tastings
When the pandemic hit, in-person wine tasting almost completely ceased. But leading wine professionals found a way around this: virtual wine tastings.
Guests typically finish the equivalent of one to two glasses of wine during a tasting. Tasting kits that include several full bottles are overwhelming and can be a deterrent. The best way to solve for this is to include a tested and effective wine saver, such as ArT Wine Preserver®. This will allow guests to keep their open bottles of wine fresh for up to 30 days after the tasting.
ArT Wine Preserver can also help re-package wines into smaller formats for virtual tastings. In 2020, we worked with the New York International Wine Competition to develop a protocol. Since then we have been lucky to help others!
Our argon wine preserver prevents oxidation, and was used with 2 to 4 oz sample bottles such as those shown below . Continue with this guide for information on not only re-packaging, but how to run a full virtual tasting program.
Image: Our . Sample bottles are frequently bought with ArT Wine Preserver.
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Wine Tasting Etiquette: An Introduction
Before listing the tips, remember some basic etiquette at the wine tasting event.
Good etiquette generally dictates that you leave business cards at home. Some social events should strictly be non-business and especially at a nice wine tasting event. The people you interact with dont want to feel that they are there to be preyed upon as potential business leads.
Another piece of advice we often give people is to keep your phone on silent or dont bring it in at all to the event, if possible. People enjoying the event dont want to hear your phone going off or see you busy texting throughout the event. It shows you arent really interested in what is going on and that can be off putting to other guests and the host.
Ready for a wine adventure? Check out Wine Country Travel for more details
Improve Ability To Taste / Smell
Tasting/smelling wine doesn’t have to be an exercise in snobbery. It only takes a brief pause to develop an awareness of what you’re drinking. Knowing what you like will make it much easier to consistently find similar wines. This isn’t limited to wine, learning a few basics can improve the taste/smell of just about anything.
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What Is A Wine Aerator
A wine aerator is a device that brings more air into wine by attaching to the mouth of the bottle. Simply put, aeration is a way to swirl the wine enough to reveal its entire bouquet.
While the standard forms of aeration refer to pouring the wine from the bottle or swirling it in the glass, the science has more to offer. From a few minutes to hours, the process can be different based on the wine or the tool you use.
Here are the uses for these devices:
- Control the oxidation
- Reduce the bitterness, acidity, or tannins
- More affordable than a decanter
- Evaporate tannins, sulfite, and ethanol
- Reveal the bouquet
- Enhance the smells or aroma
Have A Designated Driver
Wine tasting can get you drunk. As such, its vital to have a designated driver so you and your wine tasting companions can make it safely through your experience. That doesnt mean one of you has to sit it out though. Did you know you can taste multiple delicious wines without drinking a single drop?Every winery should be able to provide a metal bucket for your wine tasting. This bucket is for spitting in. Thats right, its completely acceptable and sometimes even encouraged to spit your wine out at a wine tasting. This lets you appreciate all the wines you want without falling flat on your face by the end of the evening. It might also be worth hiring Private Wine Drivers to shuttle you around for the day.
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Virtual Tasting Guide Overview
We gathered information for this guide over the past year based on our experience and professionals weve partnered with. So far we’ve partnered with:
- Wine educators
- Tasting competitions (we were proud to work with the New York International Wine Competition
- Wineries
This virtual tasting guide covers:
- Who is doing virtual tastings?
- What are the benefits of virtual wine tastings, even after the pandemic?
- What types of virtual wine tastings are there?
- How do I run a virtual wine tasting ?
- How do I build a tasting kit? How does ArT Wine Preserver help?
- Our partners
Best For Natural Wines: Orange Glou
Orange Glou
New York-based sommelier extraordinaire Doreen Winkler is on a mission to bring her love of orange wines to the masses. Thanks to her, one of the most exciting wine subscriptions out there is entirely dedicated to the category.
Winkler offers several Zoom wine tastings experiences for small or large groups, for which you purchase the bottles of wine and glasses when signing up for the tasting. With their virtual offerings, you can choose from one of two packages. You can choose the online group event 1 offer where for 20-30 minutes, you’ll learn about the history of orange wine, how it is made, and taste two different orange wines with a sommelier for $89 per box . Their second online group offering includes the same elements, but lasts for 45 minutes, has a three-bottle tasting and is $105 per box .
If youre curious about joining, but want to learn a bit more about the concept and orange wines in general, you can always tune into Winklers past videos via the clubs Instagram . Orange Glou memberships start at around $105 per month, and you can always purchase one-off boxes on the website, either for yourself or as a gift.
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